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Speaker 1: Hey, guys, thanks for listening to Breaking Points with Crystal

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Speaker 1: and Sager. We're going to be totally upfront with you.

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Speaker 1: We took a big risk going independent to make this work.

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Speaker 1: We need your support to beat the corporate media CNN, Fox, MSNBC.

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Speaker 1: They are ripping this country apart. They are making millions

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Speaker 1: of dollars doing it to help support our mission of

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Speaker 1: hour early before everyone else. You get to hear our

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Speaker 1: reactions to each other's monologues. You get to participate and

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Speaker 1: weekly ask me any things, and you don't need to

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Speaker 1: hear our annoying voices pitching you like I am right now,

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Speaker 1: com become a Premium member today, which is available in

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Speaker 1: the show notes. Enjoy the show, guys, Good morning, everybody,

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Speaker 1: Happy Tuesday. We have an amazing show for everybody today.

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Speaker 1: When do we have Bristol? Indeed, we do. Lots of

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Speaker 1: interesting developments we are tracking this morning, so CNN and

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Speaker 1: Chris Cuomo lawyering up. Cuomo looks like he's ready to

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Speaker 1: fight for the remaining twenty million dollars on his contract,

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Speaker 1: which it's discussing that that's what he was being paid.

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Speaker 1: But anyway, we'll give you all those details. Also, the

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Speaker 1: SEC is investigating Trump's new social media company, and there

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Speaker 1: are some other big moves in the conservative media landscape

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Speaker 1: that are kind of interesting and kind of telling. A

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Speaker 1: lot of saber rattling going on right now with regards

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Speaker 1: to Russia and Ukraine. Biden has a big phone call

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Speaker 1: with Putin today, a lot of eyes on that. Let's

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Speaker 1: see what is going to happen with our relationship there

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Speaker 1: and if the Hawks are going to get their way. Also,

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Speaker 1: a new study reveals just how dramatically unpopular the term

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Speaker 1: latin X is. Not only do Latino people not use it,

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Speaker 1: a significant portion find it actively offensive. They should really

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Speaker 1: cool that Democrats have been embracing that kind of terminology,

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Speaker 1: very effective for them. I'm also really excited about our

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Speaker 1: guest today. He was a lead organizer for Teamsters for

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Speaker 1: a Democratic union. They just won a big election, changing

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Speaker 1: leadership at that very significant union. As they look forward

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Speaker 1: to try to organize Amazon and big contract negotiations with ups,

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Speaker 1: so they're going to talk to them about their more

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Speaker 1: militant stance with regards to their workers. But we wanted

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Speaker 1: to start with what is going on in New York

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Speaker 1: City vs. A vi Amicron. Yeah, that's right. So New

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Speaker 1: York City Mayor Mayor Deblasio made a big announcement yesterday

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Speaker 1: about a brand new vaccine mandate which does not necessarily

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Speaker 1: just apply to people who want to dine in restaurants,

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Speaker 1: indoor dining, and elsewhere, but to all employees in the

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Speaker 1: five boroughs of New York City. Here's the announcement. Let's

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Speaker 1: take a listen. We in New York City have decided

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Speaker 1: to use a preemptive strike to really do something bold

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Speaker 1: to stop the further growth of COVID and the dangers

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Speaker 1: it's causing to all of us. So, as of today,

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Speaker 1: we're going to announce say first in the nation measure.

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Speaker 1: Our Health Commissioner will announce a vaccine mandate for private

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Speaker 1: sector employers across the board. All private sector employers in

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Speaker 1: New York City will be covered by this vaccine mandate

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Speaker 1: as of December twenty seventh. We're going to have some

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Speaker 1: other measures as well to really focus on maximizing vaccination

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Speaker 1: quickly so we can get a head of omicron and

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Speaker 1: all the other challenges we're facing right now. With Mayor

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Speaker 1: Deblasio there announcing a big program. Obviously, it's going to

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Speaker 1: go into effect on December twenty seventh in the City

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Speaker 1: of New York. It's going to apply to one hundred

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Speaker 1: and eighty four thousand businesses in the five borroughs. Remote

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Speaker 1: workers will not be required to get the vaccine, but critically,

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Speaker 1: there is no testing option as an alternative. Put that

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Speaker 1: tear sheet please up there on the screen, because what

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Speaker 1: they point to here within this is that there is

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Speaker 1: no act, actual justification on the immediate basis crystal. This

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Speaker 1: is simply what Deblasio is describing as a quote preemptive strike,

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Speaker 1: as he said there in the statement. But if we

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Speaker 1: correlate with the rise in cases, yes, there has been

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Speaker 1: a slight increase in cases, but it's nowhere near the

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Speaker 1: very top. And as Deblasio in the City of New

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Speaker 1: York admit themselves, some ninety percent of New Yorkers in

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Speaker 1: the City of New York have had at least one

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Speaker 1: dose of the vaccine, which is what's required to get

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Speaker 1: into a restaurant. So we're ninety percent of the population

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Speaker 1: already being vaccinated, not a significant increase necessarily in the

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Speaker 1: number of cases, and a zero testing alternative. I mean

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Speaker 1: this is just about as Look, this is as far

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Speaker 1: as we have seen a public measure in a major

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Speaker 1: city in the United States, basically setting up potentially what

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Speaker 1: tens of thousands of people from being fired from their

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Speaker 1: jobs as a result of this. Yeah, that is absolutely right.

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Speaker 1: And you know, I think we kind of consider ourselves

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Speaker 1: like COVID centrist. Yes, yere, you're a little more I

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Speaker 1: call it, you're a little more on the right. I'm

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Speaker 1: a little more on the left. But in general we

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Speaker 1: have kind of like a moderate stance on this. This

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Speaker 1: is too far without a testing option, This is far

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Speaker 1: too draconian. It doesn't just we're not just talking about

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Speaker 1: the vaccine mandate. They're also increasing the rules for things

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Speaker 1: like dining in entertainment, where now kids ages five to

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Speaker 1: eleven also have to be at least have at least

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Speaker 1: one dose in order to go into restaurants. Listen, I

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Speaker 1: got you know, I'm getting my kids vaccinated. I think

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Speaker 1: that the risks outweigh the benefits in terms of the

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Speaker 1: benefits outwagh the risks in terms of getting your kids vaccinated.

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Speaker 1: But this is incredibly stringent given how low risk kids

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Speaker 1: ultimately are at with regards to coronavirus. So they're also

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Speaker 1: increasing the number of doses that you have to have

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Speaker 1: had as an adult in order to get into restaurants.

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Speaker 1: So they used to say, Okay, if you have one dose,

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Speaker 1: you can go and eat out or go to the

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Speaker 1: show or whatever. Now you have to have two doses.

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Speaker 1: So taking very draconian steps here in terms of the

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Speaker 1: COVID numbers in New York City right now, Look, they

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Speaker 1: have had an increase. Let's put the chart up on

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Speaker 1: the screen that we have here. Cases are up about

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Speaker 1: twenty six percent over the past two weeks. Deaths and

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Speaker 1: hospitalizations though while up, some are up much much less,

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Speaker 1: which makes a lot of sense because you have a

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Speaker 1: highly vaccinated population. And what have we seen. We've seen

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Speaker 1: that yes, breakthrough infections are real, and there are some

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Speaker 1: indications that there may be even more breakthrough infections with omicron.

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Speaker 1: But the early indications are number one, that omicron results

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Speaker 1: in relatively mild disease. Again, these are early indicators, nothing

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Speaker 1: definitive yet, and that we know since this population is

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Speaker 1: vaccinated that no matter what mariant they're facing, they are

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Speaker 1: much less likely to end up hospitalized or dead, which

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Speaker 1: are the key metrics that we are concerned about. So look,

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Speaker 1: I support I think the Biden vaccine or test option

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Speaker 1: makes sense. I think it strikes the right balance. I

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Speaker 1: think this is way too far. No, I mean, look,

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Speaker 1: they have only had like one hundred and something deaths

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Speaker 1: one hundred and thirty six coronavirus deaths in the last

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Speaker 1: two weeks. It's a city of what millions and millions

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Speaker 1: of people, and we continue to say, look, the case

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Speaker 1: number is irrespective of the actual hospitalization and death figure.

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Speaker 1: When you have a ninety something percent vaccinated population, well

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Speaker 1: that's just going to have it. So that, yes, there

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Speaker 1: may be numbers of cases, but as long as the

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Speaker 1: deaths and the hospitalizations don't, let's say, rise all the

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Speaker 1: way up to the level of overwhelming the entire city's

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Speaker 1: hospitalization infrastructure, which has not really been in the card

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Speaker 1: since when like March of twenty twenty, they have never

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Speaker 1: even crept up to the one hundred percent you figure.

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Speaker 1: So you put all of that together, and you're seeing

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Speaker 1: very much what I consider I think as well to

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Speaker 1: be a dramatic overreaction to omicron at the very same

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Speaker 1: time that we continue to get evidence and information from

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Speaker 1: South Africa that the omicron variant is more transmissible and

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Speaker 1: that it is at least for now less severe or

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Speaker 1: at the very least, at the very case not more

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Speaker 1: severe than delta or the normal strain of COVID. Here's

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Speaker 1: the thing, and I will put major caveat on this.

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Speaker 1: South Africa is a lot less old and fat than

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Speaker 1: we are, and so there is a consideration there that

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Speaker 1: hitting the US population, that this would could be manifesting

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Speaker 1: itself pretty much in the same way that we've seen

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Speaker 1: with delta and with normal COVID strain, which is that

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Speaker 1: because we have such a fat and unhealthy population that

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Speaker 1: they suffer disproportionately whenever it comes to COVID. That being said,

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Speaker 1: you look at the national stats, including in New York City.

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Speaker 1: If you're unvaccinated, you are and especially if you're overweight

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Speaker 1: and you're not healthy, you are far far more likely

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Speaker 1: to end up in the hospital or to die from

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Speaker 1: COVID if you don't have the vaccine, and if you do,

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Speaker 1: you can significantly reduce your risk of hospitalization. There's been

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Speaker 1: some more confirmation studies gout Crystal, which you know, this

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Speaker 1: is the one that people who don't have the vaccine

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Speaker 1: always want to vehemently deny. But the truth is that

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Speaker 1: it does reduce population widespread, which is that by getting vaccinated,

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Speaker 1: you're not only yes. You know, look, if you're a

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Speaker 1: young person, I'm not gonna lie, you probably never at

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Speaker 1: risk of dying from COVID period. But if you do

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Speaker 1: get the vaccine, it does, once again on a population

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Speaker 1: wide basis, reduce the overall transmissibility of COVID to the

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Speaker 1: general population, which does of course protect the seniors the

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Speaker 1: Ammino compromise, et cetera. So you put those two things together. Personally,

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Speaker 1: I think it's not necessarily no brainer, especially two doses

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Speaker 1: of whatever the vaccine is booster conversation all aside, and

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Speaker 1: you see that this, you know, I think just very

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Speaker 1: much goes too far. And what I actually do think

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Speaker 1: is what I'm afraid of is that New York City

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Speaker 1: has been a very leading indicator in these types of policies.

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Speaker 1: They were the first to bring a very big vaccine

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Speaker 1: mandate on a population wide basis for a large city

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Speaker 1: Oregon and some other places follow them, not organ having

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Speaker 1: a vaccine mandate statewide. I'm saying what it did is

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Speaker 1: that it created public sector incentives in a lot of

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Speaker 1: different states, and all of those were to follow. So

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Speaker 1: what I would worry about is that very very blue

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Speaker 1: cities LA Chicago and more may follow in these footsteps.

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Speaker 1: And I mean, look at the science and look at

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Speaker 1: the cases. It's just not justified whatsoever. So that I

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Speaker 1: think is the concern. I don't think you're going to

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Speaker 1: see these sorts of overly aggressive measures taken at the

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Speaker 1: federal level. I think the Biden administration has already shown

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Speaker 1: their hand. They want to eventually get into place the

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Speaker 1: test or vaccine mandate. They've actually pushed that out to

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Speaker 1: give employers more time to comply. I think they've sort

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Speaker 1: of set the course for as far as they're going

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Speaker 1: to go. Not to say you couldn't have, like, for example,

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Speaker 1: they've now extended the mass mandate and public buildings and

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Speaker 1: on trains and stuff like that. So you could see

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Speaker 1: some measures like this, but these extreme, more draconian measures

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Speaker 1: like what New York City is pioneering here I do

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Speaker 1: think you could see, you know, places like San Francisco,

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Speaker 1: places like La You could see sort of liberal blue

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Speaker 1: cities in particular taking up some of these more stringent measures.

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Speaker 1: So that's more likely to be the direction that we

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Speaker 1: ultimately go in. The last thing on this is it's

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Speaker 1: actually unclear whether New York City will really end up

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Speaker 1: going forward with this mandate, because remember Bill Deblasio is

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Speaker 1: only going to be mayor for like three more minutes.

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Speaker 1: Eric Adams won the mayoralt he ran on you know,

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Speaker 1: kind of a moderate COVID stance. He hasn't made his

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Speaker 1: position super clear on how he feels about mass mandates

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Speaker 1: and vaccine mandates and all of these things. And in fact,

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Speaker 1: we can throw this tweet up on the screen. He

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Speaker 1: was asked, or a spokesperson for him was asked, because

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Speaker 1: he's I think out of the country on vacation right now,

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Speaker 1: whether he's going to go forward with this mandate, and

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Speaker 1: he they declined to commit to enforcing it. So this

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Speaker 1: goes into effect on December twenty seventh. Eric Adams is

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Speaker 1: going to be sworn in very shortly after that, literally

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Speaker 1: days after that, So is he going to proceed with

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Speaker 1: these measures? Or not too soon to say, and they're

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Speaker 1: not giving us any information on that. So even with

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Speaker 1: all of this, there's a big caveat of whether, even

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Speaker 1: in New York City, it's actually going to happen. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: very important point where the current mayor elect stands on

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Speaker 1: all this stuff. Who knows. Honestly, since he got elected,

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Speaker 1: he's been kind of checked out. Oh yeah, he's been partying.

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Speaker 1: I mean yeah, going to the clubs. I think he

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Speaker 1: was in Puerto Rico. I think he's also in Ghana.

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Speaker 1: I think he's in Ghana right now. I mean, look,

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Speaker 1: respect living it up for the Hypergary, I will say

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Speaker 1: I do actually respect his sartorial influences. He has a

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Speaker 1: very sparkly jacket. Oh really yeah, which is even which

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Speaker 1: is frankly even cooler than mine. So, mister mayor elect,

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Speaker 1: if you drop me a line, let me know where

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Speaker 1: you got it. I'd love to get It's a good point.

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Speaker 1: That jacket is very controversial. It is controversial. Glenn Greenweald

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Speaker 1: hates it. Yeah, sorry, Glenn, Glenn says so much that

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Speaker 1: me to tell Stagger to stop varant it's never gonna happen.

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Speaker 1: I love that thing. In all seriousness, Eric Adams has

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Speaker 1: not told us where he stands. If I were to

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Speaker 1: guess he's going to be on a very different side

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Speaker 1: on the mass man or on a vaccine mandate, I

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Speaker 1: don't think he would probably roll it back. But this one,

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Speaker 1: it could just be about self implementation. It could be

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Speaker 1: about letting it expire. All of the things we have

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Speaker 1: no idea. That being said, if you live in New

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Speaker 1: York City, you know I would not be very happy

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Speaker 1: about this, and I do see it as much more

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Speaker 1: of a leading indicator. There's not a lot of Eric

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Speaker 1: Adams is you know in La Chicago, you know, in Philly,

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Speaker 1: or in San Francisco. So still could end up being

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Speaker 1: policy for millions of Americans, and we'll continue to track

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Speaker 1: that closely. I agree with your guests about Eric Adams

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Speaker 1: and what he will do, both because he is very

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Speaker 1: close with the business interests in New York who were

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Speaker 1: caught off guard by this and not necessarily supportive, and

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Speaker 1: because you know, he's trying to to represent himself as

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Speaker 1: this like sort of populous figure, and we know that

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Speaker 1: you know to the extent that there are still people

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Speaker 1: who are totally unvaccinated in New York City. This will

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Speaker 1: fall disproportionally on the poor who happened to disproportionally be

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Speaker 1: black and brown. So I would think that his political

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Speaker 1: instincts would be good to go back to more moderate stance.

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Speaker 1: But we will wait and see who. All right, we've

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Speaker 1: got some little more information behind the scenes and what

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Speaker 1: is going on between CNN and their former star anchor

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Speaker 1: Chris Cuomo, as we covered yesterday. Of course, CNN actually

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Speaker 1: fired Cuomo after their own of course, Letitia James put

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Speaker 1: on a bunch of text messages that looked really terrible

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Speaker 1: for him. They hired a law firm to investigate whether

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Speaker 1: he had violated their policies, which I don't think you

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Speaker 1: really need a law firm to tell you that, but anyway,

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Speaker 1: they decided to bring one in within a day, the

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Speaker 1: law firm was like, yeah, definitely. And there's an additional

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Speaker 1: me too allegation against Chris Cuomo. So all of these

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Speaker 1: things piled up, Zucker ultimately decides to fi him. Wall

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Speaker 1: Street Journal has some of the behind the scenes details

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Speaker 1: that we can put up on the screen, so according

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Speaker 1: so there's there's two sides here. Zucker is saying, we

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Speaker 1: were totally taken by surprise by the Attorney General's report

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Speaker 1: felt mister Cuomo misled him, according to people familiar with

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Speaker 1: the situation, and on Saturday, he completed a total u turn.

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Speaker 1: After basically standing by Chris Cuomo, he called him and

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Speaker 1: fired him. So Cuomo spokes people are saying in a

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Speaker 1: text message to the Wall Street Journal, mister Cuomo has

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Speaker 1: the highest level of admiration and respect for mister Zucker.

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Speaker 1: You know, abut is coming. They were widely known to

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Speaker 1: be extremely close and in regular contact, including about the

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Speaker 1: details of mister Cuomo's support for his brother. There were

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Speaker 1: no secrets about this, as other individuals besides mister Cuomo

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Speaker 1: can attest, so Cuomo's box saying Zucker knew everything. They

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Speaker 1: were close, and Chris Cuomo was keeping him in the

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Speaker 1: loop about the extent of his health for his brother.

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Speaker 1: So that's their side of the story. And then CNN responded.

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Speaker 1: They said in a written statement that they're disappointed with

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Speaker 1: mister Cuoma's characterization of events. Quote he has made a

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Speaker 1: number of accusations that are patently false. This reinforces why

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Speaker 1: he was terminated for violating our standards and practices, as

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Speaker 1: well as his lack of candor. So pretty interesting. Little

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Speaker 1: back and forth here. That sets up the next phase

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Speaker 1: of the Cuomo CNN conflict, which is that everybody's getting lawyered.

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Speaker 1: Let's put this New York Post tear sheet up on

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Speaker 1: the screen. Chris Cuomo prepping to sue CNN for more

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Speaker 1: than eighteen million dollars over his contract. Apparently that is

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Speaker 1: the amount that was left on his multi year contract.

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Speaker 1: It's reportedly worth six million dollars annually, leaving between eighteen

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Speaker 1: and twenty million. Disgusting that he would be owed, according

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Speaker 1: to sources, I think it's unlikely that this would ultimate

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Speaker 1: at least succeed, because, as they point out in this piece,

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Speaker 1: CNN has a standard morality clause in their contract that

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Speaker 1: says if the employee does anything of disrepute, they can

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Speaker 1: be immediately fired. And of course that can be interpreted broadly.

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Speaker 1: I mean, having been under some of these TV contracts myself,

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Speaker 1: I can tell you they are not favorable to the talent.

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Speaker 1: They give the network total control over you and give

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Speaker 1: them all sorts of wiggle rooms. So if you do

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Speaker 1: anything that they don't like, they can frame that as

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Speaker 1: you know, doing something of disrepute, and you're out the

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Speaker 1: door without another word, so I think it's unlikely that

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Speaker 1: he will prevail. But just this morning you sent this

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Speaker 1: to me. The lawyer that Cuomo actually has brought on

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Speaker 1: was the one who handled Megan Kelly's exit, So this

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Speaker 1: is someone who is well known and very familiar in

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Speaker 1: the industry, relatively high powered people. I think this is

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Speaker 1: still very important because what is going to review and

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Speaker 1: why I think that Chris Cuomo is suing and ultimately

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Speaker 1: we'll get some sort of large settlement. Is the last

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Speaker 1: thing that they want is to have to go through

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Speaker 1: some discovery process and have people get deposed under oath

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Speaker 1: as to what they knew and when they knew. I

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Speaker 1: think that CNN and Discovery to say Discovery in their

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Speaker 1: new company, and once again we've showed you their shareholder

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Speaker 1: has said they're one of their top shareholders said on CNBC,

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Speaker 1: I want to see them return to news leaks constantly

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Speaker 1: coming out of David Zaslav's office. I think that's how

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Speaker 1: I say his name. Apologies, the new CEO of Discovery,

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Speaker 1: who is the head and the boss of Jeff Sucker.

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Speaker 1: Now he is coming out saying that unsatisfied with the

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Speaker 1: current state of the network, considering turning over much of

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Speaker 1: the talent. Even before all of this. The very last

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Speaker 1: thing that they need is some sort of you know,

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Speaker 1: deposition where they interview and as they interview, not only

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Speaker 1: Jeff Sucker, what did Chris Cuomo allude to? Other people

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Speaker 1: can attest to that, and so to pose other top

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Speaker 1: CNN executives, other people who were in the room whenever

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Speaker 1: Chris Cuomo said what he had did or not having

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Speaker 1: all that in the record, as long as CNN's emails

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Speaker 1: and more. I mean, it was tremendously embarrassing for NBC

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Speaker 1: when they had to pay out Magan Kelly's contract in full,

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Speaker 1: and a lot of the stuff that was coming out

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Speaker 1: on that made them look terrible. Same thing has happened

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Speaker 1: a million times, you know, every time one of these

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Speaker 1: Fox people, you know, departs and they have to lawyer up,

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Speaker 1: and then people start getting to posed and who knew

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Speaker 1: what and Roger Rails and all this stuff. It's a

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Speaker 1: total nightmare. The reason I think once again all of

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Speaker 1: this matters is that whenever you point to the highest

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Speaker 1: levels of you know, the news networks like this, these

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Speaker 1: people have such a disproportionate impact on American politics, on

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Speaker 1: the politicians at the interview, look at Chris Cuomo's own

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Speaker 1: network of people that he used to try and dig

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Speaker 1: up dirt on the people who were going after his brother.

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Speaker 1: On the stuff that they choose to cover sets the

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Speaker 1: tone of Democratic and Republican party politics in a way.

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Speaker 1: They've probably never had more influence than they've had today.

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Speaker 1: And I know that can seem very converse, but the

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Speaker 1: fact is is that because the most diehards remain on

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Speaker 1: cable news, those are the people who vote the most.

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Speaker 1: Those are the people whose taste and all that they

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Speaker 1: respond to the politicians the most because everybody else is

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Speaker 1: kind of checked out. So in a way like it's

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Speaker 1: a disservice that has been happened to us in the

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Speaker 1: way our partisan politics works. But it makes it so

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Speaker 1: that when we have to cover the ins and outs

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Speaker 1: of these networks and more. The reason why is because

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Speaker 1: they're impact I don't think can be overstated. It's on

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Speaker 1: the state of the country. It's very unfortunate. But the

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Speaker 1: reality is twofold number one, they're elite taste makers. So

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Speaker 1: and I always talk about this morning. Joe really understood

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Speaker 1: this and pioneered this model. They don't get the highest

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Speaker 1: ratings they never had, but everybody here in DC watches it.

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Speaker 1: It's like their own little clubby Breakfast show where they

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Speaker 1: know they're Republican or Democratic colleagues are going to be

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Speaker 1: on there, and so they get very high advertising dollar

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Speaker 1: rates because the advertisers know that it's an elite audience

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Speaker 1: that is watching the show. So financially it's very successful model,

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Speaker 1: and also influence wise, it's a very successful model. Then

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Speaker 1: you add to that this sort of agenda setting for

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Speaker 1: the hardest core of the Democratic and the Republican bases.

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Speaker 1: With Fox News, you put those two things together, and

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Speaker 1: even as their ratings plummet and we would all like

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Speaker 1: them to fade into irrelevancy because of the damage that

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Speaker 1: they've done to the country, they continued to be extraordinarily influential.

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Speaker 1: So that's why we cover them as much as we do,

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Speaker 1: because as much as we would like for them do

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Speaker 1: not matter. That's not reality. And just look at what

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Speaker 1: happened in the Democratic primary with Joe Biden to understand

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Speaker 1: dude was about to lose. I mean, had pathetic performance

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Speaker 1: in Iowa, pathetic performance in New Hampshire, pretty pathetic performance

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Speaker 1: in Nevada as well, and yet the moment that taste

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Speaker 1: makers on MSNBC and CNN said this is the guy,

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Speaker 1: this is who we have to get behind to beat

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Speaker 1: Bernie Sanders and then beat Trump. It all fell in

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Speaker 1: line in states, even places that Joe Biden had never

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Speaker 1: even visited before didn't have an operation at all. I mean,

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Speaker 1: this guy was running out of money. So that shows

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Speaker 1: you how powerful, unfortunately they continue to be. I think

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Speaker 1: your legal analysis is probably spot on. Listen, if they

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Speaker 1: actually came down to and they went to trial and whatever,

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Speaker 1: would Chris Cuomo prevail in this probably not y Does

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Speaker 1: CNN want to go through the process and all that

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Speaker 1: would be uncovered through discovery of just how much did

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Speaker 1: they know and what did their messages with Chris look

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Speaker 1: like and all of that. No, I don't think so,

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Speaker 1: because even if and I actually believe that Zucker genuinely

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Speaker 1: felt misled and caught off guard by some of the revelations,

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Speaker 1: but he probably knew more than he was letting me exactly,

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Speaker 1: And so they would end up with a lot of

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Speaker 1: egg on their face if all of that internal sausage

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Speaker 1: making was to be brought out into the public eye.

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Speaker 1: So I think you're right that probably they will look

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Speaker 1: to settle just to avoid that, because listen, as much

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Speaker 1: money as millions of dollars is to you know, all

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Speaker 1: of us, for them, it's really nothing to avoid having

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Speaker 1: an ugly sort of pr situation. Almost certainly that's what's

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Speaker 1: going to happen. We'll see on the flip side some

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Speaker 1: conservative media news here. So you guys, remember Trump partnering

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Speaker 1: up with this existing social media startup to launch his

431
00:23:21,960 --> 00:23:26,560
Speaker 1: own social media channel. Apparently they've raised a billion dollars

432
00:23:27,080 --> 00:23:30,720
Speaker 1: so so far. Financially, it looks like it's been very

433
00:23:30,760 --> 00:23:34,320
Speaker 1: successful for him. But there are some questions here, So

434
00:23:34,359 --> 00:23:36,280
Speaker 1: let's go ahead and throw this tweet up on the screen.

435
00:23:37,080 --> 00:23:41,679
Speaker 1: Apparently the SEC and other regulators are actually investigating the

436
00:23:41,840 --> 00:23:45,520
Speaker 1: financing for Trump's new media company. It's not really worth

437
00:23:45,560 --> 00:23:47,960
Speaker 1: reading the fine print there because it doesn't really say anything,

438
00:23:48,400 --> 00:23:52,119
Speaker 1: and the fact that they're investigating doesn't mean inherently that

439
00:23:52,320 --> 00:23:55,840
Speaker 1: anything that there was any wrongdoing. Yes, it just means

440
00:23:55,840 --> 00:23:58,879
Speaker 1: they have some questions. And I read into this a

441
00:23:58,920 --> 00:24:01,240
Speaker 1: little bit and not with without you know, getting into

442
00:24:01,280 --> 00:24:03,800
Speaker 1: the nitty gritty details of the financing here. You'll remember

443
00:24:03,840 --> 00:24:08,680
Speaker 1: the way that this was executed was through this one

444
00:24:08,720 --> 00:24:11,800
Speaker 1: of these specs, which is basically they call them blank

445
00:24:11,880 --> 00:24:15,480
Speaker 1: check companies, where it's a vehicle that investors put money

446
00:24:15,520 --> 00:24:18,480
Speaker 1: into and then they go around looking for deals. It

447
00:24:18,560 --> 00:24:20,600
Speaker 1: took a backdoor IPO as a way to think about it.

448
00:24:20,840 --> 00:24:23,760
Speaker 1: I'm you disclose too much on the upfront effectively, like

449
00:24:23,800 --> 00:24:26,680
Speaker 1: Paul Ryan did one of these, and people invest in

450
00:24:26,880 --> 00:24:29,920
Speaker 1: the leadership of this SPAC thinking like, oh, they've got

451
00:24:29,920 --> 00:24:33,440
Speaker 1: special knowledge in whatever it is, tech or finance, etc.

452
00:24:33,720 --> 00:24:35,520
Speaker 1: And they'll find a good deal. And we believe in

453
00:24:35,560 --> 00:24:37,240
Speaker 1: their leadership and we think that they're going to find

454
00:24:37,280 --> 00:24:41,160
Speaker 1: a good deal. But in order to use that mechanism,

455
00:24:41,359 --> 00:24:45,200
Speaker 1: there can't have been foresight or meetings that took place

456
00:24:45,280 --> 00:24:49,639
Speaker 1: beforehand with potential deals. It has to truly be like

457
00:24:49,720 --> 00:24:52,680
Speaker 1: a blank check where investors really don't know what deal

458
00:24:52,720 --> 00:24:55,960
Speaker 1: they're going to ultimately end up in. And it appears

459
00:24:56,119 --> 00:24:59,760
Speaker 1: that there were some meetings. They're probing that merger because

460
00:24:59,760 --> 00:25:04,479
Speaker 1: they're there were some meetings with Trump and the SPAC

461
00:25:04,600 --> 00:25:07,800
Speaker 1: leadership before the SPAC raised money. So that's where the

462
00:25:07,880 --> 00:25:10,200
Speaker 1: questions are coming in of whether it actually followed the

463
00:25:10,280 --> 00:25:14,959
Speaker 1: rules of what SPACs are supposed to do. Putting that aside,

464
00:25:15,240 --> 00:25:19,480
Speaker 1: It's interesting right now there's this movement in among conservatives

465
00:25:19,520 --> 00:25:24,160
Speaker 1: to sort of establish their own ecosystem of social media companies,

466
00:25:25,200 --> 00:25:31,680
Speaker 1: cloud server, computing, cryptocurrencies, even different apps. We can throw

467
00:25:31,720 --> 00:25:35,040
Speaker 1: this Axios tweet up on the screen, so they say

468
00:25:35,040 --> 00:25:38,000
Speaker 1: conservatives are building their own apps, phones, cryptocurrencies, and publishing

469
00:25:38,080 --> 00:25:42,360
Speaker 1: houses to circumvent the mainstream tech and media media ecosystems.

470
00:25:42,400 --> 00:25:44,919
Speaker 1: You can see this chart here which shows we know

471
00:25:45,040 --> 00:25:52,160
Speaker 1: these places like one American news network, Newsmax, Rumble, all

472
00:25:52,200 --> 00:25:55,960
Speaker 1: these places that they're doing. Okay, they're not doing like amazingly. Well,

473
00:25:56,000 --> 00:25:58,920
Speaker 1: there was a big spike back around November. Now they've

474
00:25:59,000 --> 00:26:03,439
Speaker 1: kind of faded off, but clearly there's a movement with

475
00:26:03,680 --> 00:26:06,600
Speaker 1: among conservatives where they feel like, listen, we don't run

476
00:26:06,760 --> 00:26:09,600
Speaker 1: any of these institutions that have a lot of control

477
00:26:09,840 --> 00:26:13,320
Speaker 1: over the public dialogue and the public square, so we're

478
00:26:13,320 --> 00:26:15,879
Speaker 1: going to start our own. Now. The problem with that

479
00:26:16,119 --> 00:26:18,760
Speaker 1: is then you sort of silo yourself in a certain sense.

480
00:26:18,760 --> 00:26:21,200
Speaker 1: So we've seen, I mean, Trump is a perfect example

481
00:26:21,240 --> 00:26:24,199
Speaker 1: of this, right he gets kicked off of Twitter and

482
00:26:24,240 --> 00:26:27,320
Speaker 1: suddenly he is a lot less relevant in the elite conversation,

483
00:26:27,520 --> 00:26:30,680
Speaker 1: which frankly has been kind of nice but for him,

484
00:26:30,800 --> 00:26:33,240
Speaker 1: and in terms of us caring about you know, censorship

485
00:26:33,240 --> 00:26:35,880
Speaker 1: and having a parody of viewpoints, it's been a very

486
00:26:35,880 --> 00:26:40,480
Speaker 1: bad thing. So if a lot of conservatives move onto

487
00:26:40,520 --> 00:26:44,600
Speaker 1: these alternative platforms, are they really doing themselves any favors

488
00:26:44,640 --> 00:26:46,680
Speaker 1: or are they increasingly just talking to themselves? Well that's

489
00:26:46,720 --> 00:26:49,080
Speaker 1: the funny part, right, which is that the criticism of this,

490
00:26:49,160 --> 00:26:51,560
Speaker 1: as you see from Brian Stelton, knows like it's terrifying.

491
00:26:51,560 --> 00:26:53,480
Speaker 1: They're building their own thing, and it's like yeah, but

492
00:26:53,640 --> 00:26:55,840
Speaker 1: you know, the criticism was also if you don't like it,

493
00:26:55,880 --> 00:26:57,879
Speaker 1: then build your own thing. So which is it? Right?

494
00:26:57,960 --> 00:27:00,359
Speaker 1: I agree with you though, which is that you're not

495
00:27:00,400 --> 00:27:02,959
Speaker 1: criticizing it as like it's a scary development. What you're

496
00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:05,719
Speaker 1: actually pointing to, and this has always been my criticism

497
00:27:06,080 --> 00:27:09,320
Speaker 1: of these kind of niche platforms is why would I

498
00:27:09,359 --> 00:27:13,280
Speaker 1: want to be somewhere where only other like minded people are.

499
00:27:13,560 --> 00:27:17,280
Speaker 1: The whole point of a social network is everybody's on

500
00:27:17,400 --> 00:27:21,760
Speaker 1: the social network. I mean, yes, some niche communities and others.

501
00:27:21,920 --> 00:27:23,960
Speaker 1: It's not a bad idea goes all the way back

502
00:27:23,960 --> 00:27:27,560
Speaker 1: to subreddits and you know boards on four Chan having

503
00:27:27,640 --> 00:27:31,280
Speaker 1: niche places where people can talk about a like minded topic,

504
00:27:31,359 --> 00:27:35,159
Speaker 1: but to have the ability to go from one subreddit

505
00:27:35,359 --> 00:27:37,639
Speaker 1: to another, to another to another, and then you know,

506
00:27:37,680 --> 00:27:40,800
Speaker 1: to the entire thing aggregated together. That's kind of what

507
00:27:40,840 --> 00:27:44,280
Speaker 1: Twitter was, That's kind of what Facebook was, any other

508
00:27:44,680 --> 00:27:48,560
Speaker 1: anything that leverages the entire social network. So I would

509
00:27:48,560 --> 00:27:51,440
Speaker 1: critique it more from a you know, from a limiting

510
00:27:51,520 --> 00:27:55,480
Speaker 1: perspective of if you're making your entire market just the

511
00:27:55,800 --> 00:27:58,800
Speaker 1: American right, and then even with the American Right, you're

512
00:27:58,840 --> 00:28:01,840
Speaker 1: stripping it all down for parts the Daily Wire more

513
00:28:01,880 --> 00:28:05,520
Speaker 1: libertarian Ben Shapiro type audience here on this app, you know,

514
00:28:05,600 --> 00:28:10,399
Speaker 1: the Trump maga faithful on this app. One America News

515
00:28:10,480 --> 00:28:13,400
Speaker 1: Newsmax type people, and you break it all across. It's

516
00:28:13,440 --> 00:28:15,840
Speaker 1: not that many people. I mean, look, yes, you can

517
00:28:16,119 --> 00:28:18,880
Speaker 1: pot you can sustain in a business in the millions

518
00:28:18,880 --> 00:28:20,800
Speaker 1: and the multimillion dollar figure, but you're not going to

519
00:28:20,800 --> 00:28:23,720
Speaker 1: be a multi trillion dollar or multi billion dollar company

520
00:28:23,800 --> 00:28:27,159
Speaker 1: like a Twitter or a Facebook. So from that perspective,

521
00:28:27,400 --> 00:28:30,920
Speaker 1: you're actually kind of making it and making yourself less

522
00:28:31,000 --> 00:28:34,359
Speaker 1: relevant in a mainstream context. But look for some people,

523
00:28:34,440 --> 00:28:37,800
Speaker 1: that's worth the trade off. This is the question with Trump,

524
00:28:38,080 --> 00:28:40,400
Speaker 1: how does this all work out, because let's put this

525
00:28:40,480 --> 00:28:44,120
Speaker 1: on the screen here. Devin Nunez, Congressman Devin Nunez is

526
00:28:44,160 --> 00:28:47,560
Speaker 1: going to retire from Congress. He was literally in line

527
00:28:47,840 --> 00:28:50,200
Speaker 1: to be the ways and Means Chairman in the House

528
00:28:50,280 --> 00:28:54,120
Speaker 1: Republican my majority, So in twenty twenty two he would

529
00:28:54,160 --> 00:28:57,160
Speaker 1: be literally the most powerful chairman in the all of

530
00:28:57,240 --> 00:29:01,560
Speaker 1: Congress with head and say over taxes. Peo'll spend decades

531
00:29:01,560 --> 00:29:03,920
Speaker 1: trying to get that, and he is going to be

532
00:29:03,920 --> 00:29:08,280
Speaker 1: stepping down to become the CEO of the Trump Media Group.

533
00:29:08,320 --> 00:29:10,920
Speaker 1: And I guess, you know, if I cannot think of

534
00:29:10,920 --> 00:29:14,800
Speaker 1: a better example of where does the power actually lie

535
00:29:15,200 --> 00:29:19,040
Speaker 1: in today's society, It's not in the actual policy. It

536
00:29:19,120 --> 00:29:24,200
Speaker 1: really is in terms of media influence and you know,

537
00:29:24,280 --> 00:29:26,920
Speaker 1: and social media technology. So for Devin units to be

538
00:29:26,960 --> 00:29:29,720
Speaker 1: doing this, giving up the most powerful chairmanship in all

539
00:29:29,760 --> 00:29:32,320
Speaker 1: of Washington to go and become CEO of the Trump

540
00:29:32,400 --> 00:29:35,040
Speaker 1: Media Group, he sees what he probably is making the

541
00:29:35,040 --> 00:29:38,840
Speaker 1: correct decision in terms of having more influence broadly. But

542
00:29:39,120 --> 00:29:43,040
Speaker 1: again it just goes to show what is the actual

543
00:29:43,440 --> 00:29:46,560
Speaker 1: impact of this Trump social media service going to be

544
00:29:47,440 --> 00:29:51,120
Speaker 1: without networks, without network effects? Crystal, is it really just

545
00:29:51,200 --> 00:29:54,000
Speaker 1: pr I mean it's right, it's just a way for

546
00:29:54,080 --> 00:29:57,640
Speaker 1: Trump to converse with his followers. The basics of that

547
00:29:57,680 --> 00:30:01,640
Speaker 1: technology has been around for decades with email lists and

548
00:30:01,720 --> 00:30:04,720
Speaker 1: now and more so, is this just a glorified Twitter,

549
00:30:04,960 --> 00:30:07,200
Speaker 1: you know functionality and the ability for Trump to just

550
00:30:07,240 --> 00:30:09,160
Speaker 1: put out his pr statements and for Trump to make

551
00:30:09,200 --> 00:30:11,880
Speaker 1: a bunch of money, right, I mean, also, how exactly

552
00:30:12,000 --> 00:30:14,080
Speaker 1: is it going to get monetized? I mean, look, they

553
00:30:14,120 --> 00:30:16,160
Speaker 1: are as followers if we want to monetize them, It's

554
00:30:16,160 --> 00:30:17,520
Speaker 1: not like he hasn't been doing it for a long

555
00:30:17,560 --> 00:30:21,280
Speaker 1: time with his super packs and all of that, which

556
00:30:21,320 --> 00:30:23,280
Speaker 1: have no restrictions in terms of what he wants to

557
00:30:23,280 --> 00:30:26,320
Speaker 1: spend his money on, but in terms of money making

558
00:30:26,360 --> 00:30:29,080
Speaker 1: operation and in terms of also the actual influence of

559
00:30:29,080 --> 00:30:31,280
Speaker 1: this thing, I just think it caps out amongst what

560
00:30:31,320 --> 00:30:34,440
Speaker 1: like sixteen seventy percent of the US population. Well, the

561
00:30:34,480 --> 00:30:37,000
Speaker 1: other thing is and also I mean they have an

562
00:30:37,000 --> 00:30:40,080
Speaker 1: older base who are going to be slower to pick

563
00:30:40,160 --> 00:30:42,280
Speaker 1: up on some of these technologies. But you know, the

564
00:30:42,360 --> 00:30:45,800
Speaker 1: other thing is one thing that we witnessed during the

565
00:30:45,840 --> 00:30:49,760
Speaker 1: twenty twenty presidential campaign for Trump was that part of

566
00:30:49,800 --> 00:30:52,520
Speaker 1: the problem for them, part of why they lost is

567
00:30:52,560 --> 00:30:55,480
Speaker 1: because they were way too online. You know, they were

568
00:30:55,480 --> 00:30:58,200
Speaker 1: elevating all the what were their names, the mc closkey's

569
00:30:58,320 --> 00:31:02,160
Speaker 1: or whatever those people in Missouri, right, is that their name?

570
00:31:02,920 --> 00:31:05,520
Speaker 1: Like that? Anyway, they were all I mean, you would

571
00:31:05,520 --> 00:31:07,959
Speaker 1: listen to some of the speeches at the RNC and

572
00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:10,240
Speaker 1: you're like, I don't even know what you're talking about

573
00:31:10,320 --> 00:31:13,240
Speaker 1: right now, and I follow politics. I had to translate

574
00:31:13,280 --> 00:31:18,959
Speaker 1: for you. Yeah, you would. I'm like, what what are

575
00:31:18,960 --> 00:31:21,400
Speaker 1: they even? What point are they making? So they had

576
00:31:21,520 --> 00:31:24,320
Speaker 1: already sort of siloed themselves in this way that you

577
00:31:24,400 --> 00:31:27,239
Speaker 1: had to be following all the ins and outs of

578
00:31:27,280 --> 00:31:31,600
Speaker 1: every John Solomon column to understand exactly what was going

579
00:31:31,640 --> 00:31:35,000
Speaker 1: on with these speeches in the language that they were using.

580
00:31:35,080 --> 00:31:38,000
Speaker 1: So it wasn't connecting the way that it should because

581
00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:40,160
Speaker 1: they were already in their own bubble. So listen, we're

582
00:31:40,160 --> 00:31:42,000
Speaker 1: about to talk, you know, and a little bit in

583
00:31:42,000 --> 00:31:44,479
Speaker 1: the show about the way that the left can silo

584
00:31:44,560 --> 00:31:48,479
Speaker 1: themselves and use this like specialized language that you have

585
00:31:48,560 --> 00:31:51,360
Speaker 1: to be on in the inner inner circle of left

586
00:31:51,400 --> 00:31:54,160
Speaker 1: activist politics to understand to the point that even Bernie

587
00:31:54,160 --> 00:31:56,960
Speaker 1: Sanders is like out of step with where the language

588
00:31:56,960 --> 00:31:59,760
Speaker 1: has gone. But there's a similar danger on the right,

589
00:32:00,200 --> 00:32:03,600
Speaker 1: where you know, anybody who sort of silos themselves off

590
00:32:03,640 --> 00:32:07,960
Speaker 1: too far and gets too disconnected from what mainstream political

591
00:32:08,040 --> 00:32:11,200
Speaker 1: conversation looks like and sounds like, is going to end

592
00:32:11,280 --> 00:32:14,600
Speaker 1: up in that place where the language that they're using,

593
00:32:14,640 --> 00:32:18,360
Speaker 1: the topics that they're talking about, don't necessarily connect with

594
00:32:18,480 --> 00:32:21,840
Speaker 1: a broader audience. And so we've already seen some of

595
00:32:21,880 --> 00:32:24,000
Speaker 1: that happening, and I would think that there was this

596
00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:27,200
Speaker 1: would just continue to push in that direction. I remember

597
00:32:27,320 --> 00:32:29,840
Speaker 1: the usually the first of the second debate with Trump

598
00:32:29,840 --> 00:32:32,760
Speaker 1: and Biden, where he was talking about some arcane part

599
00:32:32,840 --> 00:32:35,160
Speaker 1: of Russia Gate, which I did know because I followed

600
00:32:35,200 --> 00:32:37,280
Speaker 1: it ends and out, and I remember being like, dude,

601
00:32:37,280 --> 00:32:39,800
Speaker 1: nobody knows what you're talking about, right, Like, like I

602
00:32:39,840 --> 00:32:41,800
Speaker 1: have to follow this stuff day in day out. I've

603
00:32:41,800 --> 00:32:44,760
Speaker 1: had a tangential sense of some remark he was making

604
00:32:44,800 --> 00:32:48,440
Speaker 1: about Russia Gate or Ukraine Gate, I forget even which

605
00:32:48,480 --> 00:32:51,280
Speaker 1: one it was, And I was like, listen, just be normal,

606
00:32:51,400 --> 00:32:53,800
Speaker 1: talk about the stuff that people actually cared about. Why

607
00:32:53,800 --> 00:32:57,240
Speaker 1: did Trump almost come this close to winning the presidential

608
00:32:57,280 --> 00:33:00,120
Speaker 1: election twenty twenty? People were fed up with COVID hat

609
00:33:00,200 --> 00:33:03,360
Speaker 1: political correctness. That's it. It's simple. All he has to

610
00:33:03,400 --> 00:33:05,840
Speaker 1: do is talk about that over and over and over again.

611
00:33:06,040 --> 00:33:09,160
Speaker 1: With Biden, it had nothing to do with oh trio,

612
00:33:09,320 --> 00:33:13,360
Speaker 1: this fake Atlantic story about how Trump said some whatever

613
00:33:13,600 --> 00:33:16,920
Speaker 1: at the World War One graves call them suckers and losers.

614
00:33:17,040 --> 00:33:20,720
Speaker 1: This obviously bs. What it was was Biden was like, listen,

615
00:33:21,120 --> 00:33:24,160
Speaker 1: things are crazy right now, and if you elect me,

616
00:33:24,480 --> 00:33:27,440
Speaker 1: I'll make it not crazy. Yeah, I mean didn't work out,

617
00:33:27,680 --> 00:33:29,800
Speaker 1: but that was his pitch. That's why a lot of

618
00:33:29,800 --> 00:33:33,240
Speaker 1: people voted for that. And actually so basic. Actually that

619
00:33:33,400 --> 00:33:37,080
Speaker 1: was one of Biden's strengths was that they were not online. Yes,

620
00:33:37,080 --> 00:33:40,360
Speaker 1: they were terminally not online. And you know, I mean

621
00:33:41,120 --> 00:33:44,320
Speaker 1: Joe Biden probably doesn't even really understand what Twitter is,

622
00:33:44,680 --> 00:33:48,440
Speaker 1: you know, like I'm sure never logged into Twitter himself.

623
00:33:48,840 --> 00:33:51,680
Speaker 1: And so the fact that they were out of the

624
00:33:51,800 --> 00:33:56,959
Speaker 1: loop with those super specialized elite activist conversations happening on

625
00:33:57,000 --> 00:34:00,000
Speaker 1: the left, that was a major asset, that huge ass

626
00:34:00,240 --> 00:34:03,720
Speaker 1: major asset for Biden both in the primary and ultimately

627
00:34:03,920 --> 00:34:07,560
Speaker 1: in the general election. So yeah, I don't see the

628
00:34:07,680 --> 00:34:12,920
Speaker 1: rise of like, you know, the there's a mega coin cryptocurrency,

629
00:34:12,960 --> 00:34:15,680
Speaker 1: there's a freedom phone. I mean, some of these also

630
00:34:15,719 --> 00:34:21,400
Speaker 1: are just like blatant grifting, right, some are I understand

631
00:34:21,400 --> 00:34:25,960
Speaker 1: the genuine desire, like the cloud storage called right Forge

632
00:34:26,239 --> 00:34:29,080
Speaker 1: after Parlor was shut down because all of these, you know,

633
00:34:29,200 --> 00:34:34,160
Speaker 1: established institutions pulled their their cloud computing support. So I

634
00:34:34,280 --> 00:34:38,640
Speaker 1: understand some of the desire to build out the infrastructure,

635
00:34:38,760 --> 00:34:42,920
Speaker 1: and I also understand that Listen, part of the big

636
00:34:43,040 --> 00:34:46,600
Speaker 1: conflict in American politics right now is that liberals and

637
00:34:46,640 --> 00:34:49,640
Speaker 1: those broadly on the left feel like they're being shut

638
00:34:49,680 --> 00:34:51,920
Speaker 1: out of political power, as evidenced by what's going on

639
00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:55,000
Speaker 1: at the Supreme Court right now, with jerry mandering, with

640
00:34:55,120 --> 00:34:57,919
Speaker 1: the nature of the way that the Senate is set up.

641
00:34:58,239 --> 00:35:02,200
Speaker 1: They feel like they're losing power in political institutions. Conservatives

642
00:35:02,200 --> 00:35:04,480
Speaker 1: feel like they have no power in cultural institutions. So

643
00:35:04,520 --> 00:35:06,640
Speaker 1: there's this instinct of like, hey, let's set up our

644
00:35:06,680 --> 00:35:10,680
Speaker 1: own cultural institutions, let's set up our own universities and

645
00:35:10,760 --> 00:35:13,520
Speaker 1: social media apps and cloud computing and all of this stuff.

646
00:35:13,880 --> 00:35:16,120
Speaker 1: But ultimately, I don't think it leads you where you

647
00:35:16,160 --> 00:35:18,680
Speaker 1: want to go, because elites are not going to follow you. There.

648
00:35:19,840 --> 00:35:24,320
Speaker 1: Some of these apps and social media networks that they mentioned,

649
00:35:24,400 --> 00:35:29,120
Speaker 1: I think would bulk at being labeled as right wing

650
00:35:29,480 --> 00:35:33,680
Speaker 1: or conservative or Trump aligned. And I was actually going

651
00:35:33,760 --> 00:35:36,800
Speaker 1: to push back on the idea that Rumble would fall

652
00:35:37,320 --> 00:35:40,560
Speaker 1: easily in that category, because what they seem to have

653
00:35:40,600 --> 00:35:42,560
Speaker 1: really wanted to put forward in people that you know,

654
00:35:42,600 --> 00:35:45,279
Speaker 1: we know and like, including Glenn Greenwold on that platform,

655
00:35:45,719 --> 00:35:47,440
Speaker 1: is the idea of this is a place where we're

656
00:35:47,440 --> 00:35:49,480
Speaker 1: going to have true free speech. We're not going to

657
00:35:49,520 --> 00:35:52,919
Speaker 1: have these censorship conversations and this instinct to just push

658
00:35:52,960 --> 00:35:55,680
Speaker 1: people out because we don't happen to like their viewpoints.

659
00:35:55,920 --> 00:35:59,320
Speaker 1: But they did just sign a deal with Trump's social

660
00:35:59,360 --> 00:36:02,320
Speaker 1: media company any you know, which is about to be

661
00:36:02,400 --> 00:36:06,799
Speaker 1: led by Devin Nunez. So anyway, that's the direction that

662
00:36:06,800 --> 00:36:09,160
Speaker 1: that seems to be going. That's the direction. And I

663
00:36:09,160 --> 00:36:12,840
Speaker 1: think it's actually sad for the direction of any app

664
00:36:13,280 --> 00:36:16,320
Speaker 1: or platform which is going to call itself free speech

665
00:36:16,480 --> 00:36:19,359
Speaker 1: to allow yourself to get and look and at least

666
00:36:19,400 --> 00:36:21,920
Speaker 1: in the media, to be tagged as pro Trump. That's

667
00:36:21,920 --> 00:36:23,799
Speaker 1: probably the worst thing that could ever happen to free

668
00:36:23,800 --> 00:36:26,680
Speaker 1: speech movement. Yeah, and if you want to be acted

669
00:36:26,800 --> 00:36:29,319
Speaker 1: with free speech, that's not what you want, right. They've

670
00:36:29,320 --> 00:36:33,359
Speaker 1: made concerted efforts to reapt to people across the political spectrum.

671
00:36:33,640 --> 00:36:36,240
Speaker 1: But yeah, in terms, certainly in terms of a media perception,

672
00:36:36,320 --> 00:36:38,239
Speaker 1: it's going to be hard to combat the notion that

673
00:36:38,239 --> 00:36:41,040
Speaker 1: they're just Trump aligned media when they have a deal

674
00:36:41,040 --> 00:36:43,000
Speaker 1: with the Trump social media company. That's that's going to

675
00:36:43,000 --> 00:36:45,279
Speaker 1: be an issue, and I think that that ultimately will

676
00:36:45,280 --> 00:36:48,000
Speaker 1: probably play against their favor, and of course that will

677
00:36:48,080 --> 00:36:51,359
Speaker 1: leverage the ultimate excuse for anybody at the very top

678
00:36:51,440 --> 00:36:53,960
Speaker 1: or you know, for censorious purposes in order to go

679
00:36:54,000 --> 00:36:56,239
Speaker 1: after them or go after any of these platforms, which

680
00:36:56,280 --> 00:36:58,839
Speaker 1: is exactly the opposite of what you want for an

681
00:36:58,880 --> 00:37:03,240
Speaker 1: actual thriving conversation online. All right, let's move on to Ukraine.

682
00:37:03,400 --> 00:37:06,000
Speaker 1: So this is something which we have been following and

683
00:37:06,040 --> 00:37:10,040
Speaker 1: it actually could be an incredibly important development. So there

684
00:37:10,080 --> 00:37:14,719
Speaker 1: have been movements out in Ukraine between Russia tensions. This

685
00:37:14,760 --> 00:37:18,000
Speaker 1: is long simmering stuff, obviously, with the Civil War and

686
00:37:18,040 --> 00:37:20,839
Speaker 1: the Color revolutions and all the stuff that broke out

687
00:37:21,080 --> 00:37:25,400
Speaker 1: back in the twenty tens under Barack Obama, simmering debates

688
00:37:25,400 --> 00:37:28,160
Speaker 1: here in Washington, should we arm the Ukrainians or not

689
00:37:28,760 --> 00:37:31,600
Speaker 1: issue warnings against Putin? It goes to the very heart

690
00:37:31,920 --> 00:37:36,040
Speaker 1: of the original NATO conversations, expanding NATO out into the

691
00:37:36,200 --> 00:37:39,279
Speaker 1: Eastern and the Balkan blocks, the former Soviet states, and

692
00:37:39,280 --> 00:37:42,920
Speaker 1: then even inviting Ukraine but ultimately not accepting them fully

693
00:37:42,920 --> 00:37:46,080
Speaker 1: into the bridge of NATO with increased tension. This has

694
00:37:46,120 --> 00:37:49,000
Speaker 1: now come to the four There have been reports, and

695
00:37:49,320 --> 00:37:53,120
Speaker 1: you always have to parse whether stuff is real or not,

696
00:37:53,160 --> 00:37:55,800
Speaker 1: because there's a lot of disinformation, frankly on both sides

697
00:37:55,800 --> 00:37:59,279
Speaker 1: about whether there's actual troops or whatever coming and amassing

698
00:37:59,520 --> 00:38:02,720
Speaker 1: in Ukraine. But what we do know is this President

699
00:38:02,840 --> 00:38:05,360
Speaker 1: Biden is talking with Putin today, So let's put that

700
00:38:05,440 --> 00:38:08,440
Speaker 1: up there on the screen. Biden is expected to quote

701
00:38:08,480 --> 00:38:12,480
Speaker 1: offer warnings and alternatives in a call with Putin. So

702
00:38:12,880 --> 00:38:15,400
Speaker 1: the fear on the US side, how true it is

703
00:38:15,400 --> 00:38:19,160
Speaker 1: we don't actually know, is that they believe that Putin

704
00:38:19,280 --> 00:38:21,839
Speaker 1: and the Russians are about to make some sort of

705
00:38:21,880 --> 00:38:25,480
Speaker 1: incursion into Ukraine. We don't know if it's all of Ukraine,

706
00:38:25,600 --> 00:38:29,280
Speaker 1: Eastern Ukraine, the more Russian speaking parts of Ukraine, et cetera.

707
00:38:29,640 --> 00:38:32,719
Speaker 1: But what Biden is set to say there is that

708
00:38:32,960 --> 00:38:35,600
Speaker 1: they are doubt they are trying to persuade Putin that

709
00:38:35,640 --> 00:38:41,840
Speaker 1: they will have swift economic responses and more quote consequences

710
00:38:42,280 --> 00:38:46,440
Speaker 1: if Russia were to invade Ukraine. They said, Western allies

711
00:38:46,520 --> 00:38:49,480
Speaker 1: may move to cut Russia off from the international financial

712
00:38:49,520 --> 00:38:54,279
Speaker 1: system and seek direct sanctions on mister Putin's closest associates,

713
00:38:54,320 --> 00:38:57,759
Speaker 1: is what administration officials said. Now, obviously that would be

714
00:38:57,840 --> 00:39:02,000
Speaker 1: a massive blow to Russia. Russia is tremendously dependent on

715
00:39:02,000 --> 00:39:05,240
Speaker 1: the international and global financial system. There deals with Europe.

716
00:39:05,480 --> 00:39:09,600
Speaker 1: Their previous Ukraine incursion had big problems for them in

717
00:39:09,680 --> 00:39:14,120
Speaker 1: terms of Nordstream and international relations on the continent of

718
00:39:14,120 --> 00:39:16,960
Speaker 1: Europe itself, probably set them back by four or five

719
00:39:17,040 --> 00:39:19,759
Speaker 1: years there before things got semi normalized. Obviously they were

720
00:39:19,840 --> 00:39:21,160
Speaker 1: kicked out. I think it was like the G seven

721
00:39:21,239 --> 00:39:24,520
Speaker 1: or the G eight or whatever until Trump eventually became president.

722
00:39:24,800 --> 00:39:26,800
Speaker 1: But what this points to is that there is a

723
00:39:26,880 --> 00:39:30,960
Speaker 1: simmering tension that is coming to four And what Putin,

724
00:39:31,120 --> 00:39:33,759
Speaker 1: and this is from more Russian aligned sources, is said

725
00:39:33,760 --> 00:39:37,880
Speaker 1: to demand from Biden is a pledge crystal that NATO

726
00:39:38,320 --> 00:39:42,400
Speaker 1: will not expand, an actual pledge from Biden publicly that

727
00:39:42,560 --> 00:39:46,520
Speaker 1: NATO is not going to continue to expand eastward as

728
00:39:46,560 --> 00:39:50,279
Speaker 1: in Georgia, Ukraine, Transnistria or whatever. And some of the

729
00:39:50,320 --> 00:39:54,280
Speaker 1: other former Soviet states that aren't already within the NATO Alliance.

730
00:39:54,280 --> 00:39:56,680
Speaker 1: And so it just goes to show you, you know,

731
00:39:56,840 --> 00:39:59,040
Speaker 1: I think some of my most critics will be surprised

732
00:39:59,040 --> 00:40:01,160
Speaker 1: to say this. I think one of the biggest mistakes

733
00:40:01,160 --> 00:40:05,560
Speaker 1: the US ever made was letting in Latvia and Lithuania

734
00:40:05,600 --> 00:40:09,320
Speaker 1: and Estonia into the NATO Alliance, because we literally promised

735
00:40:09,600 --> 00:40:13,080
Speaker 1: the Russians in the nineties for you know, denuclearization or

736
00:40:13,160 --> 00:40:15,799
Speaker 1: you know in Ukraine and you know, lessening of arms

737
00:40:15,800 --> 00:40:19,200
Speaker 1: and allowing in some Western you know, business interests and more,

738
00:40:19,239 --> 00:40:21,160
Speaker 1: that we weren't going to encircle them, which is they're

739
00:40:21,239 --> 00:40:24,799
Speaker 1: like literal centuries long fear. And then we literally did

740
00:40:24,800 --> 00:40:28,480
Speaker 1: it by you know, providing Article five protections right up

741
00:40:28,560 --> 00:40:32,320
Speaker 1: until the Russian border and what is historically contested territory.

742
00:40:33,120 --> 00:40:36,239
Speaker 1: So I do think this is a big thorn in

743
00:40:36,280 --> 00:40:38,840
Speaker 1: the side, obviously of the Russians. It goes to the

744
00:40:38,880 --> 00:40:42,400
Speaker 1: original language inside of Putin's brain as to why he

745
00:40:42,440 --> 00:40:45,239
Speaker 1: has such a defensive attitude towards the West. He kind

746
00:40:45,239 --> 00:40:47,880
Speaker 1: of sees us as liars and tricksters who you know,

747
00:40:47,920 --> 00:40:52,239
Speaker 1: have tricked Russia, you know, when they were down in circle. Yeah,

748
00:40:52,239 --> 00:40:54,080
Speaker 1: I mean, listen, like, if I were them, I'd probably

749
00:40:54,120 --> 00:40:56,960
Speaker 1: feel the same way, especially given that the Czars and

750
00:40:57,000 --> 00:40:59,239
Speaker 1: all these people have always seen defense in depth as

751
00:40:59,280 --> 00:41:02,040
Speaker 1: part of one of the most important parts of what

752
00:41:02,200 --> 00:41:05,239
Speaker 1: was the Soviet Union and previously the Russian Empire. If

753
00:41:05,239 --> 00:41:07,680
Speaker 1: you're not following, really what it is is this. This

754
00:41:07,760 --> 00:41:11,120
Speaker 1: is a long standing tension here in DC over whether

755
00:41:11,280 --> 00:41:14,840
Speaker 1: we should extend collective defense and Article five protections or

756
00:41:14,840 --> 00:41:20,239
Speaker 1: even military force to defending former Soviet states from potential

757
00:41:20,280 --> 00:41:24,080
Speaker 1: military action on the Russians. And that's really what the

758
00:41:24,840 --> 00:41:27,719
Speaker 1: policy that is coming to fore right now in this is,

759
00:41:28,040 --> 00:41:31,680
Speaker 1: and this is what DC is focused on right now

760
00:41:31,760 --> 00:41:34,960
Speaker 1: more than anything else from an international security situation. Yes,

761
00:41:35,040 --> 00:41:37,200
Speaker 1: and listen, I don't pretend to be an expert on

762
00:41:37,400 --> 00:41:41,879
Speaker 1: Ukrainian or Russian history, but this is partly a strategic

763
00:41:42,000 --> 00:41:45,759
Speaker 1: defense question for Putin, and it is partly a historical

764
00:41:45,840 --> 00:41:51,920
Speaker 1: cultural question for Putin and for Russians in general, who believe,

765
00:41:52,000 --> 00:41:55,240
Speaker 1: and Putin has written that Ukraine and Russia are one country.

766
00:41:55,320 --> 00:41:57,640
Speaker 1: There's a lot of shared cultural history in terms of

767
00:41:57,640 --> 00:42:01,000
Speaker 1: the origin of both the Ukrainian state and the Russian state.

768
00:42:01,400 --> 00:42:04,200
Speaker 1: So there's not it goes beyond just sort of a

769
00:42:04,239 --> 00:42:08,000
Speaker 1: tactical strategic defense question for putin to a more sort

770
00:42:08,040 --> 00:42:13,200
Speaker 1: of visceral, emotional cultural question, which makes it extra fraud here.

771
00:42:13,600 --> 00:42:15,880
Speaker 1: And this is one of the areas where you know,

772
00:42:16,080 --> 00:42:20,440
Speaker 1: you see neo cons and warhawks on both sides joining

773
00:42:20,480 --> 00:42:25,319
Speaker 1: he yes, very bipartisan in terms of you know, now,

774
00:42:25,360 --> 00:42:27,399
Speaker 1: there's a lot of beating of the drums, a lot

775
00:42:27,440 --> 00:42:30,560
Speaker 1: of desire to amp up tension with Russia, a lot

776
00:42:30,600 --> 00:42:36,040
Speaker 1: of bipartisan desire to send more lethal aid to the Ukrainians,

777
00:42:36,120 --> 00:42:39,360
Speaker 1: and that sort of direction. We took note of Chris Murphy.

778
00:42:39,719 --> 00:42:45,359
Speaker 1: Murphy who is you know, well, an influential figure in

779
00:42:45,440 --> 00:42:48,400
Speaker 1: terms of the Democratic Party, especially on issues of defense,

780
00:42:48,640 --> 00:42:51,279
Speaker 1: and what he said about pushing to provide lethal aid.

781
00:42:51,320 --> 00:42:53,400
Speaker 1: Let's take a listen to that. Well, right now, we

782
00:42:53,440 --> 00:42:55,840
Speaker 1: have an amendment on the floor of the Senate that

783
00:42:55,920 --> 00:42:59,799
Speaker 1: would dramatically increase the amount of lethal aid. I support it.

784
00:43:00,239 --> 00:43:03,920
Speaker 1: Republicans right now in the Senate are blocking that amendment

785
00:43:03,960 --> 00:43:07,960
Speaker 1: from being considered. In addition, Republicans are blocking our ambassadors

786
00:43:08,000 --> 00:43:10,960
Speaker 1: from being confirmed, in particular to the EU, where a

787
00:43:10,960 --> 00:43:12,680
Speaker 1: lot of this work will be done to try to

788
00:43:12,800 --> 00:43:15,520
Speaker 1: bring our allies together. So we've got to get our

789
00:43:15,560 --> 00:43:18,480
Speaker 1: Republican colleagues to understand this is the threat that many

790
00:43:18,520 --> 00:43:22,239
Speaker 1: of us believe it to be, so again calling it

791
00:43:22,280 --> 00:43:25,280
Speaker 1: a threat and more. One of the most influential essays

792
00:43:25,280 --> 00:43:27,399
Speaker 1: that I ever read was actually in graduate school by

793
00:43:27,400 --> 00:43:30,240
Speaker 1: Steven Walt, and it's called would you die for that country?

794
00:43:30,480 --> 00:43:33,600
Speaker 1: Why the United States States needs to think twice before

795
00:43:33,640 --> 00:43:36,520
Speaker 1: calling Ukraine an ally? And he points to what the

796
00:43:36,560 --> 00:43:39,640
Speaker 1: real implication of Article five means, which is that if

797
00:43:39,640 --> 00:43:42,759
Speaker 1: that country gets invaded, are you willing to fight, die

798
00:43:42,920 --> 00:43:46,279
Speaker 1: and spill American blood for that soil? And if you

799
00:43:46,400 --> 00:43:51,200
Speaker 1: compare US commitment to ukraine historical ties and Russian I

800
00:43:51,239 --> 00:43:54,280
Speaker 1: think I know what wins out. Listen, if you're Ukrainian,

801
00:43:54,360 --> 00:43:56,600
Speaker 1: you're listening to this and you're upset, I get it.

802
00:43:56,920 --> 00:44:00,920
Speaker 1: I honestly I'm sorry, especially because you find yourself as

803
00:44:00,960 --> 00:44:06,240
Speaker 1: a pond between these two large geopolitical not necessarily superpower

804
00:44:06,239 --> 00:44:09,480
Speaker 1: anymore on Russia's part, but whatever larger than life kind

805
00:44:09,480 --> 00:44:12,440
Speaker 1: of state that punches relatively above its economic power and

806
00:44:12,480 --> 00:44:16,000
Speaker 1: weight because of its nuclear capacity. But that is the

807
00:44:16,040 --> 00:44:18,160
Speaker 1: reality when it comes to the question of whether the

808
00:44:18,280 --> 00:44:23,000
Speaker 1: United States should commit military resources to defending Ukraine. To

809
00:44:23,040 --> 00:44:25,759
Speaker 1: be clear, that's not necessarily what Biden is putting on

810
00:44:25,800 --> 00:44:30,320
Speaker 1: the table. But to declare basically all out economic warfare

811
00:44:30,360 --> 00:44:34,080
Speaker 1: on Russia in response to this, perhaps it's on par,

812
00:44:34,440 --> 00:44:39,080
Speaker 1: but it could actually have a converse effect in hardening

813
00:44:39,120 --> 00:44:42,520
Speaker 1: Putin both in what he thinks perhaps that's already the case,

814
00:44:42,880 --> 00:44:45,839
Speaker 1: but really what it could be is it could mark

815
00:44:46,120 --> 00:44:50,120
Speaker 1: the end of any real diplomatic ties between the two nations,

816
00:44:50,200 --> 00:44:53,360
Speaker 1: given how much Putin and his oligarchs need access to

817
00:44:53,400 --> 00:44:56,880
Speaker 1: the international financial system. The other thing that they have

818
00:44:56,960 --> 00:44:59,320
Speaker 1: to balance is that they're desperate to try and get

819
00:44:59,560 --> 00:45:02,440
Speaker 1: back into the Iran Deal, and the Russians have a

820
00:45:02,480 --> 00:45:07,480
Speaker 1: lot of influence over Iran and were part obviously of

821
00:45:07,520 --> 00:45:11,480
Speaker 1: the JCPOA. So if they don't have any incentive in

822
00:45:11,560 --> 00:45:14,680
Speaker 1: order to work and towards the US and try and

823
00:45:14,719 --> 00:45:17,240
Speaker 1: push it to more's there, they can make life difficult

824
00:45:17,239 --> 00:45:20,000
Speaker 1: for US. Is more what I'm saying. In many other respects,

825
00:45:20,080 --> 00:45:23,600
Speaker 1: they are still a large power in Eastern Europe, and

826
00:45:23,640 --> 00:45:27,360
Speaker 1: of course they have massive business interests with Germany and

827
00:45:27,400 --> 00:45:30,120
Speaker 1: many of other other so called allies. Or would they

828
00:45:30,239 --> 00:45:32,680
Speaker 1: really be willing to push the button when it came

829
00:45:32,719 --> 00:45:34,799
Speaker 1: to this. All I'm saying is that this is just

830
00:45:34,880 --> 00:45:37,680
Speaker 1: opens up a lot of very sore wounds of US

831
00:45:37,680 --> 00:45:41,000
Speaker 1: policy with NATO, and I think I personally will always

832
00:45:41,000 --> 00:45:44,360
Speaker 1: think the original sin was expanding outside of the original

833
00:45:44,480 --> 00:45:48,480
Speaker 1: NATO alliance, including the Balkan States, or sorry, including the

834
00:45:48,520 --> 00:45:52,680
Speaker 1: Baltic states like Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. I understand, I've

835
00:45:52,680 --> 00:45:55,719
Speaker 1: been to those countries. They're beautiful places, but extending Article

836
00:45:55,760 --> 00:45:58,120
Speaker 1: five protection to them, in my opinion, was a much

837
00:45:58,360 --> 00:46:00,360
Speaker 1: a bridge too far and actually put us on the

838
00:46:00,400 --> 00:46:02,399
Speaker 1: road to the type of confrontation we're at right now.

839
00:46:02,440 --> 00:46:04,520
Speaker 1: There's a couple of other pieces there. It's not just

840
00:46:04,560 --> 00:46:07,680
Speaker 1: the Iran nuclear deal, as you alluded to, but also

841
00:46:07,719 --> 00:46:10,160
Speaker 1: the US really wants to work with Russia on climate change,

842
00:46:10,200 --> 00:46:12,479
Speaker 1: which you know, I certainly considered to be a top

843
00:46:12,520 --> 00:46:16,840
Speaker 1: priority in Russia has lots of oil and natural gas

844
00:46:17,080 --> 00:46:19,960
Speaker 1: petro state. Yeah, right, so this is, you know, this

845
00:46:20,120 --> 00:46:23,480
Speaker 1: is very significant getting them to play ball on climate change.

846
00:46:23,600 --> 00:46:26,200
Speaker 1: There's another thing that's kind of interesting that I was

847
00:46:26,239 --> 00:46:30,040
Speaker 1: reading about, which is that Putin's very aggressive and militaristic

848
00:46:30,160 --> 00:46:33,759
Speaker 1: posture towards Ukraine has really in a sense backfired for

849
00:46:33,840 --> 00:46:37,880
Speaker 1: him as well, because the number support for joining NATO

850
00:46:38,400 --> 00:46:42,560
Speaker 1: among Ukrainians rose from fourteen percent in twenty twelve to

851
00:46:42,719 --> 00:46:47,880
Speaker 1: a majority fifty four percent now, So his position in

852
00:46:48,000 --> 00:46:53,719
Speaker 1: posturing and annexing of crimea that has also backfired in

853
00:46:53,800 --> 00:46:56,360
Speaker 1: terms of, you know, public sentiment. Whereas before they were like,

854
00:46:56,400 --> 00:46:58,560
Speaker 1: now we're good without NATO, Now there's a majority of

855
00:46:58,560 --> 00:47:02,000
Speaker 1: the population that does in fact want to join NATO.

856
00:47:02,520 --> 00:47:04,360
Speaker 1: The last thing we can put here is in terms

857
00:47:04,400 --> 00:47:08,160
Speaker 1: of the sort of saber rattling and escalating tensions, there

858
00:47:08,160 --> 00:47:10,359
Speaker 1: are reports that Russia has we can put this tear

859
00:47:10,400 --> 00:47:12,480
Speaker 1: sheet up on the screen. This from the Military Times

860
00:47:12,800 --> 00:47:15,480
Speaker 1: reports that Russia has more than ninety two thousand troops

861
00:47:15,480 --> 00:47:18,560
Speaker 1: and master around Ukraine's borders. There are estimates from the

862
00:47:18,680 --> 00:47:20,799
Speaker 1: US intelligence that it could go up to as much

863
00:47:20,840 --> 00:47:23,759
Speaker 1: as one hundred and seventy five thousand by January, and

864
00:47:24,560 --> 00:47:29,080
Speaker 1: Ukraine believes Russia is preparing to attack them by late

865
00:47:29,120 --> 00:47:31,359
Speaker 1: Generator to tayoy ready salt. That's at least what they're

866
00:47:31,400 --> 00:47:33,759
Speaker 1: putting out there publicly, I think, you know, I mean,

867
00:47:33,800 --> 00:47:35,719
Speaker 1: in part that could very much be to sort of

868
00:47:36,000 --> 00:47:38,680
Speaker 1: gave up the pressure trying to pressure here and wash. Yeah,

869
00:47:38,680 --> 00:47:41,200
Speaker 1: they're trying to pressure the US to send that lethal

870
00:47:41,239 --> 00:47:43,279
Speaker 1: aid and have their back and all of those things.

871
00:47:43,280 --> 00:47:45,279
Speaker 1: So that's the sort of posturing that's going on, very

872
00:47:45,360 --> 00:47:47,560
Speaker 1: high stakes call today between Biden and Putin, and we'll

873
00:47:47,600 --> 00:47:49,600
Speaker 1: see what comes of it. Yeah, certainly, But I think

874
00:47:49,600 --> 00:47:51,600
Speaker 1: everybody should be aware of this. These types of things

875
00:47:51,640 --> 00:47:54,160
Speaker 1: can simmer below the surface and then they can explode

876
00:47:54,400 --> 00:47:56,960
Speaker 1: all at once, and things can move very very quickly

877
00:47:57,000 --> 00:48:01,160
Speaker 1: in terms of military conflict, fallout in the global financial system,

878
00:48:01,600 --> 00:48:06,040
Speaker 1: fallout in the European continent, into how that all would affect. Remember,

879
00:48:06,040 --> 00:48:08,920
Speaker 1: the Russians have a tremendous impact on gas prices and

880
00:48:09,000 --> 00:48:14,080
Speaker 1: natural gas as well, So this could be a conflagration geopolitically,

881
00:48:14,200 --> 00:48:16,560
Speaker 1: and we should all watch it very closely. I'm hoping

882
00:48:16,600 --> 00:48:19,880
Speaker 1: that the Biden administration in them use their diplomatic process

883
00:48:20,000 --> 00:48:23,760
Speaker 1: or to lower tensions out there in Ukraine and see

884
00:48:24,000 --> 00:48:27,400
Speaker 1: and actually hear what's happening, not to succumb to the

885
00:48:27,960 --> 00:48:31,560
Speaker 1: chest beating here in DC over Ukraine and NATO and

886
00:48:31,600 --> 00:48:34,359
Speaker 1: all that other stuff. So we'll see. Okay, let's move

887
00:48:34,360 --> 00:48:37,560
Speaker 1: on to our fun segment. One of my particular favorites.

888
00:48:37,880 --> 00:48:41,759
Speaker 1: A new survey confirming what we already know, Democrats fall

889
00:48:41,800 --> 00:48:45,520
Speaker 1: flat with LATINX language. Put this up there from Politico.

890
00:48:46,360 --> 00:48:49,720
Speaker 1: So as Democrats seek to reach out to Latino voters

891
00:48:49,920 --> 00:48:53,160
Speaker 1: in a more gender neutral way, they've increasingly begun using

892
00:48:53,200 --> 00:48:56,080
Speaker 1: the words LATINX, a term that first began to get

893
00:48:56,080 --> 00:48:59,120
Speaker 1: traction among academic and activists on the left. This is

894
00:48:59,120 --> 00:49:03,799
Speaker 1: from Politico. But that very effort could be counterproductive in

895
00:49:03,920 --> 00:49:08,120
Speaker 1: courting those of Latin American descent. A new nationwide poll

896
00:49:08,160 --> 00:49:11,200
Speaker 1: of Hispanic voters showed let's put this next tweet up

897
00:49:11,239 --> 00:49:15,000
Speaker 1: there because it actually summarizes it quite well. Only two

898
00:49:15,080 --> 00:49:19,840
Speaker 1: percent of those polled referred to themselves as LATINX, sixty

899
00:49:19,920 --> 00:49:24,800
Speaker 1: eight percent call themselves Hispanic, twenty one percent actually favored

900
00:49:25,040 --> 00:49:29,960
Speaker 1: Latino or Latina to describe their ethnic background. According to

901
00:49:30,000 --> 00:49:34,680
Speaker 1: a Democratic firm specializing in Latino outrage, which polled a

902
00:49:34,800 --> 00:49:38,480
Speaker 1: huge cross section of the entire country, and what they

903
00:49:38,480 --> 00:49:41,560
Speaker 1: point to is the number suggests that using LATINX is

904
00:49:41,600 --> 00:49:45,560
Speaker 1: actually a violation of a political hippocratic oath, which is, first,

905
00:49:45,800 --> 00:49:48,760
Speaker 1: do no electoral harm. Why are we using a word

906
00:49:49,000 --> 00:49:51,960
Speaker 1: that is preferred only by two percent, but offends as

907
00:49:52,000 --> 00:49:55,520
Speaker 1: many as forty percent of the voters that we want

908
00:49:55,520 --> 00:49:59,200
Speaker 1: to win. And it's amazing because I, you know, these terms,

909
00:49:59,280 --> 00:50:01,520
Speaker 1: they could come out of nowhere. Yes, I we were

910
00:50:01,560 --> 00:50:03,840
Speaker 1: talking you about this yesterday. I did a little research

911
00:50:03,840 --> 00:50:06,120
Speaker 1: after we talked with like where did this come from? Yes?

912
00:50:06,320 --> 00:50:10,240
Speaker 1: And no one really knows. Okay, there's some theories. It's like, bipop,

913
00:50:10,520 --> 00:50:13,640
Speaker 1: where the hell did this shit go? That has that

914
00:50:13,680 --> 00:50:17,000
Speaker 1: you can actually trace back to particular intellectuals that an

915
00:50:17,000 --> 00:50:21,200
Speaker 1: active but latinx It first appeared online in I think

916
00:50:21,239 --> 00:50:24,160
Speaker 1: two thousand and four, but no one really used it.

917
00:50:24,160 --> 00:50:26,799
Speaker 1: It was like, had one mention and then some other

918
00:50:26,840 --> 00:50:29,239
Speaker 1: people say no, No, it originated in chat rooms in

919
00:50:29,280 --> 00:50:34,120
Speaker 1: the nineties, but it didn't really gain traction until the

920
00:50:34,200 --> 00:50:38,680
Speaker 1: twenty tens. And yeah, so there was no sort of

921
00:50:38,719 --> 00:50:42,040
Speaker 1: like gathering of the minds and consensus around this and

922
00:50:42,400 --> 00:50:45,040
Speaker 1: so what this is. Look, this is not the reason

923
00:50:45,480 --> 00:50:49,120
Speaker 1: the reason why Democrats have been losing ground with Latinos,

924
00:50:49,640 --> 00:50:54,640
Speaker 1: but I think it is symbolic of a larger sense

925
00:50:54,920 --> 00:50:58,680
Speaker 1: among working class Latinos that this is like the Democratic

926
00:50:58,760 --> 00:51:03,279
Speaker 1: Party is full of elites, yes, who are culturally out

927
00:51:03,280 --> 00:51:06,480
Speaker 1: of touch with them and forcing on them language that

928
00:51:06,520 --> 00:51:10,080
Speaker 1: they themselves don't like or use wants and in fact

929
00:51:10,200 --> 00:51:13,239
Speaker 1: find it offensive. Yes, and that there's this sort of

930
00:51:13,320 --> 00:51:15,520
Speaker 1: you know, the same look. It's the same dynamic that

931
00:51:15,560 --> 00:51:18,080
Speaker 1: the white working class in some instances has had with

932
00:51:18,120 --> 00:51:20,600
Speaker 1: the Democratic Party, where they feel a sense of snaring contempt.

933
00:51:20,640 --> 00:51:22,920
Speaker 1: And so even people who may be aligned on certain

934
00:51:22,960 --> 00:51:27,080
Speaker 1: issues both economically and in some instances culturally, feel like

935
00:51:27,120 --> 00:51:29,359
Speaker 1: there's no place for them in the Democratic Party. That's

936
00:51:29,440 --> 00:51:32,640
Speaker 1: just looking down their nose and like enforcing activist language

937
00:51:32,640 --> 00:51:35,200
Speaker 1: on them. So that's the real problem. It's not the

938
00:51:35,280 --> 00:51:38,320
Speaker 1: issue for Democrats. It is symbolic of a larger problem

939
00:51:38,400 --> 00:51:41,160
Speaker 1: for Democrats. I would say maybe I always understood this

940
00:51:41,160 --> 00:51:43,480
Speaker 1: because I grew up in Texas, where there are you know,

941
00:51:43,640 --> 00:51:47,640
Speaker 1: generations of people who are you know, Mexican American, but

942
00:51:48,320 --> 00:51:50,480
Speaker 1: or a lot you know who are Hispanic, but a

943
00:51:50,600 --> 00:51:55,520
Speaker 1: fourth maybe fifth generation. They consider themselves, you know, yes, Hispanic,

944
00:51:55,840 --> 00:51:58,920
Speaker 1: and they have very very like set traditions. But it's

945
00:51:59,120 --> 00:52:03,520
Speaker 1: like a Teihana kind of there's a Tejano way about

946
00:52:03,520 --> 00:52:06,600
Speaker 1: it where it's not necessarily Mexican. It's not like white

947
00:52:06,640 --> 00:52:10,680
Speaker 1: Texan either, it's its own unique identity and those people

948
00:52:10,719 --> 00:52:13,520
Speaker 1: who I know have always been very offended by the

949
00:52:13,600 --> 00:52:16,160
Speaker 1: idea that they only care about you know, illegal immigration

950
00:52:16,400 --> 00:52:19,000
Speaker 1: or DACA or something like that, when they themselves have

951
00:52:19,280 --> 00:52:21,799
Speaker 1: maybe the same concerns on an immigration or a lot

952
00:52:21,800 --> 00:52:24,600
Speaker 1: of them are just working class and just want like

953
00:52:24,640 --> 00:52:27,520
Speaker 1: a better job and a life and don't really see

954
00:52:27,560 --> 00:52:33,920
Speaker 1: themselves in this prevailing international or national narrative around where

955
00:52:34,080 --> 00:52:37,040
Speaker 1: you know, how they feel in respect to one thing

956
00:52:37,120 --> 00:52:38,719
Speaker 1: or the other. You know, we saw a lot of

957
00:52:38,719 --> 00:52:43,120
Speaker 1: this with Puerto Rico, right like the hurricane in Puerto Rico,

958
00:52:43,360 --> 00:52:47,080
Speaker 1: where you actually saw in Florida that Rick Scott, the

959
00:52:47,120 --> 00:52:51,440
Speaker 1: Senator there one big with Puerto Ricans in the twenty

960
00:52:51,520 --> 00:52:55,040
Speaker 1: twenty Senate election. And one of the reasons why is

961
00:52:55,080 --> 00:52:59,640
Speaker 1: because he ran against Trump's response to the hurricane. But

962
00:52:59,719 --> 00:53:03,200
Speaker 1: also so there was polling that Puerto Rican aid for

963
00:53:03,239 --> 00:53:06,799
Speaker 1: the hurricane also didn't pull that well necessarily with other

964
00:53:06,960 --> 00:53:09,560
Speaker 1: Hispanic groups, and so it was, you know, once again

965
00:53:09,840 --> 00:53:13,279
Speaker 1: the perfect example of talking to people as if they're

966
00:53:13,320 --> 00:53:17,160
Speaker 1: a single group. There are Dominican Americans, there are Puerto

967
00:53:17,239 --> 00:53:19,160
Speaker 1: Ricans who've been living in New York for like over

968
00:53:19,200 --> 00:53:22,239
Speaker 1: one hundred years, much longer than my family has been

969
00:53:22,280 --> 00:53:25,000
Speaker 1: in the US who have their own traditions. I mean,

970
00:53:25,120 --> 00:53:30,280
Speaker 1: there are just so many different Venezuelan Americans, Colombian Americans,

971
00:53:30,320 --> 00:53:33,200
Speaker 1: Brazilian America. They don't even speak in Spanish necessarily, so

972
00:53:33,239 --> 00:53:35,800
Speaker 1: it's like you have all these different groups. Especially I

973
00:53:35,840 --> 00:53:38,919
Speaker 1: think you see this down in Florida and the way

974
00:53:38,960 --> 00:53:43,400
Speaker 1: that then manifests itself, even in the difference between people

975
00:53:43,480 --> 00:53:47,800
Speaker 1: who are Mexican of descent and live in California versus

976
00:53:47,800 --> 00:53:52,200
Speaker 1: of Mexican descent and live here in Washington, DC or Virginia.

977
00:53:52,560 --> 00:53:54,560
Speaker 1: All of this is just a very long winded way

978
00:53:54,600 --> 00:53:58,680
Speaker 1: of saying that try to talk to the higher ideals

979
00:53:59,080 --> 00:54:03,560
Speaker 1: of what most people want that crosses all races and

980
00:54:03,600 --> 00:54:07,759
Speaker 1: all demographics, rather than using these ridiculous terms like we

981
00:54:07,760 --> 00:54:11,200
Speaker 1: were talking, you know, BIPOC. Another one was women with

982
00:54:11,280 --> 00:54:14,560
Speaker 1: an X and I just looked at it, like wmx N.

983
00:54:15,080 --> 00:54:16,879
Speaker 1: I think that's just a joke, isn't it. I don't

984
00:54:16,880 --> 00:54:19,400
Speaker 1: think so. I mean, look, it has its own Wikipedia page,

985
00:54:19,800 --> 00:54:22,200
Speaker 1: so you take that for what it means. I think

986
00:54:22,360 --> 00:54:25,040
Speaker 1: I think part it's actually very interesting conversation because I

987
00:54:25,040 --> 00:54:28,080
Speaker 1: think part of the problem for the Democratic Party is

988
00:54:28,120 --> 00:54:32,600
Speaker 1: that almost all with the exception of like Chuck Roach,

989
00:54:32,680 --> 00:54:37,000
Speaker 1: and that's literally it. Of their consultant class come from

990
00:54:37,280 --> 00:54:40,960
Speaker 1: middle class or upper middle class backgrounds, went to fancy schools,

991
00:54:41,320 --> 00:54:43,359
Speaker 1: and so it may not be that they don't know

992
00:54:43,480 --> 00:54:46,560
Speaker 1: any Black people or don't know any Latino people, but

993
00:54:46,800 --> 00:54:49,120
Speaker 1: that the people that they have met are of a

994
00:54:49,160 --> 00:54:52,560
Speaker 1: similar class status to them by and large, and so

995
00:54:52,680 --> 00:54:56,680
Speaker 1: there's a lack of connectivity to that you know, broader

996
00:54:56,760 --> 00:55:01,440
Speaker 1: conversation and all the complexities of those communities. Instead, everybody

997
00:55:01,440 --> 00:55:05,160
Speaker 1: gets lumped into something called the black community, which you know,

998
00:55:05,239 --> 00:55:08,319
Speaker 1: there's more of a sort of shared historical roots there.

999
00:55:08,360 --> 00:55:10,360
Speaker 1: You could kind of make that one makes sense maybe

1000
00:55:10,480 --> 00:55:13,200
Speaker 1: even though we know within the African American community there

1001
00:55:13,280 --> 00:55:18,000
Speaker 1: is a massive diversity of views of you know, and

1002
00:55:18,480 --> 00:55:21,920
Speaker 1: positions and ideologies. But then it makes even less sense

1003
00:55:22,320 --> 00:55:25,680
Speaker 1: when you try to combine this, wrap your arms around

1004
00:55:25,680 --> 00:55:28,400
Speaker 1: this thing and call it the Latino community when you

1005
00:55:28,480 --> 00:55:35,480
Speaker 1: have incredibly varied histories and backgrounds and geography and class

1006
00:55:35,520 --> 00:55:39,040
Speaker 1: status in all of those things, it makes no sense.

1007
00:55:39,520 --> 00:55:44,200
Speaker 1: And so it's actually i mean, look, latinx is again

1008
00:55:44,239 --> 00:55:46,960
Speaker 1: it's a symbol of the problem, but it's actually offensive

1009
00:55:47,000 --> 00:55:50,320
Speaker 1: and racist to assume that this entire group of people

1010
00:55:50,760 --> 00:55:53,640
Speaker 1: is going to respond to just your view of what

1011
00:55:53,800 --> 00:55:57,000
Speaker 1: their interest should be, of your like identity based view

1012
00:55:57,480 --> 00:56:00,799
Speaker 1: of what their narrow interest should be. And so that's

1013
00:56:00,840 --> 00:56:04,680
Speaker 1: the pitfall that Democrats have really fallen into, especially with

1014
00:56:04,760 --> 00:56:08,040
Speaker 1: the Latino community. But you also see some a little

1015
00:56:08,080 --> 00:56:11,880
Speaker 1: bit of erosion with the Black community as well, where

1016
00:56:11,800 --> 00:56:15,799
Speaker 1: there's a similar sort of mono view of what those

1017
00:56:15,880 --> 00:56:19,080
Speaker 1: people would want in their politics. I think that doesn't

1018
00:56:19,160 --> 00:56:23,400
Speaker 1: reflect the actual diversity of viewpoints and just you know

1019
00:56:23,520 --> 00:56:25,360
Speaker 1: the fact that they're trying to live their lives and

1020
00:56:25,400 --> 00:56:27,200
Speaker 1: have a job in future for their kids, just like

1021
00:56:27,320 --> 00:56:29,439
Speaker 1: literally everybody else. No, you're right. I think we saw

1022
00:56:29,440 --> 00:56:31,920
Speaker 1: this young Black men in particular. I think it was

1023
00:56:31,920 --> 00:56:34,800
Speaker 1: like eighteen something percent or whoever voted for Trump. Doesn't

1024
00:56:34,800 --> 00:56:36,759
Speaker 1: sound like a lot, but that's like double what it

1025
00:56:36,840 --> 00:56:39,960
Speaker 1: was for the elder demographic. And you saw again that

1026
00:56:40,000 --> 00:56:43,040
Speaker 1: there's a lot less actually party loyalty amongst young Black

1027
00:56:43,040 --> 00:56:48,000
Speaker 1: Americans in general towards their faithful view of the Democratic

1028
00:56:48,040 --> 00:56:50,799
Speaker 1: Party very much again in dispute whenever you look at

1029
00:56:50,840 --> 00:56:53,560
Speaker 1: older black voters. So you put all that together, and

1030
00:56:53,719 --> 00:56:57,160
Speaker 1: what you're seeing is that the best way in order

1031
00:56:57,200 --> 00:57:00,440
Speaker 1: to communicate with any racial group is to try and

1032
00:57:00,480 --> 00:57:03,400
Speaker 1: speak to what every racial group has to worry about,

1033
00:57:03,600 --> 00:57:07,040
Speaker 1: which is what's going on with your job. Do you

1034
00:57:07,120 --> 00:57:09,840
Speaker 1: have the ability to provide a better life for your children?

1035
00:57:10,080 --> 00:57:13,080
Speaker 1: And do you have the at least hope of being

1036
00:57:13,200 --> 00:57:16,120
Speaker 1: more prosperous than the people who came before you. It's

1037
00:57:16,120 --> 00:57:19,880
Speaker 1: actually really not complicated. And by diving and making it

1038
00:57:19,920 --> 00:57:23,080
Speaker 1: all into these cross sections and trying to speak and

1039
00:57:23,200 --> 00:57:26,560
Speaker 1: you know, even homogenize an entire group which are very different,

1040
00:57:26,760 --> 00:57:30,040
Speaker 1: it's very offensive and it's politically counterintuitive. So, like you said,

1041
00:57:30,240 --> 00:57:32,360
Speaker 1: this is just the tip of the iceberg. Yeah, of

1042
00:57:32,360 --> 00:57:35,720
Speaker 1: what the real problem is. Language does really matter. It

1043
00:57:35,760 --> 00:57:39,880
Speaker 1: matters a lot, So I get why activists think a

1044
00:57:39,920 --> 00:57:44,760
Speaker 1: lot about language. But instead of trying to adopt language

1045
00:57:44,800 --> 00:57:48,200
Speaker 1: that would be broadly appealing and try to make the

1046
00:57:48,200 --> 00:57:51,880
Speaker 1: case for your positions to the broadest possible audience, which

1047
00:57:51,920 --> 00:57:54,280
Speaker 1: is the goal when you want to have coalitions and

1048
00:57:54,320 --> 00:57:58,240
Speaker 1: win power, that should ultimately be the goal. Instead, there's

1049
00:57:58,280 --> 00:58:02,240
Speaker 1: this fetishizing of a sort of like faux radicalism, where

1050
00:58:02,440 --> 00:58:05,640
Speaker 1: you want to use the in group language to signal

1051
00:58:05,760 --> 00:58:10,000
Speaker 1: your own sort of status and moral purity rather than

1052
00:58:10,080 --> 00:58:13,720
Speaker 1: wanting to build these broader coalitions. There's more clout to

1053
00:58:13,800 --> 00:58:18,000
Speaker 1: be gained, there's more positions to advance if you lean

1054
00:58:18,040 --> 00:58:21,080
Speaker 1: in that direction, which is ultimately kind of, you know,

1055
00:58:21,160 --> 00:58:23,760
Speaker 1: kind of isolating. So, as I said before, we have

1056
00:58:23,880 --> 00:58:26,320
Speaker 1: the discussion about conservative media and the dangers of a

1057
00:58:26,360 --> 00:58:29,640
Speaker 1: siloing there and the sort of conversations and rabbit holes

1058
00:58:29,640 --> 00:58:32,440
Speaker 1: that can be disconnected from what most people are thinking about.

1059
00:58:32,760 --> 00:58:35,520
Speaker 1: Same danger exists on both sides of the political spectrum,

1060
00:58:35,800 --> 00:58:39,040
Speaker 1: and I think it's particularly a danger now in you know,

1061
00:58:39,200 --> 00:58:42,360
Speaker 1: the social media age, where it's very easily easy to

1062
00:58:42,480 --> 00:58:45,880
Speaker 1: find those groups of affinity and narrow your self down,

1063
00:58:45,920 --> 00:58:48,360
Speaker 1: and narrow yourself down, and narrow yourself down until you're

1064
00:58:48,360 --> 00:58:50,320
Speaker 1: literally just talking to a set of like a thousand

1065
00:58:50,400 --> 00:58:55,120
Speaker 1: activists online. Very true, Crystal, what are you taking a

1066
00:58:55,160 --> 00:58:57,880
Speaker 1: look at? So? Friends? Over the past couple of days,

1067
00:58:57,920 --> 00:59:01,280
Speaker 1: I've been listening to the Huma Abdeen memoir It's called

1068
00:59:01,320 --> 00:59:04,360
Speaker 1: Both and a Life in Many Worlds. I'd already watched Wiener,

1069
00:59:04,440 --> 00:59:06,720
Speaker 1: the documentary about her husband's aborted attempt at to come

1070
00:59:06,720 --> 00:59:08,640
Speaker 1: back when he got caught yet again sexting a bunch

1071
00:59:08,680 --> 00:59:11,880
Speaker 1: of random Internet ladies, including a fifteen year old girl.

1072
00:59:12,440 --> 00:59:15,080
Speaker 1: I'd already read the pre released excerpts from Huma's book

1073
00:59:15,120 --> 00:59:17,720
Speaker 1: detailing where she was and how it rocked her when

1074
00:59:17,720 --> 00:59:20,800
Speaker 1: these repeated betrayals became front page news, so I wasn't

1075
00:59:20,800 --> 00:59:23,440
Speaker 1: actually all that interested in the Anthony Wiener part of

1076
00:59:23,440 --> 00:59:26,200
Speaker 1: the Huma Abodin story. What I was really after was

1077
00:59:26,240 --> 00:59:29,400
Speaker 1: a glimpse behind the curtain of Clinton power. After all,

1078
00:59:29,520 --> 00:59:32,200
Speaker 1: as I argued last week, few people have helped to

1079
00:59:32,360 --> 00:59:36,040
Speaker 1: architect our present political moment as directly as Bill and

1080
00:59:36,120 --> 00:59:39,920
Speaker 1: Hillary Clinton. From Bill cementing of the Democratic Party as

1081
00:59:39,960 --> 00:59:44,040
Speaker 1: a thoroughly neoliberal organ shipping jobs overseas, undercutting unions, and

1082
00:59:44,040 --> 00:59:48,000
Speaker 1: embracing white collar professionals, to Hillary pushing an elaborate Russian

1083
00:59:48,000 --> 00:59:51,240
Speaker 1: hoax in order to distract from her own painful political losses.

1084
00:59:51,760 --> 00:59:55,840
Speaker 1: We live in the political world that the Clinton's birthed. Huma.

1085
00:59:56,000 --> 00:59:57,920
Speaker 1: She was there for all of it. She started as

1086
00:59:57,920 --> 00:59:59,960
Speaker 1: an intern in the First Lady's office during the u

1087
01:00:00,120 --> 01:00:02,960
Speaker 1: first Clinton term. She was there for the Lewinsky scandal,

1088
01:00:03,000 --> 01:00:05,960
Speaker 1: for Hillary's decision to stay with Bill, for Hillary's Senate run,

1089
01:00:06,000 --> 01:00:09,240
Speaker 1: her terrible Iraq War vote, her loss to Obama. Homa

1090
01:00:09,360 --> 01:00:11,680
Speaker 1: was by HRC's side as she flew around the globe,

1091
01:00:11,720 --> 01:00:14,480
Speaker 1: meeting with world leaders, as her family foundation raised money

1092
01:00:14,640 --> 01:00:17,120
Speaker 1: from some of the very same global elites whose lives

1093
01:00:17,120 --> 01:00:20,600
Speaker 1: and fortunes could be impacted by State Department policy. She

1094
01:00:20,720 --> 01:00:22,960
Speaker 1: was there from Penghazi and the private server, and the

1095
01:00:23,040 --> 01:00:25,960
Speaker 1: DNC rigging and WikiLeaks and Pokemon go to the polls

1096
01:00:26,000 --> 01:00:28,840
Speaker 1: and the devastating loss to Trump. She was there for

1097
01:00:29,000 --> 01:00:33,440
Speaker 1: all of it. Surely her memoir would contain some shred

1098
01:00:33,480 --> 01:00:37,200
Speaker 1: of honesty, however accidental, about the Clintons and their lifelong

1099
01:00:37,280 --> 01:00:41,960
Speaker 1: quest for power and elite status. Nope, not at all. Instead,

1100
01:00:42,040 --> 01:00:45,640
Speaker 1: Huma offers a Disney storybook version of her many years

1101
01:00:45,680 --> 01:00:48,960
Speaker 1: serving the Clintons in general and Hillary in particular. It

1102
01:00:49,040 --> 01:00:52,840
Speaker 1: is a whitewashing so thorough and so brazen one actually

1103
01:00:52,920 --> 01:00:56,080
Speaker 1: has to marvel at it. The closest that Huma comes

1104
01:00:56,120 --> 01:00:59,400
Speaker 1: to even the whiff of a criticism of HRC was

1105
01:00:59,400 --> 01:01:01,600
Speaker 1: recounting how one time, as a young staffer, she was

1106
01:01:01,640 --> 01:01:05,520
Speaker 1: gruffly and angrily rebuked by Hillary because Huma had committed

1107
01:01:05,520 --> 01:01:08,240
Speaker 1: the sin of failing to fill up Hillary's plate at

1108
01:01:08,280 --> 01:01:11,880
Speaker 1: a fundraiser dinner, but only A few hours later, Hillary

1109
01:01:11,880 --> 01:01:14,840
Speaker 1: apologized to Huma, turning this potentially negative story into a

1110
01:01:14,880 --> 01:01:18,720
Speaker 1: parable about how even when exhausted and frustrated, Hillary always

1111
01:01:18,840 --> 01:01:22,160
Speaker 1: ultimately does the right thing. And that's it. The rest

1112
01:01:22,200 --> 01:01:24,560
Speaker 1: of the book is nothing but wonder in awe at

1113
01:01:24,640 --> 01:01:28,000
Speaker 1: Hillary Rodham Clinton. Any failings were the fault of other people,

1114
01:01:28,160 --> 01:01:30,040
Speaker 1: or the press, or even the fault of Huma and

1115
01:01:30,080 --> 01:01:33,800
Speaker 1: her fellow aides. In Huma's telling, Hillary could never fail,

1116
01:01:33,920 --> 01:01:36,320
Speaker 1: only be failed. To give you a feel, let me

1117
01:01:36,360 --> 01:01:39,120
Speaker 1: just walk you through some of how Huma spins Hillary's

1118
01:01:39,160 --> 01:01:41,720
Speaker 1: loss to Obama back in two thousand and eight. So

1119
01:01:41,840 --> 01:01:44,760
Speaker 1: you will recall that an HRC's primary versus Obama, while

1120
01:01:44,760 --> 01:01:47,840
Speaker 1: the youthful Change candidate was easily lapping up money online

1121
01:01:47,840 --> 01:01:51,080
Speaker 1: from young voters energized by his message, Hillary was stuck

1122
01:01:51,120 --> 01:01:54,520
Speaker 1: working the old Democratic elite donor circuits, raising dollars one

1123
01:01:54,560 --> 01:01:57,240
Speaker 1: bad chicken dinner at a time. So here's the spin

1124
01:01:57,280 --> 01:02:01,760
Speaker 1: that Humah put on this particular predicament quote. HRC made

1125
01:02:01,760 --> 01:02:04,720
Speaker 1: the decision not to seed any state, to meet every

1126
01:02:04,880 --> 01:02:07,320
Speaker 1: voter where she could to raise the millions needed to

1127
01:02:07,320 --> 01:02:10,640
Speaker 1: fund our massive operation. We set aside an extraordinary amount

1128
01:02:10,680 --> 01:02:13,480
Speaker 1: of time for fundraisers. In the first four months of fundraising,

1129
01:02:13,520 --> 01:02:17,560
Speaker 1: we crushed the competition. While online fundraising was beginning to

1130
01:02:17,600 --> 01:02:21,160
Speaker 1: gain steam and Obama in particular was beginning to benefit greatly.

1131
01:02:21,560 --> 01:02:24,720
Speaker 1: With HRC, we found that supporters wanted to see her,

1132
01:02:25,160 --> 01:02:30,520
Speaker 1: touch her, talk to her. Uh No, HRC didn't fail

1133
01:02:30,600 --> 01:02:33,920
Speaker 1: at online fundraising because her supporters were somehow more tactile

1134
01:02:34,000 --> 01:02:36,600
Speaker 1: than Obama's. It's because they were all part of the

1135
01:02:36,720 --> 01:02:40,320
Speaker 1: established donor class. They had a transactional expectation of an

1136
01:02:40,320 --> 01:02:42,720
Speaker 1: askissing phone call in a photo with the candidate that

1137
01:02:42,720 --> 01:02:44,520
Speaker 1: they could use to show off to their rich friends.

1138
01:02:44,880 --> 01:02:49,880
Speaker 1: Others wanted White House access for directly corrupt and transactional reasons. Meanwhile,

1139
01:02:49,920 --> 01:02:52,480
Speaker 1: young voters who were giving online were sick of Hillary

1140
01:02:52,480 --> 01:02:55,920
Speaker 1: and Bill and the whole Clinton operation and picking Obama instead.

1141
01:02:56,400 --> 01:03:00,600
Speaker 1: Hillary's catastrophic third place finished behind Obama and Edwards in

1142
01:03:00,640 --> 01:03:04,760
Speaker 1: Iowa was given a similarly hazy treatment in the real world.

1143
01:03:04,920 --> 01:03:08,440
Speaker 1: Clinton's disastrous Rock War vote, combined with campaign arrogance and

1144
01:03:08,560 --> 01:03:11,160
Speaker 1: electorate and desperate for new leaders after the terrible Bush

1145
01:03:11,240 --> 01:03:15,320
Speaker 1: years that led to this disastrous outcome. In Huma's memoir, however,

1146
01:03:15,400 --> 01:03:18,360
Speaker 1: she instead, grouses that folaters were too distracted by the

1147
01:03:18,360 --> 01:03:21,200
Speaker 1: flashy antics of her rivals to focus on learning about

1148
01:03:21,200 --> 01:03:24,240
Speaker 1: the policies that would be in their best interest. Quote.

1149
01:03:24,520 --> 01:03:28,960
Speaker 1: Though Hillary's proposals were as thought out, considered, comprehensive, detailed, precise,

1150
01:03:28,960 --> 01:03:32,120
Speaker 1: and polished as she was, at times, it felt as

1151
01:03:32,160 --> 01:03:33,920
Speaker 1: if she was trying to get the kids to focus

1152
01:03:33,960 --> 01:03:38,000
Speaker 1: on their homework while everyone else was setting off dazzling fireworks.

1153
01:03:38,480 --> 01:03:40,920
Speaker 1: And in the end, according to Huma, it wasn't Hillary

1154
01:03:40,920 --> 01:03:44,560
Speaker 1: who failed and lost Iowa, but her staffers. After allowing

1155
01:03:44,600 --> 01:03:47,200
Speaker 1: that possibly there was just no way to beat Obama

1156
01:03:47,240 --> 01:03:50,440
Speaker 1: at that time in that year, Huma concludes, quote, in

1157
01:03:50,520 --> 01:03:53,280
Speaker 1: this very moment, it was clear that we as a

1158
01:03:53,360 --> 01:03:56,200
Speaker 1: team had failed her. What had worked so well in

1159
01:03:56,240 --> 01:03:59,040
Speaker 1: the Senate was our lean, operation laser focused on very

1160
01:03:59,080 --> 01:04:02,720
Speaker 1: specific results. In contrast, our presidential campaign had felt like

1161
01:04:02,760 --> 01:04:06,160
Speaker 1: an ocean liner from the start, expensive expansive, slow to turn,

1162
01:04:06,240 --> 01:04:08,760
Speaker 1: and now it had sprung a leak. Our bloated campaign

1163
01:04:09,080 --> 01:04:11,600
Speaker 1: was sinking. Of course, back in the real world, the

1164
01:04:11,680 --> 01:04:14,360
Speaker 1: size and nature of a candidate's campaign is the primary

1165
01:04:14,400 --> 01:04:18,120
Speaker 1: responsibility of that candidate, but not in this book. Instead,

1166
01:04:18,200 --> 01:04:21,240
Speaker 1: Hillary's loss was the fault of Obama's fireworks easily distracted

1167
01:04:21,320 --> 01:04:24,800
Speaker 1: voters and campaign staffers. In whom the evidence world Hillary

1168
01:04:24,800 --> 01:04:28,560
Speaker 1: Clinton is always always blameless, and it's like this dropped

1169
01:04:28,560 --> 01:04:31,760
Speaker 1: the entire book. Whoma justifies Hillary's a rock war vote,

1170
01:04:31,880 --> 01:04:36,000
Speaker 1: a vote which Huma herself personally objected to, by complaining

1171
01:04:36,000 --> 01:04:38,600
Speaker 1: about the press and the public failing to understand the

1172
01:04:38,680 --> 01:04:42,800
Speaker 1: nuance of Hillary's rationalizations for that vote, the crop misdeeds

1173
01:04:42,800 --> 01:04:46,200
Speaker 1: of the Clinton Foundation. They aren't mentioned at all. Whoma

1174
01:04:46,280 --> 01:04:48,640
Speaker 1: even pushes back at the idea that Hillary used her

1175
01:04:48,680 --> 01:04:52,200
Speaker 1: New York Senate seat as a stepping stone for presidential ambitions,

1176
01:04:52,240 --> 01:04:55,880
Speaker 1: insisting at key moments all throughout Hillary's career political plotting

1177
01:04:56,160 --> 01:04:59,640
Speaker 1: that Hillary was just called to serve, and that weight

1178
01:04:59,720 --> 01:05:03,600
Speaker 1: upon service responsibility forced her reluctantly to seek the White

1179
01:05:03,600 --> 01:05:07,200
Speaker 1: House twice. She lost to Bernie because of sex is

1180
01:05:07,240 --> 01:05:09,000
Speaker 1: am because she had to spend so much time on

1181
01:05:09,040 --> 01:05:11,560
Speaker 1: our hair and makeup. She lost to Trump because of

1182
01:05:11,720 --> 01:05:16,680
Speaker 1: In Whoman's telling, one word comy, the rationalization and justifications

1183
01:05:16,760 --> 01:05:19,720
Speaker 1: would be hilarious if they were not also so sad.

1184
01:05:20,080 --> 01:05:22,520
Speaker 1: I actually nearly spit out my coffee when I heard

1185
01:05:22,560 --> 01:05:25,560
Speaker 1: Huma describe Hillary Land, though hillary Land is the name

1186
01:05:25,560 --> 01:05:28,960
Speaker 1: for the professional cult which had stolen Huma's life, demanding

1187
01:05:29,000 --> 01:05:32,000
Speaker 1: so much devotion that she had never even dated a

1188
01:05:32,040 --> 01:05:34,920
Speaker 1: single man until Anthony Weener forced himself on her at

1189
01:05:34,960 --> 01:05:38,000
Speaker 1: age thirty three, and that she had routinely missed birth's,

1190
01:05:38,040 --> 01:05:41,280
Speaker 1: deaths and weddings in her close spit Muslim family. Of

1191
01:05:41,280 --> 01:05:44,400
Speaker 1: this nest of parasites and hangers on, Huma said, quote,

1192
01:05:44,920 --> 01:05:47,560
Speaker 1: hillary Land is all about what do you need and

1193
01:05:47,640 --> 01:05:51,120
Speaker 1: let's get this fix. Hillary Land is how's your mom feeling?

1194
01:05:51,160 --> 01:05:54,880
Speaker 1: And you should talk to my allergist. Hillary Land's happy birthday,

1195
01:05:55,000 --> 01:05:58,240
Speaker 1: an amazing job, and get some rest. Hillary Land is

1196
01:05:58,320 --> 01:06:02,280
Speaker 1: all of those things, because Clinton is all of those things.

1197
01:06:02,880 --> 01:06:06,760
Speaker 1: Talk about Stockholm syndrome but for all it's been and obfuscation.

1198
01:06:07,120 --> 01:06:10,640
Speaker 1: Huma's momoir is also revealing because there's an entire generation

1199
01:06:10,800 --> 01:06:13,920
Speaker 1: of young people who started on ambitious yes, but also

1200
01:06:14,000 --> 01:06:17,280
Speaker 1: idealistic who are persuaded that the best way to do

1201
01:06:17,360 --> 01:06:20,040
Speaker 1: good was to prop up the status quo through power

1202
01:06:20,040 --> 01:06:23,680
Speaker 1: centers like Silicon Valley, well connected think tanks, and establishment

1203
01:06:23,760 --> 01:06:27,160
Speaker 1: figures like Hillary Clinton, who made themselves feel good and

1204
01:06:27,200 --> 01:06:30,680
Speaker 1: progressive through cheap girl power slogans and the kind of

1205
01:06:30,720 --> 01:06:34,560
Speaker 1: hollow identity politics that leaves everything regressive in place so

1206
01:06:34,720 --> 01:06:37,800
Speaker 1: long as it has a multicultural sheet. Those young people

1207
01:06:37,920 --> 01:06:40,480
Speaker 1: are grown ups now and they run the country. And

1208
01:06:40,600 --> 01:06:43,640
Speaker 1: just like Huma's book and the Clintons themselves, it sucks

1209
01:06:44,000 --> 01:06:46,800
Speaker 1: and Sagar there was a perfect through line at the

1210
01:06:46,880 --> 01:06:50,080
Speaker 1: end of the book that's said it all. Huma was like, yes,

1211
01:06:51,120 --> 01:06:53,960
Speaker 1: and if you want to hear my reaction to Crystal's monologue,

1212
01:06:54,000 --> 01:07:00,320
Speaker 1: become a premium subscriber today at breakingpoints dot Com already

1213
01:07:00,360 --> 01:07:02,800
Speaker 1: looking at well. Of all the billionaires out there, the

1214
01:07:02,840 --> 01:07:05,280
Speaker 1: one that I probably respect the most is Elon Musk,

1215
01:07:05,440 --> 01:07:07,760
Speaker 1: not just because he's actually funny on Twitter and he

1216
01:07:07,800 --> 01:07:10,800
Speaker 1: embodies a true id gaf attitude, but also because he

1217
01:07:10,840 --> 01:07:15,200
Speaker 1: actually built two genuinely transformative companies, Tesla and SpaceX. The

1218
01:07:15,280 --> 01:07:17,760
Speaker 1: field of electric cars would be a decade behind if

1219
01:07:17,760 --> 01:07:20,400
Speaker 1: it wasn't for him, and as far as private space endeavors,

1220
01:07:20,400 --> 01:07:23,880
Speaker 1: it was almost fully captured by the military industrial complex

1221
01:07:23,920 --> 01:07:26,920
Speaker 1: before he came along. I give him a tremendous amount

1222
01:07:26,960 --> 01:07:29,520
Speaker 1: of credit, but that doesn't mean that he's above scrutiny.

1223
01:07:29,680 --> 01:07:31,720
Speaker 1: And it's why I paid particular attention in the last

1224
01:07:31,760 --> 01:07:35,000
Speaker 1: several months to must business relationship with China, and it's

1225
01:07:35,040 --> 01:07:37,200
Speaker 1: come to the head over weekend with a new Wall

1226
01:07:37,200 --> 01:07:40,760
Speaker 1: Street Journal investigation into just how deep the richest man

1227
01:07:40,800 --> 01:07:43,200
Speaker 1: in the world is with the CCP and just how

1228
01:07:43,280 --> 01:07:46,000
Speaker 1: much leverage that they have over him right now. Per

1229
01:07:46,040 --> 01:07:50,080
Speaker 1: the Wall Street Journal, China rewrote domestic auto manufacturing rules

1230
01:07:50,200 --> 01:07:53,360
Speaker 1: to allow Tesla to build this factory in Shanghai. They

1231
01:07:53,440 --> 01:07:56,920
Speaker 1: quote showered him with cheap land, low interest loans, and

1232
01:07:56,960 --> 01:08:00,840
Speaker 1: tax incentives, expecting in return that tech Esla would groom

1233
01:08:01,000 --> 01:08:05,680
Speaker 1: local suppliers and bolster lagging Chinese electric vehicle players. This

1234
01:08:05,880 --> 01:08:09,640
Speaker 1: was win win for China and Tesla. Tesla now produces

1235
01:08:09,720 --> 01:08:12,040
Speaker 1: half of all of its vehicles in China, where their

1236
01:08:12,040 --> 01:08:15,520
Speaker 1: production there was key to becoming profitable in twenty twenty.

1237
01:08:15,880 --> 01:08:18,439
Speaker 1: All of that is great until the bill comes due

1238
01:08:18,640 --> 01:08:21,400
Speaker 1: for Tesla, and that comes in the form of total

1239
01:08:21,439 --> 01:08:25,479
Speaker 1: fealty to the Chinese Communist Party. China's domestic regulations require

1240
01:08:25,520 --> 01:08:28,880
Speaker 1: all businesses to retain all digital records that it gathers

1241
01:08:28,880 --> 01:08:32,919
Speaker 1: from Chinese customers inside of the country, and critically, Tesla

1242
01:08:33,160 --> 01:08:36,000
Speaker 1: must seek approval from the Chinese government before it's allowed

1243
01:08:36,040 --> 01:08:39,120
Speaker 1: to update its own cars. Now, you wouldn't want all

1244
01:08:39,160 --> 01:08:42,360
Speaker 1: that self driving tech and cameras falling into the wrong hands, now,

1245
01:08:42,360 --> 01:08:45,519
Speaker 1: would we? The world might see something that it shouldn't. Now,

1246
01:08:45,520 --> 01:08:47,960
Speaker 1: if the US government required that, I would guarantee you

1247
01:08:48,040 --> 01:08:50,640
Speaker 1: we would see a hilarious Elon tweet tailing them to

1248
01:08:50,720 --> 01:08:54,519
Speaker 1: basically shove it. But because we have due process and

1249
01:08:54,560 --> 01:08:56,200
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, they can't do that

1250
01:08:56,280 --> 01:08:58,599
Speaker 1: much to him here. When it comes to China, though,

1251
01:08:58,840 --> 01:09:02,559
Speaker 1: Elon behaves very differently. Musk paradoxically praised the new Chinese

1252
01:09:02,640 --> 01:09:05,720
Speaker 1: data laws, saying, quote data security is the key to

1253
01:09:05,760 --> 01:09:09,240
Speaker 1: the success of intelligent and connected vehicles. He also happened

1254
01:09:09,240 --> 01:09:12,599
Speaker 1: to make those comments at the Chinese World Internet Conference

1255
01:09:12,840 --> 01:09:15,719
Speaker 1: m okay. And it also just so happened after jack

1256
01:09:15,760 --> 01:09:19,200
Speaker 1: Ma was disappeared and another Chinese tech company was destroyed

1257
01:09:19,200 --> 01:09:22,400
Speaker 1: by the government for appearing too powerful. Here's the thing.

1258
01:09:22,720 --> 01:09:26,040
Speaker 1: In the long run, Musk will still probably lose. That's

1259
01:09:26,080 --> 01:09:28,840
Speaker 1: what makes all of his cowtowing so gross. From the

1260
01:09:28,880 --> 01:09:31,839
Speaker 1: Wall Street Journal, the only reason China even let Tesla

1261
01:09:31,920 --> 01:09:34,519
Speaker 1: in the first place was so that Tesla could create

1262
01:09:34,560 --> 01:09:37,800
Speaker 1: the domestic supply chain for electric vehicles. Tesla could do

1263
01:09:37,840 --> 01:09:40,360
Speaker 1: all the hard work of growing the supplier base, creating

1264
01:09:40,400 --> 01:09:44,160
Speaker 1: the downstream supply chain, and then the Chinese domestic manufacturers

1265
01:09:44,439 --> 01:09:47,599
Speaker 1: could compete. And by compete, I mean the government can

1266
01:09:47,680 --> 01:09:50,160
Speaker 1: rig the system in their favor and then eventually they

1267
01:09:50,160 --> 01:09:52,479
Speaker 1: can write off of all the hard work of elon musk.

1268
01:09:52,760 --> 01:09:56,040
Speaker 1: Sure enough, that has actually worked. Per Tesla's own emission,

1269
01:09:56,360 --> 01:10:00,160
Speaker 1: ninety percent of Shanghai factory inputs are domestically sourced. Is

1270
01:10:00,160 --> 01:10:03,120
Speaker 1: the Chinese dream For now, they continue to allow Tesla

1271
01:10:03,280 --> 01:10:05,840
Speaker 1: to operate there, build up its supply chain, all while

1272
01:10:05,880 --> 01:10:08,840
Speaker 1: its domestic companies continue to get going. This is for

1273
01:10:08,880 --> 01:10:12,599
Speaker 1: two purposes. Number one is to have domestic capacity. Number

1274
01:10:12,600 --> 01:10:16,120
Speaker 1: two is to destroy any foreign competition in the future.

1275
01:10:16,360 --> 01:10:19,439
Speaker 1: You rig the market and you create a monopoly. That way,

1276
01:10:19,600 --> 01:10:22,280
Speaker 1: when the say, the same company Tesla wants to make

1277
01:10:22,320 --> 01:10:25,040
Speaker 1: its cars in the US, they now are asking our

1278
01:10:25,120 --> 01:10:28,639
Speaker 1: government right now for permission to import graphite from China,

1279
01:10:29,080 --> 01:10:31,599
Speaker 1: not because China is the only place with graphite, but

1280
01:10:31,640 --> 01:10:33,519
Speaker 1: because they claim it's the only place they can get

1281
01:10:33,520 --> 01:10:36,840
Speaker 1: it manufactured and cost effective. To be fair, they're not

1282
01:10:36,880 --> 01:10:38,439
Speaker 1: the only ones. It's not like the rest of the

1283
01:10:38,479 --> 01:10:41,160
Speaker 1: car companies in a Detroit are any less guilty of this.

1284
01:10:41,520 --> 01:10:43,720
Speaker 1: When you chase the cheapest dollar, this is how you

1285
01:10:43,720 --> 01:10:47,400
Speaker 1: get hooked forever. And that's the problem. Musk now obvious

1286
01:10:47,400 --> 01:10:50,439
Speaker 1: and deep reliance on China seemingly forever explains a lot

1287
01:10:50,479 --> 01:10:53,479
Speaker 1: of his recent weird behavior. Let's not forget his July

1288
01:10:53,600 --> 01:10:56,840
Speaker 1: thirtieth tweet this year that says, quote, the economic prosperity

1289
01:10:56,840 --> 01:11:00,200
Speaker 1: that China has achieved is truly amazing, especially in infrastructure.

1290
01:11:00,320 --> 01:11:03,160
Speaker 1: I encourage people to visit and see for themselves. Here's

1291
01:11:03,200 --> 01:11:05,760
Speaker 1: the worst part. That was literally in response to an

1292
01:11:05,800 --> 01:11:10,000
Speaker 1: official Chinese state media source quoting She Shingping. This is

1293
01:11:10,040 --> 01:11:13,719
Speaker 1: the pattern that has repeated itself now time and time again.

1294
01:11:14,040 --> 01:11:17,960
Speaker 1: The Chinese throw incentives at greedy American businessmen. They take

1295
01:11:18,000 --> 01:11:21,000
Speaker 1: and they book the short term shareholder profit. A few

1296
01:11:21,040 --> 01:11:23,840
Speaker 1: years later, the real cost is shown fealty to the

1297
01:11:23,840 --> 01:11:27,640
Speaker 1: CCP politically, or adherence to rules which are clearly in

1298
01:11:27,680 --> 01:11:31,880
Speaker 1: place to protect them and shield their internal corruption from

1299
01:11:31,880 --> 01:11:35,280
Speaker 1: in a free and American press. The Americans always play

1300
01:11:35,320 --> 01:11:38,839
Speaker 1: ball or they bow because they need it, especially Tesla,

1301
01:11:38,960 --> 01:11:41,639
Speaker 1: which relies on their Shanghai plant to deliver all its

1302
01:11:41,680 --> 01:11:44,400
Speaker 1: vehicles to Europe, and it produces more than they do

1303
01:11:44,479 --> 01:11:49,240
Speaker 1: at their plant in Fremont, California. Shutdown would be genuinely

1304
01:11:49,320 --> 01:11:52,040
Speaker 1: catastrophic to their bottom line, so they have to keep

1305
01:11:52,080 --> 01:11:55,080
Speaker 1: playing ball, and so the cycle goes. I say this

1306
01:11:55,200 --> 01:11:57,360
Speaker 1: once again as a fan of Musk, but as a

1307
01:11:57,360 --> 01:12:00,519
Speaker 1: fan of America above anybody else. Right now, the US

1308
01:12:00,560 --> 01:12:03,280
Speaker 1: relies on Elon Musk to shoot our people into space,

1309
01:12:03,600 --> 01:12:05,840
Speaker 1: and he is probably our best hope at reaching Mars.

1310
01:12:06,160 --> 01:12:08,200
Speaker 1: Do you really want one of our citizens who is

1311
01:12:08,240 --> 01:12:11,000
Speaker 1: so beholden to the China behind such a program of

1312
01:12:11,080 --> 01:12:14,920
Speaker 1: monumental importance. Here's the thing I have always maintained, it

1313
01:12:15,000 --> 01:12:17,599
Speaker 1: is not fair to even force these people to make

1314
01:12:17,640 --> 01:12:19,840
Speaker 1: the choice. At the end of the day, their job

1315
01:12:19,880 --> 01:12:22,680
Speaker 1: is to increase share price and sell cars. It's not

1316
01:12:22,720 --> 01:12:26,840
Speaker 1: to worry about geopolitics. That's our job and the government's job.

1317
01:12:27,000 --> 01:12:29,599
Speaker 1: It's why we should be making the choice. For Musk

1318
01:12:29,840 --> 01:12:32,280
Speaker 1: and any American businessman. If you want to do business

1319
01:12:32,320 --> 01:12:34,799
Speaker 1: in China, that's fine, but you're not going to count

1320
01:12:34,800 --> 01:12:37,760
Speaker 1: out to their domestic political goals at the expense of

1321
01:12:37,800 --> 01:12:40,559
Speaker 1: hours and still do business here in the United States.

1322
01:12:40,760 --> 01:12:43,200
Speaker 1: You're not going to be actively contributing to the hobbling

1323
01:12:43,240 --> 01:12:46,320
Speaker 1: of American and other allied industry for a major strategic

1324
01:12:46,320 --> 01:12:49,439
Speaker 1: goal of the Chinese state. Period, you remove the option,

1325
01:12:49,680 --> 01:12:52,760
Speaker 1: you remove the conflict until we do. Even the goodlines

1326
01:12:52,840 --> 01:12:55,280
Speaker 1: like Elon, they're going to be sold out. And it

1327
01:12:55,439 --> 01:12:58,080
Speaker 1: just comes back to shareholder value, Crystal. It's just the

1328
01:12:58,120 --> 01:13:01,200
Speaker 1: original sin of all this. Everything he's doing makes complete

1329
01:13:02,479 --> 01:13:05,360
Speaker 1: And if you want to hear my reaction to Cyber's monologue,

1330
01:13:05,439 --> 01:13:11,640
Speaker 1: become a premium subscriber today at breakingpoints dot com. So

1331
01:13:11,800 --> 01:13:13,800
Speaker 1: joining us now we have David Levin. He is the

1332
01:13:13,920 --> 01:13:18,519
Speaker 1: lead organizer for Teamsters for Democratic Union. Great to have you, David, Oh,

1333
01:13:18,560 --> 01:13:22,240
Speaker 1: thanks for having me. Yeah, our pleasure. So congratulations on

1334
01:13:22,280 --> 01:13:26,040
Speaker 1: the victory. First and foremost, just help our audience understand

1335
01:13:26,760 --> 01:13:30,920
Speaker 1: what you've won and why it's significant. Well, it's a

1336
01:13:31,040 --> 01:13:36,479
Speaker 1: really exciting time in the Teamsters Union. This is a

1337
01:13:36,560 --> 01:13:39,680
Speaker 1: union of one point three million members in North America's

1338
01:13:39,920 --> 01:13:44,920
Speaker 1: most powerful union. You know, for decades, the Teamsters and

1339
01:13:44,960 --> 01:13:47,960
Speaker 1: really the entire labor movement workers in general, have been

1340
01:13:48,080 --> 01:13:51,440
Speaker 1: on the defensive, and we see this as an opportunity

1341
01:13:51,479 --> 01:13:54,840
Speaker 1: to go on the offense with the union that has

1342
01:13:54,920 --> 01:13:59,160
Speaker 1: real power and David, what are the some of the

1343
01:13:59,600 --> 01:14:02,439
Speaker 1: things that that you ran on in the election, What

1344
01:14:02,520 --> 01:14:05,240
Speaker 1: were some of the issues and what were you like

1345
01:14:05,360 --> 01:14:08,920
Speaker 1: to do with your new position. Well, I think one

1346
01:14:08,960 --> 01:14:12,200
Speaker 1: way to look at the election is that this was

1347
01:14:12,240 --> 01:14:15,599
Speaker 1: really the kind of part of a growing revolt by

1348
01:14:16,080 --> 01:14:21,880
Speaker 1: essential workers that you're seeing all across the country against Tutier,

1349
01:14:22,080 --> 01:14:26,519
Speaker 1: against excessive overtime. You've seen the strikes at John Deere,

1350
01:14:27,760 --> 01:14:33,559
Speaker 1: the vote No movement at Vovo Trucks, Nabisco, Kellogg's, and

1351
01:14:33,680 --> 01:14:37,080
Speaker 1: this was that movement coming to the ballot box and

1352
01:14:37,160 --> 01:14:42,840
Speaker 1: winning power in a big, powerful international union. And it

1353
01:14:43,040 --> 01:14:47,840
Speaker 1: wasn't because there's been a grassroots movement in the Teamsters

1354
01:14:47,920 --> 01:14:51,280
Speaker 1: union Teamsters for a Democratic Union, We've had a head

1355
01:14:51,320 --> 01:14:54,559
Speaker 1: start on this revolt by essential workers. There was a

1356
01:14:54,600 --> 01:15:00,639
Speaker 1: whole series of campaigns over the last decade really where

1357
01:15:01,040 --> 01:15:06,120
Speaker 1: rank and file workers fought back against contract give backs,

1358
01:15:06,479 --> 01:15:13,160
Speaker 1: healthcare cuts, the imposition of two tier in the UPS contract,

1359
01:15:13,360 --> 01:15:18,360
Speaker 1: and they were taking on both the international union leadership

1360
01:15:18,439 --> 01:15:20,800
Speaker 1: and their employers at the same time. One of the

1361
01:15:20,840 --> 01:15:26,080
Speaker 1: really significant things about this victory is that we've now

1362
01:15:26,200 --> 01:15:31,120
Speaker 1: elected new leadership that stands behind these vote no movements

1363
01:15:31,160 --> 01:15:33,320
Speaker 1: and these kinds of campaigns and will take the fight

1364
01:15:34,040 --> 01:15:38,240
Speaker 1: to employers. So to that point, Fred Zuckerman is the

1365
01:15:38,320 --> 01:15:42,559
Speaker 1: new secretary treasurer, and he spoke a little bit about

1366
01:15:42,640 --> 01:15:45,960
Speaker 1: this new direction and some of the leadership that he

1367
01:15:46,000 --> 01:15:48,040
Speaker 1: hopes to bring. Let's take a listen to that. There

1368
01:15:48,120 --> 01:15:50,800
Speaker 1: is only one clear choice here. There's a choice of

1369
01:15:50,840 --> 01:15:53,400
Speaker 1: whether you're going to stand with the membership or you're

1370
01:15:53,400 --> 01:15:56,000
Speaker 1: going to stand with the companies. Over here. That's what

1371
01:15:56,040 --> 01:15:59,080
Speaker 1: they do. They spand with the companies. It's a business

1372
01:15:59,320 --> 01:16:03,800
Speaker 1: friendly union. Get along, go along. Whatever the company wants,

1373
01:16:03,840 --> 01:16:06,880
Speaker 1: we'll go sell it. That's fine. Over here, you're going

1374
01:16:06,920 --> 01:16:09,040
Speaker 1: to get a fight. That's what you're gonna get. You

1375
01:16:09,800 --> 01:16:12,720
Speaker 1: want business friendly, go to that side, because that's not

1376
01:16:12,760 --> 01:16:16,200
Speaker 1: what the Teamsters union want. And this is an issue

1377
01:16:16,200 --> 01:16:18,280
Speaker 1: that we've seen not just with the Teamsters, also with

1378
01:16:18,400 --> 01:16:21,760
Speaker 1: UAW and some other unions where the leadership, at least

1379
01:16:21,760 --> 01:16:23,400
Speaker 1: in the eyes of the membership, gets a little too

1380
01:16:23,439 --> 01:16:26,679
Speaker 1: cozy with the businesses that they're negotiating contracts with. Talk

1381
01:16:26,680 --> 01:16:28,840
Speaker 1: about a little bit of the history here, especially with

1382
01:16:28,880 --> 01:16:32,559
Speaker 1: regards to that UPS contract, which is incredibly significant for

1383
01:16:32,720 --> 01:16:36,439
Speaker 1: the Teamsters, where you represent you know many many workers

1384
01:16:36,560 --> 01:16:39,840
Speaker 1: under that UPS contract and the past of that and

1385
01:16:39,880 --> 01:16:42,680
Speaker 1: also what the future looks like there. So you just

1386
01:16:42,800 --> 01:16:45,120
Speaker 1: have to love Fred Zuckerman. He is not a guy

1387
01:16:45,160 --> 01:16:48,960
Speaker 1: who minces his words. And that was in a debate

1388
01:16:49,080 --> 01:16:51,800
Speaker 1: with the opposing side, and it was a really clear

1389
01:16:52,000 --> 01:16:55,680
Speaker 1: choice in this election between a side that was openly

1390
01:16:55,720 --> 01:17:01,559
Speaker 1: denouncing grassroots movements to reject contract getbacks at UPS. The

1391
01:17:01,640 --> 01:17:05,160
Speaker 1: other candidate called it the vote no movement of farce.

1392
01:17:05,680 --> 01:17:09,320
Speaker 1: And then you had Fred in that debate speaking so

1393
01:17:09,520 --> 01:17:14,439
Speaker 1: clearly to what members wanted and winning overwhelmingly two to

1394
01:17:14,520 --> 01:17:18,720
Speaker 1: one in this election speak going to that UPS contract.

1395
01:17:18,960 --> 01:17:25,479
Speaker 1: In twenty eighteen, contract negotiations were headed by the now

1396
01:17:25,520 --> 01:17:30,040
Speaker 1: General President, John O'Brien initially, and then he wanted to

1397
01:17:30,080 --> 01:17:33,960
Speaker 1: reach out and build a coalition and bring in other

1398
01:17:34,080 --> 01:17:37,160
Speaker 1: leaders who hadn't backed off of like Fred Zuckerman, and

1399
01:17:37,200 --> 01:17:40,000
Speaker 1: include them on the negotiating committee. And for that reason

1400
01:17:40,439 --> 01:17:45,560
Speaker 1: he was fired and Hoofa brought in someone to negotiate

1401
01:17:45,640 --> 01:17:49,080
Speaker 1: the national UPS contract who was a very go long,

1402
01:17:49,320 --> 01:17:52,720
Speaker 1: get along guy. He imposed what we called an information

1403
01:17:53,080 --> 01:17:56,439
Speaker 1: round out where members had no idea what was coming

1404
01:17:56,840 --> 01:18:03,120
Speaker 1: happening in contract negotiations, negotiated a two tier agreement at

1405
01:18:03,200 --> 01:18:10,000
Speaker 1: UPS where new drivers would have to work Tuesday to Saturday,

1406
01:18:10,080 --> 01:18:12,760
Speaker 1: get a lower rate of pay, and have no protections

1407
01:18:12,800 --> 01:18:18,839
Speaker 1: against successive overtime. Teamster members understand solidarity, and even before

1408
01:18:19,000 --> 01:18:23,120
Speaker 1: any of these drivers had been higher, the majority of

1409
01:18:23,240 --> 01:18:28,080
Speaker 1: UPS teamsters voted no to reject this deal, and the

1410
01:18:28,120 --> 01:18:32,360
Speaker 1: International Union imposed it anyway. They used a loophole in

1411
01:18:32,400 --> 01:18:37,720
Speaker 1: the Teamster constitution to impose the contract, and this just

1412
01:18:37,840 --> 01:18:41,519
Speaker 1: added fuel to the fire of what was already a

1413
01:18:41,720 --> 01:18:45,880
Speaker 1: growing result revolt. In twenty sixteen, five years ago, in

1414
01:18:45,920 --> 01:18:49,040
Speaker 1: the last election, Fred Zuckerman got forty nine percent of

1415
01:18:49,080 --> 01:18:54,120
Speaker 1: the vote. An overwhelming majority of UPS workers voted for

1416
01:18:54,200 --> 01:18:59,560
Speaker 1: him then, and after the twenty eighteen sellout and imposition

1417
01:18:59,640 --> 01:19:05,360
Speaker 1: of the track, the sort of Hofa's political fate was sealed.

1418
01:19:06,160 --> 01:19:09,680
Speaker 1: He lined up a replacement to run and carry his

1419
01:19:10,040 --> 01:19:13,880
Speaker 1: banner forward. That candidate was rejected by a two to

1420
01:19:13,920 --> 01:19:20,400
Speaker 1: one vote in many many cities, UPS workers voted by

1421
01:19:20,520 --> 01:19:25,960
Speaker 1: ninety percent margins for Teamsters United. And so what you're

1422
01:19:26,000 --> 01:19:32,800
Speaker 1: saying is a real surge of militancy at the grassroots

1423
01:19:32,880 --> 01:19:36,559
Speaker 1: level that's tied to leadership that also wants to take

1424
01:19:36,600 --> 01:19:40,240
Speaker 1: the union in a militant direction. Wow, David tell us

1425
01:19:40,240 --> 01:19:42,160
Speaker 1: a little bit about some of the union drives that

1426
01:19:42,160 --> 01:19:45,639
Speaker 1: we can expect across the nation, especially in the midst

1427
01:19:45,640 --> 01:19:49,879
Speaker 1: of his rising labor movement. Well, so, I mean, everybody

1428
01:19:49,920 --> 01:19:53,719
Speaker 1: wants to talk about Amazon, and they've talked very much

1429
01:19:53,760 --> 01:19:59,040
Speaker 1: about beefing up organizing at Amazon. I don't think we

1430
01:19:59,080 --> 01:20:02,760
Speaker 1: can expect that to happens, say by Christmas. We'd all

1431
01:20:02,800 --> 01:20:05,479
Speaker 1: love that present. But this is going to be a

1432
01:20:05,520 --> 01:20:11,000
Speaker 1: long term campaign. It's going to require strategic partnerships. It's

1433
01:20:11,040 --> 01:20:13,960
Speaker 1: going to require much more than just one union. The

1434
01:20:13,960 --> 01:20:15,840
Speaker 1: teams just can't do it alone. We could be a

1435
01:20:15,840 --> 01:20:18,120
Speaker 1: big part of it, but we're gonna have to partner

1436
01:20:18,200 --> 01:20:21,000
Speaker 1: with others in labor. We're gonna have to partner with

1437
01:20:21,120 --> 01:20:26,439
Speaker 1: community allies and social movements. But I think one thing

1438
01:20:26,479 --> 01:20:29,280
Speaker 1: that Sean O'Brien made very clear during the course of

1439
01:20:29,360 --> 01:20:33,240
Speaker 1: the campaign that I think was really really important is

1440
01:20:33,280 --> 01:20:37,960
Speaker 1: that if you want to inspire workers to join your union,

1441
01:20:38,120 --> 01:20:41,240
Speaker 1: then you need to be a fighting union union member.

1442
01:20:42,560 --> 01:20:47,000
Speaker 1: Workers want to join a labor movement will be attracted

1443
01:20:47,000 --> 01:20:51,200
Speaker 1: to a labor movement that's fighting back against the boss

1444
01:20:51,280 --> 01:20:54,200
Speaker 1: and winning. And so one of the number one things

1445
01:20:54,800 --> 01:21:00,160
Speaker 1: that the Teamsters Union can do to jumpstart organizing at

1446
01:21:00,200 --> 01:21:04,439
Speaker 1: Amazon is to have a very militant and very public

1447
01:21:05,720 --> 01:21:09,720
Speaker 1: contract campaign to reverse the givebacks at UPS. And if

1448
01:21:09,720 --> 01:21:13,200
Speaker 1: that takes a strike, so be it. And that's the

1449
01:21:13,240 --> 01:21:19,200
Speaker 1: position that the Teamsters United leadership took during the campaign,

1450
01:21:19,320 --> 01:21:22,160
Speaker 1: and we agree with it one hundred percent. It's just

1451
01:21:22,240 --> 01:21:26,519
Speaker 1: if you want to. It's very difficult to organize new

1452
01:21:26,560 --> 01:21:28,880
Speaker 1: members when you're selling out the ones you already have,

1453
01:21:29,120 --> 01:21:33,320
Speaker 1: and that era is over in the team stitution, got it.

1454
01:21:33,360 --> 01:21:36,120
Speaker 1: What you just said is really important that the new

1455
01:21:36,200 --> 01:21:41,000
Speaker 1: leadership ran directly on will strike ups if necessary. My

1456
01:21:41,120 --> 01:21:43,679
Speaker 1: understanding is that contract is up, what in two years

1457
01:21:44,520 --> 01:21:47,360
Speaker 1: if there was a strike. Of course, nothing is inevitable,

1458
01:21:47,439 --> 01:21:51,599
Speaker 1: and strikes are very difficult on the workers that are involved.

1459
01:21:51,600 --> 01:21:54,240
Speaker 1: But if that were to happen, what would that mean

1460
01:21:54,520 --> 01:21:59,120
Speaker 1: for the country. Obviously, as we've all moved to online shopping,

1461
01:21:59,640 --> 01:22:04,600
Speaker 1: ups and other carriers are extraordinarily integral to our national economy,

1462
01:22:04,680 --> 01:22:07,400
Speaker 1: So what could that look like? Well, and I think

1463
01:22:07,439 --> 01:22:10,720
Speaker 1: that that's one of the things that makes us such

1464
01:22:10,760 --> 01:22:15,000
Speaker 1: an important opportunity, not just for working teamsters, but for

1465
01:22:15,120 --> 01:22:18,599
Speaker 1: all of labor. Unlike other unions that have really been

1466
01:22:18,640 --> 01:22:27,960
Speaker 1: weakened by globalization, Teamsters Teamster jobs cannot be outsourced. You

1467
01:22:28,040 --> 01:22:32,360
Speaker 1: can't outsource package delivery or garbage collection, or freight or

1468
01:22:32,479 --> 01:22:37,160
Speaker 1: rail those jobs by food distribution, those jobs, by definition,

1469
01:22:37,320 --> 01:22:41,240
Speaker 1: have to be done here. The Teamsters is a logistics union,

1470
01:22:42,720 --> 01:22:45,360
Speaker 1: and so it is right at the heart of the

1471
01:22:45,400 --> 01:22:49,840
Speaker 1: American economy, and it has the power potentially both to

1472
01:22:49,920 --> 01:22:55,120
Speaker 1: move the US economy or to hamper it or shut

1473
01:22:55,160 --> 01:22:57,439
Speaker 1: it down. And I think one of the things that's

1474
01:22:57,479 --> 01:23:03,040
Speaker 1: happened over the pandemic is that essential workers have come

1475
01:23:03,080 --> 01:23:07,080
Speaker 1: to see and feel the power that they have in

1476
01:23:07,120 --> 01:23:10,000
Speaker 1: a way, in ways that are really really important. And

1477
01:23:10,040 --> 01:23:12,760
Speaker 1: they're pretty tired of being told that they're essential and

1478
01:23:12,800 --> 01:23:16,200
Speaker 1: treated like they're disposable. And I think that that's fueling

1479
01:23:16,240 --> 01:23:19,280
Speaker 1: some of the anger we're seeing. I think that's absolutely right. Well,

1480
01:23:19,320 --> 01:23:21,519
Speaker 1: we really appreciate you joining us to update us. Thanks

1481
01:23:21,560 --> 01:23:24,080
Speaker 1: very much, congrats David, come back and keep us updated.

1482
01:23:24,120 --> 01:23:28,040
Speaker 1: Thank you, absolutely, thank you so much. Absolutely, thank you

1483
01:23:28,040 --> 01:23:30,320
Speaker 1: guys so much for watching. We really appreciate it. We just,

1484
01:23:30,439 --> 01:23:32,799
Speaker 1: you know, appreciate all of your support. I just checked

1485
01:23:32,880 --> 01:23:35,639
Speaker 1: right before this, and it looks like Crystal that Chris

1486
01:23:35,720 --> 01:23:39,040
Speaker 1: Cuomo segment that we did yesterday was went ahead and

1487
01:23:39,360 --> 01:23:42,679
Speaker 1: not suitable for all advertisers, which is just kind of amazing.

1488
01:23:43,000 --> 01:23:47,760
Speaker 1: Can't report on CNN literally firing Chris Cuomo because of

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01:23:47,920 --> 01:23:50,879
Speaker 1: what they claim is their you know me too policy.

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01:23:50,960 --> 01:23:53,160
Speaker 1: But as I pointed to, how are we supposed to

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01:23:53,160 --> 01:23:55,519
Speaker 1: cover the news you know and have an incentive to

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01:23:55,520 --> 01:23:57,640
Speaker 1: do so? The way is. The way we have an

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01:23:57,680 --> 01:24:00,599
Speaker 1: incentive is because we rely on you guys, the primary

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01:24:00,640 --> 01:24:03,120
Speaker 1: source of our revenue, not on YouTube. So if you

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01:24:03,120 --> 01:24:05,439
Speaker 1: can't help us out, premium link is there in description.

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01:24:05,640 --> 01:24:07,519
Speaker 1: Of course you get all sorts of benefits, but that's

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01:24:07,520 --> 01:24:09,920
Speaker 1: really what you're helping us fight against. We give you

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01:24:09,960 --> 01:24:12,360
Speaker 1: the best show possible, regardless whether we're gonna make money

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01:24:12,400 --> 01:24:15,320
Speaker 1: on it on YouTube or not. Yeah, it's insane that

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01:24:15,439 --> 01:24:18,760
Speaker 1: you can't even mention me too, either with regard to

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01:24:18,800 --> 01:24:22,080
Speaker 1: allegations or talking about something that has been an incredibly

1502
01:24:22,240 --> 01:24:25,800
Speaker 1: important social movement in America no matter what you think

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01:24:25,800 --> 01:24:29,080
Speaker 1: of it. Totally insane. That's why we love you guys,

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01:24:29,120 --> 01:24:31,320
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for your support, and we will

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01:24:31,320 --> 01:25:35,560
Speaker 1: see you against soon. See you, Sue, shoot stop stop,

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01:25:57,120 --> 01:25:59,200
Speaker 1: shot stop