 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 Become a member at humanist report dot com now enjoy the show Welcome to the Humanist Report podcast. My name is Mike Figueredo, and this is episode 211 of the program Today is Friday, September 27th, 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 either signed up for the very first time to support us this week or increase the monthly pledge That they were already giving us and that includes Alexandra Mikhail and Ginsberg, Carly Sewell, Dominique Norris, Eli S, Heinz Werner Brinkman, Holly Downs, Jae Hong Shin, Lee Neely, Liberty for All, Nayeel Tariq, Peter Rock, Rhys Bauer, Sunil Sahay, Todd Kingsley, and Zao Lu So thank you so much to all of these kind individuals if you'd also like to support the show and join the independent progressive media revolution You can do so in a number of ways first You can go to humanistreport.com Slash support you can become a patron by going to patreon.com Slash humanist report forward slash humanist report that is or you can click join underneath Any one of our YouTube videos and support us that way or you can just watch for free That's fine, too as long as you like the show So we have a very very large episode so I will waste no time Let's go ahead and get right into it So that includes a discussion about the global school strike for climate and how conservatives viciously attacked its leader Teen activist Greta Thunberg Tucker Carlson smugly claims that all of the children around the world who decided to skip school in order to raise awareness about climate change They're basically just liars with a political agenda Joe Biden is now actively trying to sabotage Medicare for All Ilhan Omar isn't a fan of Joe Biden's incrementalism and you shouldn't be either 2020 loser Tim Ryan demonstrates exactly why he is never going to be President Bernie Sanders condemns Trump's budding up to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi who let me remind you is a fascist CNN's Chris Saliza Suggests that Bernie Sanders supporters are choosing to support him over Warren because they like that he yells and has messy hair We'll take a much needed historical look at impeachment and what that might look like now in the event We actually follow through with an impeachment of Donald Trump Bernie Sanders plans to make private credit reporting agencies a thing of the past We'll talk about that and finally we closed the week by talking to 2020 congressional candidate from New York Isaiah James So that's what we've got on the agenda for today. Hopefully you guys will enjoy the episode. Let's go ahead and get right into it Well, it's official Nancy Pelosi has announced that the House will formally be opening an impeachment inquiry It's a Donald Trump. Now, I want to talk a little bit about the implications of a potential Donald Trump impeachment Because this is a conversation that has been dominating the left sphere of Twitter And I think it's fascinating and I think it's important now before I get started here Let me just say that there's a lot of moving parts to this story There's a lot of aspects that I won't be addressing in this particular video. There is the whole issue of Biden and his son I think that's important. Not gonna talk about that here There is the issue of the scope of this impeachment inquiry There's inklings that Nancy Pelosi may just limit the scope of this investigation into Ukraine and the phone call between Donald Trump and the Ukrainian prime minister that I think would be a Disaster and a waste of time. Why not just open up his business interests? You know all the conflicts of interest, but those are different conversations What I want to do now is just talk about the potential implications of Impeaching Donald Trump. What does this mean politically? So let's start by talking about what impeachment is Impeachment is a process as of right now We are only at the inquiry stage where the House investigates and if they conclude that he's guilty after conducting an investigation They then vote on it now a simple majority vote in the House sends it to the Senate where a public trial is then held Now it's obvious Republicans are in control of the Senate. So they will most certainly vote not guilty So this will ultimately not end in the removal of Donald Trump That's the most likely outcome and that's especially true when you consider that it requires a two-thirds majority To convict so the question is what's the point? Why even bother? Why would we bother to spend political capital and time on this if it's not going to result in Donald Trump's removal? From office. Well, it's because like I said impeachment is a process and it's a certain type of process It is a legal process. It is not a political process Now that doesn't mean that it occurs in a vacuum. Of course, that's not the case There are political ramifications that are attached to impeachment proceedings But whether we do or don't open an impeachment inquiry should hinge on one question Did the president break the law if the answer is yes, then you should open an impeachment inquiry Irrespective of what may or may not be politically expedient that being said I do acknowledge that people on the left have a point in saying This is risky. There is a risk. Of course, there's a risk with every action comes a reaction So whatever we do now could potentially impact our chances of defeating Donald Trump in 2020 Doesn't necessarily mean the effect will be negative only it could be positive But it is a risk nonetheless so I think it's important that we talk about this because There are people who don't want to pursue impeachment because they don't want us to end up in a worse political Predictment and I hear you but ultimately for me I don't find these arguments against impeachment persuasive and I do support impeachment and the reason why I support Impeachment is because I don't necessarily believe that anyone can predict With certainty what is going to happen the best we can do is look at history and see what happened then But that still doesn't necessarily mean that that will indicate what is going to happen in the future But I do think it's important that we have a historical understanding of impeachment and what has happened the problem is that the Sample size for previous impeachments is incredibly small because impeachment proceedings have only been initiated against three presidents Andrew Johnson Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton So it's difficult to definitively say that Donald Trump's impeachment will be similar to these presidents but I think it still is worth looking at What happened when we tried to remove presidents before and this is all laid out thoroughly in a political article published in January by David Greenberg who explains when impeachment did and didn't work and What I want you to take into consideration is the fact that this historical context is incredibly important because Throughout the course of American history There have been certain paradigm shifts with regard to the way that we view Impeachment in non-partisan terms meaning that both parties viewed impeachment as something that was not politically expedient overly risky and politically toxic and then that changed sometimes people felt confident that Impeachment was a way to remove their political opponents. We're gonna get to all of that But the first thing we should do is talk about the start of it all We're going back to the eighteen hundreds when Andrew Johnson was president and I get that That seems odd to go that far back when we're in 2019 But I think the context is incredibly important so Andrew Johnson was Abraham Lincoln's successor and like Donald Trump He was a belligerent Pettulent imbecile. He was a buffoon. He was a racist and he was actively trying to obstruct and undermine the Republican Party's Reconstruction efforts. Now, this was essentially an incredibly polarizing time. You can imagine it was after the Civil War There was an endless political battle between Johnson and the Republican Party But after they widened their lead in Congress they tried to rein him in rein in his craziness if you will and They passed a law that prohibited a president from firing a member of the cabinet Until the Senate voted to confirm his successor now, of course being the petulant child that he was Andrew Jackson brazenly violated this law and Articles of impeachment were subsequently filed. So what ended up happening in that instance? Well, the House ultimately voted to impeach However, there were some Republicans in the Senate They're a little bit iffy about impeachment Namely due to the political risks and also they felt like his VP was worse Sound familiar? So they were a little bit reluctant to impeach now They had the vote and he ended up surviving impeachment by one vote and he survived He was acquitted. So at that time Impeachment became something that was largely viewed as politically toxic because Andrew Johnson did not get impeached now This was important because it established a political standard and this standard has essentially carried on Until this very day. What's that standard that impeachment proceedings are not like? votes of no confidence in a Parliamentary system, right? You can't just vote to remove a president if you disagree with him politically or disagree with his policy positions You have to have a very high standard and that high standard has Become incredibly relevant today Constitutional issues have to be at stake. You can't just impeach a president because he is your political opponent that's what the Jackson impeachment proceedings told us and Everyone in the country after that they essentially viewed impeachment as something that wasn't worth the risk So people were so afraid to try impeachment again that it wouldn't happen until a hundred years later With Richard Nixon during the 1960s Richard Nixon was also facing his own Non-hashtag resistance movement people were looking for any and all reasons to impeach him and rightfully so Anti-war activists wanted him impeached over Vietnam and Cambodia He was also brazenly corrupt and he broke the law by wiretapping Journalists and members of government political opponents and there were people that felt like they were overreacting like these people who were hellbent on Impeaching Richard Nixon. They were just overly alarmist overly Reactionary and they were seemingly acting as if the sky was falling Sound familiar But it wasn't until Watergate that we'd actually start the process of impeachment Where Nixon's goons were busted breaking into the DNC headquarters in an attempt to bug the place because remember he really liked to Wiretapped and spy on his political opponents, but here's what's remarkable. He was still re-elected re-elected He was busted breaking into the DNC and trying to literally bug it and Voters said, you know what? You get another term Nixon. How crazy is that and at that time when we were talking about impeachment? Can you guess the approval for impeachment even after that scandal? 19% I repeat 19% so after Richard Nixon Did that he committed a crime and was busted Americans still didn't want to impeach only one in five Americans Wanted to impeach but months later impeachment proceedings were still initiated Regardless of what public opinion was at that time and after Americans watched the Watergate hearings play out on national television Well, something began to change public support Started to shift support for Nixon's impeachment started to increase until eventually a solid majority favored impeachment because they were presumably unaware of just how corrupt and lawless Nixon actually was now because Nixon was a belligerent buffoon much like Donald Trump. He couldn't help himself. So he made matters worse He tried to obstruct justice in the most brazen way imaginable He ordered two justice department officials to fire the Watergate prosecutor They did not agree to do that. So they resigned and this happened mind you in October of 1973 and the house judiciary committee didn't actually take up impeachment until 1974 And as Greenberg explains at that point bipartisan support for nixon's ouster had grown considerably By the summer when the committee voted on the question several Republicans crossed the aisle to vote a Giving the committee's verdict a moral authority that the campaign against Johnson never possessed It was congressional republicans too who told nixon he couldn't survive a senate trial Persuading him to resign So he ended up resigning in order to save himself the humiliation Of being the only president in american history to be convicted and removed from office But the question is what was the catalyst? What ultimately were the grounds that they impeached him on because remember there were numerous reasons why people wanted him impeached Wars tax dodging brazen corruption But the straw that broke the camel's back ultimately well as greenberg explains Congress was in effect building on the johnson era criteria for presidential impeachment Affirming that constitutional issues had to be at stake the articles of impeachment that passed Centered on nixon's obstruction of justice such as using the cia to try to thwart the watergate investigation And paying hush money to the watergate burglars abuse of power such as using the irs and fbi For political vendettas and defiance of congressional subpoenas So understand what they did here They built on the precedent that was set the non-legal precedent that was set the political precedent that was set After uh the johnson impeachment failed miserably Johnson taught us that we can't just try to remove a president because we disagree with him So what they tried to do Was actually build upon that and impeach him not for political reasons But for reasons related to the constitution obstruction of justice abuse of power Now after the nixon impeachment this essentially created a paradigm shift where remember after johnson We were all afraid to talk about impeachment because it was too risky. It was too politically toxic, but after nixon We learned that if we do it right and we proceed in a way That is you know adhering to a particular set of norms constitutionally speaking Where we're not trying to remove a political opponent because he's passing policies We don't like but instead for very very serious crimes such as obstruction and abuse of power Then impeachment can actually work. Maybe it's not so politically toxic. So we went from thinking We should never impeach. It's a waste of time. It's going to backfire to thinking, you know what? Maybe impeachment can actually be useful If we use it correctly, but we just have to be careful So that's a paradigm shift impeachment too risky impeachment Is possible. We just have to use it correctly fast forward to the clinton era When republicans impeached him essentially because he lied about getting a blow job now, of course That's an oversimplification, but it kind of just goes to show you How confident we were with the notion of impeachment again after nixon. We were kind of imbued with this new fangled Confidence that you know what it's not too politically toxic to impeach a president This is no longer the post johnson era. This is the post nixon era And if we want to impeach a president, we will do that So republicans at the time were also accused of being too obstructionist and they tried to bog down clinton with bogus investigations Witch hunts if you will Sound familiar and of course they were obstructionist. They are still the obstructionist shitheads Today that they were back then except now they're just exponentially worse, but I digress What was evident is that this was incredibly partisan. They wanted to get him for something It didn't matter that clinton was capitulating to republicans Left and right that he was a new democrat Who was literally implementing their neoliberal policies? They just wanted to get someone who was a political opponent and the problem with the way they went about this is like the bin gazi hearings in Investigations, this was super obvious. It was incredibly transparent They weren't motivated by a good faith desire to defend the constitution from a rogue president They were motivated by a desire to get a political opponent Now it wasn't necessarily the affair itself that did it. That wasn't the straw that broke the camel's back It's the fact that he lied about it under oath and committed perjury that led to his impeachment But here's what happened even after clinton admitted the affair and apologized Republicans misread the public mood and forged ahead with impeachment proceedings Resulting in a historically rare loss of congressional seats in the november midterm elections for the party not controlling the white house They held on to enough seats to impeach him on two counts Perjury and obstruction of justice in december But as they did so his popularity soared to 73 Surprising to no one clinton was acquitted in the senate with considerable bipartisan support And let's look at that vote count because you have some republicans even voting not guilty Against bill clinton that ladies and gentlemen is what i'd like to call a spectacular failure I mean it's easy to see Why this backfired tremendously and why people are a little bit hesitant that the same could be true in the case of donald trump But i want you to note how this led to another paradigm shift so where now We're afraid of impeachment again. Maybe it's too politically toxic. Maybe it's not the politically expedient thing to do So i want you to think about this in a historical context and the way that our views culturally speaking on impeachment Have fluctuated and the post johnson era We were all terrified of impeachment After nixon we got confident But maybe a little bit too confident which then led to us Seeing the republicans fail and now thinking all right. Maybe impeachment isn't actually the best course of action after all So do you understand? This is why people view the issue of impeachment really risky if donald trump were president After nixon and before bill clinton There wouldn't be as much discussion about impeachment because we all were very confident that it wasn't as politically toxic Or wouldn't be as politically toxic as it was During the jackson era, but now uh, we're in a time where impeachment actually is a little bit more controversial Now here's the question that we should be asking ourselves As we open this inquiry into donald trump Will donald trump's impeachment end up being like nixons Or clinton's I don't think anybody has a definitive answer to that because you know, we can't see into the future But let's examine just some of the details here There's currently a relatively low level of support for impeaching donald trump. It's at 36 percent Now is that low? Yes But it's still not as low as public approval was for impeachment during the nixon era So what nixon taught us is that that can change with time Now on top of that when it comes to whether or not constitutional issues are at stake And if we can actually credibly build On that johnson era precedent that we set back in the 1800s and the nixon precedent Well trump's own memo demonstrates that he did in fact ask the ukrainian president for dirt on a political opponent Which is illegal But what I think is more pressing is his obstruction of justice There were more than 10 instances of obstruction During the molar report put aside the russian investigation. You don't have to agree with that investigation Right. I never thought that collusion would be a possibility, but during that investigation There were numerous instances of him obstructing justice even if I were innocent and I were being investigated for Selling drugs by the dea If I tried to obstruct justice if I tried to intimidate witnesses during a trial I would be put away So the fact that donald trump is able to get away with this possibly Should be maddening to people who don't believe we should live in a two-tiered justice system Now on top of that There's the hush money payments that he paid to stormy daniels, which amounts to campaign finance violations There's his refusal to place his businesses in a blind trust Which puts him in violation of the emoluments clause of the constitution There are literally thousands of conflicts of interests that plague donald trump's presidency I mean the fact that he's still Profiting from foreign diplomats and u.s. Government officials staying at his properties in and of itself I think is impeachable in mike penns's recent visit to ireland He stayed three hours away from dublin, which is where he knew he needed to be Just so he could stay at donald trump's hotel Now in the event this impeachment inquiry leads to donald trump's crimes being televised for months on end Could that potentially have a nixon type effect and drive down public support for donald trump and drive up public approval for impeachment? That is entirely possible But it's also important to consider the fact that he most likely won't be convicted In a senate which means donald trump could be another clinton and his approval could potentially soar If it seems as if he was exonerated It's also entirely possible mind you that something entirely different happens donald trump's corruption could be exposed And that could hurt him in spite of a failure to convict His reputation comes out more tarnished and we're back to being pro impeachment again We don't know how this is going to play out The one thing that I know for sure is that none of us know for sure The only certainty is uncertainty But here's what I do know and the reason why I support impeachment There's a lot of variables. There's a lot of moving parts But the reason why we should support impeachment is because of principal Nobody can say definitively that this will help or hurt the left But what we do know is that donald trump broke the law And if we choose to not open an impeachment inquiry if we choose to not pursue impeachment And take it as far as we possibly can I don't think we're right to keep complaining about the lawlessness and corruption of the ruling class We should shut up and stop complaining about the two-tier justice system that we have Where the poor get locked in cages and elites receive a get out of jail free card when they break the law because look Here's the thing if we're not going to hold elected officials accountable when they are brazenly breaking the law Then we should be complaining about this corrupt system that we have because if we're not going to hold elected officials accountable We are only helping to perpetuate our corrupt system And these elites will continue to misbehave if they know That we're going to be too afraid to hold them accountable whenever they break the law So we shouldn't give donald trump a pass when he breaks the law just because he's in power And he's an elite we shouldn't not impeach donald trump because we're afraid of what might happen Nobody knows what will happen. This is a process So it's important that we don't be fearful and we actually stand our ground and be brave for once. I mean I've been yelling at democrats to actually be strong and hold republicans accountable So why would I now say no no no don't actually hold republicans accountable when it seems like they're inching closer towards holding Republicans accountable for the first time uh since ever I mean why it seems antithetical to our views as progressives without being said that doesn't mean that I Believe we should not proceed with caution because this could very well be risky And the naysayers who are against impeachment on the left. I think that they bring up some valuable Things for us to consider I do But all of these counter arguments when you take them into consideration I don't believe that they are persuasive enough now. Some are more persuasive than others Some of them frankly are laughable But with that being said, I do think it's important that we evaluate these counter arguments because you never know what will happen So I think it's important that we are Scrutinizing the situation. I'm in favor of impeachment, but let me tell you my view on some of these counter arguments I've got a couple here that I've seen So the first counter argument is that it will only further divide the country. This one makes no sense to me It's not even persuasive in the slightest bit. We're already divided Impeaching Donald Trump isn't going to further the divide Polarization is a political reality. This is about holding people in power accountable So I'm not worried about further polarization. We will continue to grow further apart So long as capitalism takes full control of these parties and republicans continue to become more and more extreme and fascistic Second counter argument We'll get Mike Pence. Now two years ago This argument would have resonated with me more, but now when we're approaching 2020. We're what 13 months away Um, let's say hypothetically speaking impeachment is successful and Donald Trump is removed from office Mike Pence is sworn in. Um, here's the thing about Mike Pence Is he more politically savvy? Could he potentially do more damage from a policy standpoint? Without question But here's one advantage that people aren't considering Mike Pence has one year to do that damage and then we kick him out Mike Pence is far less electable than Donald Trump. If Mike Pence is the president I think even Joe Biden could beat Mike Pence. So this argument at this time is no longer persuasive Second or third actually, um, this is going to galvanize Trump's base and help him win in 2020 Donald Trump's base is already fired up. They're already galvanized. Here's the thing. Republicans base of support is very loyal They're always going to come out and vote So it's not like they're going to be more mobilized than they already are What will determine the outcome of this election is how mobilized Democrats will be so you can make the opposite argument that maybe impeachment Will galvanize the democratic base because we all know that when turn out this high Democrats win and Republicans lose Now I'm of the belief that you're most likely going to get people excited to vote for you if you present them with policies But there are some resistance democrats that might feel more excited So I don't actually believe that this is a very persuasive counter argument But there are some that I believe are persuasive so This could make trump more popular and a not guilty vote in the senate might embolden him Um, this is entirely possible entirely possible But it could also make him less popular. The point is we don't know. I think that you know, it's risky This is a relatively persuasive argument, but I think it's also equally persuasive to Consider whether or not this drives down his support if his corruption Is aired if it's put front and center for all of america to see we could see another nixon effect Now another issue is you know, maybe this could be a distraction The media will get bogged down by this democrats will use this as an excuse to not talk about policy I mean the media already has a sensationalist bias They're not talking about the issues that they should be talking about could potentially make that worse Sure, and I get the uh desire I understand I empathize with the desire to want to stay focused on policy But I also believe that We have to do what's morally right and I don't believe that turning a blind eye You know in spite of these possible negative ramifications is the right course of action here. Now finally, um Here's the biggest and the most persuasive Argument and this is the hardest for me to argue against What if democrats bungle this? Very very likely I don't know if today's democrats will be as competent As the democrats were in the nixon era if you want to argue that they were even competent But um, this is a very persuasive counter argument that it's going to be done poorly Democrats will bungle this Nancy Pelosi won't know what she's doing and we're already getting indications that that is in fact the case Because there are sources saying that she had a meeting with other democrats in the house and they want to limit the scope to uh Ukraine that would be one of the most idiotic things The biggest political blunder perhaps in the history of democratic party politics So if you say this if you think, you know, maybe impeachment isn't the best course of action because democrats could bungle this Possibly, but here's the thing and the reason why None of those counter arguments dissuade me From supporting impeachment because we don't know Again, the only certainty is all of our uncertainty. Nobody Can see the future. We don't have a crystal ball. We don't know how this is going to play out. It could backfire There's a chance this could actually hurt donald trump more We don't know So what we should do is be strong not make decisions based on fear and be moral Hold trump accountable. Don't turn a blind eye when we know He's broke the law So that's why I say those arguments they are persuasive, but they're not enough to Leave me to the conclusion that impeachment isn't the right answer So I absolutely believe that impeachment is the right course of action. Does it need to be done correctly? Yes um Does it need to be effective in the sense that we look at all of donald trump's Criminality, of course it does could it backfire? Yes, but we don't know So I say let's impeach the motherfucker because this is a moral issue This is a matter of principle when people in power break the law when the ruling class break the law If we don't hold them accountable when the when we have the opportunity to hold them accountable Then we have no right to complain about their lawlessness and corruption because they will keep getting worse if they know That we are too afraid to hold them accountable and act When they commit crimes So if you have followed this show you will know that we've talked about how week after week after week bernie sanders has been proposing new sweeping game changing life saving policies and at this point He's just showing off. I mean This is remarkable. He came out with another new policy that would absolutely change people's lives For the better This is something that doesn't ever get talked about enough and the fact that bernie sanders is proposing policy To fix this problem shows that to even know that this was an issue He's had to have been talking to people who have this issue. He's engaged with people Who are suffering? He listens to them So here's what he came up with recently as any nova of cnbc writes independent candidate bernie sanders wants to eliminate the private credit reporting agencies And substitute them with the government managed credit registry Their proposal was released over the weekend and at the same time sanders announced his plan to erase 81 billion in past due medical debt one of the main issues dogging americans credit reports today Senator sanders says the public credit registry would be housed in the consumer financial protection bureau The agency created in 2011 to protect americans from predatory lenders in the wake of the financial crisis According to sanders campaign the new system would use a transparent algorithm To determine credit worthiness that eliminates racial biases and credit scores and allows americans to access their credit scores for free Medical debts would be excluded from people's reports. There are three major private credit reporting companies Equifax, Experian and TransUnion these companies collect data on people's borrowing patterns Including their payment histories and any potential bank repsies or tax liens Critics of the current system point to how Equifax's insufficient data security practices allowed it to suffer a massive hack in 2017 That led to more than 140 million americans having their personal information exposed and to studies that show people's credit reports Which can determine if they're hired for a job or how much they'll pay for a car are riddled with errors Credit reporting companies don't have a financial incentive to improve accuracy Said amy trawb associate director of policy and research at the liberal leaning policy group demos Which has advocated for a public credit registry sanders version She said would serve consumers as its central mission and would have a mandate to invest in accurate data Now this is incredibly powerful, especially because These private credit reporting agencies They have a systemic bias against black and brown people So what bernie sanders is trying to do here is eliminate that even the playing field once and for all And on top of that if you have medical debt something that you are not in control of Well, he's going to make it so that way that no longer affects your credit score because he is wiping out all medical debt This truly is remarkable. But let me read to you Exactly how this affects black and brown communities our current credit reporting system also intensifies racial inequality trob said For example credit reports track the time it takes a borrower to repay alone But trob said how long it takes to pay back alone is based to a large extent on access to family wealth Which is a result of generations of discrimination in employment lending education and housing that produced a huge racial wealth gap The median family wealth for white people is 171,000 dollars compared to 17,600 for black people Credit reporting on a public registry could reduce racial biases by drawing on new data sources Such as income and excluding others like late payments on predatory loans Which are disproportionately relied upon by people of color trob said trob estimates that it could take seven years To transition from a private credit score reporting system to a public one But that the effort would be well worth it So to say that this would impact people's lives positively Is an understatement because people who were shut out Of certain components of our economy purchasing a home purchasing a car They now would be given access to that because of what bernie sanders is doing. This is remarkable He has a plan for everything and I shouldn't say everything because he keeps coming up with new plans every single week So I don't know what he's gonna have next week and the week after but I mean He is thinking of things that are not addressed And this would have a real world impact on people who are suffering currently and I want to show you How this impacts at least one person who has medical debt as journalist zeni jardan puts it I haven't had good credit since cancer. I'd have 800 with this when I was diagnosed with a deadly disease So was my credit score the cancer debt collectors were calling me for years Years it's in progress still but the financial devastation from medical debt ruined me I am as afraid of medical debt as I am a cancer recurrence It was a traumatizing and demoralizing experience and still isn't fully cleaned up Amazing to see this issue out in the open now. So there you have it The reason why these issues are in the open the reason why they are finally being discussed Is because unlike most politicians bernie sanders listens to people He doesn't talk he listens They tell him the problems and he responds accordingly with a policy solution This is exactly what I expect from public servants This is exactly what I would hope for in a president Who is driven by and dedicated to improving the lives of people who are less fortunate Who have been bogged down by medical debt, which affects their credit score And that's something they can't control if you are born and you are black around You shouldn't just automatically be disadvantaged. I mean that's absurd So this evens the playing field at least with regard to credit reporting and this is a game changer So bernie sanders is once again proving He is the one with a plan for everything and that he's doing a fantastic job Coming up with new solutions to problems people in this country Haven't even heard of yet. We all have our own issues But what bernie sanders is doing is he's bringing the struggles of everyday americans to a national stage And this is incredibly important Last friday students around the world walked out of their classrooms in protest of global inaction on climate change And this global protest movement was led by climate change activist Greta Thunberg She is a swedish 16 year old And she also spoke at the united nations and she had a really powerful message for world leaders That every single person needs to hear This is all wrong I shouldn't be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean Yet you all come to us young people for hope How dare you You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words And yet i'm one of the lucky ones People are suffering people are dying Entire ecosystems are collapsing We are in the beginning of a mass extinction and all you can talk about is money and fairytales of eternal economic growth How dare you For more than 30 years the science has been crystal clear How dare you continue to look away And come here saying that you're doing enough when the politics and solutions needed are still nowhere in sight You say you hear us and that you understand the urgency But no matter how sad and angry i am i do not want to believe that Because if you really understood the situation and still kept on failing to act Then you would be evil and that i refuse to believe The popular idea of cutting our emissions in half in 10 years Only gives us a 50 chance of staying below 1.5 degrees and the risk of setting of irreversible chain reactions beyond human control 50 percent may be acceptable to you But those numbers Do not include tipping points most feedback loops Additional warming hidden by toxic air pollution or the aspects of equity and climate justice They also rely on my generation sucking hundreds of billions of tons of your co2 out of the air with technologies that barely exist So a 50 risk is simply not acceptable to us We who have to live with the consequences There will not be any solutions or plans presented in line with these figures here today Because these numbers are too uncomfortable and you are still not mature enough to tell it like it is You are failing us But the young people are starting to understand your betrayal The eyes of all future generations are upon you And if you choose to fail us, I say we will never forgive you So that gave me chills that made me tear up And since that was such a powerful speech It went viral and this is the message that world leaders need to hear Their global inaction is inexcusable And you know, there's all this talk of how inspiring Greta is and how she's really raising awareness about this issue That means nothing. All of your words Are meaningless if it amounts to inaction So when she says we will never forgive you, I hope that that terrifies people who are in power I hope that they realize that this is something That future generations will absolutely never forget and they will look down upon us And people in power now and realize what cowards They were So every single person on the planet has got to hear that Nobody else is putting the climate crisis into perspective quite like her Nobody's talking Realistically about how much we actually have to do To mitigate climate catastrophe And we're kind of fooling ourselves, right The numbers that are True the amount of greenhouse gas emissions we'd have to cut It's too terrifying for politicians to fathom because they don't know how they can do that And even if they knew how to feasibly implement something like that, they wouldn't necessarily know how to sell it So I mean global inaction is going to lead to our extinction if we don't take action And what you see there is pain From a young woman who's seeing her future ripped away because people in power Don't give a damn about climate change Because they're not going to be here to see the consequences of it come to fruition It's already happening But I mean they can still at least say well, you know these Hurricanes that are happening more frequently. This isn't necessarily due to climate change or Whatever, you know, they can try to pretend as if it doesn't exist And bury their heads in the sand But what Greta Thunberg is doing is she is pulling their heads out of the sand And she's dosing all of these world leaders With really cold water. She's saying look Either you act Or this is what you have to live with. This is how history is going to judge you Nice words won't cut it Action is what we need So I absolutely loved what she said. She is so inspirational, you know when I was 16 years old I was not thinking about climate change. I was not thinking about these really big global issues So for her to raise the salience of this issue and lead a global strike that took place in 150 different countries I mean If we're able to somehow survive climate change and the human species goes on She is going to be in the history books with credit as one of the leaders in this fight. No doubt There are others but you know her rise Is so important, but you know, this was powerful. It caught steam. It went viral. So of course How do conservatives respond because they have to defend the republican parties in action? So what do they do? Well, they viciously attack Greta Thunberg unsurprisingly right wing propagandist ryan savedra tweeted this speech by far left activist Greta Thunberg is absolute madness Eric Erickson responded saying children of the corn level scary here They're going to move quickly to violence to overthrow democratic governments Dave Rubin says she shouldn't be up there and the people who have stolen her dreams with empty words are not the people She thinks Documentarian propagandist and criminal Dinesh D'Souza tweeted don't rail against this poor kid Just pull back and listen to the craziness and you can appreciate this manufactured vignette for what it is High comedy now. He also compared her to nazi propaganda We also had laura ingram of fox news compare her to uh, children of the corn Anyone else find that chilling? A time of tribulation has come A test is at hand The final test I can't wait for steven king's sequel children of the climate Okay Yeah, maybe her advertisers should boycott her this time but for good But you know to be fair that wasn't even the worst attack because one attack on her one attack on this child was so bad That fox news literally came out and said we're not going to invite him back on again because this was so bad So the daily wires michael knows criticized her and attacked her frankly Essentially because she is autistic None of that matters because the climate hysteria movement is not about science If it were about science, it would be led by scientists rather than by politicians and a mentally ill swedish child Who is being exploited by her parents and by the international left? So what you're seeing here is a political movement and a religious movement And it's fulfilling a religious and political goals of the left, but it isn't doing very much for science Chris you had a visceral reaction to that go ahead Yeah, I mean you're a grown man and you're attacking a child shame on you She's trying to do what you think is right now right relax skinny boy. I got this Okay, you're attacking a child. You're a grown man. Have some coon. I'm not. I'm attacking the left for exploiting Maybe on your maybe on your podcast you get away and say whatever you want because nobody's listening You're on national television. Be a grown up when you're talking about children She's trying to save the planet because your president doesn't believe in climate change And kids need to take to the streets to worry about their future You are despicable for talking to her about her like that and you should apologize on national television right now I mean just when you thought that the republican party could not get any worse They start attacking a child who is autistic So he says if this movement were about science, it would be led by scientists Rather than politicians and a mentally ill swedish child. First of all Uh, science is apolitical We don't expect scientists to construct public policy We expect them to conduct research and do science if i'm allowed to use science as a verb So that argument is moronic second of all She has autism and you are attacking her because of that shame on you you disgusting smug cretin And he tried to defend himself saying well no no i'm saying that They're taking advantage of her people her parents activists. They're taking advantage of her because She's mentally ill And that's what's gross first of all Mental illness and autism These are not the same things second of all to suggest that someone who is autistic Can't possibly think for themselves and that they're being used Is degrading did you say this about the parkland victims when they came out and started protesting in order to get gun reform? Did you say well, you know, they're being taken advantage of By adults because they can't think for themselves No, you didn't say that because they're not autistic You specifically said this about her because she's autistic and as someone with an autistic family member go fuck yourself you disgusting goon I mean How low republicans go? There's just there's no bottom to that they will attack children if it means They promote their political agenda and in this instance It is shielding the fossil fuel industry and corrupt republican party from taking action as our planet dies What a fucking disgrace? Michael Knowles is and all of these republican goons are Dave Rubin Dinesh D'Souza These people are psychopaths And if you follow them if they are an influence in your life Find better role models because these people don't have your interest in mind They are promoting a suicidal party that does nothing as our planet becomes uninhabitable If that's not crazy to you if that's not something that gives you pause I don't know what the fuck to say this teenager is a hero Who has accomplished more in the last year than this daily wire third stringer? Well in his entire lifetime and he has the nerve to suggest that she can't think for herself And that she's being taken advantage of that she doesn't genuinely care about the environment I I don't even know what to say. There are no words to describe How repulsive and morally bankrupt modern-day conservatism has become I don't know what to say I think it's safe to say that when it comes to climate change politically speaking the tide is Slowly but surely starting to turn Because when students in more than a hundred countries left school and demanded action on climate change There was no way mainstream media could ignore that There's no way that anyone in power could turn a blind eye to that There's no way that we would not hear their cry So, you know, of course since we're starting to see a real global movement manifest That is demanding action on climate change for the first time ever Well, of course the propagandists at Fox news are choosing to come out and target these children And um smear them essentially misrepresent What they say they're fighting for and this time the individual who is doing this is Tucker Carlson who proceeded to lie About the goal of these activists. See these children. They don't really care about climate change You know, they they just wanted to play hooky and on top of that This isn't actually about the environment now on top of him just smearing them He is going to throw in some coated dog whistles here that um We'll see if you are able to pick up on throughout the course of the segment But i'll tell you if you don't catch them millions of school children across america and in fact around the world Skip school today. They weren't playing hooky. They were instead participating in a coordinated left-wing political protest It was called climate strike. So naturally msnbc Was there to cheer them on New york city is the home base for these protests school officials public school officials are allowing nearly one million students to cut classes Here's some of the signs by the way that i've seen so far for this rally. It was absolutely fantastic Look, i am not in favor of encouraging people to skip class But if there's a cause that isn't important, this is it. So good on you for going out there and telling people what really matters Congratulations to you and those like you around the world Congratulations on skipping school throughout the day news anchors assured their viewers that the strike was in fact being led by the kids They were lying of course like all activist movements the climate strike was organized by cynical adults Adults hoping to exploit children for political purposes obviously The other lie you heard today is that the strike was about the environment It was not about the environment the main goal of the protesters in this country, for example Was to implement alexandria casio-cortez's green new deal You'll remember from just a few months ago that the green new deal is not about the environment In fact, a casio-cortez's chief of staff conceded as much We're quoting now We really think of it as a how do you change the entire economy thing End quote But that shouldn't surprise you the environmental movement itself has all been given up on the environment Don't believe it look around Is our country cleaner than it was? No It's dirtier and it's more crowded and it gets more of both of those things every year. The left doesn't care They're cheering it on why because they want power And in climate change they found an emergency big enough to justify Grabbing more power in fact taking control of everything. Don't believe it Check out the manifesto of youth climate strike. That's one of the groups leading today's strike The document calls for among other things state-owned banks single-payer health care Affordable housing expanded rights for sexual minorities Etc. Now you may agree with those political goals or you may disagree But what do they have to do with the environment? Obviously nothing, but whatever full speed ahead Bernie Sanders among others is now demanding that the united states begin admitting what he calls climate refugees into our country maybe in your neighborhood That would include everyone south of miami or north of Buenos Aires all of now have a right to move here because climate So he showed msnbc talking about this as if that was scandalous But the real story here Is how remarkable it is that msnbc? Was talking about climate change in the first place cable news shows all of mainstream media They don't talk about climate change enough. So the fact that these young activists were so loud Shows how remarkable this is. I mean they were effective in getting adults to pay attention their protest worked So the scandal isn't that msnbc is covering it. That's not the story You're burying the lead the story here is people are starting to realize that the future generation Is pretty pissed off that we are destroying their future Now what he then goes on to say is that this isn't actually something that was uh organized by children This is something that was organized by adults. These kids are just pawns in the game of adults Okay, something that I predicted he would say well, if that's the case, let's assume that that's true Does that really matter if you know adults helped the kids organize? Are you honestly Suggesting that these young people don't care about climate change. They don't care about their future Is that such an absurd thing to fathom for you? Like I just don't get see because you don't care about climate change because you're rich And you'll be able to afford whatever lifeboat You know is developed for elites That doesn't mean that other people don't care about climate change And I would argue that these young people care very much about climate change because if we don't do something Their futures are ruined So to say that to be that dismissive I mean, it's not really that surprising for someone like Tucker Carlson Who is a propagandist, but it is disgusting He then says this isn't even about the environment The main goal of the protest was to implement Alexandria Ocasio Cortez's green new deal So first of all, let me remind you this was a global protest that took place in 150 countries Most of the children protesting don't even probably know who Alexandria Ocasio Cortez is But let's assume that maybe they are Trying to get the green new deal implemented or a version of in in their own countries Doesn't that tell you something about the green new deal? Doesn't that tell you that it's popular and that maybe the party that you do propaganda for Should adapt maybe they should come up with their own solution to climate change Otherwise, they're going to be irrelevant in a decade or so as younger people Vote I mean the conclusions that he takes away from this Are absolutely comical Oh, well, they just are promoting AOC's green new deal Okay, but even if that were true, which it's not that's still not good news for you He also says the green new deal itself is not about the environment In fact, Ocasio Cortez's chief of staff conceded as much We're quoting now. We really think of it as How do you change the entire economy thing? Right because we have to change our economy We have to fundamentally change it transform it in order to save the planet We currently have a fossil fuel based economy and foreign policy to be clear So what we're trying to do is transform our economy So we are investing in clean green renewable technology wind solar hydro So of course if you're doing this huge shift, you are transforming the economy Like he makes it seem as if that's a bad thing when the people like Bernie Sanders and AOC The way that they talk about transforming the economy is talking about economic growth Making us a world leader in green technology Do we really want China to be able to be the world leader? Or do we want to step up as the world leader? I mean you say that you care about economic growth if you're a conservative, right? So how does that argument not resonate with you? Well, I'll tell you why it doesn't resonate because he's a hack Anything that progressives do is bad by definition And anything that Donald Trump and the Republican Party does is good by default But you see every once in a while Tucker Carlson will throw progressives a bone and he'll say you know what Maybe Bernie and AOC were right about this issue or that issue So that way we kind of lay off and we think well, you know, at least he Is being honest, but it's a ploy. It's a trick You see the thing about Tucker Carlson is he's not like the other propagandists at Fox News He is a much more talented Propagandist more effective at persuading people to listen to what he has to say He ropes you in by saying, you know what? I agree with AOC on this issue And then once you're there, he then starts selling you on other issues in hopes that it can convince you It's a trick. A lot of people unfortunately fall for it Not me and hopefully not you if you're watching this Now on top of that He says the environmental movement itself has all but given up on the environment Now he has a picture of what I assume is uh homeless people There are tents and then he says don't believe it. Look around is our country cleaner than it was No, it's dirtier and it's more crowded and it gets more of both of these things every year The left doesn't care. They're cheering it on So I don't know if you caught that in the video, but that is uh coded white supremacist words He's talking about immigration He's talking about immigration. This was a dog whistle He was trying to get you to think of immigration without actually saying it He wants you to blame immigrants For all of our environmental issues rather than the 100 multinational corporations that emit 71% of global greenhouse gas emissions And you see the thing about Tucker Carlson and the reason why I say he's more talented than other propagandists at Fox News Is because he has mastered propaganda as an art He can get you to think about something without even saying it So he has plausible deniability. So he gets less backlash. This is called priming See if I say four legs wolf bone bark fur I just got you to think of a dog without actually saying dog This is how priming works You use very specific words to invoke a particular image in someone's mind So that way they think that the image in their head that you put there manifested organically when in actuality You were trying to get them To think about that That's what Tucker Carlson does and he does this all the time Like I'm convinced he has read political science research on the power of media and some of the tactics that they use To you know raise the salience of issues and set the agenda Like he knows what he's doing when it comes to propaganda And it scares me now he then goes on to say that the Green New Deal and climate change mitigation policy This is nothing more than an attempt at a power grab since the quote-unquote manifesto A word that he chose specifically to invoke a particular image in your head from the youth climate strike calls for quote state-owned banks Single payer health care affordable housing expanded rights for sexual minorities, etc So let me tell you why there is climate change mitigation We do what we can to cut greenhouse gas emissions and prevent further climate change from happening As much as we can because there's the runaway effect, but also there's climate change adaptation where we acknowledge that Climate change is a reality. It's here. It's going to get worse And we need to arm ourselves With the ability for us to adapt so we can survive as a species So that means we're realistic about what we're going to need to do We're going to need to pass medicare for all because illnesses will need to be treated if we reach Catastrophic levels of climate change. There are prehistoric diseases trapped in ice That could make people sick We need to be able to address that and medicare for all does just that Housing affordability will be incredibly important because climate change will displace millions of people So we need to make sure that vulnerable communities who will be impacted the most They don't get put in a worse off situation We talk about social justice and racial justice because we need to acknowledge that vulnerable and impoverished communities will be hit the hardest I mean, it's called thinking ahead If you truly care about saving the human race adaptation should absolutely be a huge concern for you But it's easier to just focus on climate change mitigation um So um liberals don't really push back as much on this talking point from republicans And I could see why it's harder to sell that politically, but I mean it is essential if we want to survive We need health care. We need affordable housing. Okay But um, he then Ends this part of the segment by blasting bernie sanders Saying that uh, bernie wants us to admit climate refugees. Maybe in your neighborhood Did you see what he's doing there? He's fear mongering about immigrants again You know even in a video about climate change, he can't help himself He has to use white supremacist language because talker carlson is in fact A white supremacist now. I saved the best for last because he is now Going to denounce propaganda Um, now what does he call propaganda educating people about climate change? But here's what he had to say about that another demand of the youth climate strike group Is what they're calling quote comprehensive climate change education They want it for children aged five to 14 five years old. Why so young? Well because and again, we're quoting here Impressionability is high during that developmental stage and quote in other words brainwashing is easier when they're little Talk about the pot calling the kettle black Of all people to denounce propaganda Tucker Carlson It's probably the second to last one. Sean Hannity being the worst defender, but Tucker Carlson I mean if you're worried about propaganda I mean the way that you feed bullshit to fox news viewers every single night And you get them to vote against their own interest to vote for a party That is doing nothing as the world literally burns I mean if you're concerned about propaganda Maybe stop doing it yourself. But again Tucker Carlson is a rich white supremacist who doesn't care Um, he will likely be able to survive the worst effects of climate change Given he is old enough to see some of the worst consequences of a come to fruition So, you know elites aren't going to be affected by climate change. It's going to be younger generations It's going to be the most vulnerable the have nots who will have to deal with this So it's easy for him and his cozy studio to say shit like this and get paid Hundreds of thousands have done millions of dollars per year to spread this propaganda But what he's doing is disgusting and I don't know how he sleeps at night One of the most important dynamics that we're all talking about when it comes to the 2020 Democratic Party primary Is this centrist versus progressive debate? I'm talking about, you know, the bernie sanders of the world Versus the joe biden's and the tim ryan's of the world But what we often don't discuss is that in actuality there's two types of centrists because you know, not all centrists are Made equal in short, some of them are more loathsome than others. So what I mean is some centrists They simply don't support progressive policy proposals. They don't support student loan debt cancellation They don't support free college and they don't support medicare for all I would put Amy Klobuchar in this camp. She simply will tell you that she doesn't support medicare for all She supports a more incremental approach to healthcare and that's that but then there's a different camp Of centrists who don't just not support these policies But they actually take their lack of support a step further and they proceed to lie about these policies They're actually destructive. They spread misinformation And espouse right-wing talking points with regard to these policies. The biggest one is medicare for all You see john delaney tim ryan and joe biden all tell you reasons why We shouldn't opt for medicare for all and these are talking points that come straight from the health insurance industry Because surprise surprise They take money from these industries. In fact, the health insurance industry is betting on joe biden's success In order to save their asses. So these people they are destructive There's a different kind of evil in that centrism. I mean being simply apathetic and not caring enough To support something like medicare for all that's one thing But when you go out of your way to be destructive and drive down support for policies by lying That really is a special kind of evil and joe biden has differentiated himself from all the other centrists By being the most destructive when it comes to medicare for all So a sahil kapoor of bloomberg reports a new poll by a firm linked to joe biden Is testing messages designed to undercut support among democrats for medicare for all One of the most contentious issues splitting the party's top presidential contenders The survey commissioned by the centrist democratic think tank third way Found that primary voters start off favoring the government run healthcare system by a margin of 70 to 21 But can be persuaded to oppose it The studies show that democrats are most swayed by the arguments that the program would impose a heavy cost On taxpayers and threatened medicare for senior citizens The poll was conducted by lisa grove of anzalone litzt grove research Her partner john anzalone is the chief pollster and an advisor to biden Who opposes medicare for all and wants to make government run insurance optional? So just pause for a moment and let's try to take all of this in So the goal here is to try to figure out what talking points what right-wing talking points specifically will be the most effective In order to dissuade democratic party primary voters to turn against medicare for all That is Disgusting it's morally reprehensible because we all know what will happen if we keep the status quo now think about this Prior to the 2020 democratic party primary process We were writing this really high wave of momentum for medicare for all Most polls showed that a majority of americans support medicare for all In fact, some polls showed that 70 to 80 of american support medicare for all Some polls even started to show that a majority of republicans Support medicare for all but all of a sudden the poll numbers start to dip a little bit Once some democrats jump into the race and start spreading lies so that way Democratic party voters after hearing all of these right-wing talking points from fox news and republicans and donald trump Will now that they're hearing democrats say it Well, what are democrats doing? They're legitimizing these right-wing talking points that are fed to republicans by the industry and because These health insurance companies don't discriminate. They love democrats and republicans and pretty much anyone who's willing to do their bidding Well, we're getting the same exact talking points and now we're starting to see Maybe that's starting to have an effect and joe biden is now going out of his way To figure out which right-wing talking points he should use that will be the most effective He's actively trying to drive down support for medicare for all I don't even know How to process this it's so despicable so destructive. This is worse than hillary clinton hillary clinton just said, you know medicare for all single pair will never ever come to pass There's a difference between just shitting on medicare for all and actively trying to drive down support For medicare for all We're getting into the territory where you're starting to really show your true colors here and joe biden He showed his true colors long ago, but how low he's willing to go. I mean we have we haven't seen What the bottom is yet? He literally used an ad where he invoked his son's death to argue against medicare for all And now he's going out of his way to destroy the public support for medicare for all that grassroots activists and progressives Have been trying to build over the course of the last three years What a morally reprehensible goon this guy is and why is he doing this? To protect the health insurance industry because again They're betting on him winning to save their asses because a candidate like bernie sanders Posed as an existential threat to these health insurance companies. So of course they are Going all in to defeat bernie sanders and prop up his opponent because they know if bernie wins It's game over for them now speaking of bernie sanders He responded to this and here's what he said sanders took aim at the survey and some of the arguments It is designed to test it is unfortunate But not surprising that vice president biden's polling firm is helping distort what medicare for all is about He said in a statement any tax increases would be used to eliminate costs for people seeking health care sanders said Now he also clarified what medicare for all would entail Let me be clear under my proposal. No one earning less than 29 000 will pay any new taxes Sanders said and for everybody else except the very wealthy What they will be paying in taxes will be far less than what they currently pay for premiums co-pays deductibles Prescription drugs and other health care expenses Financially medicare for all will be a great deal for the american people added sanders and additionally bernie sanders senior advisor Warren gunnels refuted one of the claims being made in a tweet Saying disgusting a poll firm linked to biden is working overtime to mislead americans about medicare for all by echoing bogus GOP talking points fact medicare for all improves benefits for seniors by covering dental vision hearing and home care and that's exactly right Every single person in this country will be better off under a medicare for all system with the exception of the executives In those health care companies If you're a senior you'll have expanded coverage If you are a worker with private health insurance who pays your monthly premiums Not only will you no longer pay your monthly health insurance premium But you will have better coverage than you have now and you have peace of mind If you have insurance, but you have an emergency and you go to a hospital That's out of your network. Guess what? You're gonna have to foot the bill because your insurance company isn't gonna do that for you So every single person in america will be better off But because there is money that is at stake here money that will be lost if medicare for all comes to pass Joe biden is now scrambling to protect that industry and he's doing it by lying to the democratic party base This is absolutely morally reprehensible and despicable And Joe Biden shouldn't just lose This primary he should be shamed forever for what he's doing Because to try to destroy public support for medicare for all after some activists have spent years Building up support for and to use right wing talking points that are lies It's just morally reprehensible. Joe Biden is worse than hillary clinton You can be a centrist and just not care about these policies. I would prefer that But to try to destroy progressive momentum That's a specific kind of evil that I do not respect and that I absolutely loathe shame on you, Joe Biden So one of the most important most progressive voices in congress was recently asked about Joe Biden I'm talking about ilhana omar and she said what was obvious to everyone But I want to play what she said because it's really important for lawmakers, especially progressive ones To make it very clear that Joe Biden is not your friend This is not debatable if you are a progressive and you want to see the country advance in a substantial way Then you don't opt for someone like Joe Biden He's just going to warm the seat in the white house in the oval office for another four to eight years And then we're going to get someone who's probably worse than donald trump to follow Because these types of establishment status quo democrats All they do is sit idly by and make incremental tweaks to the system that is making citizens desperate And we need someone who's going to come in with broad structural reform So to have a member of congress say that that's not Joe Biden. It's important. So here's what she had to say I want to ask you about one of the candidates who's not here today Which is the frontrunner Joe Biden the organizers here are disappointed that he didn't respond to their questionnaire They say that he's basically running on a 2015 platform Do you think that he can fit the brand of politics that you stand for as well if he was the nominee? There are a few people who fit into the The the the kind of progress That we all want to see in in this country And I would say he is not one of them I think it's been very clear Too many of the people who have been Creating the kind of movement that is exciting generations That We want somebody who really has a he A plan That is going to tackle a lot of the systematic challenges that we have And he does that's exactly it Everything she said there is a hundred percent on point. He's not exciting younger generations He's not going to change the system. He's literally campaigning on incrementalism So, I mean, he's not going to excite anyone and if you're not going to excite the base Then in a general election, that's bad news. I'm not saying that Joe Biden, you know, it's a foregone conclusion He was he would absolutely lose against Donald Trump, but I'm not willing to roll the dice When the climate is at stake when the supreme court is at stake So Democrats are playing with fire if they truly think that Joe Biden is the best bet against Donald Trump And I really want more progressive lawmakers like Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Ayanna Presley, uh, Pramila Jayapal, Ro Khanna to come out and say this To say what's obvious to everyone else that Joe Biden is bad news for the party And for the country, let's keep it real But you see the thing is that Joe Biden benefits from a democratic party who has become increasingly tribalistic They absolutely refuse to allow any constructive criticism whatsoever So in the event Ilhan Omar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Start speaking up a little bit more loudly against Joe Biden Then we already can envision the political articles where 10 different democratic party strategists and anonymous lawmakers go on record Shaming them and saying that they're being overly divisive and that they're only helping Donald Trump Because apparently during a primary you're not allowed to criticize other Democrats even if they're Democrats in name only They could campaign as Republicans with that D next to their name But so long as that D is next to their name It acts as a type of shield That you know is supposed to deflect any and all criticism and if you criticize them You're doing Donald Trump's bidding. No, Joe Biden is doing Donald Trump's bidding Do you understand this if we don't get a candidate that is a big structural reform change candidate? Who's a progressive who can excite the base? Donald Trump gets another four years It's as simple as that we tried running a moderate Democrat in 2016 and that didn't work out Hillary Clinton lost to Donald Trump the fact that we are even having this conversation the fact That people are still thinking that we need a moderate to win back these purple states It's absurd to me You never ever see Republicans trying to pander To moderate Democrats and try to win over centrist Democrats and be more moderate in purple states That's almost unfathomable. It's only Democrats Who try to try out this line of attack and it's because they really are a centrist party Democrats are centrist and there's a select few voices Who are finally pushing the party to the left in a positive direction? but um It's just not enough and it's not happening fast enough But what I do know is that realignment can possibly happen in the event They nominate someone who's actually progressive and Bernie Sanders has already had a tremendous amount of influence on the democratic party positively And he didn't even win the nomination in 2016 I mean everyone has stolen his platform in 2016 With the exception of course of a few centrists So imagine the impact that Bernie Sanders can have Imagine how much further he'd pull the overton window to the left If he's the nominee So this is why I really want people in congress to be more vocal about joe biden and the threat that he poses to the party and the country and I want them to not worry about the attacks from democrats because understand this The reason why centrist democrats attack you for criticizing joe biden in a constructive way Is because they take that personally because there's a lot of centrists in the democratic party So when you criticize joe biden, they take that as an insult on them But they should be insulted if you're not going to be progressive in a left-wing party Or in what should be a left-wing party Then uh, you need to leave. We need to not call these people. We need to not try to You know talk about how this is a big 10 party and you're also welcome here. No We need to make it clear. We're taking over the democratic party. Okay We are taking it over and you are not welcome in this party if you are a centrist If you're not a left-winger get the fuck out fleet of republicans or form You know your own third party. We don't want you here That's what's got to happen because at this point in time We don't have time for another incrementalist candidate. We just don't and it's also electorally speaking A flawed and failed strategy. So kudos to ilhan omar for speaking out I would like to see more of this because this is what we need right now So I know that this is probably going to come as a shock to most of you watching but tim brian is still Running for president now. I know you're probably thinking who But to uh refresh your memory This is the individual who was destroyed by tulsi gabbert at the first debate And was then destroyed by bernie sanders at the second debate He's the reason why we got the famous i wrote the damn bill line From bernie sanders, but he's still running for president and um, here's the thing about him so He Cosponsored pramila jaya paul's medicare for all bill on the day it was introduced But all of a sudden now that he's running for president. He's speaking out against it And here's the thing. He's not going to win. He will lose. He's not going to be president But now he's making it clear that not only does he deserve to lose He also needs to lose his seat in the house Like he needs to be primaried because what he said in an interview with jen yuger of tyt Is absolutely disqualifying any democrat who says what he's about to say Should lose their seat because this is What republicans would say this is what republicans would do But here's tim ryan He's going to explain That he wouldn't vote for medicare for all in the event bernie sanders or lozebeth born become president. Take a look let's say that Uh Warren or sanders wits just for a second Okay, and you're in congress and they say tim. I need your vote on medicare for all What do you do? I would not not if it's taken private insurance away I think if we build the alternative system let people get in over time if they like it let it compete with the private insurance And as I said, I think this is a very risky proposition You look at the number of union people in these industrial states They like their health insurance. They've negotiated it. They've sacrificed wages for it And and I think us going in there saying we know you really like it and we know your wages are down and the whole world's collapsing around you But we got a better idea for you. I that's that's a loser in my mind You know, they they have insurance they'd have the medicare insurance rather than the private insurance You you think they still would prefer their private insurance even though it covers less This is a burden to hand Okay, and people don't trust politicians. They don't trust washington democrats republicans So any politician saying we're going to take what you like best in your life The most security you have in your life is your health insurance We're going to force you to get rid of that That's not a winner Okay, so what he's telling you there in not so many words is he is okay with this system Where 500 000 people go bankrupt due to medical bills every single year He is okay that people die if they don't have insurance Because he wants to make sure that that private insurance industry is maintained These murderous vultures have to be part of the system They have to be maintained if he's going to vote for any healthcare reform package Okay Well, you really should explain why you Co-sponsored from middle of gyapos bill because if you contend that you won't vote for a bill that takes away private health insurance And bernie and gyapos bill Both do pretty much that they have the same provisions section 107 Which says private companies can't offer what's covered under medicare. There's a duplicative ban And also they both have section 201 that offers comprehensive benefits when you put two of these things together You're getting rid of private essentially So for you to say you wouldn't support medicare for all but yet you co-sponsored it You're telling your constituents that you're full of shit. You're trying to placate progressives You're saying look, I know there's a lot of momentum in the democratic party for medicare for all But um, I'm not actually going to support it I'll co-sponsor it to get you off my back to get you to stop calling my office But when push comes to shove I'm going to side with the republicans and the murderous for-profit private health insurance industry Despicable and the reasoning he gives as to why he votes against it are idiotic. So he says Union people like their insurance. Well, not everyone is in a union and even if you are in A union and you get insurance and you love your coverage currently First of all, I guarantee it's not going to be as comprehensive. Um, second of all, you lose your job You lose your insurance. I know union gives you more stability But still if you tie your health insurance to your employer That gives you a lack of stability that you absolutely need in healthcare I mean, we should be stable when it comes to numerous things basic necessities clean water healthcare But uh, he wants to tie it to your employer But then he says, you know If democrats say we're going to take away what you like best in your life The most security you have in your life is your health insurance. We're going to force you to get rid of it That's not a winner. So he is imposing His view on voters without actually talking to them because if he talked to voters They would tell him I don't like my private health insurance. I don't like it. It's a ripoff. I pay thousands of dollars every single year And they still Don't cover everything Why the fuck am I paying them if I still have a $5,000 deductible? My deductible is $6,500 Do you think I like my fucking insurance? No, I don't like my insurance He's saying this because he is a shill for the health industry And if he's not a shill then maybe he is afraid that they'd bankroll an opponent either way The man's a coward and a liar He also says unions sacrificed higher wages to get better healthcare benefits Okay, well wouldn't it be better if um, they didn't have to negotiate healthcare And they could just focus exclusively on higher wages Wouldn't the outcome be that people get higher wages If healthcare is no longer a bargaining chip I mean, what a self-defeating premise to invoke What an idiot you are and my favorite part is he says, you know people don't trust politicians Oh, really they don't trust politicians Well, maybe it's because people like you who sold out to special interests and won't pass policies that they want you to Are the reason why you know, we don't trust politicians because you're all corrupt So what he's saying here it shows that he's either afraid of the industry Or if he actually believes the words that came out of his mouth there Then he's so uninformed about healthcare policy that he shouldn't be a lawmaker He should resign and shame immediately because if you know that little about healthcare policy If you know that little about the voters and their feelings towards health insurance You should not be representing Anyone because people don't like their health insurance. They like their doctors. How many times do we have to say this? People want to keep their doctors. They don't care about their insurance. Nobody likes the paperwork that you have to fill out Nobody likes their monthly premiums copays deductibles Nobody likes that So what he's saying here, it's bogus. It's all lies and you know just one anecdote out of Thousands that are available Uh demonstrates exactly the issue with health insurance because even if you have private health insurance You feel as if you're secure. You may not be secure because as Anna Werner of cbs news reports Frank Esposito says it started last march with unrelenting back pain He could barely move and an MRI soon showed a bulge in his spine A specialist told him to go to the closest hospital immediately Doctors at the emergency room said he needed surgery. The herniation was so severe. It could cut his nerve Esposito said and render him paralyzed the surgery was a success But then the bills started coming over 650,000 dollars in all his insurance company said his back surgery didn't qualify as an emergency And wasn't medically necessary, but people love their private health insurance Says tim ryan disgusting I mean this system Is morally reprehensible It's it's Awful I want to say it's broken, but it's functioning as you would expect a capitalist health care system to function It's cheaper if people die If they refuse to pay for medical procedures Because the goal is not the delivery of health care for companies like etna The goal is to increase shareholder value, but what tim would argue is, you know I see that I get you and I know mike that you don't like private health insurance fair enough But why wouldn't we give people the choice? Maybe allow, you know a medicare buy-in Okay, well, you know that sounds all right, but here's what happens in practice These private health insurance companies with the goal of making money mind you What they're going to try to do is save money by pushing everyone Onto the public plan and only offer coverage to healthy people because that is what will make them the most amount of money and that means that the public version will be overburdened And you're going to separate risk pools when the goal of single pair the reason why it's so effective is because you throw everyone into one Big risk pool the fact that he doesn't get this. It's disgusting, but I believe that he does know this I think he knows the facts It's just that he doesn't want to admit the facts because he is a liar and he's a coward And he's afraid of the health insurance industry So, you know, needless to say he shouldn't just lose the nomination He needs to lose his seat So if you are in Ohio in that district consider primarying him because this individual is not looking out for his constituents He's looking out for the interests of the health industry and that's disgusting because this industry's greed leads to death And bankruptcy to defend that Is especially grotesque and morally reprehensible. So shame on Tim Ryan He needs to lose his seat He needs to be out of politics because if you're not going to represent people then I don't know why you're there As many of you know, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi recently visited the United States and there were a lot of people Who were excited for this his event. Howdy. Modi was trending on twitter Modi and Trump presumably grew even closer Supporters of Donald Trump and Narendra Modi attended a massive event Meanwhile, nobody's really addressing the elephant in the room except for one person Bernie Sanders so in an op-ed for the houston chronicle, he writes this about Modi's visit to the united states The Modi-Trump rally is happening at a moment when the state of cashmere remains under lockdown in early august Modi's government unilaterally revoked cashmere's long-standing autonomy has cracked down on dissent Jailed political leaders and instituted a communications blackout The lockdown has also blocked cashmere's access to basic medical care In a letter in the british medical journal on august 16th a group of doctors from across india Asked their government to ease restrictions on communication and travel Saying there were a blatant denial of the right to health care and the right to life Because they made it difficult for patients and staff to get to hospitals A recent humans rights watch report notes that from chemotherapy to dialysis Patients are struggling to access lifesaving treatment on time President trump has voiced no criticism of these troubling moves He should be demanding that these restrictions will be lifted and communications be restored immediately To be clear, pakistan has also often played a bad role in cashmere But i believe the u.s president must be clearly in support of international humanitarian law And in support of a unbacked peaceful resolution between india and pakistan that respects the will of the cashmere people Trump's silence in the face of india's cashmere crackdown is consistent with his broader failure to speak up for human rights across the world So i think that this was a good response the fact that he went out of his way To condemn donald trump silence here It shows that you know, he's one of the few people He's the only presidential candidate that consistently speaks out against human rights violations Not just at home, but around the world and he never veils his language in fiscal or political terms He speaks directly to the needs of human beings I mean, is there another democratic candidate with this kind of clarity on international human rights issues? Nope It's bernie sanders because what he recognizes is that There is a universality about the human condition that people like to forget about what bernie sanders tends to recognize Is that we should never turn a blind eye just because something ostensibly doesn't affect us We should acknowledge that the human experience doesn't defer based on the region of the world we were born We all experience pain. We all experience suffering and happiness as human beings So what I look for in a presidential candidate is someone who acknowledges that Now i'm not saying that I want bernie sanders to go to war and you know intervene and occupy cashmere, right? That's not what we're talking about We're talking about using your bully pulpit as president to put pressure on our allies when they do things that are bad when they do things that are antithetical to uh human rights So when india does it when saudi arabia does it when turkey does it when brazil does it We need a leader who's going to be bold and speak out bernie sanders has demonstrated time and again He is that leader now the thing about modi is he has benefited from two things overall First of all is widespread ignorance here in the united states when it comes to indian and pakistani geopolitics Nobody really knows about the dynamics at play there Uh, second of all the thing that he benefits from is a blackout in the media Nobody in mainstream news covers what modi is doing if you knew anything about modi You know that he is like donald trump on steroids He takes the hate and fear mongering About muslims and people who he deems the other to a whole new level But if you weren't familiar with narendra modi and what he's about You can easily place him in the same category as This new wave of fascists that are popping up around the world that includes jair bolson arrow taiyip erdogan donald trump And arjun sehdi a human rights lawyer and human rights activists breaks it down pretty easily in modi's india Here's what's happening muslims and dalits are openly lynched Academics and journalists are threatened and detained Kashmir has been illegally seized and occupied millions in asam have been rendered stateless More internet blackouts than any country in the world And we can't possibly dive into all of these details all of these issues here But if you just look at one the issue related to asam Well, it's horrifying and his policies disproportionately affect muslims Now as sigil samuel explains in an article for vox india's massive scary new detention camps explained The indian government stripped citizenship from two million people mostly muslims now it wants to put them in camps And here's what that looks like in practice. What would you do if the country you were born in or the country? You've lived in for decades suddenly announced you had to prove your citizenship or else face detention and deportation This is the situation nearly two million people most of them muslims some of them hindus Of bengali origin now find themselves in because their names do not appear on india's national register of citizens That citizenship list published last month is part of the government's effort to identify and weed out what it claims Are illegal immigrants in the northeastern state of asam India says many muslims whose families originally came from neighboring bangladesh are not rightful citizens Even though they've lived in asam for decades If you live in asam and your name does not appear on the nrc The burden of proof is on you to prove that you're a citizen The obvious move would be to dig out your birth certificate or land deed But many rural residents don't have paperwork even among those who do many can't read it A quarter of the population in asam state is illiterate You do get the chance to appeal to a foreigner's tribunal if they don't buy your claim to citizenship You can appeal to the high court of asam or even the supreme court But if all that fails you can be sent to one of the 10 mass detention camps the government plans to build Complete with boundary walls and watchtowers and let me remind you that's just one of a multitude of issues with narendra modi He is xenophobic. He is a nationalist. His ideology is rss He believes in a hindu ethno state essentially to the exclusion of muslims And he has started to put that into practice. This is a bad person And what bernie sanders is saying here is that people need to speak out Donald trump as the leader should be condemning narendra modi and putting pressure on him To stop this but i mean of course donald trump isn't going to do that because donald trump Is a fascist in the same way that narendra modi is so we need everyone We need all hands on deck here What i would say though is To say nothing It's probably better than legitimizing modi at a time when we're trying to desperately educate people About the humanitarian disaster that is unfolding because of him So when politicians like tulsi gabard tweet out their warm welcome of narendra modi and the left pushes back You know, it's not because she's hindu that we're criticizing her and we're being hindu phobic Invoking hindu phobia to shield someone from criticism. Let me be clear about something That is a neoliberal tactic you play that card when you don't have an argument This is what neoliberals do we're criticizing her specifically because she has praised modi and she hasn't said anything About the human rights abuses that he is perpetuating or you know The fact that his aggression is moving india and pakistan closer to nuclear war Which is something that she often rightfully points out is a real threat to human civilization And i want to be clear that i'm not just inexplicably bringing up tulsi gabard because i want to pick on her I'm bringing her up in this conversation because one she needs to do better. She shouldn't double down So she can appear tough No, you need to listen to constructive criticism from good faith actors And adjust your position if you truly want to appeal to the left and second of all the reason why i am showcasing her tweet Is because we need again all hands on deck to say nothing would be problematic But to go out of your way and legitimize someone who is a fascist that is a problem That's why you're being criticized. The point is if you're going to occupy Arguably the same ideological space as bernie sanders then understand we will hold you to a higher standard than Neoliberal politicians who are warmongers like obama and uh kamala and other politicians anyone who is pro modi They're showing that they have a large blind spot when it comes to humanitarian issues So this is why i think it's important to point out the differences between bernie sanders and tulsi gabard here bernie sanders Is not mincing words. He's saying clearly. This is a humanitarian issue There are human rights abuses that are not being addressed and bernie didn't mention tulsi gabard He's specifically calling out donald trump who obviously Is the most guilty here because if you're the president and you're not doing anything when human rights are at stake You are a bad person. So what bernie sanders is doing is he's using his platform To spread awareness about these issues that are incredibly important But you know only a handful of people in america know about so he doesn't have much to gain by doing this he's doing this because He genuinely cares about people and when i hear the stories about people getting delayed access to dialysis understand That could be a death sentence for these people Because if you miss just a couple of days of dialysis your life could be at risk my father is on dialysis and um Anytime there's weather issues or he can't get in we're all in panic mode because that means You could literally die if you don't get in so this is a human rights disaster And I want people to do better I'm not bringing up tulsi gabard and any other politician for that matter Because I want to shit on them at the behest of bernie. I'm bringing them up because I'm asking you to help us. I'm asking you to speak out and condemn human rights abuses wherever they may be Even if they are happening um In a country that you don't want a name, you know for a leader that you would otherwise support do better call it out That's all i'm asking for simple as that people can take offense to that but um Facts are facts, you know, I commend bernie for speaking out here and I think it's absolutely Disappointing to say the least that people like tulsi gabard are burying their head in the sand and choosing to not address What is a huge humanitarian issue here? Hey, everyone Do you like crooky youtube videos with lots of unfunny puns and unnecessary jump cuts me too But what makes these types of videos even better is when a middle-aged man does it in order to make propaganda more palatable to young people Ha ha ha ha vote five ten probably probably probably probably probably 20 20 You know when he raises his voice to a really high pitch like that. I think it just you know, it really helps to drive home the point Now I know exactly what you're thinking Mike You probably aren't the best person to be criticizing someone else for having an annoying voice and I hear you that's absolutely true But understand something I am self aware I realize that my voice is nasally and annoying. So what I try to do Is make my voice less annoying try to make my pitch, you know more constant So that way it's actually tolerable for extended listening periods Whereas someone like chrysaliza actually thinks that being overly annoying and shrill makes his content more endearing and personable So it's just bad But you know aside from his delivery being insufferable the substance itself is still lacking So what he's going to talk about in a video that i'm about to show you is elizabeth warren surpassing bernie sanders in polls And I have no issues with you know the data that he presents because it is true that according to real clear politics averages Warren now has a slight edge over bernie sanders But what I dislike about this video aside from the delivery of course Is the fact that he draws inferences about sanders supporters based on assumptions that he clearly pulled out of his ass Now as you're going to see from the like to dislike ratio Some of his assertions were disagreeable to say the least in fact people hated this And you're gonna see why burned out not feeling the burn slow burn I got thousands of these literally I wrote them in a notebook Something has happened to bernie sanders over the last few months in the 2020 presidential race or more accurately something has not happened sanders the vermont democratic socialist is Stuck in neutral and that's a very bad place to be with the day when actual voters will cast actual votes Getting closer and closer. So what explains warren's rise on what is for all intents and purposes sanders long time message Well voters like new faces sanders ran already in 2016 and lots of democratic voters flocked to him But for many of those same voters it may be a been there done that situation Warren is in their minds burning 2.0 the same proposals in a more voter friendly And electable package and that gets at the more fundamental problem here for sanders the people who love him Love him exactly because he doesn't care about how he looks perennially unkempt Or what he sounds like very very shouty Those traits make him authentic and different to them. But those same sanders in Traits may be the thing that is keeping him from growing his support in the race in any meaningful and statistically significant way So if you're a democrat you are relentlessly focused on nominating someone who can beat Donald trump in november 2020 and all polling i've seen Suggest that is the dominant motivation for a majority of democratic voters Then sanders profile may keep you from jumping on board his campaign There's evidence outside the world of polling that sanders stall in the numbers is having an impact in mid september He replaced his new hampshire state director, which is never a great sign with the primary now set for mid february And around that same time. He also lost the endorsement of the working families party to Warren it's important to know working families endorse sanders in 2016 now take a breath That was very cleansing. It's better to have these struggles in the fall Of an off year rather than the middle of a primary season in late winter and early spring of next year Because of loyalty of sanders corps backers It is hard to imagine him slipping from relevance totally anytime real soon But his struggle to attract support beyond that hardcore Core is real and responsible for the current sanders stagnation and that Is the point even if it were the case that chris eliza actually made decent points in that video I would still hate him. It's still be unbearable because of the delivery 20 20 But let's get to the arguments he makes He says warren in their minds of the voters is bernie 2.0 The same proposals in a more voter friendly and electable package So much wrong with that first of all bernie sanders and elizabeth warren do not have the same basis of support there are A couple of polls that indicate that maybe that's starting to change a little bit but overall warren has the support of College educated white liberals bernie sanders has the support of lower socioeconomically disadvantaged people His support is more multi-racial These are not the same support basis So it's not like there's a bunch of sanders supporters who supported him in 2016 but are now saying you know what? I like this new and improved version of bernie sanders better I'm going to switch to elizabeth warren. You know, maybe some people are saying that but To say that that is uh or suggest that that is a large portion as to why elizabeth warren is surging I think that that is not really based on anything A part of the reason why I think warren is surging is because she has recently become the media darling Because the establishment clearly wants anyone but bernie sanders and they realize that there is That appeal among progressives people want to change candidate and elizabeth warren Is that type of change candidate to a much lesser extent than bernie sanders? But she is a change candidate nonetheless So they're trying to use elizabeth warren to take down bernie sanders. That's the goal essentially That's what I would guess anyways But to think that people are jumping ship because elizabeth warren is somehow bernie 2.0 new and improved That's just not correct bernie sanders still outflanks elizabeth warren to the left On virtually every single issue with the exception of getting rid of the filibuster He then says the people who love him left him exactly because he doesn't care how he looks perennially unkempt Or what he sounds like very very shouty those traits make him authentic and different to them Actually, no bernie sanders supporters don't care about these things. These are superficial traits about the candidates that we don't care about I don't care if bernie sanders was too quiet. I don't care if bernie sanders was too loud What matters is the substance and I get the irony in talking about how substance matters more You know hearing what someone says As opposed to how they say it is more important after I just criticized chrysalises delivery But I mean the point is that bernie sanders is proposing Policy structural changes to the system that would literally reshape our country for the better for generations potentially get us on a trajectory Of social democracy. He's proposing policies that would change the lives of americans save lives literally if we get medicare Fraud codified into law. So for you to say we like him because he has messy hair and he yells and that seems authentic Um, no, that's bullshit But of course chrysalisa is someone who thinks that if you be quirky and act like a 12 year old youtube makeup tutorial guru That that's going to get people to like him. So to him in his mind He thinks that superficiality is important But in actuality people don't actually care about that But he then goes on to say those same sandersian traits May be what's keeping him from growing his support in the race in any meaningful and statistically significant way He also says that if you're a democrat concerned about beating trump, which most democrats are concerned with that's their top priority You know bernie sanders profile the way that he talks Um, the way that he's unkempt may keep you from jumping on board because that makes him seem unelectable Except why was donald trump able to get elected when he was not a conventional candidate? Because he just spoke off the cuff. He had the vocabulary Still has the vocabulary of a third grader and people like that. It seems like he's not in an elitist It seems like he's not trying to be patronizing or condescending that comes across to voters as someone who is authentic So if anything the fact that bernie sanders doesn't give a shit about these things, um, that should Theoretically make him not less appealing but maybe more appealing But it's not going to be the determining factor and to suggest that elizabeth warren Is more electable than donald trump when poll after poll shows that bernie sanders Defeats donald trump by one of the widest margins when he defeats donald trump and the rust belt by double digits in some of those states According to some polls. I mean, you're just making this up. That's why there's so many dislikes chris You get that right because you are saying these things you're making these assertions But you don't have the data to back it up. You're not talking to voters You're not basing this off of even anecdotal evidence You're just saying what you feel And that's not a really good way to do political commentary because if people see that you don't have your finger on the pulse of america They're going to realize that you're full of shit And you're just a paid propagandist for cnn who does these quirky segments that are intended I am assuming to appeal to younger people But this just comes across as patronizing and irritating to be honest So at the end of the day, I don't know what else to say about this anytime chris Elisa comes out with a video about bernie sanders or some type of policy You know, I cringe because I don't know what type of misinformation or bogus assertions He's going to make that are harmful. He pedaled the idea in a video about medicare for all recently That was also heavily disliked that claimed people don't really like medicare for all when most polls show that medicare for all is in fact overwhelmingly popular, especially among the democratic party base So, I mean, this is misinformation We should be relying on news agencies to educate voters, especially if you are appealing to youth voters, right? These are impressionable people who are getting into politics. So if you're literally designing I'm assuming your content to appeal to those voters who like these quirky youtubers Then I mean you've got to do better educate people If you're going to say well, maybe people are turned off by bernie sanders, you know, and the way that he Has his hair messy or whatever you have to at least back it up with something You can't just say it and expect people to take you out your word at least give us an anecdotal example for the love of god But I mean, this is the type of laziness and sloppy Hackerry that we've come to expect from mainstream media and chrysalis is one of the worst to be honest as of lay he just He bases his opinions off of nothing Nothing, I mean, it's so frustrating He starts with the data and then he just falls off a cliff by saying well the data, you know The reason why it's panning out this way the reason why you know The polls are going in this direction is because and then he inserts some insane bogus opinion In the most unbearable and sufferable way imaginable I wasn't born into wealth or privilege My dad from jamaica who came here seeking a better life My mother from mississippi the daughter of a sharecropper I never pictured myself running for congress I'm a husband A activist an organizer and a disabled veteran My name is isiah ezequiel james My entire life has been in the service of others I serve my country in the streets of iraq and in the mountains of afghanistan I serve my community organizing for tenants rights against predatory landlords And at the end of the day my commitment to public service is why I truly understand that we are all tied together I've never fought for some I fight for all Regardless of race or religion creed or sexual orientation, we are all americans The needs of one are the needs of all What central brooklyn needs is a representative that puts the needs of hard-working new yorkers above the greed of the wealthy and the well-connected Someone who will truly fight for affordable housing tuition-free college universal health care ending mass incarceration and a green new deal I'm fighting for a brooklyn that says that no one should have to choose between buying life-saving medicines and making ends meet An america that acknowledges workers in this country deserve a living wage of at least 15 dollars an hour A country that says we will no longer let fossil fuel companies dictate how we treat our environment These things are possible now is the time The 1% dictatorship will be defeated For too long we've been told that the status quo is unbreakable That corporate money is unbeatable that we must sit back and wait our turn To those who say these things are impossible watch us I'm isaiah james and i approve this message. Hello everyone. I am here with isaiah james He is a 2020 congressional candidate running in new york's ninth congressional district against incumbent evette clark And he's here to talk about his progressive political campaign isaiah. Thank you for coming on the program Thank you so much for having me. It's really exciting to see all of these candidates running And what i've noticed after talking to numerous candidates so far is you each kind of have your one issue that you focus on the most Which is important because like one of my issues is Trying to figure out what to focus on because there's so many things in our system that's broken So it's nice that each person kind of brings something unique. So your big thing is housing now to give Viewers a little bit of background. So you're a veteran you served two terms in iraq One in afghanistan you're also a community organizer and tenants rights has kind of been your go to so Let me ask you this What made you want to run for congress and how do you think you can affect housing rights nationally in terms of Both getting things done and just the conversation, which I think needs to be you know included Well, uh, what made you want to run for congress was uh part of my activism work I'm involved in a lot of Local activist groups here in brooklyn and I had a meeting With my current representative evet clark as a part of my work And I was sitting across the table from congresswoman clark talking to her about You know housing and corporate donations rejecting them and inviting amazon to new york city as part of the congressional delegation and there was some contention back and forth and I I understood that moment that she just didn't get it She didn't really truly understand the dynamic on the ground and in our communities every day And I came home that night and I told my my lovely wife about it And I was very very upset and she said well, you know what why don't you run and change it? So I was like, you know what the next day I googled how to run for congress and I figured it out and I threw my hat in the ring And I love that you said that because like whenever we hear about all these incumbents It's always like they followed some type of trajectory where it was like well I was a mayor first and then you know, I worked here and I got the recommendation from another local leader But you just basically you did what a normal person would do And this is what I like normal people running for congress, you know, if you watch fox news and whatnot They they like to criticize progressives. They make fun of aoc for being a bartender But I think that that gives people more credibility than being like a consultant or going through one of these Ivy League schools because we need people in congress to represent normal people because Normal people they're the ones who are affected the most by policy So I'm glad that you brought that up because with Yvette Clark She's someone who doesn't necessarily have the most national name recognition and I wasn't really sure Um about her she cosponsors medicare for all But at the same time she does take the corporate money So um in terms of the difference between you two, what do you think you would bring as just a community organizer and just an average citizen Who's not rich you don't have the backing of corporate america in comparison with her and how that relates to your community Absolutely. Well, the thing that I would bring first and foremost is integrity as you said I was a member of the military and Say I was you know pulling guard at night on a mountaintop in afghanistan When it's my turn to go to sleep I have to be able to trust the person next to me that they're going to have the integrity do what they say And stay awake. My life is on the line. I put it in somebody else's hands And when I when I get to congress, I'll bring that integrity. It's it's the hard right over the easy wrong It's not accepting that corporate money and giving those corporations a seat at the table because yes She does raise her hand and say i'm for medicare for all But then she takes money from all the big pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies and then ask yourself Why medicare for all hasn't been brought to the floor for an up or down vote? Nancy Pelosi could do it tomorrow if she wanted to Why are these companies being able to block this legislation true meaningful progressive legislation? That would affect the lives of millions of people in this country It's because they have access to our politicians our politicians are bought and paid for and this seat in particular Is surely chism's old congressional seat and her model was unbought and unbossed I don't know if congresswoman clark is boss, but she is 100 bought and paid for this is a d plus 37 seat There is absolutely no chance a republican would ever win this seat in the heart of brooklyn Why is it that 97 of her donations are giant corporate pact oceanic donations and large contributions From outside the district from as far away as florida and georgia by big sugar and big gas It's because she is bought by those corporations. That's why we We have yet to move any meaningful progressive legislation forward her biggest accomplishment. She says is passing helping to pass the aca Well one that was 10 years ago Almost 11 years ago if your biggest accomplishment was helping to pass the aca Over a decade ago and you've been in office and haven't done anything since And it's time for you to go because people's lives are literally on the line There are people who are rationing insulin right now There are people who are homeless who are couchsurfing who are sleeping in the new york city's shelter system Because they can't afford the exorbitant rents because our housing has become a commodity that so many can't afford Why does it take a 32 year old disabled veteran to bring these issues to the forefront? When we have a sitting member of congress who has been there for over a decade Absolutely, and I think that this all kind of relates to something that you said in your Um announcement video you use the term one percent dictatorship And that really like struck a chord with me because that's exactly what this is like we Supposedly live in a democracy But then when you look at political science studies the princeton university won from gillens and page in particular It shows that when you look at policy outcomes They're dictated by elites So they get the policy outcomes that they want when normal americans they don't get that So to use that type of rhetoric not only is it important But it really puts in the perspective the way that our democracy functions It doesn't operate for normal people So I wanted to talk to you about a couple of things the first thing is housing because you are coming with a very solid Housing background you fought for this. This is kind of your bread and butter And of course you check all the other progressive boxes But I want people to know what policy specifics you would bring in terms of housing because this is something that I just don't think Gets talked about enough and there's been a number of candidates like you who have really elevated this, you know to a really Something that progressives are focusing on more so and I think rightfully so so what policies do you think we could implement to actually get You know rent control and basically ameliorate homelessness and allow people to just be able to live Absolutely Well, there's a there's a lot of things on my platform one thing that that that I would bring Fourth is eliminating AMI which is something called area median income So basically it works like this when housing developers build homes They have to make them affordable for the neighborhoods and which they built them in But what they do is they take into account I live in a low income community a lot of parts of it is they take into account the low income part of the community But they also factor in the the more affluent parts of the community and the city as a whole Which raises the rent for the the the homes in the community just built So here in central brooklyn you have affordable units for two bedrooms well for $3,000 a month And then the average median income in my district is a little over 45,000 So if 36,000 of that is just housing and everybody knows new york is a very expensive city So eliminating AMI to where it affects people in my in my community in communities all across the country Another thing we can do is have a federally funded community land trust program Which says that homeowners when they sell those homes They have to leave they have to keep them affordable for the next people buying those homes So that way speculators can't come in buy up the property Razz it flip it turn it into a giant development use the AMI which is already rigged to make affordable units And now that one home to set on that plot that was you know a woman's home for 50 years Is now a luxury condo and every unit in there is 36 now or 36 thousand dollars a year to own it Another thing we can do is as a veteran we have something called a guaranteed VA home loan Which is little to no interest and it's backed by uncle sam. It's not a bank It's uncle sam that that gives you the home loan So if we were to do that not just for veterans But for hard-working people in this country who are making less than 80 thousand dollars a year because one of the largest avenues to to move from Poor to middle class to upper class is property ownership home ownership and because of redlining that has gone on for decades We still have a whole entire swap of this country that does not have access to the rungs on the lateral upward mobility so Decommodifying housing and taking it out of the commodities market and letting the government Give you the loan so you can pay it back over time. Nobody's going to take your house Will be a huge step a huge step and getting people into home ownership Not only that we need to put forth a bill which we're working on my team We're working on right now to protect renters, right because a lot of people in this country, especially our generation aren't homeowners right now So just because if you're if you're 26 27, you might be a renter for the next 10 years until you get ready to buy your home We can't leave those people out of the protections just because they're not home owners So we need a national universal rent control bill in this country that guarantees that housing will be affordable Because when you now there are a lot of commodities in this country When it comes to a t-shirt, that's okay. Well, we're talking about something like housing We're talking about education. We're talking about health care. These are things that people need to survive Then when you take something as essential as housing or health care and you commodify it automatically You're saying that a certain population segment of the population will not be able to participate in And that is just wrong when we're talking about something that is is basic for people to live And I love that you use that term the commodification of things. It really reminds me I don't know if you are familiar with wendy brown She talks about like the commodification of every aspect of american society Things that shouldn't be commodified like basic necessities all the way up to democracy to where now our democracy is literally commodified So this all kind of the lowest common denominator is always money And so it's really nice to see candidates actually bring up these structural problems and how the commodification Of basically everything has devastated communities Poor communities communities of color. So it's really nice to see you really bring this issue to the forefront and elevate it Because I don't think enough people are talking about it. Um, so that's one issue I wanted to ask you because you're a veteran and this is Super important when it comes to foreign policy what you would do differently because it seems as if The democratic party they've shipped it to the right like we can go back to you and I are the same age So we were relatively young during the iraq war but growing up, you know and voting for the first time for Barack Obama saying he's going to end the iraq war, you know the democratic party then it seemed like they were Actually resisting for lack of a better term Uh republicans but now, you know, you see chris coons going on fox news for example talking about how maybe You know, we are justified in taking action militarily against iran if they did in fact bomb the sadhi oil tanker So what would you do as a veteran to move the party back to the left or at least a little bit further to the left When it comes to um us imperialism Oh, and this is something that I take very very seriously. So Let's let's look at it like this I'm not just a veteran. I'm a combat veteran So there's a difference and veterans in the community know the difference between a veteran and a combat veteran I was an infantryman 11 bravo to oscar bravo for asi Anybody who was the veteran would know what i'm talking about I deployed to iraq my first time when i was 18 years old I spent 15 months there We lost 35 brothers and sisters. I deployed to iraq again 11 months later. I spent a year there We lost seven brothers and sisters. I then deployed to afghanistan four months after that for a year and we lost 20 brothers and sisters I don't take this stuff lightly anybody Anybody who has seen the ravages and the horrors of war Will be the first to tell you that diplomacy must always be our first second third and fourth fifth We have to exhaust diplomacy War is the worst of human behavior And i'm getting goosebumps just talking about this because I don't think I can impress upon people enough Because you have people like chris coons and the rest of these people who've never served or who they did serve They were in an office somewhere who do not understand What it is like to see somebody blown to pieces I will never forget at 22 years old picking up children's body parts After a ied explosion killed 55 people in our sector I will never forget Holding my buddy's neck as the life force spurted out of him and he was screaming for his mother Those were his last words. I will never forget these things And anybody who is just so quick to send American men and women to war just does not understand. I am I am literally a veteran for peace I know the other side of it. It is not good far too often the drums of war are followed by the bugles of taps And it's not going to be rich children that are going It's going to be poor black and brown children poor kids from rural communities as it has always been It's the reason I joined the military because I came from an impoverished neighborhood And there was nothing for me. There was no prospect for me. So the military was my way out Having been there and done that I am telling you that I would never vote to send America to war unless it was the absolute Last possible thing and I know when I say last I mean like the enemy is at the gates not because Iran and Saudi Arabia listen we can we can solve that diplomatically But once the first shot is fired once the first american soldier is killed Now we've opened up a pandora's box and we see what happened. We've been in afghanistan for 18 years We spent almost a decade in iraq. It's not america has to understand this We spent 10 years in vietnam of which my father is a veteran. We lost 58 thousand people And what was the outcome? We have to understand we cannot bomb our way out of situations We cannot shoot our way out of situations. We must talk our way out of situations And I think that your voice is so important Like when veterans talk about like veterans for peace specifically when they talk about These anecdotes where you're holding your buddy's neck when it's bleeding I think that that is so important because like the way that you know We view war is in this really abstract situation and politicians are no different You know they they send people off to die and they don't think about the consequences And they don't see the consequences and then people who haven't served such as myself You know we we have this skewed perception of war where it's been glorified in you know Media and television and whatnot so to get these real world examples from people like you It's so important in shifting the overton window because people don't realize that this is death and destruction On a mass scale and we've been at war for how long now I mean 18 years in afghanistan to where it's easy to kind of live our daily lives and not even think about it But for you to bring that here and explain to people this is really what's happening It's so important. So let me ask you this because there's there's dozens of policies that you and I both advocate for But realistically speaking let's let's consider the um the best case scenario We get you know a progressive president bernie sanders is elected we retake you know all of congress What do you think realistically you would be able to accomplish in the house? If you have like three priorities that you would really want to focus on What do you think that would be within the first year if you were elected? Well, let's say one thing before I answer that question first We can have bernie sanders in the in the presidency. I love i'm support I'm a bernie supporter. Everybody knows that but the house is the most important branch You have to send it the house everything the house is the most important because every dollar Originates from the house. So until we get an actual critical mass of progressives who swear off all corporate PAC money We're never going to be able to move anything forward. So let me just say that that's why i'm running So the first thing that I would put forth is my housing bill um That is one of the most important things and the second thing I would put forth which is already out there aoc And I forget the other senators who work with aoc Brought forth the green new deal We need to start enacting that right now the green new deal as nancy pilosa Put it like the commission on the green new deal. It has no subpoena power. It can't call You know fossil fuel executives to account. It can't hold Anybody to account so the green new deal needs teeth So that's one that's two and the third thing would be medicare for all and when I say medicare for all I don't mean Medicare for those who wanted or Medicare with a public option I mean single payer Medicare for all the elimination of private insurance companies because again when you commodify something Is is essential is health care That's wrong. My wife loved her to death. She has a pre-existing condition My wife's a teacher uft member over the summer. She lost her job We did not know what we were going to do. They offered her cobra insurance For fit for $1400 a month. That is the same amount as our rent And my wife every month she has we have an in-home nurse it comes in and administers her treatment Takes like four hours. She's hooked up to the IV machines and all that stuff And my wife was literally crying and I'm sitting here on the couch like as as the husband like what the hell am I going to do I had to fight with the va To get her on my insurance, but thank god we got her on my insurance And because of that her pre-existing condition the medication she needs which is $5,000 a month, by the way Is it's ridiculous. It's covered now So that little brief two-week scare for me I literally was up at night not knowing what the hell I was going to do now imagine somebody whose child is born with cancer Or whose parent is dying in the hospital and they there's a procedure that can be done to save them But oh, it's $200,000 and we can't we can't afford that That's why the third thing I would do would be Medicare for all Single payer and just eliminate insurance. Nobody likes their insurance. They like their their doctor They like the benefits they receive nobody's like damn. I really like my humana. I really love my etna I love my athlete. They don't they like the doctors So elimination of private insurance through Medicare for all is the third thing I would do And I love that and you know, it's kind of sad that we have to actually differentiate ourselves by saying Medicare for all single payer eliminate private because It's become so popular that I think that the more centrist neoliberal wing of the party they've co-opted that term So that's why they have to use. Oh, you know, I support Medicare for America or Medicare for all who wants it Because they really want you to think that they support some type of universal system Because they know it's popular but at the same time their donors as you said, you know The entire industry has been commodified So they don't want to upset the industry because even if you don't take the corporate money from the health insurance Industry many of them do they can still come after you and bankroll your opponents. So people are afraid. So, you know The point of differentiating yourself now in 2019 We shouldn't have to do it But that's not the reality But thank you for differentiating yourself because now like when I look up candidates I can't just say oh, well, they say Medicare for all that can now mean will you know access to health care So Move us toward Don't need that that right there. That's coded industry speak because I have access to a Ferrari I'll never be able to own a Ferrari. Yeah, I have access to a mansion. I'm never going to own one of those So we need to be clear as as night and day on this Elimination of private insurance Single payer health care for all in this country if we can afford to spend 790 billion dollars on defense which my opponent just voted for she votes for it every year if we can afford to spend that much money Shooting bombs at people and bullets at people. You're telling me we can't afford to provide health care We have spent six and a half trillion dollars on war Since I was a child Can you imagine where we would be in this country if we spend that on housing or education or infrastructure or health care Or cancer research what could we have accomplished? But we have literally shot our money out the end of a barrel And we're using it to kill other brown people across the across the world I I can't stand for that. I cannot stand for that. Yeah, I'm with you and I I love that You know you are running for congress and you are bringing this progressive message So anyone who's watching like I think that you've already convinced them So we're preaching to the choir at this point, but let me give you the opportunity to make a pitch You are not financed by corporations or special interests. This is 100% fully grassroots funded So explain to people why it's crucial that they send even a dollar if they have it and Where they can go if they want to sign up to volunteer because that's also really important You need a ground game and um, just basically give us your pitch and tell us what we can do to get involved Okay, so to get involved you can go to my website is there for congress.com isiah For congress.com you can sign up to host a rally to canvass to phone bank to knock doors You just sign up to to literally grab a cup of coffee with me meet me If you're in my district, if you want to grab a cup of coffee and sit down and talk about the issues I would love to do that. Um, the reason grassroots funding is so important is because like you said, we're not taking a dime of corporate pack money And this includes because my last pump my last the guy who challenged you that clock last time he found a loophole He said on his website. He said i'm not taking corporate pack money, which he didn't But all of his big donors were wall street financiers All of his big donors were hedge fund managers All of his big donors were were big corporate landlords. So that's the loophole he found I'm not taking money from any of those people already told him if you donated to my campaign It's going to black lines matter. So if you don't want to send it to them, don't give it to me because I don't want it Anyway, so it's so important for Everybody out there if you can contribute a dollar two dollars doesn't matter just this campaign needs it because It's sad and unfortunate that our elections have become commodities and it's big business So my opponent's taken thousands of dollars from these various industries. We're not taking any of that We need that every dollar you donate is a palm card. We can hand out to a voter or constituent It's it's another volunteer that we can actually turn into a unionized staff member It's you know, it's providing childcare for some of our volunteers who come over to help canvas and stuff But don't have childcare after after they get off work for their child. It's it's it's crucial And every it's like investing but not the stock market Every dollar you donate is investing and moving this country forward and dynamic progressive vision That's what it is and to piggyback off of that point There's so many candidates running across across the country But the point that I always bring up is this isn't just about like new york's ninth district because if you get in The policy that you pass potentially will impact everyone So my favorite example because I have a ton of student loan debt is ilhan omar's uh debt cancellation bill That will affect me and i'm not in her district. So this is really a national movement You know, you're one of many candidates running, but we need you in congress. We need you fighting We need you to really get in there and change the status quo break up that one percent dictatorship And really move the overton window to the left on a number of issues So just please if you can spare anything then contribute to isiah james And also if you don't have money then time is also a way that you can invest You don't have to be in that district to uh, you know knock on doors Even though that's absolutely a necessity, but if you're across the country, you can probably phone bank. You have a phone bank system. I'm sure, right? Yes Even if you can't phone bank just helping to amplify the message And because they you know, the right likes to call us snowflakes. Yeah, you know, and I was sitting on my couch the other night I was like, you know what a snowflake by itself is the ground and melts But if enough of them get together They create a mighty avalanche and they can sweep away anything. So yeah, we are snowflakes and together we are damn strong So just amplifying that message getting it out there. That is what we people can do that too I love that. I'm gonna have to use that analogy. Um, don't steal it I thought of that I thought of that two in the morning when I was doing campaign stuff on my couch I will credit you for that because that's so good Like I like when we take like right wing terms and appropriate them because you know, then they have to come up with something new And they're not very creative. So it's difficult for them. So I like that. Well, isaiah james running in new york's ninth congressional district Thank you so much for coming on. We are rooting for you and we'll be watching you closely, man Thank you. Thank you for having me and thank you to all your viewers for watching this Well, that's it. Uh, I don't think I have anything else left to say so I'm gonna bounce. Thank you all so much for tuning in if you've made it this far My name is mike figurado. This is the humanist report if you want more news, you can go to humanistreport.com also consider, you know Setting us a few bucks on patreon because that would be uh much appreciated But if you can't do that, then even if you just like the video or share our content I can't express how much that helps. So if you can't contribute, I understand But you can support us by sharing the videos and liking it. It's it's that simple So anyways, thank you for your consideration. I will see you all next week. I'm exhausted. Um, take care everyone