 This is the Humanist Report with Mike Figueredo The Humanist Report podcast is funded by viewers like you through Patreon and PayPal. To support the show visit patreon.com forward slash Humanist Report or become a member at HumanistReport.com Now enjoy the show Welcome to the Humanist Report podcast. My name is Mike Figueredo and this is episode 241 of the program Today is Friday May 15th and before we get started I want to take some time to thank all of our newest patreon, PayPal and YouTube members All of which signed up for the very first time to support us this week or increase their monthly pledge And that includes Alex Amala, Beverly Brownfield, Brian, Eric Broder, Isabel de Blu, Jacqueline de Blu, Jacqueline Roberts, Jonas Eichhol, Kathy Lewis, LeMond Snyder, Lucas C, Lucas Traskowski, Marius Jurgy, Meet the Traveler, Melissa Below, Mr. Happy Robot, Rebecca Shumway, The Purple Party of Canada and Travel Blackbook So thank you so much to all these kind individuals if you'd also like to support the show if you can and join the independent progressive Media Revolution you can do so by going to humanistreport.com Patreon.com slash Humanist Report or by clicking join underneath any one of our YouTube videos So this week on the show We've got another great episode for you. Bernie Sanders gives us some perspective on the COVID-19 pandemic The GOP concerned trolls about the deficit crisis they created Dave Rubin promotes his book and wants big government to treat him like a big boy We'll talk about why the left feels like the 2020 election is a lose-lose for America Pelosi plays the left in Congress once again and Joe Biden may have jeopardized Democrats chances of ousting Susan Collins will also talk about the makeup of Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden's task forces Trump's hypocrisy when it comes to vote by mail Cara Eastman's surprise upset victory against the corporate Democrat conservatives hilariously shallow argument against UBI and Finally we closed the week by talking about Tucker Carlson's anti homeless propaganda piece All that will be on this episode of the show. Hopefully you all will enjoy it. Let's go ahead and get right into it I know I'm preaching to the choir, but times are tough and If you haven't personally been affected by COVID-19 either directly or indirectly This is still really hard for you, right? Because if you haven't lost your job, if you don't know anyone who got COVID-19 or got it yourself Then you still are probably going at least a little bit stir crazy, you know having to stay in your house Times are not normal. You can't really go to a restaurant. You can't do Things that make us feel normal, right? And this is on top of the already horrible Political situation that we all find ourselves in at the moment, right? where we're forced to choose between Donald Trump and incoherent babbling buffoon who is I think legit psychopathic or Joe Biden who is another incoherent babbling buffoon who I think is probably sociopathic and largely doesn't care about the needs of Americans So I mean all around people are down like I feel it myself, you know Maybe I'm projecting but I feel it myself But I did a little bit of a poll on Twitter This is unscientific of course and I just asked my follower simply how are you doing and 16.5% said that they're actually doing well 47.1% indicated that things aren't necessarily going great, but it could be worse and 32.1% said they're not doing good And so I mean, I don't have anything to compare this to but there's a lot of people that are suffering right now They're hurting if you read the replies to that thread, you know People talk about losing their jobs being economically unstable and it's just you know We know that COVID-19 at some point will be over But that doesn't necessarily mean that the economic situation that we will be in will you know get better my generation Millennials We're barely recovering after the two two thousand eight great recession right and the subprime mortgage crisis Like we barely made it out of that we graduated Graduated into that and now we get slapped in the face again We finally try to get back up and we get slapped right back down So it just it doesn't seem like things are going to get better and we're searching for that light at the end of the tunnel and You know having said that I want to share an interview that Bernie Sanders did with Chris Hayes on MSNBC because he kind of puts things into perspective and He explains why things are going so bad or why we're all feeling so down It's because we really are at one of the lowest points in American history Take a look. Senator. Let me first start by asking you your assessment of the reality We are in at this moment. How do you see things right now? Yes, it is important for us to take a very deep breath and To understand that we are in the worst moment the worst moment In American history, maybe since the Civil War You mentioned the official figure of seventy seven thousand people dying of the virus Their epidemiologists who estimate that that is significantly lower than reality probably over a hundred thousand the number of thirty three thousand Thirty three million people who have lost their jobs in the last seven weeks probably understates that reality as well Even more people have lost their jobs So we are in a terrible terrible moment, you know, I have a large email following and we sent out An email to people said tell us what's happening in your lives in the midst of this pandemic and Chris What we received from people by the thousands was literally so painful I couldn't read it. I mean The stories are I lost my mother. I lost my job. I have no money. I can't feed my kids I Don't know what to do. I'm a you know mental illness taking place enormous anxiety People are hurting in a way. We have never ever seen in our lifetimes and to top it all top at all We have somebody so irresponsible So not understanding the current reality as president of the United States that it is just incredibly painful We are in the worst moment in American history. Maybe since the Civil War. I'd have to agree because I mean It's really like I I don't know how to process the fact that we're basically having a 9-11 every single day Where two to three thousand Americans are dying like we're almost at eighty thousand deaths in America And as he stated probably more than a hundred thousand because that is probably a conservative estimate That's so hard to process even I think Down the line a decade later. It's going to be difficult to really Understand just how large the loss was during this time not just in terms of life But economically for people so many individuals are losing everything because of COVID-19 And it's not like we were in a great situation before this pandemic, but this just made it a lot worse so I Guess the point of this is for me to say you know, I Can't tell you that things are gonna get better with regard to you know economics because we have a government that isn't really acting But what I can tell you is that if you're if you're suffering from this economically materially or even psychologically at least Maybe there's some level of comfort that you can extract from this just knowing that we're all kind of dealing with this together and Hopefully this will lead to good. We don't necessarily know it could lead to bad, but hopefully This will lead to good and you know, I think that it's important to know that this can lead to good The future, you know hasn't been written yet. We can try to force Something good out of this and not just have things get a lot worse as they did after 9-11 where we lost You know civil rights and civil liberties we can try To turn this into a positive thing where we all collectively acknowledge the importance of healthcare as a human right where we acknowledge that Americans are just one crisis away from economic ruin and Maybe we should have a little bit more, you know safety measures in place So you you have that economic cushion where you can lose your job and not worry about losing everything immediately now Congress has failed like there's no way to sugarcoat it. They failed they failed they gave you crumbs One time $1,200 payment is not enough But there are some people a Handful who are fighting for us and Bernie Sanders just proposed. I think a pretty solid piece of legislation with Kamala Harris and Ed Markey It's not perfect, but if this were to be implemented, I think this would help a lot So as Bergus Everett of Politico explains a trio of Democratic senators are pitching a big idea Pay most American families thousands of dollars each month until the coronavirus's economic crisis subsides on Friday Senators Kamala Harris Bernie Sanders and Ed Markey will release their monthly economic crisis support act It would dramatically expand upon the $1,200 sent to Americans as part of March as gargantuan coronavirus response bill the legislation would send a monthly $2,000 check to people who make less than $120,000 per year it would expand to 4,000 to married couples who file taxes jointly and also provide 2000 for each child up to three Harris said the bill is a reflection that Congress's efforts so far were not nearly enough to meet The needs of this historic crisis and Markey called the massive cash infusion the most direct and efficient mechanism for delivering economic relief To the most vulnerable Congress has a responsibility to make sure that every working-class household in America receives a $2,000 Emergency payment a month for each family member Sanders said the payments would be Retroactive to March and last until three months after the Health and Human Services Department has declared the public health emergency Over that's important the legislation would also bar debt collectors From taking the payments and would deliver them regardless of whether people have a social security number or file taxes last year So the fact that it's retroactive until March the fact that it goes to people with or without a social security number the fact that it lasts three months after this is Declared a public health emergency that is really key to actually Making this successful now it is by no means perfect. I think that when you means test programs You just generally make it harder for working-class people to get right because usually have to fill out some form You have to show proof that you're at a certain income level. This usually pits working-class Americans Against middle-class Americans, but nonetheless We need economic relief immediately and this would be great now. I do have a criticism. I Think that Bernie Sanders Kamala Harris and Ed Markey credit to them for proposing this They kind of misplayed their hand here because they gave away their leverage. I Mean Republicans and corporate Democrats all got what they wanted with that multi-trillion dollar bailout for Special interests so now that they got what they wanted. They don't really have You don't have any leverage over them because they already got what they wanted and you haven't gotten what you need and want, right? So if I were Bernie Sanders, I absolutely would not have voted for that last stimulus bill I would have said no, you're not gonna get my vote unless we actually provide Substantial protections for workers and Americans who lost their jobs Substantial we're not talking about a one-time $1,200 check. We're talking about a temporary UBI Throughout the duration of this pandemic and I think the fact that he already voted for the bailout But didn't get adequate relief for working Americans it's just gonna you know improve the odds as something like this won't be successful and Look, that's not to say that there aren't other lawmakers who are pushing for legislation That's you know good that would help provide some relief to Americans But the problem is that the left and even corporate Democrats like Kamala Harris and Ed Markey who are good on some issues? Ed Markey is great on that neutrality, but they they don't know how to play politics is the problem So we need this and I want them to be successful in getting this legislation codified into law But they've already kind of used the leverage that they had and they've squandered it So I don't know how you get this signed into law by a president Donald Trump who is literally during a pandemic Floating tax cuts for the rich floating more cuts to the payroll tax and capital gains tax That's what he's proposing currently like How do you get him on board when you don't know how to play politics effectively so it's like on one hand I want to give Bernie Sanders credit for this and Kamala Harris credit for this to be fair But on the other hand, I can't help but feel frustrated because I mean you played your hand too soon in voting for the bailout because Now they don't really have an incentive to act like corporate Democrats and Republicans They want to deliver for their donors and they already did that so you can't hold this You know hold that above their heads Because they got what they want you haven't gotten what you wanted and when you see Democrats like Nancy Pelosi literally proposing a bailout for lobbyists I mean, I just can't help but think this is not gonna get passed and people are just gonna be forced to weather the storm But regardless, you know the fact that they're proposing this in and of itself I think is important because it gets the ball rolling and you know if I were them I would fight to make this just clean You don't have to include this in any sort of relief package pass this as a standalone bill So that way you can shame the people who don't vote for this like Republicans But I don't know I don't know what to say like it's good to hear from leaders like Bernie Sanders at this time because it does Help when he puts things into perspective and he says how bad this situation is within a historical context But at the same time, I think that everyone is kind of flailing currently not just you know us Normal people but lawmakers are flailing. They don't know what to do and most of them don't care So the ones who do care and you know want to enact legislation like this They don't know how to get that done because they don't necessarily know how to play hardball and use the leverage that they definitely have So I don't I don't know, you know, I think that it's important that we Talk about these types of proposals because I do believe this would genuinely help even if it's not perfect But you know getting it codified into law is difficult because how do you how do you get this done? Bernie's normal leverage is rallying the base to take action, right? But what do you do? You can't necessarily get people to rally around the Capitol if we have to social distance So we're at this moment in time. That's so unique where lawmakers kind of have to bear the burden for all of us You have to fight you've got to play hardball and I don't think they really know how to do that because this is a very unique time and I don't know. I don't know what to say about this, you know, it's like With every single piece of good news that we get even if it's good news and I'll take it There's always a caveat that well. Yeah, this is great This is a phenomenal proposal, but it'll probably never be codified into law And it's just it's frustrating like I want to be able to deliver you some news That's good and there's no caveats. No footnotes. It's just here's some good news But I don't have that for you situation sucks It's grim and I don't have all the right answers Or I do, you know, I know the policy solution that we need to implement But you know, even if you have the right answers There's the question of politically. What strategy do we implement if we have people in Congress who aren't willing to play Hardball even those on our side who voted for the bailout So I just don't know what to say. This is a great proposal But getting back to the beginning of this clip with everyone feeling demoralized I mean this Going through this video talking through, you know, the scenarios that could play out after this type of legislation was proposed It's exactly why people feel so demoralized why what was it 30% of my Twitter followers said don't even ask when I asked them how they're doing because Things just aren't getting better Nearly 80,000 Americans have died due to COVID-19 Millions of Americans have lost their jobs and had to file for unemployment. And what are Republicans talking about currently? The deficit They're fear-mongering about the deficit Now look, we all knew that Republicans would immediately Start fear-mongering about the deficit crisis that they created after they gave tax cuts to their rich donors But you know, maybe at least during a pandemic you'd give us a little bit of a break But no, they have no shame that mechanism in our brains that makes us feel shameful That doesn't exist for individuals like Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell. They are literally Fear-mongering about the deficit right now and guess what? There are implications that come with said fear-mongering They're not just saying hey guys, maybe we should do something the solutions that they are going to propose will explicitly hurt you Not rich people. They're not gonna get that money back the tax cuts that they gave away to their rich friends They're not gonna get that back. They're gonna get that money from you either by Cutting into Social Security Medicare Medicaid or hurting you in some other roundabout way because this is what the Republican Party does so according to a Bloomberg report the flood of pandemic relief spending from Washington has rekindled deficit concerns among Republican lawmakers one of several hurdles facing the next round of stimulus many economists say is Needed to pull the US out of its downward spiral after kicking back almost three trillion to offset the economic impact of the coronavirus Pandemic Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republicans now have begun raising alarms about the deficit and Characterizing a new relief package as an if not when proposition Opposition President Donald Trump is also tapping the brakes on the idea of swift action on any new aid package Saying he's in quote no rush for a new stimulus even after Friday's Labor Department report showing an unprecedented 20 million jobs were lost in April with Democrats pressing for another package of relief that will likely carry a trillion dollar price tag Republicans like Florida Senator Rick Scott are already Contemplating how to stem the red ink that's pushed 2020 deficit projection to almost four trillion from one trillion At the start of this year. We've got to figure out how we're going to pay for it. Scott said in an interview Otherwise, we're going to ruin this economy Trump's chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Sunday that the White House isn't necessarily Seeking a delay in new relief legislation Many people would like to just pause for a moment and take a look at the economic impact of this massive assistance program That's already passed Kudlow said on ABC's this week program He added that while there are no formal negotiations going on with Democrats The administration has been talking with members of Congress from both parties about priorities So what Larry Kudlow is basically saying is look, we're not necessarily not going to give the peasants any more crumbs We're just saying let's just maybe pause while everyone is hurting and think a little bit how maybe we might pay for this one day Now there are two very important implications to this The first implication is that they don't necessarily want to act and give you more relief more than crumbs Because they already got what they wanted legislatively. They got a multi trillion dollar bailout for their corporate donors So why on earth? Will they do anything to help you? The sole purpose of the Republican Party is to serve its donors and nobody does a better job than them Nobody more is more loyal to their donors than the Republican Party So what incentive do they have as a party knowing their goal to do anything else past any more legislation? They're already starting the deficit fear mongering Now the next implication, of course Is that they're going to have to dip into your money To ameliorate this crisis that they helped create Social security medicare Medicaid and they never come out and say this explicitly, right? You kind of have to read between the lines They say this in a very, you know backhanded way They they never tell you their real agenda because they know it would be really unpopular But they kind of code Like cuts the social security with rhetoric like oh, well, let's look at a payroll tax cut Now that doesn't necessarily mean let's cut social security But if you put two into together you realize that social security is funded Disproportionately through a payroll tax. So if you cut a payroll tax, then What happens social security you underfunded and then oh look It's going insolvent. We're gonna have to propose another fix the social security i.e. Let's privatize it So these people are snakes And they think that they're being sneaky But we are on to their bullshit because they've done this time and again Like the republican playbook hasn't changed since the 1980s. It's been exactly the same Exactly the same And you have donald trump floating Relief in the form of a payroll tax cut now ask yourself Does it make sense when millions of americans are losing their jobs and filing for unemployment to offer them a payroll tax? as a means of coronavirus relief If you don't have a job What value will a payroll tax cut be to you at this point in time? It doesn't make sense, right? Well, of course, he doesn't want you to question it. He's saying let's do another payroll tax cut because What's that going to do long term? It's going to underfund programs like social security these people are So disgusting in the way that they are constantly trying to covertly undermine these programs Like if you want to cut social security, just come out and say it. We should cut and privatize social security But they can't do that because they're cowards. They are the biggest cowards on the planet. They talk tough But behind the scenes, they're always working against you always And with donald trump, he's so brazen that on top of proposing a payroll tax cut to help people who are losing their jobs He also said hey, maybe we should also cut taxes when it comes to capital gains Do you know who's going to benefit from this? The mega wealthy. So that's how little They care about you Not only are they already vocalizing their intention to do not really anything else to help normal americans Because they got what they wanted, you know, they build out the special interest But they're now so brazen that they're proposing tax cuts for the rich That's what you know a tax deduction for capital gains would amount to a tax cut for the very wealthy People like mit romney I mean, I don't know what to say This party is so Irredeemable whenever there is a republican president They create a deficit crisis usually with a war or tax cuts for the rich And then they propose a quote unquote solution to the problem that they've created which harms poor people But here's the thing and I worry about this because americans know that You know, they got $1,200 So they're cognizant of the fact that the federal government is spending a lot of money They don't necessarily know that trillions of dollars Is going to multi-billion dollar companies to bail them out when they don't need it Nonetheless, you know, americans know that the government is giving them a check Therefore that's lost revenue and they're going to have to make up for it So maybe they can be persuaded that more austerity tax cuts for the rich as a means of Stimulating the economy generating revenue Is uh, gonna help maybe they can be duped into believing that if we just tried trickle down in economics For the 115th time it'll work this time like at times of crisis People are really easily manipulated, right if you find a politician that is Persuasive enough he or she Can exploit them and that's what I worry about here with the situation, right donald trump He has a cult that will never leave him Democrats have a cult that will never leave them But i'm thinking like beyond these next four to eight years. How do we get out of this? How do we recover from this? Um long term and I just I I don't know they're fear mongering about the deficit So, you know, if they're already fear mongering about the deficit during a pandemic Then they're kind of giving you a four warning. They're gonna screw you over The question is are you going to take this lying down? Are you actually going to fight them? To absolutely nobody's surprise Dave rubin has joined the chorus of right-wing idiots who are urging state governors and mayors around the country To reopen america send everyone back to work. Let them die for capitalism because there are profits to be made So I don't care if that means that there are going to be lives that are lost Let's reopen the country. Of course, they're not saying that but that's what effectively you're getting if you reopen the country too early And expose people to this very contagious deadly virus So like the rebel that he is Dave Rubin tweeted out. Okay time to come clean about some of my recent criminal activity Oh, this should be good. I shook hands with someone last wednesday Got a haircut on thursday And mailed seeds across state borders. That's weird all the way to michigan a few weeks ago Where do I report to the local re-education camp? It's so funny. He should be a comedian. Oh, he is one Yikes He's so cringe worthy and wow now We all kind of got a little bit distracted from covid-19 And this tweet reminded me that this guy who doesn't know where to put commas in periods Literally just published a book So we'll get to the covid-19 stuff because he sat down for an interview with judge jenine puro on fox news And there were a lot of stupid things to be said But I would be remiss if we didn't talk about the phenomenal book that he just released titled Don't burn this book by dav rubin with a forward from the great jordan peterson Expectedly reviews aren't too hot because I mean dav rubin is a grifter This is obviously a quick cash grab And he's not very happy about the fact that people Don't like his book. Uh, for example, one google reviewer said this after rating his book one star Rife with grammatical errors and inconsistencies. This book is a historical rubbish Rubin references known climate deniers and his arguments against climate change provides broad opinion without Substantiation for example, the vietnam war was quote mostly good Now, let me just pause there because I will say that i'm really proud of dav rubin because I expected him to just hire a Ghost writer, but the fact that there are a lot of grammatical errors and inconsistencies tells me that he wrote this himself So that's actually that's really admirable. I would have at least expected him to hire an editor But I mean, nonetheless, I digress let's get to another review. This one is from amazon Who called it a lazy cash grab from a shallow thinker Saying from the juvenile title to arguments like the nazis were left wing because hitler was vegetarian And fresh zingers like denial ain't just a river in egypt. This book is not meant for smart people It's meant for people like its author shallow gullible and happy to soak in whatever ideas are lying around As long as they're profitable or useful in the short term So, I mean it's a little bit sad at this point because everyone kind of knows Who dav rubin is and what he's about like this is someone who is just in this for the money Like he doesn't have a political ideology because he doesn't know about political ideologies He says he wants to you know entertain ideas Because that's an easy way to make money just interview people let them speak and do your job for you basically and You make a lot of money doing that But I don't want to give you this impression that you know It's just lefties who are review bombing his book because even the right wing publication spectator usa Wasn't a fan. They write don't burn this book is not a serious work It is in fact extremely lazy bearing all the hallmarks of a project that was knocked together over a few wet weekends The host of the rubin report can be an engaging likeable interviewer He obviously has a knack for setting his guests at ease alone However, he is both less substantial and more grading rubin loves to talk about ideas ideas As an abstraction yet. He does not love to talk about ideas themselves For example, he constantly rails against the progressive left Yet quotes almost no left-wing thinkers The almost is generous because i'm not sure such luminaries as ben afleck and jenke yuger qualify We therefore find such odd assertions like that the left believes democrats equal good Republicans equal bad Can anyone who lived through the recent democratic primaries looked me in the eye and say the left united around the universal virtual of democrats These people hate each other and the reviewer ultimately concludes quote don't burn this book But I wouldn't buy it either yikes That is absolutely brutal And again, that's coming from a right-wing publication Yeah so you can say that you know, maybe A lot of people are just review bombing this in fact He actually was angered by all of the bad reviews because he accused presumably the left of waging a quote coordinated campaign To wreck his review score and he stated that bad reviews of his shitty book Literally equates to a modern-day book burning a modern-day book burning Really dave really Now look i'm not going to discount the possibility that there are left-wing people trolling him currently but other right-wingers can publish books and Not get trolled like this. I mean ben Shapiro As lazy of a thinker and as sloppy as a hack that he is he usually doesn't get review bombed But I think that Dave Rubin is being singled out because nobody really believes that he believes any of the things that he's writing about Like he's just a grifter He's saying things that he thinks will get him applause from a very specific right-wing audience, right But regardless, none of this matters at the end of the day You can review his book as poorly as you want to He got what he wanted He will have the last laugh because he made it on the new york times a best seller list and he retweeted every single conservative blue check Who congratulated him? So I mean he got what he wanted at the end of the day He sold a lot of books, which means he's going to make a lot of money Which is exactly what any grifter could hope for so I mean there you have it He's triggered that you know you review bombed his book But he made a lot of money So it's a win-win for everyone, I guess but putting that aside He went on judge jenine puro show And I think that he was of the belief that she would allow him to promote his book because he tweeted about this And he had like a picture of his book saying i'm going to be going on judge jenine puro show soon But she actually didn't really give him time to talk about his book And instead asked him about covet 19 at the lockdown And as you could have expected Lots of dumb things were said and I think that maybe he was just flustered because he didn't really get an adequate chance to promote his book But some of the things he said here like This is why people make fun of dave rubin. It's because He's such a shallow thinker. He doesn't have any ideas of his own. He doesn't I swear to god like he's a rube Not a rubin a rube. He's stupid genuinely So um, this is what he had to say about the lockdown in an interview with judge jenine puro I'm here in california. I live in los angeles. So I have a progressive governor in gavin newson I've got a progressive mayor and eric arsetti who's literally telling me to go out and snitch on my neighbors And maybe i'm gonna get a reward gavin newson, of course Who's the governor he was the one that was the mayor of san francisco and he basically ruined that city And you know, they're they're telling us that we can't go to the beach. Well here in socal It's about 85 and perfect today and I did get a little color in my backyard But it's like how about you tell us something mature tell us we have to go to the beach at half capacity And maybe have a car with a space between another car and you can only go in groups of four give us something That will make us feel like mature adults as you're supposed to do as government officials Don't just say you can't go to the beach just because we say it as if as if what they say Is true just because they worded it and I think that's the problem with progress Okay, generally they think that because they say something it's inherently true Well, you know, what's amazing about new york We just found out this week that some incredible number of people who are staying at home sheltering in at home It's like 66 percent. It may be even higher than that are coming up with the corona virus So stay at home. You get the virus at least let them get a tan, you know, a little vitamin d would help them out Don't you think A little vitamin d would help them out and I'll tell you this look my family I I come from new york. I was born in brooklyn. I grew up in long island I lived in Manhattan most of my life most of my family lives in new york my sister and her family You know, the weather's good. I thought we had a beach now. We don't have it I'm not sure what I'm doing here. Texas is looking pretty good these days But I will tell you this my my sister and her family and two kids just moved out of new york city this week because People people want to be free your intro is exactly right americans love liberty love freedom And by the way, we're willing to take a little risk to be free Nobody's saying just get out there and do whatever you want and crowd everything People are saying, hey, we got to get back to our our lives We're not hamsters in a cage and you got to let us take a little risk so we can decide What the threshold is for our lives as opposed to just be getting it as an edict You know from somebody up in sacramento in my case Yeah, well and the shame of it all is you know, we've all been we've all been Trained to wash our hands and keep our hands away from our face that You know, you would think they would figure well, they've got some of it, right? You know, maybe we can let them out a little bit But anyway, Dave rube and I want to congratulate you on hitting the new york times Best sellers list don't burn this book and we look forward to having you on again So to me that came across as him basically just trying to tone police State and local governments because he's not explicitly saying let's reopen the country although that's what he's implying, right? But he's saying, you know, just talk to us like we are mature adults And I guess that would make him feel better like I don't necessarily know What the takeaway is from this like what does he want governments to do if they listen to Dave Rubin? And if they actually corrected the tone that they were using to address constituents would that actually Suffice for him like what is what does he want? There's no solution here even a conservative solution He proposed nothing. He says how about you tell us something mature Tell us we have to go to the beach at half capacity. Okay, but how do you enforce that? And if they did find a way to enforce that would you still? Uh, complain. Yeah, I think you would you wouldn't be satisfied He also says and maybe have a car a space Between another car Dave. I don't think people can catch COVID-19 if they're in their own cars like that is probably Inconsequential, but he threw it in there. Um, he also said only go in groups of four Give us something that will make us feel like we are mature adults I mean I don't know what you want here. I don't know what that means. I genuinely don't know what that means. That's not a solution You want the government to treat you like you are mature adults Like are they saying that they're going to come and arrest you if you leave your homes? No, and you of all people like you live in what is it a mansion? I'm pretty sure you live in a mansion of some sort So you of all people should not be complaining you have a job where you just talk to a camera I have the same one right? So it's a no risk job So we all know that you have nothing to risk You're just kind of towing that conservative line and you're not proposing a solution If you just said let's get everyone back to work We'll do whatever we want because this is a free country I think I would almost respect that more like I wouldn't have respect for him But at some level I would at least respect the honesty because you're proposing Something that you want but with this you're literally just saying hey if the government just was like More nicer to me and talked to me like I'm a grown-up and a big boy that I'd like that more Would you though? I mean that doesn't make sense. He also says and I think that the problem with progressives That's a problem with progressives. They say something they think it's inherently true Except that's what you do that's projection You just wrote a book where you literally do not quote any modern-day leftists And you don't even dive into the source material Dave. You don't cite Karl Marx You don't cite Noam Chomsky. You don't even make a reference to left-wing thinkers That's what you do. You just say something like a couple of years ago I think was 2018 he went on Tucker Carlson show and said that leftists are so triggered by everything That you know, they might even soon say that sunset is offensive to them He literally said that So this is someone who does zero research whatsoever Doesn't even take the time to watch a youtube video to find out what left-leaning people are thinking He just doesn't believe in anything He wants to put in the most minimal amount of work possible And extract the most highest monetary payoff Possible right and he's mad that people are calling him out on his grift But you don't even try to make it seem as if you have any legitimacy or sense of you know Authority when you speak about these issues at all like you just sound like a dumb dude Who's sharing a boomer post on facebook about big government like what do you want dave? What is the the goal that you want here? Do you want them to just say you know what? We're not going to do the self-quarantine thing. Fuck it. Everyone go back to work Go to the beaches if you want to like you're not saying that explicitly. So what do you what do you want? Now judge jenine puro also chimed in and she said what's amazing about new york is we just found out some incredible number of people staying at home Sheltering in at home like 66 percent, which is actually correct It may be even higher than that are coming up with the coronavirus. So stay at home. You get the virus or at least Get a tan and get it that's basically she was basically implying that Social distancing and self-quarantine doesn't necessarily make sense And she's referring to a study that was conducted in new york where they polled people with covet 19 who contracted the virus Across a hundred different hospitals. I think it was over a hundred And a large portion 66 percent did say I mean, I've mostly been obeying social distancing So what she's basically saying is well, look people are following the rules and they're getting it anyway So we might as well just let them go back to work and go get a tan on the beach If they're going to get the coronavirus you might as well have fun doing it Except that's really dangerous to say because this is one study And the study is based off of how people answer these questions like the respondents who were asked You know what their lifestyle was like before they contracted covet 19 We're not verifying that they did actually abide by the stay-at-home orders I mean at some point they had to have come into contact with people like covet isn't just going to manifest in their apartment And you know, uh contaminate them like that's not how it works. So we need to gather more data We need to conduct more studies. You don't just stop doing social distancing because of what this study says If we know that it is proven to help flatten the curve. I mean, this is absolutely Irresponsible and it's nonsensical But you've got to understand the way that right-wingers think is it's always about profits So if you're judge jenine puro, um, and I'm assuming she's more ideologically driven than uh, Dave rubin She would believe that you know people staying home not participating in the economy spending money That's bad for the aggregate economy because capitalism obviously needs people to buy things To function properly as you see, you know under just the most minimal amount of pressure The entire system almost collapses So she doesn't really care about the well-being the health the safety of people She just wants them back to work because that's what's going to help capitalism, right? She doesn't want this pandemic to expose the flaws inherent with her system the ideology that she stumps for Um, but I mean for Dave rubin. I don't think he cares either way if conservatives say Um, we should reopen everything. That's what he's gonna say because the man's a hack He's a grifter and I wouldn't be surprised if like five years down the line He makes another shift ideologically. He has another political awakening But this time on the left, right when right-wing populism kind of Loses popularity if it does in fact lose popularity then he gravitates toward the left and say how I was misled By, you know, republicans and donald trump and the right-wing populists and now I see the light again Like if you're going to grift you will gravitate towards whatever Is going to be the next cash cow for you So, um, if I if Dave Rubin ever shifts back to the left Make sure you share this clip because I called it first. Um, but who knows with him? Okay, one last thing he says my sister and her family and two kids Just moved out of new york city this week because people want to be free Your intro was exactly right. We didn't show that by the way Americans love liberty love freedom. By the way, we're willing to take a little risk to be free Um, okay. First of all, I don't believe that your sister moved out of new york Literally because of the stay-at-home orders. I don't I just I don't believe that I don't believe that You'd be so distraught by the stay-at-home orders that you'd move to Uh, some other state that most likely has some sort of stay-at-home order as well Like what would be the point of that? I mean, you're obviously being hyperbolic I'm sure his sister moved but did she moved uh moved specifically for the reason that he's stating here? Probably not Probably not and I would love to ask her why she actually moved if she was already planning on moving before this pandemic But he says Americans love liberty love freedom. By the way, we're willing to take a little risk to be free Now it's really easy for Dave Rubin to say this because he never has to risk his own ass He doesn't have to bag groceries At the store. He is not an essential worker He's not going to go into a large crowd and possibly risk getting contaminated with covet 19 We see the same thing with regard to lgbtq rights He loves to bring up the fact that he is a gay man He's a gay married man And as a gay married man, you should take him seriously when he says that, you know, right-wingers are actually more tolerant Than the left now He says this living in the deep blue state of california if he lived in georgia or mississippi I think that he'd be saying something a little bit different I think he would be less inclined to hold hands with his husband in public, right? So he says things he makes these really bold assertions about what americans want And how they're willing to risk their own lives while not having to actually risk anything himself He's gonna stay in his own studio Which i'm guessing is in his home and continue to talk to a camera Not risk his own ass and an old joke about how oh i'm a criminal because i got a haircut The man is a clown. He stands for absolutely nothing And i genuinely don't think he cares about anything like he doesn't care about politics He doesn't if he could make enough money Just getting on camera and talking about like i don't know fucking food He probably would do that. He's just a grifter. I don't know what else to say and he's gonna flock to the money Like you know stank on shit Because that's who he is So, you know, i'm just glad that more people now judging by the reviews of this book Realize that about davry open that he's not a serious person. He's not to be taken seriously He's not ideologically driven at all. He's just literally parroting whatever right wing Conservatives say if one pundit says something he's gonna immediately parrot what they say He doesn't think for himself. He doesn't actually care about policy. He's not intellectually curious The man is a hack of the highest order and um, even though he made the new york times best seller list I am a little bit. Um I'm a little bit happy that he was triggered by the bad reviews of his book Because he just thought that everyone would love it including conservatives because he's dunking on the left But if you're going to grift you've got to be at least a little bit less transparent than this, dave So a lot of people currently are feeling down demoralized and even depressed because We are in such an unprecedented and just Bizarre situation like it really feels like we are living in the dystopian futures that you know, uh We read about in sci-fi novels. It feels unreal almost Um, and there are some people who feel optimistic because you know, eventually covet 19 this pandemic It's gonna go away, right? There's gonna be a lot of damage people are losing loved ones people are dying people are losing their jobs They're losing their material wealth But at the end of the day, we will one day be able to say that we can put this behind us um, but That isn't enough for a lot of people like the 2020 election. It's adding to the bleakness. It's adding to This sense of just desperation because I don't think people fully get it So I wanted to take some time to share A perspective with individuals who think that everything will be peachy keen if we just get Donald Trump out of office Because for a lot of millennials a lot of leftists They don't feel that way now I'm not trying to perpetuate some type of false equivalents between Donald Trump and Joe Biden There are meaningful differences between these two individuals But the problem is that you know, the left had an opportunity to replace The system possibly or at least start replacing that system get us on the trajectory of social democracy We had a second chance at electing someone who we felt Actually was going to fight for us now. Bernie. He's not someone who I felt like was the savior He'd you know fix all the problems that the country had but to me I felt like he was going to give us a fighting chance, but now with the situation that we're in There's no sense of you know, um An end in sight right like with COVID-19 we can say well at least in a year or two or like worst case scenario A couple of years Um, we'll get past this but with the current political situation we are in There's no light at the end of the tunnel It feels like we're going to keep repeating the same thing over and over every single election cycle We're gonna have a pendulum that swings to a republican eight years and then a democrat for another eight years and back and forth and you know So long as we maintain this cycle of neoliberalism, it's not like things stay the same right the situation doesn't remain static the country and the world deteriorates the situation for normal working people gets Exponentially worse with each cycle So let's just explain why so many young people can't get excited right now about the prospect of getting rid of donald trump Even though I think that is important the problem is that We're not going to undo The mechanisms that led to donald trump's rise in the first place any competent moral society would never allow A far-right demagogue like donald trump to get elected and it's not like the united states of america is unique here We're seeing far-right extremism pop up in countries around the world in brazil with jair balsen arrow in india With narendra modi. This is not a unique phenomenon. We're seeing this Almost everywhere right and it's happening because the global capitalist consensus is failing working people everywhere So as working people become more desperate around the world They become more susceptible to radicalization now. Sometimes they lurch further to the left Other times they you know, um lurch to the right because A right-wing demagogue will offer them a solution and that solution is usually bad It's uh, it's the immigrants, you know who are causing all of your problems They they're the ones who put you in this economic situation. I'm oversimplifying it But you know for an example, so because the selection will not actually be conducive to a change in the status quo That's why so many people feel demoralized. So let's let's just think through why this is we have a certain set of outcomes We have two main outcomes, right? And a third possibility which is highly unlikely albeit still possible So outcome number one trump is defeated joe biden becomes president outcome number two um joe biden is defeated donald trump remains president And um in the very unlikely situation joe biden is replaced and steps down now because I feel like that's almost Uh, I don't want to say impossible, but very very unlikely. We'll talk about that one first So just on principle I can't necessarily endorse the idea that joe biden should be replaced like we do some type of switcheroo at the convention Because even if I don't like joe biden and I disagree with him on everything if he got more votes He got more votes the only you know way that I would actually get on board With that situation is if he stepped down, right? And he said i'm withdrawing my bid for the candidacy Oh for the presidency of the united states if he did something like that I would be okay with that But one he would never do that and two even if he did do that in that best case scenario for the left It's not going to lead to bernie sand is becoming the nominee democrats will still fight him Tooth and nail and it will be some other neoliberal who will take his place getting us right back to square one, right? So I think we can basically rule that situation out If democrats switched him, you know with andrew kwomo I think that would be wrong because they're undermining people who voted for joe biden And it's not really going to change The conditions in this country, right? So that doesn't really matter So what we're really presented with here is two realistic options of what's going to take place That aren't really going to help anyone, right? So If donald trump is defeated that means that we've defeated donald trump orange man bad That's good in and of itself, right? And the best outcome out of a trump defeat for the left Is that joe biden can replace ruth bader ginsberg assuming she's willing to step down So he can replace ruth bader ginsberg However, even in that situation The best situation that we can find ourselves in giving given the circumstances I don't think that liberals fully comprehend that that's not enough The supreme court already has a five to four conservative majority And if joe biden is able to replace ruth bader ginsberg That doesn't change the overall makeup of the court. It's still going to be five to four meaning that We can still see an overturning of roe v. Wade. We can see, you know, the old birgfeld gay rights Marriage equality be overturned. We will see the dismantling of unions labor rights So the fact that the liberal wing of the democratic party, which is dominant Is basically hoping for a best case scenario Where joe biden replaces ruth bader ginsberg That tells me that they haven't thought this fully through because regardless of who replaces ruth bader ginsberg And I genuinely hope it is joe biden We still have To fix the supreme court and I don't necessarily know what that entails Maybe we come up with a court packing plan, but you can't just be satisfied with joe biden replacing ruth bader ginsberg They're going to dismantle our system Give corporations even more power with that five four conservative majority that that they currently have Right now, of course We don't want to expand the conservative lead on this court in the event that justice roberts Wants to flip and side with liberals. We don't want to do that But at the same time the status quo as it is even in that best case scenario is not a good situation conservatives are still dominant And the fact that democrats aren't actually coming up with an adequate plan to address this Is unacceptable to me. It's already an issue and to me I worry because democrats haven't taken this seriously Now furthermore in the event donald trump is defeated and joe biden is the president You know, I absolutely expect him to undo some of the things that donald trump managed to undo since obama, right? So you can expect joe biden to get us back into the to the paris climate accord You can expect joe biden to try to restart the oran deal if oran would even be willing to come to the table But the problem with that is any change that we see from joe biden. He, you know gets back into oran deal That's case scenario. He restarts DACA All of this is most likely going to be changed that takes effect almost exclusively The executive order which can easily be undone by the next republican president So any major legislative accomplishment that he achieves that has more staying power, right republicans They've been trying to dismantle the affordable care act by death by a thousand cuts But they can't just undo it with the next republican administration But we're not necessarily looking at a situation Where joe biden is going to come in with a super majority like brock obama So with joe biden as president you have to understand why the left Doesn't feel like everything is going to be peachy keen because fundamentally We're still going to be stuck in this same situation And the fact that joe biden hasn't really even talked about policy proposals is an issue, right? It's a really big issue. I don't really know where he stands on healthcare He says that he supports public option But he came into the white house in 2008 saying he supported a public option and we didn't get a public option They didn't even propose it. So that's why you've got to understand Why young people are so frustrated because even if liberals get what they want We're still looking at a really grim situation Now, let's look at the other alternative Where donald trump is reelected. I think this is probably the likely scenario although covet 19 has changed everything and trump has bungled covet 19 but his approval rating isn't as bad as it should be which is astonishing to me So donald trump. He gets another four years Will basically be in the same situation albeit worse We've kind of been on this downward trajectory into apocalypse and that is four more years of absolutely No action when it comes to climate change and not only that what little progress we've made He's going to try to undo it where we've made progress at the state level trump will try to undo that and challenge states We're seeing this with his battle with california and their own CO2 emission regulations So it's going to be bad if donald trump is elected He most likely will be replacing ruth bader ginsburg, which gives conservatives a six three majority So any hope of maybe roberts flipping and siding with liberals That's gone because it doesn't matter. They have a little bit of a cushion there. They can do what they want They can repeal roe v. Wade They can do anything they want republicans can pass You know, whatever legislation however draconian it may be and not worry about the supreme court of returning it Whereas even if bernie sanders were elected president and he passed medicare for all We would have had to worry about them possibly overturning it. It would be a constant battle So regardless of the outcome of this election cycle We're not going to be in a good place Now I will say that I think objectively speaking if you are a leftist than joe biden Will do the least amount of harm. They're both horrible choices But one is going to cause a little bit less destruction Than the other and you know, there's this line of thinking that Well, what if we just were really organized and we put pressure on joe biden? I mean sure that's a possibility But the problem is that If joe biden were going to be responsive to the left Don't you think he would be listening to you now when he needs your vote? So if you want to be realistic about the situation Best case scenario given the set of circumstances we have is joe biden replaces ruth bader ginsberg But that's it. That's it Now, you know another benefit to ousting donald trump Is that the prospect of war with iran will largely be diminished But the problem is that it will be diminished for another four to eight years Because another more competent republican may come along and do what the party has wanted for decades now War with iran So the problem that the left has with liberals and why the future looks so bleak is because Everything that leads to wars, you know, the military industrial complex everything that leads to economic insecurity housing insecurity These systems and institutions are not going to be dismantled and we're not even going to try to dismantle them And everything that joe biden Proports to be running on what we know, you know, his criminal justice reform plan He's literally undoing the harm that his policies caused in the first place So the reason why with bernie sanders we felt hopeful Is because even though we know bernie sanders is just one man We're not expecting a utopian society after bernie sanders But if we can show that social democracy these types of policies Are popular Then that could shift the overton window More to the left and that's really really important. It's important because Subsequent administrations in the democratic party know they have to adopt that line of thinking of bernie sanders if they want to be electable That's what happened with fdr Nobody even republicans wanted to challenge the status quo because fdr was that popular So this wasn't necessarily a guarantee that bernie would be as popular as fdr Who knows right? We didn't have fox news back during the fdr days But the point is that we would have been given a fighting shot But with basically, you know the coronation of joe biden as the nominee And with the prospect of him or trump winning That's why the left is so demoralized Because fundamentally nothing will change if joe biden beats donald trump Things are going to get a little bit better temporarily, right? He'll undo what trump did temporarily But everything he undoes Will be undone by the next republican. I mean anything that obama did that was good Trump undid that so we're going to go back and forth back and forth And over the course of time things will get worse And worse and worse and the problem is that whenever we think we've hit rock bottom We go lower things get worse now. We have a pandemic so It's really frustrating And I don't want to make this video to get everyone down and make them feel depressed But we have to be realistic about what we're working with we can't Delude ourselves into thinking that joe biden is going to be Good or even competent because I don't believe he will be good or competent if he beats donald trump Well, okay trumps out of office. That's that's good. He's a psychopath. He's crazy But at the end of the day Will joe biden Actually change the country so we don't see another donald trump. No Now, you know some leftists may think well at least if Joe biden loses then You know, uh, we get to try again in four more years But the problem with that is the damage that trump causes in another four more years I mean, it's it's going to be irreparable in some ways, right the things that he does We can undo them with a democratic administration in the future But a lot of what he does, you know, um, we can't We can't undo that like when it comes to environmental degradation We can't really undo that We don't have another four more years to undo the progress that we've made when it comes to climate change So it's not like things have to get worse before they get better. I genuinely don't agree that that is going to happen Regardless of what happens the outcome of this 2020 election We're going to be in a bad place And you know, if you think that the left is going to have a better chance in 2024 the problem is that We have no leadership now. Bernie's not going to run again. So who's going to step up Who's going to be that next left-leaning leader? What's probably going to happen is You know, there's going to be that void that will need to be filled But it's going to be filled by a corporate democrat There's going to be this vacuum left open the space for left-wing politics in the democratic party And we're going to see a charlatan like obama come along and capitalize on it But actually be a corporatist and not actually do anything to facilitate real change And the reason why we could trust bernie sanders and that he would actually fight and not be a charlatan Was because he has this 40 year track record. So the future it looks grim it looks bleak But I think it's important that we're honest and open about this fact because if we lie to ourselves Then we're not really going to know what we're working with if we misdiagnose the problems that we're dealing with We're not going to be able to apply adequate solutions, right? If we dilute ourselves into thinking we can tweet at joe biden to get him to adopt medicare for all We're never going to get medicare for all So the reason why I say this is to want to educate liberals who think that the left is just being babies And we're just butthurt because our guy lost no this wasn't about bernie sanders bernie sanders was a vessel for our ideas That's all he was that's it So sure we're mad that he didn't win but this isn't just about our team losing This goes deeper than that. This is about our future And a lot of us don't feel like we have that So that's part of the reason we need to educate people about where we're coming from and I don't speak for everyone But I mean I can only speak for myself But this is what a lot of leftists believe that the situation sucks either way And another reason why I'm making this video is because if we know what we're working with if we actually are realistic and we assess the situation A clear ride not with rose colored glasses about what could be and we know what we're getting Then we can I think be more effective in organizing the best thing we can get out of a biden administration Um that will last for a while is an rgb replacement He gets to fill that seat if it becomes vacant But aside from that, uh, you know, we're not going to be able to convince him to adopt progressive policies So within this time We have to be real and think deeply about what we need to do as a collective to build power and I'm not talking about, um, you know just Increasing our voices being louder. I'm talking about actually building power And not squandering what little leverage we have. So this is kind of an open-ended discussion I can't you know, um concisely tell you what we need to do because I genuinely don't know And this is a time where we should all be introspective But what I am saying is that one we have to be realistic about What we're working with in a Joe Biden administration or a trump administration, but either way, um We're going to have to fight and we've got our work cut out for us But what's most important about all of this is not that you take all this as you know permission to give up Because oh well mike says everything is bleak. Let's just check out of politics. No Not at all. That's not what I want you to take away from this I want you to take away from this that The future has not yet to be Written it's not here yet, right? So we're currently headed down this really dangerous path the trajectory that we're on looks bad But guess what we still believe it or not have time to change that And it doesn't matter if Donald Trump or Joe Biden Becomes president Our actions shouldn't change, right? I mean, I'm not saying it doesn't matter like they're the same Again, don't want to perpetuate a false equivalency but what I'm saying is it doesn't matter in so far as the left You know decides what action we need to take because irrespective of what happens Whatever the outcome may be of 2020 We have to be united as lefties and we have to be really organized and I think More savvy going forward to actually Become powerful and get the policies that we want implemented into law Now, however, we do that. I think we've got to think this through But don't get down get organized And really fight that's that's what's really important. So, um, you know, I honestly don't know why I made this video I wanted to kind of like give people who are libs this perspective because I'm seeing people On at least in my social circles, you know on my facebook timeline saying oh these Bernie bros They're so insufferable They won't stop crying because their guy lost but it's that's such an over simplification and it's gross, right? Because that's not what this is about. That's I don't care, right? I'm not loyal to anyone politician or party I'll switch allegiance, you know, like that if I can get the policies that I want codified into law and if You know, we we get in this situation. That's not possible But you know, hear me out if hypothetically Joe Biden becomes president and he starts, you know Going crazy passing medicare for all legalizing marijuana. I'll switch allegiance. I don't care This isn't about Joe Biden versus Bernie Sanders. I just want policies implemented into law that will help people That's all I want. That's all I'm looking for. I'm easy to please. I think right because it's not about party It's not about politicians. It's about policies And that's really what I try to center myself on, you know as Personality driven as American politics can be so I thought maybe this can be helpful for people who don't have that perspective Who don't know what millennials are dealing with and also I thought, you know It would be important for the left to really acknowledge What we're going to be working with because I don't want you to think that If Joe Biden is elected everything is going to be peachy keen, but I also don't want you to think that, you know, if Donald trump is re-elected. Oh, we're just going to try again and we'll definitely win in four years You know, uh, things don't often go according to plan, you know, my plan was for bernie to get elected second time We're we're stronger. We know more. Uh, we we can use what we learned from 2016 to get them elected in 2020 People change things change and you know, a lot of things will be different in 2024 So don't bank on that don't only bank on electoral politics, but what I do know is going forward try to be more savvy and Try to realistically look at the situation that we're in so you know how to respond Appropriately and that's that's really all that I can say So last night the left got some surprisingly encouraging news and this Really gave me hope for the first time. I think since after bernie sanders Won nevada So for those of you who don't know in the second congressional district of the state of nebraska We had an upset progressive cara easman Won her primary defeated a corporate democrat and she will now take on republican incumbent don bacon In november and for those of you who don't know about cara easman. She is A brilliant candidate. Um, this is someone who I was rooting for. I was watching her campaign She's absolutely as progressive as you'd want her to be but what's important is that she knows how to meet people Where they are she knows how to market the policies that she's pushing So for example one video that you put out that I want to share with you. It's relatively long But I think it's worthwhile She explains medicare for all and she kind of goes through all of the myths about medicare for all and debunks each and every single one of them And she responds to the republican talking points before they even Uh critique her so take a look at this video if you didn't know who she was This is just a little taste of one of the policies that she's promoting We are spending 18 percent of our gdp on health care right now and our outcomes are some of the poorest in the world We are projected to show a five percent increase in health care costs Over the next decade each era a five percent increase So that we get to a point where we're going to be sending 23 of our gdp on health care There is a better system We know that the current bill that's out there the promilla diapol co-sponsored promilla diapol who came to the district has endorsed me And has become a friend and hopefully a colleague of mine HR 1384 the medicare for all act actually saves the the government two trillion dollars over the next decade We need bold policy solutions that save the federal government money The provide health care for everybody and that also save american individuals and families money That is why i'm supportive of that bill now i i get people's hesitance about it We want something that protects insurance employees at almazen insurance town I will never do anything that jeopardizes employees in this town And the bill provides for A transition plan and money for insurance employees I will never do anything that jeopardizes union workers and i understand union members trepidation about this And i want to make sure that the union members who fought for health care get that money back in their pockets Not to the large corporations that will benefit from a proposal like this There's a way that we can have a health care system that provides for Vision gentle hearing long-term care long-term care something that each one of us who has an aging parent Or who is an aging parent is worried about i don't know if i'm an aging parent yet, but I mean these are pragmatic solutions to a broken system. We need a system that Gives people freedom and choice right now you don't have freedom and choice when it comes to your own health care You're dictated by what your insurance company tells you I talk to doctors all the time that say they want to actually have the freedom to practice medicine They don't want to be told what's covered and what's not covered if we actually want a free market health care system We would not have what we have now the medicare for all act is actually in accordance with free market principles Because right now You decide where you're going to get your health care based on what your insurance company says they will cover That's not free market We should be able to say i'm going to choose my health care provider based on the quality of that care Based on the location of that care and based on how i feel about that provider We need a system that actually gives people choice that actually gives people freedom And and the stuff that we hear which are republican speaking points that are targeting people to say This is something that can't work. They're fear tactics, right? So you're telling people government takeover of health care This isn't a government takeover of anything. This is publicly funded and privately delivered We hear that you're not going to be able to choose your provider. You don't choose your provider now But this would actually give you that choice We hear that we're going to strip you from health care. Well, that's ridiculous because why would I be advocating for something called Medicare for all or universal health care or health care for all that strips people away from health care That's simply not true So we need the facts in front of us to be able to make this decision And we know that there will be some sort of phase in program This isn't an over the night flip a switch and everybody gets health care But there will be options for people. They'll actually have more options than they have now, which is why I support it That was fantastic anything that i've said about medicare for all in response to criticisms from corporate democrats and republicans She said in that video. It's fantastic. It's absolutely fantastic And if she were to win and defeat don bacon She can possibly change discourse in america and I don't mean to sound hyperbolic, but Basically, there's this idea that progressives can't win. They you know, uh, We'll just jeopardize the democrats chances of keeping the house and taking back the senate But here's the thing in california's 25th congressional district a corporate democrat lost And last night we had a progressive win So if we can show the country even if they probably won't want to pay attention That we are viable that we can win I think that will embolden us And we need that right now. So i'm going to put a donation link to karah eastman's Act blue page and also i'm going to link you to her website if you want to learn more about her medicare for all Isn't the only policy position that she supports. Uh, she has a really robust policy platform But for me medicare for all is my one issue So the way that I personally gauge whether or not I am going to support a candidate Is how enthusiastic and comprehensive they are when they talk about health care So if I see anything like oh, I I believe in access to affordable health care those code words They scare me away, but we're not seeing that with karah eastman's. She's great Now after she won her primary her opponent now don bacon immediately went on this weird tweet storm Where he started attacking her using the most laziest arguments imaginable because if you are a republican party hack You can't really respond to someone you're running against On policy because the people are gonna agree with karah not don bacon So look at what she's already dealing with karah eastman's extremist policy agenda will skyrocket our taxes To pay for a government takeover of health care and free college for everyone I voted to cut taxes for hardworking nebraska families and small business in nebraska's second congressional district Kara's ideas are a little out there Kara eastman's government takeover of health care will take away union negotiated plans Everyone's private health insurance and lead to rationing of care Nebraska too says no to socialism and kara's ideas are a little out there So he's trying to frame her as this wacky socialist, which I don't think is going to work He also says radical socialist kara eastman wants to kick 180 million americans off their health insurance That sounds familiar. It's almost like the democrats teed up this argument for republicans to use I want to increase transparency while increasing options and lowering costs for nebraska to Consumers allowing them to make their own decisions Kara's ideas are a little out there radical socialists like alexandria ocasio-cortez and bernie sanders support kara eastman They know she'll be a reliable ally in raising your taxes to pay for massive expansion of government They also know her ideas are a little out there kara eastman opposed real donald trump's Embassy move to jerusalem and rightfully so she supports bts policies that make israel vulnerable. That's false I am one of the strongest pro-israel supporters in congress and even helped install their missile defenses Kara's ideas are a little out there. So as you can see he is not so subtly Trying to push this idea that she's a wacky socialist and he's not trying to expand his voter base So I think that this presents the left with a real opportunity here because she is running Unapologetically unprogressive ideas even if she is in a red district that she's trying to flip But she's not running away from a progressive policy platform. She's trying to win by bringing out new demoralized working class voters who just don't vote who don't participate, right? So you can see who he's trying to play to he's trying to play to the right wing maggot shed crowd He's not trying to expand the base. He's talking about how wonderful it was for trump to move The is the u.s embassy in israel from televieve to jerusalem, which is disputed territory, obviously And he's not trying to expand his base. So this gives us a really easy roadmap to follow It's not going to be easy, but it gives us a really Good sense of what we need to do to win. We just have to expand the base He's not going to expand that base that he already has but if kara expands the base enough She can win this now. This is going to be a tough fight, but it's possible That she beats him. It's possible that she beats him. So this is everything. This is exactly what we needed We needed a little bit of hope We needed something to hang on to something to fight for now that brenny's out of the race And this is exactly it and I cannot tell you when I saw news that she won I almost got like emotional because it's like we've been beaten down Kicked into the teeth constantly like there's there's no light at the end of the tunnel for the left And this is just something it's something for us. It's going to be hard, right? This is going to be a very difficult race, but guess what? It's not unlinable She can actually win. She can defeat this right wing republican extremist who's trying to paint her as the extremist But what we can do is explain how these types of policies that she's proposing Especially now during a pandemic like medicare for all these aren't just popular among the left and wacky socialists This is what americans now know that they need more than ever Don dakin isn't going to be able to lie to constituents in nebraska's second congressional district about how they loved Their employer sponsored health care plans because guess what we're in a pandemic people are losing their jobs Your employer sponsored health care plan Is going away. So we have a real opportunity here To make a difference We can we can beat this guy She can win So i'm fired up. This is the news that I needed. I needed something to hang on to something anything And we got really fantastic news. Carrie easterman is a phenomenal candidate I'll be bringing her on my show soon to talk about what we can do to actually beat don bacon And all I know is uh get involved if you live in that district Sign up to a canvas for her as soon as we can actually knock on doors again Um and on top of that if you don't live in that district you can still phone bank for carry easterman We can actually make a difference donate if you have the money I know a lot of people don't have money now because we're in a pandemic But we can actually affect change. So these types of you know down ballot races This is what I think that short term the left should be focusing on because if you're not excited about joe biden I don't blame you but we have these types of really exciting races around the country We have carry easterman. We have she had but are taking on nancy pelosi And there is a competitive race in the state of main where we have ranked choice voting And you see really great options. You see a progressive democrat in betsy suite and a viable green party candidate in lisa savage So there is hope for us all hope is not lost yet. And we just needed this victory to show us show me at least um, so this is everything this is great and um I will be looking forward to helping carry easterman defeat don bacon We're gonna flip this seat and show corporate democrats why it's actually progressives who are the ones with the winning strategy And not Corporate democrats who stand for nothing christie smith in california's 25th congressional district stood for nothing And she lost by a lot To a crazy right-wing maga chad But here the progressive one And if we can beat that incumbent unseat a republican take away the republican party stronghold in that district We can really make a difference. I think so um I'm all about this carry easterman 2020. Let's let's defeat this guy This is great news. I've said that again and again But like i'm honestly shocked that I have something good to tell you with no caveats like this is genuinely good news And uh now we we just got to fight for this victory and make sure that we secure this seat Since nancy pelosi and the democratic party decided collectively that bailing out multi billion dollar companies Is higher on their list of priorities than bailing out working class americans who are hurting during a pandemic They've kind of backed themselves into a corner, right? They don't really have any leverage going into future negotiations because they just gave republicans the one thing that they wanted And let's be clear here democratic party leadership nancy pelosi chuck schumer. They also wanted the bailout But they also unlike republicans have to maintain this façade that they care about working class americans So if you already give republicans the one thing that they wanted what incentive do republicans have to come to the table and Meet you even halfway on another bailout package for the american people The answer is they have no incentive and predictably now that democrats have already played all of their cards Gave away all of their bargaining chips political reports that republicans feel absolutely no pressure To cave to the demands of nancy pelosi and the democratic party So they're saying explicitly we have absolutely no intention of working with nancy pelosi And nancy pelosi knows that she has to find some way to try and at least make it appear as if she's fighting for working class americans So she has one move she can make here She writes a bill and she knows it's not going to get passed But she at least makes it a really robust bill that actually would objectively be good for working class americans And even if this isn't going to ever be codified into law because mitch mcconnell won't let it pass He won't allow a vote on the senate in the senate on this and trump won't sign into law At least nancy pelosi can kind of use this as a political weapon to bludgeon republicans over the heads with And she can excite the base by saying look if you come out and support democrats in november This bill is what you have to look forward to and to an extent. She is doing this She is doing politically what she has to do and even if this is political theater You know she she's doing what we expect her to do take a look It might be partisan on their part But it's not partisan on our part to make the needs of the american people now This is exactly what we expected But i will say it comes To two and a half months late because we're in a pandemic and people are hurting Millions of people have filed for unemployment people are literally going hungry in this country Thousands upon thousands of people are dying every single day So if nancy pelosi genuinely cared about the american people She wouldn't have agreed to any bill if it didn't provide americans with adequate relief in round one Because she knows how republicans operate. She's not a stupid person. She knows They're going to play hardball with her. So if you don't get everything that you want The first go around or at least most of what you want Odds are especially if you give away everything that republicans want to them They're not going to come back And meet you halfway in the future So her only play now is to construct a bill that is so robust so progressive it excites the base Give americans everything that they want bring together all wings of the party bring progressives into the fold Who feel demoralized currently after a very you know Competitive primary where we lost and adopt all of their policy proposals because it honestly doesn't matter at this point This isn't going to pass. This isn't going to be codified into law So she has nothing to lose and everything to gain. She can make progressives feel heard if she listens to them And there's a number of demands from the congressional progressive caucus That she can easily adopt and look like a hero that includes a recurring direct cash payment A moratorium on evictions and foreclosures at least $30,000 in student debt relief Suspending debt collection Expanding medicare to those who lost their jobs due to kovid fully subsidizing the cost of health care expenses for victims of kovid 19 Increasing food stamps creating a federal paycheck guarantee program A instituting vote by mail ahead of november's election because if she doesn't do this She's basically setting up the democratic party for failure I mean she has no reason to not add all of this You have to bring progressives into the fold make them feel heard as a leader This is a sizable wing within your party So if you keep isolating them and marginalizing them, you're just going to drive them away You have no reason to not adopt all of this because we know this is just about optics It's not going to pass But what did we get? Well, we got a bill with uh Some demands uh from progressives But even the good in this bill doesn't come without a really Bad poison pill if you want the good you're going to have to take the bad So let's give you the rundown of what's included in this bill as erica werner of the washington post reports the 1800 page legislation Which the house is expected to vote on friday would devote nearly one trillion to state local territorial and tribal governments And establish a 200 billion heroes fund to extend hazard pay to essential workers It would also send a second and larger round of direct payments to individual americans up to 6 000 per household Other parts of the bill would increase nutrition assistance benefits by 15 percent And provide 175 billion in housing assistance among other things a 600 dollar weekly increase in employment insurance Would be extended through january and the bill directs another 75 billion for coronavirus testing and contact tracing Other provisions include 25 billion for the u.s. Postal Service a frequent target of attacks from president trump And a new requirement for passengers and employees on airlines public transit systems and amtrak trains to wear masks protections are included for legitimate cannabis related businesses And there is three billion to increase mental health support And 400 billion to help the census bureau deal with coronavirus related delays in the 2020 census The democrats legislation also includes provisions to ensure that all voters can vote by mail in the november election And all subsequent federal elections an idea that trump and many republicans have rejected because they say it invites fraud It would be congress's fifth coronavirus relief bill building on the two trillion dollar cares act passed in late march But while the first four bills were the result of urgent bipartisan compromise in the early days of the pandemic Now the two sides aren't even talking and are moving in radically different directions It's unclear when they will come together to produce another bipartisan response But some republicans suggested it might not be anytime soon. So let's be objective here Let's give credit where it's due. There are some provisions in this bill that will absolutely help the american people I think increasing food stamps by 15 percent. That's really important Now I personally would have bumped it up to 25 percent give people that extra cushion because You're not going to give them too much money in this instance because it's not like they'll buy too much food And it'll go bad like you put that money on an ebt card and if they get too much it'll roll over What matters is that people are fed they're not going hungry And more is better than less at this point because we don't need people in america Lining up for bread lines that go multiple blocks like that's just not acceptable But I mean nonetheless, I'll take this 15 percent The 1200 dollar Payment it's another one-time payment not good enough. It needs to be recurring Why wouldn't you just adopt the $2,000 monthly recurring payment that will go to americans throughout the duration of this pandemic? Why another one-time payment? It's not enough now It's better than nothing americans would still really value this currently, but there's no reason to not Include a recurring payment in a bill. That's not going to be passed But aside from that, you know I don't want to be overly critical of the good provisions because there's some really important measures here Vote by mail Crucial if democrats want to win in november and going forward because that will increase turnout on top of that Increasing the amount of tests for cobin 19. There's some great things in here But this legislation doesn't come without its really really awful provisions For example, first of all huff posts matt fuller explains that there's a provision That is a brazen giveaway to the richest one percent of americans We're talking about nancy pelosi's relentless pursuit to roll back the salt tax cap It's just a brazen giveaway to the wealthiest americans. I don't know why she's so hell bent on doing this This is a bill about optics. Let me remind you and nonetheless She had to include that in this bill for no reason other than to just kind of give a wink and a nod to her donors Um Who bankroll her campaign? I don't know on top of that. Uh, this headline from the intercepts akila lacy and john walker I think really says it all heroes act delivers a win to the health insurance industry The heroes act the new coronavirus relief bill introduced by house democrats on tuesday Includes protections for employer sponsored insurance plans, which the healthcare industry has been lobbying congress on for weeks Through proposed legislation includes subsidies for continued coverage for furloughed workers And people using cobra a continuing health coverage plan for those who have lost work Even if they don't pay their premiums The bill also creates avenues for premium assistance for certain categories of people who want to pay those premiums Anyway, and would open a special insurance enrollment period a week from the date It's enacted into law It also provides nine months of premium payments to health insurance plan Administrators who don't receive them during the ongoing pandemic the push to protect health insurance premiums comes as some healthcare companies like united health Humana and signa have reported profits during the pandemic amid record high unemployment levels and have boasted that they don't expect To take a financial hit vermont senator bernie sanders wrote an op-ed on april 28th Criticizing democrats push to subsidize cobra quote subsidizing cobra as they have suggested would be both expensive and ineffective Not only would health insurance corporations make massive profits off the plan Prophets that come at the cost of the american taxpayer, but it would still leave tens of millions uninsured or underinsured. He wrote Expanding cobra during the pandemic would do nothing to cover those who already lacked insurance He added noting that the program subsidies for premiums would not provide relief for low-income workers who still have to pay high Deductibles so let me remind you that in a bill that will not get passed in a bill That's just about optics to excite the base You're throwing red meat to the base Nancy Pelosi and democrats Still have to provide some giveaways to their donors and the health industry They already know that you're fighting for them. Nancy Pelosi in a bill that is basically Nothing more than political theater You don't have to do this you can easily Write in a quick fix you expand medicare To every single worker who lost their job because of covid-19 now That's not good enough in my opinion, but we need quick fixes during a pandemic Expanding medicare would show people who are recently unemployed that the democratic party is fighting for them But you couldn't even do that in a bill about optics Embarrassing now on top of that it gets worse. There's a provision in this legislation That amounts to a literal bailout of corporate lobbyists as jake johnson of common dreams reports The bill which the house is expected to vote on as early as friday does not contain recurring direct cash payments A paycheck guarantee cancellation of rent and mortgage payments Or expansion of medicare to cover the rapidly growing number of unemployed and uninsured americans The legislation does however propose an expansion of the paycheck protection program eligibility to include Corporate lobbying organizations which aggressively pushed for the change and a bailout for landlords Democratic leadership has had plenty of input from progressive thinkers over the past couple of months They just care more about the input from corporate lobbyists tweeted huff post senior reporter zack carter There is just no excuse for this. So we are rolling back to salt cap. We are bailing out corporate lobbyists Literally. Oh and in case I didn't bring this up earlier. We're also bailing out debt collectors and landlords And how many of the progressive provisions were adopted? About less than half again This is about optics. This bill will not be passed. I know I sound like a broken record But I have to keep overstating that so people understand Just how ridiculous this is now again the bill itself is not all bad But with the good you take a lot of really horrible provisions Horrible provisions and with those horrible provisions you still don't get adequate relief for americans so You can maybe maybe make the case that if we got everything on the congressional progressive caucus's wish list, maybe Those bad things would be acceptable because she's trying to bring together both the corporate and progressive wings of the party But she really uh Sent the message to the left again that she doesn't really care about them Now nancy polosi was actually challenged by representative promilla jaya paul And she sent it off about this on twitter explaining why This bill is weak like it's not awful. It's not 100 bad But it's still not adequate. It still doesn't go far enough when people are hurting And we have to think big now. Here's the thing. I absolutely admire that promilla jaya paul Is speaking up She's one of the few progressives who actually does challenge nancy polosi from time to time Even if she does go along with a lot of what nancy polosi wants But she just tweeted this out if i'm promilla jaya paul I'm not just gonna tweet this out. I'm gonna call up msnbc. I'm gonna go on cnn I'm going to drag nancy polosi for this Because even if there are some good things some more crumbs for the peasants It doesn't go far enough So don't let nancy polosi hide behind some of the good things that are in this bill To push for her pro corporate agenda where she literally bills out corporate lobbyists You can't let her do that. You can't let her monopolize Discourse surrounding the heroes act you've got to name her and shame her explicitly And I get that that's really going to be awkward for you because she's your colleague. She's your boss But let's be real here progressives have really got to start fighting fire with fire playing hardball Because you are a sizable enough caucus now to where you actually have some leverage You just got to use it like rocanna aoc Pramilla jaya paul even katie porter who's more of a warren democrat these individuals They have leverage They have to use it They've got to fight fire with fire and play hardball and not be afraid to call out leadership Like I admire her for calling out nancy polosi through twitter But let's be real. That's not enough like look at what the freedom caucus was able to accomplish There are minority within the republican party, but they absolutely never Hesitated to give the republican party establishment and leadership specifically Hell they would hold up any legislation that didn't meet their criteria and they were successful And shifting the overton window to the right and the aggregate republican party further and further to the right So if you don't adopt some of the political strategy that we saw from the freedom caucus Knowing that you have a pretty sizable caucus yourself You're not going to be successful. I think that you know tepidly wording a dismissal of this bill and its weaknesses on twitter isn't going to suffice you have to actually Whip the votes get members of the progressive congressional caucus To not vote on this not support this not back nancy polosi when she needs you because if she knows You're going to be there for her like that And every time she says jump you say hi how high She's never ever ever going to actually take you seriously. She's always going to take you for granted So um, you know, I think that What progressives and the left collectively need to learn from this Is that democrats don't take the left seriously because the left is always there for democrats when they need them So what we have to do going forward is withhold votes. Don't vote on nancy polosi's legislation Don't let her hold committee appointments over your head actually fight fire with fire And if she wants to blast you go on corporate media Go on corporate media and blast her back corporate media will side with the nancy polosi But if you can at least Force her to defend herself for the first time from within the democratic party Maybe that can make a difference now you could fail doing this But at least trying and failing is better than not trying not fighting fire with fire not fighting hard enough against These corporate democrats who are using every single institutional mechanism to silence And marginalize the left further So, you know this bill again, I don't want to say it's all bad because if this bill were to pass there'd be some really Good provisions in this that would help the american people objectively speaking But we shouldn't be forced every single time to take Some good with a lot of really harmful provisions That come with it. We shouldn't do that Especially when we're talking about a bill that is political theater. It's just about optics Can't we at least for once in a bill that's not going to get passed? Have it just be clean have no giveaways to corporate america Well, I mean, I think we can But we just have to start using our voices people in congress specifically progressives Have to use their voices more effectively and I think they've really got to come together bind together And they've got to agree to be a very strong and vocal block because if they don't actually start applying adequate pressure On leadership, they're not going to get what they want They will continue to be steamrolled with whole votes not just for these bills, but for leadership positions You've got to fight them if you don't things like this are going to continue to happen And look, I criticize Nancy Pelosi often because you know, I say that she doesn't know how to play politics When you see the way that she fights against republicans But I'm going to walk back everything that I said about Nancy Pelosi with regard to her not being strategically savvy because she is savvy, right She knows how to play politics. We we see the way that she plays politics against the left It's just that she's not playing politics with the republicans because She agrees with them She agrees with them on economic issues. So why would she fight them when they're doing What's good for her what she wants? What is that the behest of her donors quite frankly? So she knows what she's doing. She knows how to marginalize the left And play them like a fiddle and it's time that congressional progressives put their foot down And not accept this anymore I think you guys know how I feel about these task forces when Bernie Sanders initially came out with his joe biden endorsement And announced the formation of these unity task forces. I mean I wasn't very keen on them, right? I think that it's largely pointless It's not going to lead to anything But I wasn't necessarily of the belief that these task forces could some way be harmful to the left because why would they? They're pointless, but I actually have kind of changed my mind I think they could actually be harmful because I think it could be A way of placating the left or at least getting us to be silent being less critical Of joe biden if he is some way able to convince us that we were heard and he adopted some of our policies I don't know if you've ever like had a younger brother or sister or a cousin or a nephew in my case And you really want to play video games and they want to play too But you don't want to let them have a turn So you unplug the controller from the console and you give that to them while you play and you know It seems like they're doing something they think that they're winning, but really it's you This is how the task forces feel to me. It feels like You know joe biden and democrats unplugged the controller from the console and they handed it to us And they're trying to make it seem as if we're doing something. We're steering. We're making a difference But in actuality, we're not really going to make a difference um And that's the least of my concerns. My concern is that we get duped in the thinking that these Helped us and we kind of Let our foot off the gas So before I kind of dive into more of my opinion on this We did get some news about the makeup of these task forces and as bloomberg's jennifer eppstein points out New this morning biden and sanders roll out the members of the six unity task forces that will offer recommendations to the dnc platform committee And to biden and on these six task forces There's some good names, right? These are people who I admire and respect But not all of them So on the climate change committee you have aoc as one of the co-chairs and the other co-chair for whatever reason Is john carrey. Um, I don't think anyone on the left cares about what he has to say Nonetheless, he's a co-chair, but you know, I like aoc I like that there is sunrise movements varshini parkash included I think she's a great voice on the criminal justice reform task force You have stacey walker on the economic task force. You have stefanie kelton on the health care task force You have dr. Abdul al-sayed along with primal ajiapal. So I mean, these are big names. These are people who I respect But notably absent from the list of names is of course nina turner Nina turner is an icon to the progressive left and socialists everywhere We respect her we trust her the fact that she was excluded That really says something and I can't play the clip but in an interview with the breakfast club recently She said she wasn't wanted it was clear to her that she wasn't wanted So these task forces in and of themselves I don't think that they're going to amount to anything But the fact that they wouldn't even include her for a largely symbolic task is uh It's disgusting it shows you that they really don't think too highly about the progressive left Now after this list became public aoc actually responded about her decision to join this task force Tweeting after conferring with grassroots activists and climate allies I'm accepting bernie sanders nomination to co-chair the climate change unity task force With secretary john carrey. I have always believed that real change happens not with a panel or task force But in everyday people organizing mass movements to demand change Yet we should also commit to showing up everywhere every space where there are decisions and formative conversations with movement voices Now you can you can kind of hear the reluctance in her voice or see it in her words in these tweets Um, and I don't blame her for being reluctant if bernie sanders ever asked me He wouldn't to be on one of these task forces But if he asked me I would say no absolutely not because I will not be placated I will not be duped into believing that i'm doing something when in actuality. I'm accomplishing nothing Now the point of these task forces ostensibly is to basically bring together Both wings of the party joe biden supporters and bernie sanders supporters so they can come up with Collective agreement around certain issues, you know, the economy criminal justice health care But I don't know why we're debating these things The democratic party has already sided with the progressive left even people who voted for joe biden They want medicare for all. This is what the polls showed So these conversations in my view are outdated. We already have the policy prescriptions We have solutions to these problems. There's no need to discuss it further It's just a matter of will we or will we not be cowards and will we fight for it? So that's why i'm against these task forces But when I learned what specifically the bernie side will be pushing for it Led further to my skepticism in these task forces So as politico's holly otter being tweeted out among the items sanders allies will likely be pushing for on the health care task force Lowering the medicare eligibility age to 55 and creating a universal health care insurance program for children So what is the point of having bernie voices on this task force? If they're not going to be pushing For medicare for all like they support medicare for all But maybe they feel as if that's not something that is realistic the party won't adopt it. So They're pushing for medicare 55. So we're asking joe biden to adopt Where the party was two years ago with hillary clinton and I guess Hoping for some type of souped-up version of the children's health insurance program. What is the point of this? again There's no point and it's not just that these task forces are pointless even if let's say hypothetically bernie's Wing is able to be successful and convince the democratic party to adopt certain things that they want On the platform. What good does the platform do? Parties put out these types of manifestos and largely ignore them Do you think that joe biden will follow through with whatever the national democratic party's platform is? No So it's pointless and it could be harmful if These people on these panels are satisfied and they believe that they did something and I say that Knowing that you know, you have to do whatever you can to get a seat at the table But in 2016 we had the dnc unity reform commissions. These were actually Conducive to good, right? We had to bargain with hillary clinton supporters and individuals who tom perez appointed So they were at this disadvantage in terms of bernie delegates versus hillary delegates But they still managed to fight really hard and get the dnc to adopt some changes So they didn't get rid of superdelegates entirely which they should have but they didn't make a pretty big difference This however is not going to amount to anything and I don't like saying things like this because I don't want people to think that I'm a downer if they're able to influence the task forces, then that's good But as I lay out in a tweet earlier, this is what I think is going to happen if you're joe biden Step one you announced medicare at 60 step two Let progressives think they've won when you decide to let them talk you down to medicare at 55 Step three use previous Negotiation as example of how you're quote-unquote listening to the left and adopted quote-unquote their policies i.e medicare at 55 Step four be as shitty as you've always been but be criticized less for it by these progressives because they don't want to Quote-unquote lose the quote-unquote concession that you gave to them And finally step five don't actually lower the medicare age at all if you're elected So it's a way to placate progressives. It's a way to silence some of his biggest critics like aoc And that worries me. You should never ever be silent When it comes to what you believe is right and what you believe is wrong However, I don't necessarily feel confident that progressives congressional progressives specifically are You know saying everything that they feel about joe biden how many of them have spoken out about terry Bernie hasn't said much and that's really disappointing because these are leaders who I look to For guidance. These are people who I thought You know believed in these things and I genuinely do believe That bernie believes tar read and aoc believes tar read But they don't necessarily want to say anything because they know that they would rock the boat And they don't want to be blamed for donald trump getting reelected, right? So I understand the position that they're in it's a lot of pressure And I don't want to be too down But at the end of the day I want progressives and the left generally speaking to get a lot more savvy be a lot more ruthless and even be a little bit of You know Machiavellian politicians if they have to be because at the end of the day We're fighting for what's good. We're on the right side of history and they're on the wrong side of history Like it or not, there's going to be a time where the current democratic party establishment will be a relic of the past Because future generation younger people they side with bernie sanders and his progressive policy proposals So it's just a matter of time at this point. I feel like we're delaying the inevitable Hopefully it's not too late when it comes to issues like climate change. But nonetheless Who's in power right now? They're not going to be there forever the current power apparatus will at some point Go the way of the dodo and a new generation Will come and usher in I think hopefully a new era of progressive politics. I'm trying to be optimistic But things like this I don't think it's helpful to that long-term goal. I just I just I don't because it's trying to get you to think that We have a say we have power. We have a seat at the table. We have influence when we don't And I think that we have to be realistic about our standing the left lost the people who we have in congress Are marginalized they're getting steamrolled by Nancy Pelosi and leadership And we can't delude ourselves into thinking They're giving us a seat at the table when this is nothing more than window dressing. It's not going to amount to anything So, you know, I don't necessarily Like I don't want to be down on AOC for taking this position You know, I think that people would have been angry if she didn't take this position But for me, I want the left to really really be strategic and I think that that's one thing that we've lacked We have kind of just rode on our principles, right? We talk about medicare for all we're policy focused and that's all we need But we've got to learn how to play politics We've got to learn how to market ourselves And how to create a narrative not a false narrative, but we've got to Tell people what's going on and that means we have to be a little bit brave people in congress who are Progressive have to call out leadership because if you don't You're gonna get placated. You're gonna get steamrolled and nothing will get accomplished. So I'm sorry I'm down on these task forces, but I genuinely find it insulting because it's like Don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining. Don't you know, give me a turd and tell me it's chocolate I know what this is. I know when I'm being deceived. This is deception And even though these names on, you know, these task forces are good people I don't want them to be, you know, used for joe biden's disgusting pro corporate neoliberal agenda And the fact that they wouldn't even include nina turner on these symbolic task forces It tells you how little, you know, they care about the progressive agenda. So, you know, I'm I'm not too keen on these task forces But if bernie genuinely believes that, um They're gonna make a difference Um, I mean, I'll trust him to an extent, but I think there's Better things he can do To influence joe biden if he does believe that joe biden is Influensible if that's a word at all. Uh, and I I don't know. I don't think that he is I think the best you'd get out of a joe biden administration is him replacing ruth bader ginsburg But any policies he, you know Implements they're most likely going to be via executive order, which will just be undone by the next republican president And, you know, we're going to be back to square one. So long term We've got to really think through what we do as lefties to increase our bargain and power to Make better use of the leverage that we have and we did have leverage and things like this these types of task forces It's not a good use of our time And you know if it were me if I had to say I would encourage all of these well-intentioned good people To boycott these task forces because at the end of the day They're not going to lead to us getting the policies that you want They're just an attempt to pretty obvious attempt. I think to satisfy us without doing anything Repeatedly throughout the course of the 2020 democratic party primary We were told that we can't go with someone as extreme as brony sanders Because he would hurt down ballot democrats For example, if there's a really tight race between, you know, a republican and a more conservative democrat Who doesn't necessarily feel as if they can be as progressive as someone like a oc or brony sanders brony is going to hurt that individual in that race Now we all knew that that was a lie brony was the better candidate for down ticket democrats because if you excite the base and bring out a lot of young people Then in all of these districts if brony increases turnout, that's going to be conducive to more democrat victories Because when turnout is high democrats win when it's low they lose That's a really easy way to look at whether or not a candidate is viable Will they be able to turn out the base? Now what's interesting is that the opposite is now happening, right when pundits and you know, um Democratic party establishment figures told us that joe biden was the more safer bet Well, now what's happening is that joe biden quite literally is hurting down ballot races one in particular That's winnable when that democrats need to win back. So we all remember susan collins how in 2018 after pretending to be on the fence She voted to confirm brett cavanaugh in alleged rapists So there was a lot of momentum to unseat her there was a go fund me where they raised more than a million dollars I think to go to her eventual opponent Well, fast forward to 2020 and democrats view sarah gideon who is uh I believe the speaker of the house from main as the frontrunner and nathan bernard a journalist reported on this story about how basically She's being harmed by joe biden because she based her entire campaign Off of defeating susan collins because she voted for an alleged rapists. Meanwhile Look at joe biden tar read came out with these allegations And sarah gideon hasn't said anything about joe biden now the primary isn't over yet But a lot of people view sarah gideon as the frontrunner since you know, she already has power She has the state and national party support So in the event she becomes the democratic party's nominee In main for the senate seat Her association with joe biden could tank her Yeah So nathan bernard explains main house speaker sarah gideon says she's running against susan collins in part Because the republican senator voted to confirm brett cavanaugh's nomination to the supreme court Despite a sexual assault allegation made against him But gideon has been mum about tar read's claim that joe biden sexually assaulted her in 1993 When reid worked as an aide in his senate office now republicans are trying to use gideon's silence on reid's allegations To blunt what had been one of the democratic frontrunners sharpest attacks against collins Meanwhile, the two more progressive candidates vying with gideon for their party's nomination are warning that democratic leaders hypocrisy on this issue Will cost the party votes and damage its credibility Gideon endorsed biden's bid for the white house on march 3rd And doubled down on her support for the former vice president last week as reid's story snowballed into a major political issue In response to manor's inquiry about gideon's position on reid's allegations Her team pointed to a statement the candidate released last week Sexual assault and sexual harassment are incredibly serious issues and for too long people have been too afraid to come forward The statement read every person should be able to come forward and tell their story And have it thoroughly looked into same talking points as we heard from other biden surrogates The other democrat on the ballot in the party's july 14th primary is betsey sweet A former executive director of the main women's lobby whose resume also includes work as a sexual harassment prevention trainer and advocate for victims of sexual assault To grant reid's claim any less respect than we granted fords is to abandon our credibility as a party our integrity as leaders And our responsibility as human beings to listen to all survivors of sexual violence sweet told manor We must take every claim seriously even if it is politically inconvenient The main g.o.p wasted no time attacking gideon on this issue Last week they sent out a press release headlined full of shit saris still silent on biden allegations It states joe biden was accused of sexual assault and gideon has yet to say a single word about tyra reid Not even to offer reid praise for coming forward just as she did For christine blasey forward according to brian schwarz of cnbc Numerous national political groups aligned with the g.o.p. Are preparing to spend big money to spread the message That gideon's position on reid is hypocritical So you're seeing How joe biden in a concrete way is hurting who democrats believe will be the nominee They believe she's the frontrunner and now i haven't seen polls, but maybe she is Now this is just one race and i want to remind you that this is a microcosm Of what we're going to see happen throughout the country because anyone who is going up against a republican They're going to the g.o.p. Is going to find whatever that individual said about christine blasey forward And compare what that person said about tyra reid and if there's hypocrisy right there the g.o.p. Will weaponize it So this isn't just about you know, susan collins in maine And joe biden and sarah gideon This is going to be a huge issue that impacts democrats across the country And you know the sad part is that this might not just hurt Corporate democrats conservative democrats this could hurt more progressive democrats as well Who haven't really said that much about tyra reid, but we're very vocal rightfully So i think about dr. christine blasey forward This could be one of the worst disasters ever Everything that they told us about joe biden being the safer more electable candidate Was completely wrong everything that they told us about joe biden being the better choice for down ticket democrats and competitive races Is now demonstrably false If d.o.p. Really does what they're planning to do and spend big to prove democrats are hypocrites This could be bad now with regard to that senate race. It's not over sarah gideon If she truly cared about having susan collins be defeated She should step down because there are actually really good options currently running You don't have to vote for sarah gideon if you live in the state of maine and sarah gideon's hypocrisy Believe it or not, isn't the only issue that she has. I mean just go to her website And you know, she's talking about access to affordable health care for manors and Who's going to be excited by this who is going to be excited by this? So people aren't going to vote for someone who is a hypocrite Who doesn't also have policy prescriptions that she's offering to constituents. I mean I could see all right She's a hypocrite, but she supports medicare for all. So maybe I'll vote for her. No, there's nothing there So you're hurting The democratic party's chances of ousting susan collins, which is really important Now other choices who you should vote for if you live in maine Include green party candidate lisa savage who is running on a highly progressive platform And since maine has ranked choice voting, this is a competitive race lisa savage can actually win and when it comes to democrats you have betsy suite Who is a justice democrat running on an incredibly progressive platform. She's kind of the underdog But she is the democratic alternative to sarah gideon Why would you vote for someone who's a hypocrite who's going to lose that seat when you have better options? Either of those candidates lisa savage or betsy suite They have a better chance at beating susan collins because they haven't endorsed joe biden They haven't been silent on tara reed's allegations. So they're not hypocrites. Their reputations aren't tarnished, right? So g.o.p. Can't use that strategy against them. But when it comes to sarah gideon, this is a disaster you're going to Ruin the one chance that we have to replace a very vulnerable republican. What are you doing? What are you doing? And again, this isn't just about main This is going to be an issue that we see come up time and again in races throughout the country Look, I know that it's out of the question. It probably will never happen But if joe biden was serious about democrats taking back the white house He'd resign He would resign because as democrats Repeatedly pointed out when bernie was the frontrunner. This isn't just about the white house This is about taking back the senate Keeping the house and now their guy who they propped up Is now jeopardizing the democratic party's chances of stopping right-wing extremism It's just It's awful. It's awful and i'm not gonna say i told you so because It's not like i get to take any glory in this defeat because we all Have to bear the brunt of their failures Their failures aren't going to impact them. The democratic party is comprised largely Of a very wealthy comfortable people. It is the working class Who's gonna deal with increasing right-wing extremism and fascism And they just they don't seem to care to them The goal isn't necessarily to defeat republicans even though they say, you know Beating donald trump taking back the senate is their number one priority It's about beating the left and i think that this election Should definitely confirm that to you if you weren't necessarily sure that that was in fact their intentions They don't care about beating republicans. They just care about beating the left and once they beat the left They've won nothing else for them to do whatever happens happens as long as they maintain power In the democratic party apparatus then they've won period I hate to say this, but i think covid 19 has officially become a partisan issue And you know, that's really disappointing because at the beginning of this pandemic there was widespread agreement About what was necessary, you know social distancing self quarantine These were necessary measures that all americans needed to take to flatten the curve But you know as time goes on as people become a little bit more antsy as you know More and more of these anti-quarantine protests pop up across the country We're starting to see, you know the partisanization of this issue Republicans are kind of signing on to this idea that maybe the anti-quarantine protesters are on to something and we should reopen the country But the left is saying first of all That may not be smart because if we reopen too early then we're going to see a resurgence of covid 19 when We may be able to get it under control and it's not like this is over It just it feels like we've been doing this for a long time, but more than 80,000 americans Have died More than that because that's the conservative estimate if you believe dr. Fauci But regardless, this is serious and the left's their solution My solution isn't to just let everyone go back to work too early I mean I get their frustration because people need to make money. They have to be able to pay the bills But they shouldn't be telling the government to reopen They should be asking for universal basic income paycheck replacement, right? And that's what conservative political commentators should be doing, but they've been really irresponsible They've been downplaying covid 19 and it's and it's severity And on top of that they've been kind of you know lending credence to the claim that we must reopen as soon as possible When conservatives, I mean their guy is in power currently They should be pushing donald trump to actually provide people with health care and a universal basic income But they're not doing that So while republicans are basically saying you know what let's just send everyone back to work even if they may get infected That's what we have to do because uh people need to make money But the left is saying Actually, let's actually provide them with health care And a universal basic income and I've never heard a republican respond To our policy prescriptions because they usually don't have any solutions It's always do what the free market would want us to do if we think of it as some sort of you know, sentient being Except one republican to his credit did finally respond To the left's call for a policy fix to this rather than just reopening the country A writer from the conservative heartland institute responded to this line of thinking With an op-ed for the hill where he tackles ubi head on and in what I think is a headline that may be a little bit hyperbolic He argues universal basic income and the end of the republic So they say reopen we say no shelter in place But here's some policies so that way you can still pay rent and feed yourself and his response end of the republic this is why We just can't have policy discussions with right wingers because they're not serious people They stand for nothing and their response to policy is to uh Take hyperbole to an extreme But look i'm a fair guy. So let's hear him out He writes the u.s economy is sinking and some on the far left Have a preposterous plan to prevent americans from drowning in more unpaid bills and debt Stay home and don't worry about anything the government will send you a check for $2,000 every month If only it were that easy it is actually Since the onslaught of shutdowns to flatten the curve and prevent the nation's health care system from being overwhelmed More than 30 million americans have lost their jobs. The unemployment rate has skyrocketed to 14.7 Families throughout the united states are struggling to buy food and pay their bills because the government will not let them return to work Perhaps we should pause and reassess the necessity of the draconian shutdown strategy After all we have flattened the curve and at this point It does not seem that health care facilities are in danger of being overrun Wouldn't it make a lot of sense to focus on how to safely reopen the economy So americans can return to work and retain their self-reliance Yet according to prominent democrats in congress instead of smartly reopening the economy We should double down on kensian economics and just print more money than ever In other words americans ought to stay home and get paid by the government senator kamala harris recently tweeted Bills come in every single month during the pandemic and so should help from our government Harris has endorsed a plan called monthly economic crisis support act which would send $2,000 per month to americans who make less than $120,000 per year married couples would receive 4,000 per month as well as 2,000 for each child Oh, and the checks would be sent for up to three months after the corona virus crisis ends This raises an interesting point when and how will we know the crisis has ended and the payments will be stopped This alone should raise one's eyebrows American history is full of examples of government programs that were intended to be temporary Yet continue to this day in fact several provisional measures and programs enacted during the great depression are still in place today Oh, that's a horrible thing Isn't it a cynic might say that some democrats are using the corona virus crisis as an opportunity to push their progressive agenda For years many on the far left have advocated for monthly government programs in the form of a universal basic income Andrew yang a contender for the democratic party's 2020 presidential nomination made the ubi a pivotal part of his campaign And received lots of attention and a claim for doing so remember the yang gang Keep in mind all of this fervor over the ubi and far left circles predated the covet 19 pandemic by a few years at least So given the historical context Is it such a logical leap to assume that some on the left are using the corona virus crisis as an opportunity to introduce Another quote unquote temporary welfare program that is almost assuredly going to be popular among americans who receive it Benjamin franklin reportedly said when the people find that they can vote themselves money That will herald the end of the republic could a ubi in the wake of the corona virus pandemic inadvertently lead to this nightmare scenario So in case you didn't notice he didn't make an argument He just patronizingly dismissed this policy as you know something that the far left wants And he just said we can't do it. It's not that easy except why not Somehow other countries who don't print their own currency Found a way to deliver a universal basic income albeit temporarily, but nonetheless a ubi During this pandemic. Are we just too stupid? We can't figure it out. Why can't we do it? If you're gonna say we can't do it, you have to come forward with an argument and tell us why we can't do it Why it's not possible We just spent trillions of dollars bailing out large multi-billion dollar corporations But yet you're telling me we can't afford to bail out the american people why Make an argument just a tip to right wingers make an argument You can't just laugh off something and dismiss it because you disagree with it You have to make the case with statistics and data if other countries can do it We can do it too. We're just choosing not to do it And the biggest reason why we shouldn't do it according to him Is because these so-called temporary measures might be permanent Oh no God forbid A temporary ubi turns into a permanent ubi How horrible that americans have more purchasing power And he laughs at the prospect of this lasting three months after the pandemic Not taking into account the fact that a lot of people are losing their jobs And they're going to need extra time to find employment once this pandemic is over because guess what a lot of these jobs That people are losing they're not coming back So do you or do you not want to help americans see here's something that irritates me about these right wingers They absolutely scoff at the idea of helping out normal americans And they don't want government policies these social safety net programs to foster a sense of dependency on the federal government But you call it dependency I call it making better use of our tax dollars because like it or not we're paying taxes So I want my money to actually benefit me Not large multi-billion dollar companies Not the defense industry not the fossil fuel industry, which we subsidize. Why is it so absurd to say maybe you know rather than spending Trillions of dollars on wars that we're never going to win. Why can't we use that money? For a ubi or healthcare You see he has no problem bailing out large Corporations some of which don't even have addresses in the united states if corporations are people these are not citizens These are illegals, but he has no problem bailing out the cruise industry But when it comes to us We should have saved money if you know, we fell victim to a crisis or unexpected emergency It's our fault for not putting away money for a rainy day And you know, if You know, we're experiencing hardship. We just got to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, but corporations They don't ever have to save money for a rainy day. They don't ever have to pull themselves up by their bootstraps It's always working class americans who are the ones who have to be responsible large corporations They can get socialism, but for americans it's rugged individualism So do you understand why this type of argument makes no sense because we already have a social safety net albeit For corporations for special interests But just asking for that to be applied to the american people That's not absurd and you know, it's not absurd because you can't make an argument against it. He just laughs at it We can't do that Again, why can't we do it? Specifically, why can't we do it because other countries can do it and the same argument is used against medicare for all We can't do it Why if every other developed country is able to do it? Why can't we? Maybe we're just too stupid. Maybe he believes that Who knows? I mean, we don't have it. So maybe you aren't too stupid But if other countries can do it, it's not a matter of us not being able to do it Again, it's a matter of us not wanting to do it not having the spines to fight for it So, I mean this person he literally Is questioning whether or not a ubi would be the end of the republic No, if anything, it's going to save the republic because guess what people are getting Increasingly irritated about the fact that the american government isn't fighting for them And it's doing everything in its power to save the industry bailing out the industry socialism for the rich rugged individualism for the poor And the peasants are only going to take that for so long until they rise up with their pitchforks, right? So long as we have these distractions in front of us Will be okay But when americans start losing everything it's more and more lose their jobs as they lose their houses And their livelihoods and their material wealth what little they had They're not just going to take this line down They're going to demand that the government actually take action that the government can take that is within the powers of the federal government to take So this person is a clown and you know, this is just a snapshot into the mind of a conservative They have no argument The best that they can do is laugh at something you're proposing and call it extreme Meanwhile to this individual bailouts for large multinational corporations That's not extreme spending trillions of dollars billions every single year on the military. That's not extreme It's only extreme if it benefits you Keep that in mind. This is their logic. This is their mindset It's only extreme if we have welfare for normal americans never extreme never questioned at all If we apply that welfare to uh, you know Tax cuts for the rich corporate welfare. That's fine welfare for you is bad These are lazy sloppy thinkers and political hacks who have no argument Hence why they can do nothing more than dismiss it condescendingly by you know laughing at the idea of ubi This is crazy. We can't do this. I can't tell you why we can't do this But just trust me we can't do this now the argument that I'm making is nonexistent But nonetheless just take my word when I tell you we can't do this now They can they can do this I've been a long time advocate for vote by mail nationwide And it has never been more important than it is now because obviously We're living through a pandemic and we have absolutely no idea how long this is going to last So in order to make sure people can safely make their voices heard in november We've got to have some way that they'll be able to vote by mail So we have time now Is when members of congress should be acting to put some sort of mechanism in place and you know Caught a five vote by mail Into law it's not just something that we need throughout the duration of this pandemic But it's something that should have already been a thing because it works really well There's a number of benefits. It's easy. It also increases voter turnout But that's one of the problems with vote by mail is that because it increases voter turnout because It makes it easier to vote Republicans don't like it because they're self interested and they know that if more people show up to vote That means that they'll have you know a worse chance of winning because usually an election will come down to turn out When turnout is high democrats win when turnout is low republicans win So they are banking on disenfranchising people and trump has been disgusting and weasley Unsurprisingly in talking about vote by mail because he's trying to fear monger about it And make it seem as if if we open the door To nationwide vote by mail of any kind that's going to lead to fraud and abuse Except there's no evidence for that and what's interesting is that he's a hypocrite because even though he's publicly railing against vote by mail privately Him and republicans are trying to make sure that their supporters will have access to vote by mail Yeah, pretty shameless pretty transparent So his ap's nicolas ricardi reports while president donald trump claims mail-in voting is ripe for fraud and cheaters His reelection campaign and state allies are scrambling to launch operations meant to help their voters cast ballots in the mail Through its partnership with the republican national committee Trump's campaign is training volunteers on the ins and outs of mail-in and absentee voting And sending supporters texts and emails reminding them to send in their ballots Quote while we strongly disagree with the ill intended democrat push for mail-in ballots We have an obligation to our voters to inform them of what the law is in their state And what their options are to murtaugh trump campaign spokesperson said Uh, okay, so do you understand what they're saying here? They're basically saying look, we really love vote by mail It's just that we only want our supporters to be able to vote by mail and benefit from that But we still want to make sure that we can disenfranchise as many democrats as we possibly can because that's what's going to help us win the election I mean, they're shameless. They're not even hiding their agenda. They're hypocrites And you know as trump rails against vote by mail as republicans Repeat what he says Remind them of this fact that trump's team is currently trying to educate voters About the options that they'll have in states to mail in their ballots or submit absentee ballots Whatever they want to make sure voters know they can safely vote if they don't want to risk their asses And come out to support Donald Trump, you know at a poll It's shameless um as someone who advocates for vote by mail I don't only apply that advocacy if it benefits me. I think nationwide Every single citizen should have access to vote by mail and I speak with experience as long as I've been old enough and eligible to vote I have voted by mail because I live in the state of Oregon. We've had this now for about two decades And it makes voting really really easy. I basically have no excuse to not vote My ballot gets mailed to me weeks in advance I take as much time as I need to fill it out and uh, I just put it in the mailbox It's done. You don't even have to put a stamp on it You just fill it out put it in the envelope that they provide you with And you've made your voice heard it is incredibly easy And even though republicans are trying desperately to make this a partisan issue in the state of oregon It's not a partisan issue republicans and democrats in the state like it And there's a lot of benefits with it as well as synthia mcfadden and kevin monahan of nbc news explains It's a system that constantly produces some of the highest voter participation rates in the country in 2016 68 percent of oregon's registered voters voted 8 percent above the national average the oregon way is also endorsed across party lines Current secretary of state danis richardson a republican and one of his predecessors phil keisling a democrat Agreed that it gets people to vote and is cheaper and more secure than machines and polling places Quote you can't hack paper said richardson isn't that amazing in its simplicity said keisling Give everyone their ballot and then let them decide where they want to market whether they want to market at all keisling who pushed for voting by mail as secretary of state in the 1990s Says that in-person voting can actually discourage people from voting Especially now that 32 states have some kind of voter id requirement I think polling places have become the single biggest voter suppression device in american politics said keisling Richardson said the oregon way removes the pressure of being in a voting booth and they're both right A democrat and a republican in oregon are saying these the exact same thing about vote by mail I don't know what it's like To you know experience The pressure of voting in the booth I'm assuming that you feel rushed because there's usually long lines Because the number of polling stations have been reduced in precincts across the country where there's voter suppression Not just by republicans, but democrats as well during primaries But I mean i don't know what that's like like to me voting is so easy And it's difficult to imagine having to leave my home and stand in line all to cast a vote when the oregon way Is super simple like it's easy like it feels like oregon is a different country than other states It really does because you know we vote by mail and when i'm done putting my Ballot in the mailbox. I can walk into a store and legally purchase cannabis I mean People have got to catch up you've got to get with the times Vote by mail is not a new idea oregon has proved that it works And there's literally no excuse and anyone who actually believes trump's fear mongering You've been duped You are making your life more difficult for no reason Or maybe you do have a reason maybe you want The turnout to be lower so republicans win either way this benefits everyone It's really really nice to be able to vote from home safely And not have to worry like the minute that we had this pandemic I was worried about the safety and health of people voting in states like wisconsin But in oregon, I knew that come primary day I would be able to make my voice heard because as it usually is my ballot would be mailed to me And I'd fill it out take my time doing so research all of the ballot initiatives research all of the candidates running And it's simple There's no reason to not have vote by mail And because we're in a pandemic there's every reason in the world to adopt it So democrats should be screaming from the rooftops of every single building about the necessity of vote by mail because if they don't have some form Of vote by mail by november in every single state republicans are the favorite to win big because If you suppress the vote if you make it so people don't feel safe To vote that they may be risking their own health That's going to hurt democrats this proportionately Sure, some republicans who are immunocompromised may you know choose to stay home But more than anything democrats will suffer the consequences if we don't have vote by mail And think about this as covid 19 increasingly becomes a partisan issue There's a portion of the republican base that doesn't even believe that this is a real thing They either think it's overblown and that's you know, uh, usually the good scenario if they believe it at all You know, some of them think it's just a hoax So this should be priority number one for democrats Um, and it shouldn't just be throughout the duration of the pandemic This should be a normal thing because we have it in organ It works in organ and to donald trump's claim that it is conducive to widespread fraud Let's look through the heritage foundation And their study about election fraud or voter fraud more specifically and what they had to say about organs rate here So their election fraud tracker found just 15 instances of voter fraud in organ Since 2000 15 instances of voter fraud since 2000 and we have had this for 20 years So this idea that this leads to abuse it hasn't happened in organ and everyone here is very satisfied with it Everyone who I know republican or democrat would be angry if you try to take away vote by mail from us So it works here and I know it'll work everywhere else. It's just a matter of you know Getting it passed getting it codified into law And you know, if you live in these states that don't have vote by mail yet You've got to put pressure on your state governments Because this is something that you're missing out on I think that vote by mail Is the future and I think it's really the only way going forward in a post covid 19 world that people are going to You know, um want to participate, you know, because even when covid 19 is gone People are going to have virus and you know germs on their mind So people need that reassurance that they can still make their voices heard in a democracy And vote by mail is the way to go. So I've said everything I needed to say. Uh, it's it's a no-brainer Um, don't believe Donald Trump's lies. He is lying to you for self-interested reasons vote by mail works It's not conducive to more fraud. It's exactly what the country needs during a pandemic and beyond that Tucker Carlson of fox news took some time to punch down on one of america's most vulnerable populations the homeless And he did this by taking a story that wasn't necessarily that important and twisting it and sensationalizing it and really blowing it up to be something that It really isn't and the most disgusting and nefarious part about this story is he doesn't just demonize the homeless He tries to pit working class americans against the homeless So this propaganda piece is one of the most disgusting things i've ever seen Albeit, this is effective propaganda because if you don't know any better If you don't actually have the details about the original story he's citing This could be persuasive to someone who um could be duped by this bullshit So, uh, take a look and then i'll tell you why he is wrong if it's not already obvious to you by listening to him Tens of millions of americans are now unemployed and running out of money rest have to worry about losing their constitutional rights In fact, many of them are gone But one group of americans has no worry at all about getting whatever they want the homeless In san francisco anyway officials are putting up the homeless for free in city hotels and supplying them with free alcohol drugs and nicotine Why are they doing this exactly? Joe aliotta was a former san francisco city supervisor in da canada. He joins us tonight Joe. Thanks so much for coming on I can't think of a clearer signal to tax payers citizens people who try to do the right things stay sober That we just hate you and are spending all of our time on people You know who Who are contributing? I mean honestly people. I mean, why would they be giving the homeless free stuff? I don't understand Well, it's not just that the worst part about it is that they're that we are taking a very vulnerable population And we're feeding their addictions And we're not using taxpayer dollars to do that which begs the question. Why is You know, where is this money coming from and Is the reason why we're not using taxpayer dollars is because it would otherwise not be legal to do I mean, we know that's true on the federal level anyway But the the idea that the government can poison a few people for the good of the many Is is in it's immoral if this has been debated over years It's unconstitutional very un-american for that matter and by federal standards illegal, which Which probably explains why some of the hotels as you've read in the los angeles area refusing to participate in the housing of the homeless So the los angeles city council, I know you're from north and san francisco Is threatened to quote commandeer hotels that don't want to become homeless shelters I mean just the the level of concern Right, I mean so and I look I'm for helping the homeless so many of them are mentally ill and need actual help They don't want to need to live in the sidewalk But the level of concern all the concerns seems to be for the homeless and like what about people who are trying really hard To do well for their kids and make the society better like they're totally ignored. Why? That's right. Especially with the food shortage. We should be feeding their stomachs not their addictions And I guess they feel as though the rest of us can fend for ourselves, but I think the real concern here by the department of health to give them a little bit of credit is that they They don't want to spread the covid disease now The facts don't pan out because some of these homeless people who are being housed in the hotels that are specific to this program That we're giving them methadone marijuana and alcohol Some of them are not even covid positive, but what they're trying to do is force them into Self isolation by feeding these addictions and there's there's something very wrong about that These are people that are otherwise not that legally detained But the city is saying no, no, no, we want to make sure you stay in these hotel rooms So you don't poison other people and we're going to feed your addictions to make sure that you stay there if there's there's something very cruel about that and The fact that you know, we're not taking care of the rest of the city in in many ways and feeding Some of the hungry people and not focusing on the hunger issues not the addiction issues is is very troubling I love san francisco And I wanted to thrive, but i'm worried that at some point the only people left will be the homeless All normal people will have left. I hope i'm wrong that last line Was full mask off for tucker carlson. He basically let you know the way that he feels about homeless people He said I love san francisco And I wanted to thrive, but i'm worried that at some point the only people left will be the homeless All normal people will have left so according to tucker carlson homeless people are not Normal people. They are a subhuman species And they're not entitled to all of the goods and services that government provides to working class people They're not like you and I they're abnormal They're homeless people if we can even call them people disgusting He just said that he made a distinction between the homeless and normal people Wow So he's being shameless and let's go through some of the quotes here Quote but one of but one group of americans has no worry at all about getting whatever they want the homeless So out of all the people it's the homeless who really have not a care in the world They could just kind of sit back in their tents on the street and the government will deliver them food Weed alcohol is that really what you're saying does anyone actually believe this that One group of americans has no worry at all whatsoever Who believes this? Who has such a misguided idea about what it's like to be homeless That they could ever believe anything that he has to say again after hearing him say this How ignorant do you have to be? On top of that he says in san francisco Anyway, officials are putting up the homeless for free in city hotels and supplying them with free alcohol drugs and nicotine Now this is correct technically, but we'll get to what specifically this story is about He also says I can't think of a clearer signal to taxpayers citizens People who try to do the right thing because all homeless people did the wrong thing Hence why they're homeless because they can't possibly just fall victim to the brutal capitalist system that we live in They did something wrong. That's what he's trying to prime you to believe Um and stay sober that we just hate you and we're spending all of our time on people who aren't contributing Why would they be giving the homeless free stuff? I don't understand now joe alliado chimed in saying We're taking very vulnerable people and feeding their addictions and we're not using taxpayer dollars to do that Which begs the question. Where is this money coming from? So there's a lot to unpack there first of all Why do we care where the money is coming from if taxpayer dollars aren't funding what you're against? Why do you care shut up then? It's not a story, right? Like I can understand you being against your taxpayer dollars funding things that you don't like I'm very much against my taxpayer my tax dollars funding war and whatnot But that's not the case here. You admit that taxpayer dollars aren't funding alcohol and cannabis for the homeless So why are you taking issue with it? Is it just that you think that they should suffer? Completely and not have any help whatsoever On top of that, you know, there's this implication that homeless people aren't contributing Whereas working class people they're paying their taxes. So why should they not get the free things that the homeless people get? And he literally said why would they be giving the homeless free stuff? I don't understand if you don't understand why the homeless Are getting free stuff Then you're an idiot You're an idiot tucker. It's because they're homeless and they have zero material wealth whatsoever They are the most vulnerable population in our country The fact that you can't understand the fact that you had to ask Why we have to give things to homeless? I mean it just goes to show what kind of a person you are you don't care About the homeless. You don't care about the less fortunate Now he tries to pretend as if he does By trying to pit the working class against the homeless and this is disgusting because he wants The working class to be angered at the fact that the homeless is getting something for doing nothing Why are they getting alcohol and you're not why are they getting free food? But you have to work for that's the implication here But the answer is because they are homeless and guess what more and more people will be homeless Because of coven 19 because a record number of americans are losing their jobs So immediately the question is when you become homeless Do you just become worthless? Then or do you get a little bit of a grace period? Do you become a subhuman? Species to tucker carlson after three months of being homeless or does that take effect immediately once you lose your job? I'm genuinely asking earnestly because the way that he talks about homeless people is so disgusting I've never heard anyone even other propagandists on fox news Refer to homeless people in such a disgusting and catalyst way now to the story about them receiving alcohol and um and cannabis and nicotine Is this happening? Yeah, it's happening. But out of the estimated 8,000 homeless residents living currently in san francisco Do you want to take a guess how many of them have received free alcohol? pick a guess thousands half of the eight thousand Less than 12 less than 12 homeless people Have received alcohol And when it comes to uh those who have received tobacco or medical cannabis how many Few dozen That's it. So he makes it seem as if The entire homeless population in san francisco is living it up. They're getting free food from the government They're being put in hotels. They're getting cannabis and alcohol. They're just partying it up no That's not actually what's happening A handful of them are getting this and tucker crawlston would have found out about this Had he done a quick one minute google search now. Do you think that he didn't have A team to research this issue for him. Do you think that he doesn't know that there's probably a reason why The select group of people are receiving these things He knows he's smarter than that But this is propaganda. He's trying to turn you a working class person against the homeless When we should be looking out for them the most because they are the most vulnerable Now if you're against homeless people Getting, uh, you know medical cannabis And alcohol and nicotine donated to them You shouldn't be because there's a very good reason why they're getting that as ktla 5 reports San francisco is using private donations to deliver alcohol tobacco and medical marijuana to a few dozen people Dealing with addiction as they isolate or quarantine in city least hotel rooms during the pandemic officials confirmed wednesday There are about 270 people Mostly homeless staying in hotel rooms to recover from covet 19 or to wait out possible exposure to the virus Nearly a dozen people have received alcohol and more than two dozen have received tobacco the san francisco chronicle reported City officials said that private donations pay for the items and that helping manage nicotine opioid and alcohol cravings ensures that recovering people Don't go out and possibly infect others. Dr. Grant Colfax san francisco's public health director Said the harm reduction approach is widespread and based on decades of sound public health policy Our focus needs to be on supporting them. He said of the people who are isolating or under quarantine For people experiencing alcohol withdrawal the department of public health calculates the minimal amount needed and delivers them with meals The department also facilitates delivery of medication for people trying to kick heroin The department does not help procure recreational marijuana. So that's the story. That's what tucker harlestone is making such a big deal about There are about 270 homeless people of the 8 000 who either have covet 19 because they can't social distance if you don't have a home Or were exposed to it and the city is putting them in hotels so they can recover and giving addicts Who are addicted to alcohol? It's a physical addiction the bare minimum So they feel a little bit less inclined to leave their hotels so the disease doesn't spread Why is this controversial exactly? Why isn't it and let me just go a little bit further here Let's say hypothetically speaking that the city was just donating weed and alcohol to homeless people Why aren't they allowed to have their vices? Why do we Get to have our vices we get to smoke weed drink alcohol, but they don't get to have that same luxury Well to tucker They're not normal people They're homeless They don't fall under the category of normal people to him They're not like you and I they're not working class people It's despicable And uh, he says so the los angeles city council is threatening to quote common deer hotels that don't want to become homeless shelters Right and they should do this because that's discrimination That's discrimination I could understand if They don't want to you know Pay the extra cleaning cost if people Have covet 19, you know to disinfect and whatnot I get that but you can't just choose to not allow homeless people to stay your hotels Because that's discrimination. That's prejudice. I mean replace homeless with gay or jewish and it makes sense So if these hotels are saying we don't want to rent to icky homeless people Well, of course the city should take action. That's unacceptable Do you think that discrimination against homeless people is okay tucker? Well, I mean I should have asked that because it's a rhetorical question because he largely doesn't view them as human He says that they're not normal people. So, you know, he doesn't care But I mean if they have covet 19 and the hotel is saying, well, you know what? We're going to need some additional money to help disinfect the room or whatnot For more medical equipment since we're kind of looking after these people who have been infected I get that but they just say no, we're not going to rent to you because you're homeless That's completely unacceptable and unforgivable and the city should commandeer their property If they're not going to rent to people because that is discrimination It's exactly what we've enacted laws to fight the civil rights act and whatnot Now, um, on top of that, he says all the concern seems to be for the homeless Like what about people who are trying really hard to do well for their kids and make the society better? Like they're totally ignored Because again homeless are not normal. So they don't have the human aspirations and desires That the normies have They're a subhuman species. They lack the concerns and desires otherwise normal americans feel Like, you know, caring for their children and improving their lives But here's the thing tucker if you actually do care about helping average americans Why don't you stop taking a paycheck from the propaganda arm of the political party that deprives normal people Who you're speaking to supposedly of their material wealth at the behest of the republican party's donors You do propaganda for the party Who is leading us to this point? Where the rich have it all and working americans have nothing but yet you're preaching about how it's the homeless people who are getting everything And working people get nothing I mean, this is despicable And you know as much as tucker carlson likes to market himself as a populist and rail against the elites He's not telling you He's part of that club. He is the establishment. He is an elite He's worth an estimated 20 million dollars with an annual salary for doing propaganda of six million six million dollars Can you imagine making that much money in your lifetime? That's what tucker carlson makes in one year of doing propaganda So don't let him fool you into believing that he cares about working class americans He's very explicitly trying to pit you against the homeless It's disgraceful. It's morally reprehensible and tucker carlson does not have the moral high ground here Well, that's all that i've got for you today Thank you so much for tuning in if you've made it as far as usual We're not going to end the show without thanking all of our patreon paypal and youtube members for helping the show Not just to thrive but really survive in times like this where youtube is um, I don't want to say youtube is You know messing with our channel But since the election ended it's been a little bit of a struggle and the youtube algorithm just doesn't like us lately So if you can support the show, I really appreciate it If not, so long as you're watching that's all that I can ask or hope for um, so next week look out for an interview with kari eastman and uh got some other surprises in mind hopefully, um, yeah That's all i've got for you. Take care everyone