Trump Cancels Taliban Negotiations

if you like The Young Turks podcast I think you'll love a lot of the podcast on the tyt network old school it's one of my favorites one of the favorites for a lot of the listeners please check that out subscribe share it that makes a big difference and give it a festar rating thank you welcome to The Young Turks I'm your host Anna casparian and Jank is out for the week but we're going to have a series of awesome panels and panelists including today uh with uh David Dayan the executive editor at American Prospect wanted to make sure I get that title right excellent and Emma vigland our very own Emma vigin who will be here all week you're going to be on pretty much every show across the network this week yeah no I was working all weekend and now I'm stretching myself even thinner here it's a great time well that's how we do it at tyt exactly so uh make sure you check out uh Emma's reporting at Rebel HQ youtube.com/ HQ to watch uh some of her videos we're actually going to cover a few of the inter interviews that Emma conducted in New Hampshire including one with Elizabeth Warren and another with Amy kichar she did get a little salty with you I saw that a little bit just a little bit so I'm looking forward to that and then later on in the show uh we are going to have Alonzo Bowden and Jason Carter join us for hour two we're also going to get into a discussion about Tulsi gaber's appearance on Dave Rubin show before we get to that though we have some international news to cover so let's get right to it president Trump revealed in a series of bombshell tweets late Saturday that he planned to secretly meet with Taliban leaders and the president of Afghanistan Sunday at Camp David now that meeting came as a surprise and it was abruptly cancelled and we found out about that through a series of tweets that Trump put out and I'm going to go ahead and read those tweets to you and give you some more details about what this meeting was supposed to be about Trump tweets unbeknownst to almost everyone the major Taliban leaders and separately the president president of Afghanistan were going to secretly meet with me at Camp David on Saturday they were coming to the United States tonight this is a tweet from Saturday night unfortunately in order to build false leverage they admitted to an attack in Cobble that killed one of our uh that killed one of our great soldiers and 11 other people I immediately cancelled the meeting and called off peace negotiations what kind of people would kill so many in order to seemingly strengthen their bargaining position I don't know we should take a look at what's happening in Yemen uh they didn't um they didn't they only made it worse and then he continues to write if they cannot agree to a ceasefire during these very important peace talks and would even kill 12 innocent people then they probably don't have the power to negotiate a meaningful agreement anyway how many more decades are they willing to fight now as we all know Donald Trump has uh wanted to pull out of Afghanistan and now that the 2020 election is quickly approaching it's one of the if he succeeds in it it's one of the things he wants to point to as a success in his first term however as with anything Trump tweets what's happening behind the scenes is very different from what he's putting out there publicly so we're going to get into the details of why these negotiations really fell apart uh but first let me give you the background on how this meeting came about in the first place at some point during the meeting the idea was floated to finalize the negotiations in Washington Trump suggested that he would even invite president ashra gani of Afghanistan whose government has not been party to these negotiation talks and get him to sign on so I want to stop there for a second so the United States and the Taliban have been negotiating a peace deal without any type of involvement from the actual government of Afghanistan and in in the meantime Trump is making concessions on behalf of the Afghan government as part of these negotiations so as soon as the Afghan government got involved clearly there were some issues and there were disagreements about the concessions that Trump uh provided to the Taliban namely that the Afghan government would release uh Taliban prisoners which is not something that Afghanistan agreed to do uh now in the days that followed Trump embraced an even more remark idea he would not only bring the Taliban to Washington but to Camp David the Crown Jewel of the American presidency the leaders of a militant organization and this is a writing from The New York Times deemed terrorists by the United States would be hosted in the mountain getaway used for presidents Prime Ministers and Kings just three days before the anniversary of September 11th 2001 attacks that led to the Afghan war all right so let's open this up for discussion I just want to say right off the bat I am not one to say that you should never negotiate uh with so-called terrorists we have negotiated with terrorists in the past we're actually fighting a war for Terror terrorists in Yemen right now so I'm not in the camp of no you should not negotiate with the Taliban however the way Trump wanted to do this and the way he wanted to bring the Taliban to Camp David days prior to uh September 11th I think was not a good idea to say the least and the way the negotiations have gone down so far uh have been pretty bad especially when he hasn't involved uh the Afghan government and based on reporting Trump wasn't even really involved in the negotiations himself until the very end because he wanted that spectacle well I mean that's somewhat common right that that that that the you do this stuff at the staff level and then you bring the world leaders in at the end to to to close and seal the deal uh the the the real problem here is I mean let's take a step back mhm the Afghan government controls like four streets in Cobble and and and that's about it and uh if the Americans do in fact leave which in my view we should uh the the the government is going to likely collapse it's it's going to fall to the Taliban uh no American president has been willing to take that risk we thought maybe Trump was so desirous of saying I brought the troops back and so uncaring of the Fallout that he might but no he's not he's not willing to do that either so apparently we're locked into Afghanistan for 100 years doing nothing of consequence uh forestalling an inevitable solution or an inevitable consequence of our eventually leaving if we ever do but but the Taliban and the Afghan government despite how marginalized the afan government is both want the United States troops to leave their Nation so if Trump and his team if you're saying that you know it's more going to be on the lower levels that they're having these conversations if they had a shred of Competency they would know that that is a common goal to bring those two groups together to have a conversation if they actually wanted peace the reality is is that Trump acts impulsively he sort of wants peace and has these anti-interventionist inclinations but when it comes down to it it's the establishment of the Republican party that will always put a wall up in front of him and he wants to be liked by that his you know Co covert of of uh people around him and by his supporters so much so that that's what's going to win out dur at the end of the day and he's so easily swayed by who's the last person in the room so while that might be his initial instinct to be anti-interventionist it's never going to get past the first step and this is just another another example of it and and it's frustrating because he could be the Trojan hor horse for us people who love peace who want us to get out of these forever Wars and and and actually accomplish this goal because only a republican can for the Republicans to accept it and Democrats and Liberals are principled enough to say okay we'll be fine with it even if Trump does it yeah I mean it was the idea that if anyone could get away with this it could be Trump uh and no he's he's not willing to do it and and frankly the the the Afghan government and and the talibans consern turns and wishes mean absolutely nothing to us uh foreign policy in in any fashion uh which is why we invaded there we stay there for decades this is about an American president trying to save face and uh unfortunately uh we he's he's going to continue to have Americans there who are still In Harm's Way as as those tweets show so I want to get to the warhawks uh who surround him and his administration in just a second but I do also want to give you some information about the soldier who died in this Taliban attack um as I mentioned earlier uh 12 inent people were killed including um a soldier who uh army Sergeant First Class Ellis Angel beretto Ortiz now he was cited his death was cited as the reason for why this meeting didn't happen and why the negotiations fell apart but in reality these Taliban attacks have never subsided like they've continued more American uh military have died as a result of these attacks what really happened is there were so many disagreements and there was so much chaos in the middle of the these negotiations that it just kind of fell apart and my interpretation of this is that the administration is now pointing to this particular Taliban attack for their reason uh to kind of leave the negotiation behind at the moment definitely they claim that they want to continue negotiating but we'll see um now I want to go to Mike Pompeo because pompeo's rhetoric here perfectly demonstrates and illustrates what you guys are talking about the kind of uh hawkishness that you can expect from someone like Pompeo and to an even greater degree John Bolton take a look we're not going to withdraw our forces without making sure we achieve president Trump's twin objectives any reduction in our forces will be based on actual conditions not commitments but actual conditions on ground well given that conditions appear to be worsening are are is that's Chuck that's not that's not true you believe okay I I don't believe that's true um if you're the Taliban conditions have been worsening and they're about to get worse what is okay you say about to get worse so you're going to does this mean we are going to increase the military activity against the Taliban we're going to make sure that everyone in the region understands that America will always protect its National Security interest though I'll leave to the Department of Defense to talk about specifics uh but no one should underestimate president Trump's commitment to achieving those goals so it's it's just clear who surrounds Donald Trump so you guys are right in that he has these inclinations he has this uh feeling that hey voters are sick of these forever Wars they want to get out but when you surround yourself with the likes of John Bolton who's even more hawkish than Pompeo is you know in this Administration specifically well you're going to have some issues and I wanted to give you some details about what they were negotiating what were the terms of the deal as they stood the deal called for a gradual withdrawal of the remaining 14,000 American troops over 16 months with about 5,000 of them leaving within 135 days in return the Taliban would provide counterterrorism assurances to ease American fears of a repeat September 11th from Afghan soil but I mean even in that case do you trust the Taliban to avoid another terrorist attack I I mean I wouldn't trust them I would take the proper national security measures to make sure that an attack like that doesn't happen um in the future but well but I mean that that is the Doom Loop of of this militarized policy that we've continued to see we can't leave because what would happen if we leave well I want to leave don't get me wrong I want to leave but like this whole notion that like they're going to promise that they're not going to do any they're not going to be naughty anymore of course they're going to throughout these negotiations they've continued with their attacks but I mean nothing in that says we're not going to take over the government and rule the country I mean they could they could not Harbor a terrorist and still subjugate women and and do everything that the Taliban was doing in controlling Afghanistan which was not great situation for the Afghan people it wasn't I mean but and frankly though that's their business I mean we have invaded this yeah like I'm I'm obviously sympathetic to the plight of women and all of these IND individuals who have to suffer under these authoritarian governments these religious governments that are being run by Maniacs I mean but we we fund one in Saudi Arabia so the fact that we're showing the this false concern about oh what happens if the Taliban actually gains official control as opposed to just 90% control of Afghanistan is absurd so we're we're we're doing all of this in bad faith and that's what's frustrating about this conversation yeah I want to leave you with one final uh bit of information on this graphic 11 the senior Taliban leader on Sunday uh said that Trump was fooling himself to think that he could bring the Taliban and president Ashraf gani together at Camp David because we do not recognize the stoe government in Cabell so there were deep disagreements uh during these negotiations the way that the Trump Administration is trying to spin it as if everything was hunky dory they had agreed on everything everything was fine it was just that one final terrorist attack that they did that changed everything is just a lie they hadn't really come to an agreement there were still uh deep differences and that doesn't mean that you should avoid pulling out of Afghanistan but you should know what the the facts are and how the negotiations really went and let's just note for the millionth time that if Obama invited the Taliban to Camp David like the entire country would yeah I I mean seriously let's get to that now oh oh I'm ready all right following news that Donald Trump cancelled a meeting with Taliban leaders at Camp David only days before 911 uh some of his old tweets toward Barack Obama have resurfaced uh for good cause now Trump was very critical toward uh Obama when it came to negotiating with terrorists and I want to read some of those tweets to you uh this is a tweet from January 13th of 2012 Trump had tweeted while Barack Obama is slashing the military he's also negotiating with our sworn enemy the Taliban who facilitated 911 that wasn't the only tweet there were several of them I'm not even going to read all of them to you but one other one spashing the military like in an alley like Shing them not even including the budget part pathetic Barack Obama is sweetening his offer to the Taliban and then he said read the art of the deal you know a little plug for his book so it goes on and on look what I found fascinating was the damage control we saw from Mike Pompeo the morning after Trump had tweeted about the meeting falling apart and so let's go to the first video uh here he is speaking to Jake Tapper and Jake Tapper asks him what if this was Obama I can't help but think that if a Democratic president had talked about having the Taliban come to Camp David to negotiate a peace process process that was not already a done deal that you as a congressman uh as a as a as a soldier as a veteran as a West Point graduate that you would be rather upset yeah Jake you're just wrong about that I I've been fully supportive of this effort uh the direction that we have taken at the state department the effort president Trump has given us guidance to go deliver on a something I think is important it's valuable I think the timing is just right we'd made enormous progress I I know who the Taliban are and I know who Al-Qaeda is and I've seen that un report I will tell you that they describe the al-Qaeda leadership as uh being happy about the conditions Afghanistan well a lot of them are in their graves and so make no mistake about it we will continue to punish we will continue to pound we will continue to fight we will continue to protect the American people we will never constructed deal if I was worried about Barack Obama and President Obama it was because he was prepared to leave without ensuring that we could Protect America this Administration will never do that so that last statement perfectly summarizes one of the reasons why Trump is going to stay in Afghanistan I mean that is the kind of influence that surrounds him in the White House and at the same time come on let's keep it real we know the situation would be very different the response from someone like Pompeo would be very different toward Obama if Obama were doing the exact same thing that Trump is trying to do but but when you say that this is the the the group that surrounds Trump it's frankly the group that surrounds both parties terms of the the the blob what is sometimes known as The Blob which is the the sort of uh diplomatic and intelligence and and and military communities within Washington uh they have the same mindset that that Pompeo just said right there we we can't leave until we've secured The Zone and and we but we have nothing to do to be able to do that uh so we're just not going to leave so we're just going to punish and pound them pun it's gotten us very far so and using a soldier's death as an excuse is is actually kind of offensive uh to the memory of that Soldier because it has nothing to do with uh one one tragic event it has everything to do with the foreign policy mentality of the United States in in in a bipartisan fashion and uh it it it does wrong to the the memory of the soldier to say that that he was the reason or his his death was the reason that we're staying right and you know Obama got elected and there were all sorts of promises when it came to changing foreign policy ing the course of foreign policy in America but in reality uh Obama expanded Bush era foreign policy uh drone strikes increased under him our civil liberties continued to be violated under the Obama Administration so you're absolutely right and there is this notion that if you don't play ball with the military-industrial complex especially if you're a Democrat you're weak on National Security and that is I mean think about it that is a criticism that's perp perpetuated by the right wing and Democrats just fall right into it it's cuz they're terrified of the milit military-industrial complex that huge apparatus that you're talking about which is even more influential in Washington than I think people realize and what's fascinating to me about how Jake Tapper framed that question is he started it off the exact right way isn't there hypocrisy would you not be extremely critical of if this was President Obama but then he goes as a soldier as a veteran as a West Point GR as if there's something wrong with diplomacy with the Taliban and that's what's frustrating about the entire media coverage of it they are anti peace consistently and they are anti- diplomacy consistently that's a bias bias you see on Fox News MSNBC CNN repeatedly they want belligerence they were so orgasmic about when Trump uh dropped that mother of all bombs in Afghanistan and they're silent radio silent that Trump within the first year I think in office already surpassed Obama in drone strike civilian deaths in Syria and Iraq so this is just increasing increasing and increasing and unless we have someone who's a radical in the right sense in office it's not going to change because the power of the presidency in this regard has gotten completely out of control and and and while you thought that Trump might be someone who would reject the the the the sort of you know establishment consequences of this mhm because his intellectual curiosity only extends to cable news if cable news is is reinforcing what you just said in terms of uh you know putting forward a belligerent uh pro- intervention uh anti- peace mindset then that's that's the feedback that he gets the only feedback that he gets while he's sitting in bed so you know it is interesting though because if I recall correctly back when Obama was president and when he did want to do these negotiations and when he was getting criticized with from the right wing for being part of these talks you know of course Fox News criticized him but MSNBC was kind to him CNN was relatively kind to him they were a lot more in favor of working with and negotiating with so-called terrorists under the Obama Administration but when it comes to Trump it's amazing to see how those very same Cable News hosts change tune right where all of a sudden they're the ones who are like no you shouldn't be in Nea with terrorists this is offensive this is terrible but you shouldn't change your perspective on these these peace deals depending on who the president is at that moment and one other thing I wanted to give Trump credit for in a weird way there are moments where he pushes through the pressures of the military-industrial complex remember he was about to do an air strike on Iran and he called it off last minute I mean and the reason why he called it off last minute is because he went with his Instinct and realized okay pompeo's pressuring me to do this Bolton's pressuring me to do this this is not the right way to go about it and so luckily that wild card component of Donald Trump worked to our favor in that case but yeah he is surrounded by people much like Democratic candidates in the past uh by people who want to push for Perpetual War who want us in Afghanistan and pretend as if there's some solution in sight when really there isn't all right we got to take a break uh when we come back we are going to go to Emma vigan's interviews you asked Elizabeth Warren about defense spending and I want to see what she had to say so uh we have that for you and more when we come back we need to talk about a relatively new show called un the republic or unfr as a Young Turks fan you already know that the government the media and corporations are constantly pedling lies that serve the interests of the Rich and Powerful but now there's a podcast dedicated to unraveling those lies debunking the conventional wisdom in each episode of on the republic or unfr the host delves into a different historical episode or topic that's generally misunderstood or purposely OB fiscated by the so-called Powers the be featuring in-depth research razor sharp commentary and just the right amount of vulgarity the UN FDR podcast takes a sledgehammer to what you thought you knew about some of the nation's most sacred historical cows but don't just take my word for it the New York Times described unfr as consistently compelling and educational aiming to challenge conventional wisdom and upend the historical narratives that were taught in school for as the great philosopher Yoda once put it you must unlearn what you have learned and that's true whether you're in Jedi training or you're uprooting and exposing all the propaganda and disinformation you've been fed over the course of your lifetime so search for un FDR in your podcast app today and get ready to get informed angered and entertained all at the same [Music] time welcome back to tyt I want to read a few member comments for you uh theater goddess says can we do a tyt yes campaign to get Emma spa day what am I chop liver like I'm not in I'm not included in the equation or an afternoon in one of those rooms where you just break stuff I want that sounds good that's more Anna speed I'll take the spa I like both but you're right I like breaking stuff uh I think she earned a vacation I agree uh Market geek says uh the US Military and CIA have killed many people many times down through the decades to strengthen a negotiating position it's a common practice and it's absurd to imply that the US is above such tactic totally agree and Megan writes Trump wants to get friendly with the bad guys and bypass government I am shocked shocked I say uh next you will tell me that he just makes up things as he goes in this case I think that he does have uh you know as he does have the power to to make these deals his administration does have the power to do it it's frustrating when he takes money that's been appropriated by Congress for things like let's say FEMA to fund his border wall that's when you know his executive actions I think are super questionable and a few tyt lives belzo says in my opinion Trump talking to the Taliban days before 911 is another publicity stunt to distract from his corruption well don't you worry we are going to talk about his corruption in hour two today uh we're specifically going to talk about an Air Force investigation into members of the military staying at his properties in Scotland so he's just a they are beautiful that's what he tells me anyway I mean if he says it it must be true the members of the Air Force are beautiful I agree with you all right both of yeah just want to remind you all uh if you're looking for a place to keep your money that's ethical uh look into aspiration aspiration is a financial institution that will not invest your money in fossil fuel companies or any other type of corporation that does dirty things um so go to aspiration.com tyt to open up an account and by the way uh tyt will be doing a rally in Houston this week so if you are interested in going to our Houston rally uh you can join yuger and tyt army director Allison Hartson uh to meet other supporters and talk about how you can build power in our community this is all happening next Thursday September 12th at 2 p.m. uh central time so you will meet at Hotel Alexandria in uh downtown Houston and then finally tomorrow Emma and I'm worried about this you and I are going to do a postgame AMA why are you worried about this I don't because people get hostile sometimes not not anyway there's all sorts of like stuff flying around on Twitter and it's frustrating to constantly have to debunk it but tomorrow's post game is a special ask me anything featuring myself and Emma tyt members and YouTube channel members can submit their questions via the chat and using the AMA hashtag everyone is able to watch uh it'll go live at 800 p.m. eastern time again this is on Tuesday go to tyt.com to watch all right let's get to the of the news our very own Emma vigland went to New Hampshire and interviewed a couple of candidates including Elizabeth Warren now the question that she's going to ask Elizabeth Warren is incredibly important because it has to do with something that many progressives have been wondering about why is it that Warren has consistently voted in favor of increasing defense spending take a look you uh have focused a lot on Progressive domestic policy you also voted for a military budget increase in 2017 how does that square with your Progressive politics when we're talking about foreign policy if the question is do I think we should the military budget the answer is yes and I'm now on the Senate armed services committee I've had this fight over and over but there's another part to it too we need to stop the control over our defense budget that's exercised by the giant defense industry this is what corruption is all about putting lobbyists in charge of our government agencies a lobbyist former lobbyist in charge of the Environmental Protection Agency this is the heart of corruption and the moment has come to call it out and to fight back so unfortunately she didn't really answer the question I mean she listed all the issues with increasing military spending but she didn't really explain why she voted for it I want to give you more details on on how she voted in 2017 uh so in 2017 Warren authorized $700 billion in defense funds it included $640 billion for the Pentagon and an additional $60 billion for military operations in countries such as Syria Iraq and Afghanistan this bill increased military spending by $80 billion which far surpassed the increase requested by Donald Trump which was $54 billion yeah and uh it it should be noted that she was one of the overwhelming majority of senators who who voted for this so I believe it was around 90 senators or something like that Bernie V Bernie voted against it Kirsten gbrand also voted against it in her kind of Ploy for the presidency where she voted against everything that Donald Trump uh did but uh not not to take away from it it was a really good uh vote but yeah Elizabeth Warren when she's extremely left or really Progressive on these domestic policies and she's leading the way in many ways there's a huge question mark when it comes to her foreign policy and I wanted to ask her about it and she dodged the question there's really no way around it and I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that in Massachusetts there is a large defense industry uh there so like Connecticut or New Jersey where Pharmaceuticals are really big and so you see someone like Corey Booker voting against the bill that comes uh that says you know uh we'll bring drugs over from Canada to make them cheaper Elizabeth Warren is from a state where Ron is one of the biggest employers of her constituents so it's a really really big industry in Massachusetts and I think that's reflected in her votes that's why she didn't answer my question if if I'm speculating on it and if it was a long form interview I would have followed up with her on it but these press gaggles everyone's screaming over each other to try to get a question it's amazing that she actually did answer mine because she was the only front runner that spoke to us I'm I'm talking about uh uh or spoke to the Press Joe Biden Bernie Sanders didn't speak to the Press gagle she did so the room was packed I couldn't even believe I got a question in the first place but yeah well Emma as a corporate shill curious what persuaded you to ask her that tough question um actually her campaign sent me a check and said ask us this question because I have the prepared answer for that we're obviously kidding um but I will say her answer to you was very different from the answer she gave the press in her justification for voting to increase defense spending earlier I want to give you those quotes she said def defense bill has a long tradition of bipartisan cooperation and I was glad to join that tradition this ndaa will make a real positive impact on the lives of Americans and then she also said um I I apologize that was the quote that I wanted to read to you so she was much more flowery in her language toward it earlier I mean let's let's just try to explain what what that all is about so the ndaa is the National Defense authorization act uh since I believe 1954 uh that bill has passed every single year it authorizes defense spending for the particular year there there are many years where the other bills they don't pass they go into a continuing resolution they got uh you know an Omnibus package that defense bill passes every single year and how does that work uh every congressional district has some subset of some part or some weapon that uh is manufactured in that District where jobs in that District are dependent upon that uh that industry and that's how they correct everybody to vote for this bill every year it also usually has pay increases for the troops and you don't want to have to face an attack ad that says you you you voted against the troops getting more money our troops in the battlefield so uh that's how that bill works now yeah go ahead I do want to talk a little bit about the pay increases for troops because I think this goes back to the failure in Democratic messaging so if you're a genuine Progressive and you have a problem with you know half of our discretion AR spending going toward the military then why can't you specifically point to the fact that these increases in defense spending don't really trickle down to our soldiers not at all I mean it's you should show them the number like why are Democrats afraid to do press conferences you go you go I'm cutting the defense spending in half I'm cutting it by a third but I'm giving the troops a 50% pay raise it's over it's over the conversation's over but they don't want to because Industries are so ubiquitous and they're such a huge part of our everyday life that's been the theme of the show so far how the military-industrial complex has infected both parties and only a crazy person like Donald Trump thinks to to to bucket but he doesn't even go through with it because you know when you have he doesn't have the power to fall through with it follow through with it because it is so powerful all across the board let me just add though one thing because the what she did say what Senator Warren did say with you is she pivoted to the corruption angle uh and it is the fact that uh every defense secretary under Trump is either a longtime executive lobbyist or board member on one of the big five defense contractors uh uh Mattis just went back to join the board of General Dynamics uh Patrick Shanahan who was his replacement was a longtime executive at Boeing and Mark esper who's the current defense secretary was a rathon lobbyist and and Warren actually hit him very hard for that in in the hearings uh that were held uh for him uh Warren was at the Forefront of uh this Scandal around a company called trans which uh is a defense contractor that makes Soul Source parts for planes so it's like little widgets in that and they charge like uh th% markups for these little widgets and in the cost of an $8 billion aircraft you don't really hear about it or think about it but they're making millions and tens of millions of dollars in profits she along with Rana were the ones who went to the defense secretary Inspector General and said uh there's obvious markup problems going on here it's the only one that has the they're the only ones that's held apart it's uh a way to uh essentially you know trap the defense department into buying these things and the IG the Inspector General did a report found that there were $16 million in overcharge over a short period of time the oversight committee held a hearing on this and got trans to give back that money so you know I mean the corruption angle is not a bad angle to play it's her best angle and I'm thrilled that every debate she says corruption corruption campaign Finance reform she does it better than Bernie Sanders who who should be saying it way more yeah I agree with you on that right it's but she but she didn't answer my question I'm not trying to apologize I'm not the corporate shill in this except you are um but 99 times out of 100 Elizabeth Warren is fighting against corporate greed I'm just asking why this one in 100 time it was a little this so this is the frustrating thing for me when it comes to Elizabeth Warren because on one hand when it comes to certain domestic economic policies she brings the goods and her plans are pro definitely Progressive they're impressive and very detail oriented the fact that she managed to accomplish the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau before she was even a senator is incredible she applied enough pressure on the Obama Administration to get that done but at the same time she leaves much to be desired when it comes to her foreign policy her past statements when it comes to Israel have been incredibly hawkish especially toward the Palestinians she needs to clear those things up and the way that she answered that question well I you know applaud her for bringing up the issue of corruption over and over again she does it during the debate she does it at campaign rallies she did it in that answer she needs to at least take ownership of past mistakes and and talk about how she plans to Pivot toward a more Progressive policy moving forward because there are progressives who are iffy on her due to her past votes due to her past statements and I think that it's important for her to stop skirting that issue I feel like she's been neglecting it I think the second part is the important part of that I think the question the good question would be you know what is what does your ideal budget look like now you know 90 people voted for this budget whether she voted for it or against it it was going to pass but what does your budget look like and she's put out a plan about the defense department that really only focuses on that corruption angle she says she you know no lobbyists will hold major positions within the defense department and and and things of that nature but what is the what does it look like what can we withstand you know do we do we actually need to spend $700 billion on on defense right now now more than the top 10 next countries combined or not I mean so so what are the hard numbers I mean I think those are the things that that she deserves to be pressed on and absolutely and your point and I just think just to button it up is great is yeah we know that her instincts are extem extremely Progressive but there have been question marks and blotches in the past and instead of pivoting all the time around them just address them it would be so much clearer for all of us absolutely and then we can move forward we got to take a break uh when we come back we're going to uh do a deep dive into tulsy gard's appearance on Dave Rubin show they got into so many different topics including gun control open borders all sorts of stuff we're going to discuss ideas when we return at tyt we frequently talk about all the ways that big tech companies are taking control of our online lives constantly monitoring us and storing and selling our data but that doesn't mean we have to let them it's possible to stay anonymous online and hide your 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to read a few member comments Tommy to strong says Emma asks a clear question then Warren says if the question is no that wasn't the question the question was the one Emma asked so disappointing um and look I I actually want to just quickly button up the conversation we were having during the break because uh you know I said during the break if Warren has Progressive econom IC policies you can't separate that from military spending and foreign policy right like you we have so much I mean it's a finite amount of resources and we're wasting so much when it comes to military spending so my point is I mean I don't know where she really well I mean what in two in 2016 Bernie Sanders had Progressive economic policies and he didn't talk a lot about uh foreign policy and when he did he kind of lined up behind Barack Obama and then he got Matthew DUS who is his foreign policy expert uh who is very uh Progressive and is an excellent H probably the best hire that he made since 2016 and now he is a a far more uh coherent figure on foreign policy so I mean sometimes that's what happens like you get on the big stage and you didn't have to you know as a senator you can focus on your issues they tell you to they say focus on your core issues and that's how get ahead in the Senate and and also guys like Bernie Dodges too so like she dodged but Bernie Dodges too everyone Dodges it was a bad one I'm not I I get it I get it but I mean think about he's voted against increasing the military budget right on this issue there's no contest there's no contest is there is no contest and also like there there have been numerous opportunities to comment on foreign policy events that are occurring right now like the issue in cashmir that Bernie uh had a very concise clear message when it came to that issue uh what's happening in Brazil with Jer bolsonaro and uh Lula D Silva who's a political prisoner right I mean Bernie has he's proven himself to have the right instincts when it comes to these issues um maybe you're right maybe this uh new advisor is really helping push him in the right direction but even if you look at his past votes and you look at the way he's treated defense spending there's been a difference there I don't think it's so much the advisor it's a change of emphasis you know I mean on in 2016 he recognized that this was something he needed to you know emphasize much more and he has and so hopefully Warren will do that too yep all right well let's move on to uh a candidate who I don't suspect will get anywhere but nonetheless um way to lead into I know I know I'm terrible the Amy stands out there be all over you I went I so I did a deep dive uh on Yang's Ubi on no filter today so I'm looking forward to the harassment on Twitter on that oh I have so many thoughts on that I know I know but anyway let's just hopefully the Amy kobitar stands don't actually exist we'll see there there's got to be at least 2% Emma vigin spoke to Amy kobitar in New Hampshire and the topic of progressivism came up take a look Senator I spoke some of your supporters outside and they really like that you were a more moderate candidate compared to the other ones but with the green new deal with Medicare for all these issues polling so well with the Democratic constituency uh how do you plan on uh overcoming that and winning this primary okay so um I consider myself a progressive in one important way I like to make progress uh I am the candidate that you'll see on that debate stage um that has passed over a 100 bills as a senator um with as the lead Democrat in just the last few years including 34 since Donald Trump has has been president and I've done that by looking for common ground where I can on things like drug shortages um and then standing my ground where I should um and so I do believe I may be more moderate in tone uh than some of the people running for office but I am betting that people don't want the loudest voice anymore they've had that right now that's the guy in the White House all right thoughts progress moderate in tone that wasn't what I was trying trying to talk to her about but what I found so fascinating is I was trying to like phrase it in a way that okay this is your identity this is your lane your supporters like this about you because when I spoke to them they like that about her they said she doesn't shoot for the moon and do unrealistic things she knows how to get things done she's popular in her home state and we can go to that clip but but I why not Embrace that if you're that's why your supporters like you well I know why I it's the same reason why a candidate like like KLA Harris will go on the debate debate stage and raise her hand when it comes to getting rid of private insurers for Medicare for all and then go on cable news and say no no no that's not what I meant that's not what I meant like they want to play this both sides game uh between the Centrist and the progressives they know that these Progressive policies are polling well I mean look two of The Front Runners are progressive candidates uh who are running on Bold Progressive uh domestic policies and so with you know Harris and Amy kichar they want to wear that Badge of progressivism but then turn around and say no but progressives are promising you things that they could never accomplish right it's just it's interesting how they try to use both messages when it's most convenient for them yeah I mean uh I guess I'll uh try to toot the horn of the uh the prospect so so so next week uh we we finish our issue and and the core package in that issue is all all the things that you can do as president without passing legislation in Congress and this is what really distinguishes people who actually want to make progress with people like Amy kachar who want to make incremental change through you know working in a bipartisan fashion there are so many we we identified 30 different meaningful actions that next president can take uh in all sorts for from environment to banking policy to actually canceling student debt you can do that uh without passing legislation you can do it right now uh through an executive order through uh using the Higher Education Act something called compromise and settlement Authority you can uh uh license prescription drugs take them away from the drug companies and license them to generic competitors right now without any kind of legislative impact and you know uh I I feel like that's where the rubber meets the road here if you're Progressive because you want to make progress I got 30 ways that you can make progress a whole lot of it without needing to get Mitch McConnell say so uh so you know that I think I think that's really where we're going to see the distinctions between the candidates and I wish that the debates would talk more about those things than legislation oh fascinating okay well you know what you make a good point but I will say I feel like over the last few election Cycles there was very little discussion about po so it's nice to see more of an emphasis on policy no question and it it tells tells you people's worldview right it tells you what how they see the world and that's very important in president and her worldview is she's a prom moderate prom moderate yeah Progressive modern I don't know well I'm looking forward to reading that piece that's uh it's it's a whole package we actually got 10 subject matter experts and reporters writing 10 different pieces you know how to plug your work I can't figure it out so interesting love it when is it out uh probably going to be out in in a couple weeks as for the fall issue of the American Prospect love it all right I'm actually going to switch gears now and go to uh Tulsi gaber's interview on the Ruben report Democratic candidate Tulsi gabard recently made an appearance on Dave rubin's YouTube show and I just want to note you know he's not really a progressive or a liberal he kind of comes at things from a more libertarian persp perspective so it's fascinating to see how he frames questions about various political issues and how she answers them now we're going to start off with a clip about how much Tulsi gabard loves the country take a look I had Glenn back in here a couple days ago and he said uh he didn't even know that you were coming on because this just happened in the last day or so but what he said was um I disagree with Tulsi on almost everything but it's very obvious that she loves this country and I think one of the things that's happening for for sort of mainstream liberals let's say not Progressive but sort of old school liberals and then pretty much everyone on the right is they're watching the candidates the Democratic candidates and there's this sense that they don't really love the country like they really think it's so fundamentally broken or wrong or historically awful or some version of that but that doesn't come across with you I I not question I'm just yes I I am unabashed in my love for our country it's what's motivated um you know these major decisions that I've made with what I want to do with my life and I retweeted one of your last tweets which was you know like a 30- second clip where you talked about freedom and liberty and things like that I love all those words but those words now have been really associated with the right and not with Democrats do you find it odd that I mean right in there there's a giant American flag in my control room and and all of those things and I've got the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence in there like do you find it odd that it seems that the Democrats aren't embracing those things there's a weird running from them I'm disheartened by it um because of all of those who have sacrificed for our freedoms a lot of different things to touch on there but the framing of Ruben's question is the top issue for me because the way he framed that was progressives don't love America do you agree basically said yes and yeah she took the bait and remember she's positioning herself as a progressive candidate so positioning is a good word for it positioning is the correct word for it because you look at her voting record you look at a lot of other issues including other Snippets from this interview which we're going to show you later and she might talk the talk when it's convenient she certainly doesn't walk the walk and she does not challenge Ruben on his right-wing anti-progressive framing in a lot of these questions yeah and by the way so loving a country just means never critiquing it never criticizing it and and showing a blind love and you know like just a blind loyalty to it no matter what like it's it's it's a fascinating way of putting things like you can love the country you can be loyal to the country but you can have issues with how it's run you can have issues with uh the history of the country we're not allowed to find you know the genocide of Native Americans questionable in this country's history we're not allowed to talk about slavery we're not allowed to talk about you know what it was like before the Civil Rights era we're not allowed to talk about what it's like now for a lot of people in disenfranchised groups I don't even know what he's talking about when he's talking about her he's got a flag but like I I mean to be fair to her in this instance I don't know what he's talking about that distinguishes her as loving the country more in this right-wing framing than the other candidates like what's specifically about her the fact that she's a she's a veteran Pete Buddz I can't talk today Pete bu judge is a veteran so what's the difference here the difference is that she kind of of plays both sides when it comes to these kinds of issues and so when we're talking about progressivism I don't think it's Progressive to not endorse Medicare for all or be a co-sponsor of it when it's first introduced and then sign on to it later when it becomes a presidential talking point you're planning a run in 2018 and you sign on in 2016 and then your supporters go online and say Elizabeth Warren's the hack when she was a co-sponsor right away so that's very fascinating to me uh but keep going what's your name uh Anna oh damn throwing me under the bus I'm sorry I'm so tired well okay uh David did you want to comment on this before we move on to the next I'm too busy reading the big giant blowup constitution in the control room see we love the country we have a giant American flag behind us so all right well let's move on to the next Topic at hand uh and this has to do with immigration and again pay close attention to how Dave Rubin frames the question and how Tulsi gabard answers so immigration I think there's a general sense that the the candidates the Democrats are basically trying to outdo each other for open borders something like that um a do you think that's a fair way to start the question and be where where do you sit on that uh I don't I don't support open borders without secure borders we don't really have a country I think there's a few things that we've got to do when we're talking about immigration reform uh one is we've got to have secure borders this is not uh Trump's wall from sea to shining sea it's about seeing again what makes sense you know I look at things from a practical um objective oriented standpoint I'm a soldier so I look at what's our objective secure the borders in some places it may make the most sense to have a wall or some kind of physical barrier in place in other places it won't make sense so you use technology and use all the other tools that we have ultimately to accomplish that objective of security at the let me pause you there so is the problem though just from that starting point which seems so obvious I think the average person watching this is going of course countries exist because there are borders but even that starting point you're going to get people that are further to left of you going well there there's some level of racism or xenophobia there or I mean that's what you there's always that subtext to this conversation which is I think it's a big problem further to the left abuse so she's not positioning herself as left on this issue and secondly if you were an actual Progressive and you went on that show you would bulk at the notion that Democrats are in favor of open borders no one has said that ever and any person that's going to go on right-wing talk show and listen to that talking point who identifies as someone who's on the left has to just sweep that away right away and say that's not what we're talking about here but no she agrees with the framing and perhaps that's because she voted present on a Republican bill that said we have to support our ice officers and make sure that we don't abolish ice when people like Bal roor voted against that so when we're having a conversation about Progressive policy when it comes to Tulsi gabard there is red flag after Red Flag after red flag herning from the DNC was bra and I supped her anti-interventionist foreign policy until I took a further look and realized that a lot of it is based in dislike of Muslim people mhm and that's evident in her vote to uh ban Syrian refugees from coming to the United States um it's evident in the fact that she was the only Democrat in Congress who was willing to go uh see Benjamin n who speak before Congress uh in his disdain for the Iran uh nuclear deal and imagine if Elizabeth Warren did that seriously oh I mean we know that there's a double standard when it comes to uh the individuals who support Tulsi gabard there are certain things that she can do that they will Overlook they don't care right it's totally fine but if any other candidate including Warren or even Bernie Sanders had voted the same way the reaction would be different can you imagine if Elizabeth Warren had voted in FA favor of a resolution condemning the BDS movement I mean we wouldn't stop hearing about it right and and by the way that would be legitimate criticism we would criticize her for that but I I want to move on to one other thing because you're right the way that that question was framed was progressives want open borders and Ruben if you listen carefully specifically asks is that a fair way to frame the question and she's like yeah I think that's fair and then she moves on okay well name one candidate in the Democratic party who has said that they want open borders in fact Bernie Sanders unequivocally said that he does not support open borders so it's just fascinating how she allowed that smear to just go by when there isn't a specific example of an individual running for president right now on the Democratic side who wants open borders oh you guys got this you're you're good all right well I want to go to I feel like you've done some work we might have it's frustrating to little bit like the you know just like the very careful way everyone treats this one particular candidate first of all no candidate is above criticism not a single one right Bernie Sanders votes the wrong way we're going to call him out Elizabeth Warren the way she answered your question on defense spending uh skirted the issue we did a story criticizing her on that because that's the fair and honest way to cover these stories pretending as if Tulsi gabard is a progressive is ridiculous to me and I'm not I'm not going to like pretend like I'm buying into it are there some Progressive issues that she's you know signed on to here and there sure but if you look at her overall record you cannot tell me that she's a progressive when she's rubbing shoulders with narendro Modi who turned the other way as thousands of Muslims were raped and murdered in in the Gujarat riots is I mean come on or going to fundraisers hosted by right-wing Israeli groups when yet again what's it called Christians for Israel okay we're still having a conversation about the progressivism and it's because other Progressive talk show hosts or pundits online are afraid of the the Tulsi gabard fans I'm not afraid of you guys I'm not afraid you guys I'm going to call it like it is and sorry I'm going to dive into the internet pit and it's fun for me because I want to call things like they are all here mentions yeah I don't care anymore it's fun but it's not it's not even about look people are going to get upset when you criticize their candidate one way or the other right and it is what it is but it's not going to stop us from doing our job so let me continue doing our job by going to the next video and this has to do with gun control take a look ask her about guns you got to ask her about guns because the general feeling you know they want their guns basically um so can you just sort of lay out your position I think that um I stand up for second amendment rights I don't think it conflicts with a need I feel we also need to have sensible gun safety regulation uh I think that the fact that we have not seen any kind of legislation pass for a very long time is because on one side you have people who say there should be absolutely no regulation whatsoever uh on guns and who can own them and on the other side you have folks who are saying that they want to repeal the Second Amendment and they want to get rid of guns completely and take everyone's guns away and you have those two extremes on both sides um kind of pointing their arrows at each other with no real real substantive dialogue and conversation happening with that entire space in the Middle where where we recognize that there's no conflict between upholding our Second Amendment rights while also making sure that these guns are not put into the hands of those who would seek to do incredible harm to other be a sensible law that isn't passed already because that that it always seems to come down to that well they we background checks I mean that's one that um that we just passed uh with some bipartisan support from the house it's sitting in the Senate now uh waiting for movement when you hear things like uh the city of San Francisco designating the NRA a terrorist organization do you think that's helping or or hurting I don't think I I think that further deepens The Divide so what stood out to me in that answer was uh her statement about the house legislation on gun control sitting in the Senate waiting for movement that is a great opportunity as a so-called Progressive candidate as as a Democratic candidate you don't even have to be a progressive to call out Mitch McConnell for blocking votes on that type of legislation but she's very careful to avoid criticizing members of the right if you listen to the entirety of that interview interview she tries to play Both Sides she talks about bipartisanship she talks about working together and finding common ground it's very obes it's very Obama esque and we all know what happens when Democrats talk about bipartisanship it means concession after concession after concession we need bold change that's why there is this uh surge of progressivism within the Democratic party that's the reason why she's latched onto that label to help her even though it hasn't really worked so far because her record speaks for for itself um but in reality look talk is talk if you're going to claim to be a progressive you can't sit there and pretend as though there are democratic candidates who are trying to take all the guns away no one has advocated for that no one oning the Second Amendment she just accepted that framing right it's just yeah I'm I'm not even necessarily saying she's a bad person I'm saying she's a blank slate and she's not a progressive like she's a she's just like going with with the the Reuben framing throughout the entire interview so if you have strong Progressive principles you're not going to do that and she doesn't have them all right that does that for hour one uh David Dayan Emma vigin thank you so much for joining us thank you and uh when we come back Alonzo Bowden and Jason Carter will join me for hour or two thanks for listening to the full episode of The Young Turks support our work listen ad free access members only bonus content and more by subscribing to Apple podcast at apple.co tyt I'm your host Jen yuger and I'll see you soon