 So I thought it'd be fun to revisit something that a lot of people don't even know about so back in 2016 I was name-dropped on an episode of meet the press with Chuck Todd Chuck Todd referenced the Humanist Report podcast and me while he was interviewing Bernie Sanders So back then I was much much lesser known. I had less than a hundred thousand subscribers I think we have like 50 or 60,000 at the time, which is still quite a bit But much less compared to now So I never expected the mainstream media to ever pick up on anything that I was doing But yet out of the blue somebody says hey, Mike, I think this was on Twitter They let me know hey, Mike you were just on meet the press and I'm like No, I wasn't what what does that even what does that mean? And they talk about how I was name-dropped come to find out there was an article Written by Alex Siteswald of NBC news where he references a particular video that I made back in 2016 And that article which references me was then talked about on meet the press. So let me get to the article first There's just a couple of paragraphs where I'm cited and then afterwards we'll watch the clip And I want to tell you my thoughts on this because honestly, I know it might seem weird But this made me a lot more cynical about politics and I'll explain to you my reasoning So this is what Alex Siteswald wrote about me other progressives have been even more critical Mike Figurato host of the Progressive Humanist Report podcast tore into the senator Bernie Sanders for abandoning Canova quote I can't rationalize this. I can't defend you here Bernie. This is indefensible He said Saturday the fact that you're ditching him and obviously distancing yourself from him for some reason But yet are going to campaign for Hillary Clinton is absurd to me Bernie Sanders You are supposed to be the shining example if you sell out where fucked he said now Chuck Todd brings up this article And he gives you some additional context. I remember him really butchering my name, but watching it again He actually did okay, but take a look and take a look at Bernie's reaction to this article where they quote me criticizing Bernie Sanders, you know senator one of your supporters a Mike Figurato Host of progressive it's called a humanist report podcast and he was really upset at you personally because he actually thought you abandoned Mr. Canova he thought where were you you didn't campaign for him and he even said Look that feeling you felt when Elizabeth Warren abandoned you and chose to run away from you during the Massachusetts primary That's what Tim Canova is feeling right now. What do you say to him or any other Sanders supporters? Well, what I was if you didn't do enough Well, you know, there are a lot of things happening in this country and things happening in my own state and work that I have got to do I can't do everything but I would say that Our supporters as I understand that contributed about six hundred thousand dollars to Mr. Canova's campaign That is a very significant contribution. I think what you are going to be seeing in the weeks and months to come Chuck is me playing an active role not only trying to make sure that Donald Trump does not become president of the United States But that in fact we create a movement for this campaign and for the future Which creates a government in which our government responds to the needs not of The Koch brothers and wealthy campaign contributors, but the ordinary people It's so cringe-worthy to watch that if I'm being perfectly honest because things have changed so much since You know, I made that video that they were talking about Tim Canova for example Based on what I've seen is now just a MAGA chud and I get it He was kind of fucked over by the Democratic Party establishment But still if you let your hatred for Democrats Make you I guess a supporter of the Republican Party by default and Donald Trump Then I feel like you're kind of a shallow person and you don't really have a core political ideology like something like that Hatred for one party shouldn't automatically drive you into the arms of another party with seemingly an opposite ideology when it comes to You know a number of things but either way so that made me cynical because I thought listen I'm this small YouTuber at the time and I thought that all the shit that I was talking I mean I was just farting in the wind nobody in mainstream media would be able to smell it But around that time I also found out that I think was joy and read was tweeting about me And I don't remember what she said I couldn't find the tweet But it was about how like I was a litmus tester or something with Medicare for all and how I was Unreasonable and I wouldn't accept any politician that didn't support Medicare for all I might be messing up the timeline, but basically It was weird to me that MSNBC and mainstream media They picked up one of my videos and it made me cynical because I thought listen. I've been making points I've been constructively criticizing Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party establishment now for quite some time And yet the only time I am cited on mainstream media is when they conveniently want to construct this narrative About how Bernie Sanders is bad and progressives even they hate Bernie Sanders now and to me I thought that that was just so nefarious You know, I thought why aren't they using my other videos where I call Hillary Clinton a corrupt corporate ghoul Why aren't they you know using my other videos where I criticize then DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz for you know scheduling debates on weekends before major holidays and Trying to give Hillary Clinton this unfair advantage, you know, it just it made me realize, okay No matter how small you are these assholes are they're watching and they're waiting to use you To help serve their narrative. So at that point in time, it made me cynical But also a lot more astute and I realized at that point. I have to be a lot more nuanced and Really not let them do that when I do a video where I'm criticizing a progressive figure I have to add lots of caveats, right? I have to draw comparisons between them and the standard corporate Democrat and you know, it was Something that was just really weird to me and I feel bad because the only Thing that Bernie Sanders has seen of me is me talking shit of him So all around, you know, you would think that oh wow, I've made it like they referenced me on MSNBC I guess my opinion is somewhat important, right? But I didn't feel that way like I felt like these motherfuckers are using me to criticize Bernie Sanders And I was being critical of Bernie Sanders and I didn't like that, you know, he Wasn't going to bat for Tim Konova who at the time was running against Debbie Wasserman Schultz Who at the time was ostensibly progressive So, you know, I still am of the belief that if you are a lawmaker and you have a lot of influence You should be trying to help progressives get elected, but you know, it's still very strange to you know, see The one time where it like criticized Bernie, that's when they bring it to his attention So all around really awkward and honestly cringe-worthy revisiting this But I thought I would talk about this because Farron Cousins shout out to him He posted an outtake where he messed up Chuck Todd's name And he said a tuck chart or something like that and it reminded me of the time where I thought that Chuck Todd fucked up my name where he named dropped me on meet the press although watching it again He really didn't do that bad. So I don't know why I misremembered that so much But either way Chuck Todd name dropped me on meet the press back in 2016 and it Kind of left a bad taste in my mouth. That was a little bit triggered by that to be honest