YouSaid · the spoken record

Cenk Uygur

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2024-08-30
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2024-08-30
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  1. “Yeah, if you wrestled, then you're like, I watched this show with my kids Physical 100. It's like a Korean show where they try to find out who's the best athlete. They have one thing where they have to wrestle away the ball and keep it this big giant ball. I'm like”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  2. “Okay, because you never know, he catches you on a lucky punch. I got punched in the ear once and you lose your balance and then you're in a lot of trouble, right? So, I can get lucky Alex Jones can't get lucky. Me against Rogan is harder. If you said to me, you don't have 8% chance. But Alex does. Okay, I'm not going to, it's fine, right? So why does Alex stand almost no chance to ask me? So first of all, it's not just because I'm big and he's big. One, I wrestled.”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  3. “And this is me proving that it's dumb. Okay, so now Joe had said, I forget what he said at the time, and he says something similar, right? And I'm up to hear what Joe at that point. I don't know if we'll ever talk again, right?”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  4. “Like, I don't know, 10, 15 years ago on Huffington Post. We were both bloggers at that point about the Wussification of America. Now, he was saying the left is a bunch of wussies, right? So I wrote a blog saying, hey, Michael, I would rather debate you. So if you want to debate about how we're wussies, let's do it. Let's find a thing. But, you know, you're mentioning physicality, right? And how you guys are tougher. So if you prefer only in a prescribed setting, right, and we're not going to go do it in the streets like idiots, right? But if you want, we'll have a boxing match or whatever you want, and we'll see who's tougher. And he panicked and he cried to mommy, which was Arianna Huffington, and says, oh, Jack's intimidating me, right? Okay. All right. Well, who's the Wussie now, bitch? Right. So that is not to actually get into a fight with poor Michael Smarkonish, right? It's to prove, hey, don't use rhetoric like that. That's dumb.”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  5. “Of course. Okay. And I've seen. Like, I saw this Israeli MMA fighter take on an anti-Semite who was huge and thought that He believed in like Nick Fuentes' conspiracy theories or something and the MMA fighter dismantled him and I loved it. Okay. And then he like we tweeted back and forth, et cetera. So guys, first let me just assure you, I get it. So now let me tell you why I said it and then why I think it's a non-zero chance. So Michael Smirkonish had written this blog.”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  6. “But Lex, look at all the people who are the biggest now, because we've now had a couple of decades at this, right? And I mean as an industry. I would argue you're huge and you don't do that. You don't do the conspiracy theories. You don't do the drama at all, right? Rogan is huge. Yeah, maybe there's drama, but he's genuine, right? I got a lot of issues with some of his policies. I mixed opinions on Joe in a lot of different ways, but I don't doubt that he's genuine and people can sense that. Right, and he's huge, we're genuine, we're huge. So this is the market beginning to work.”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  7. “But what we need, guys, is like, sorry, last thing on that is we need the print guys like A.P. Reuters, Intercept, the lever, the Serota runs, whatever Ryan's working on now, it's that Ryan Grim, we need those badly. We need someone to collect actual information and do the best they can in presenting it in an objective way. We all got to support that. So you can't lose text that's so important. The TV guys are just actors. You can lose them overnight and it won't hurt you. It'll help you.”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  8. “Million, maybe 200 million. So give me $40 million a year. And they do. Sean is making $40 million a year last I checked. Okay. So I don't know if he's still getting that kind of money and I'm just basing out and reporting, right? But that's a monster. So they have all these giant costs. But the minute you go from 100 million, now we're at, I think, around 70 million. You just lost a giant chunk of your revenue. Now when your costs are higher than your revenue 90 night, it's been nice knowing you.”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  9. “But I'm too honest, I got to say it. I got to say it. So they have two revenue streams. One is ads. That's why they serve advertisers and politicians are huge advertisers, as we mentioned. The second revenue stream, depending on the company, is arguably more important, which is subscribers. Now what happens in a business normally is they started out low and then they got high and now they got a ton of subscribers at its peak. cable has a hundred million households right so they're raking in unbelievable money from subscriber fees and they got advertising on top so when you're all the way up here your costs start to rise why do they rise because then the on air talent has leverage and as an example there's many others the and so the on-air talent like seanney says i do a program that brings in x amount of maybe a hundred”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  10. “People, it's going to take a while, guys. But people who are telling the truth are eventually going to rise up. And when they do, now we're free. And now the second part is even more devastating for mainstream media because I'm a businessman, right? I keep looking at their revenue for CNN, etc. And they have a massive problem. And people don't realize how big the problem is. That thing is going to capsize. I don't talk about it often because I don't want more competition. I also have a company, right? In the online world, et cetera.”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  11. “The algorithm rewards anyone attacking you because then you get into their algorithmic loop. Not an accident that we've been attacked dozens of times. One, we're independent thinkers, so anyone, if we don't match their ideology, they're going to attack us. But number two, they get in our algorithm loop, it's too hard to resist, right? So all of a sudden they think that we're being funded by Nancy Pelosi or the CIA and oh, we're off to the races. There's another fight, right? But our competition is a graveyard. And so we've almost all of those fights. Why? Because we try really hard to stick with the truth, with logic, and we don't do audience capture. Even if our audience is going in one direction, we don't think it's right. Anna and I will come out and go, no, sorry guys, love you, but rent control is not a good idea. Okay, et cetera. So in that world,”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  12. “Susan Wajiski was former CEO, the late Susan Wajiski, wonderful woman. And if that triggers you again on the right, you're wrong. She was a terrific person. And when she started her own YouTube channel, I was the first interview because we were the first YouTube partner. So I love that. But let me connect it back to the hope. When mainstream media has you hooked, you got no hope because you don't have the right information. You have propaganda. You have marketing. You don't have real news. When you're in the online world, it's chaotic. And don't get me wrong, it's got plenty of downsides, right? But within that chaos, the truth begins to emerge. And so, for example, young Turks had dozens of fights with different creators throughout history. Why? When you're number one in news online.”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  13. “And he doesn't have any money, just like us. And so what does he have to do to get an audience? He has to do a show that is really popular. He's got to figure out a way how do I get their attention? How do I keep their attention? And he starts doing a great show, right? And so every year it's us and Phil for best news show for like a decade, right? And meanwhile, I'm back over at CNN, Wolf Blitzer's still droning on from a teleprompter. You put Wolf Blitzer online without the force of Sienna and with him. He gets negative seven views. No one's interested in Wolf Blitzer has to say. It's not personal. I don't know the brother, right? I'm just saying institutionally, logically, et cetera. So I'm like, these guys are going to win. So when YouTube starts, we go on YouTube right away. We're the first YouTube partner. So I am literally the original YouTuber. Nice.”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  14. “I said, guys, it's just a matter of logic. Like, for me, there's so many ironies. I'm known for yelling online sometimes, but in reality, I'm obsessed with logic. So when you have gatekeepers, gatekeepers pick based on what they want, what the powerful one, in that case, advertisers, politicians, et cetera. They are never going to design programming as good as wisdom of the crowd. People start doing online video. I'm like, boom, there's no gatekeepers. This is democratized wisdom of the crowd's going to win. So if you start with no money and let's pick a different example, not the young Turks. Let's say Phil DeFranco. He's been around forever, okay? And he also does news. And so Phil starts doing a show.”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  15. “In 1998 I write an email to my friends and I say online video is going to be television. And unsurprisingly, and they say you're nuts. That's never going to happen. At that point, we're still doing AOL dial-ups. Online video barely exists and television's mammoth.”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  16. “But media is another place where we have huge hope. So of all the corporate robots, the most important robot is media. So when mainstream media has you hooked in at the back of your neck, you're going to believe all these fairy tales about how politicians are nice people and they're trying to do the right thing and donor money doesn't have any influence on them, right? So once you unplug from the matrix, well, then you begin to see, oh yeah, hey, look, he took the donor money, did what the donors wanted. He took the donor money, did what the donors want. 98% of the time, right? So then you see clearly. So now what's happening at large? Mainstream media is losing their power. And now online media is swarming, swarming, swarming, swarming. And so this goes back to why I started the young Turks. So let me touch on that here, and then we can come back to do if you want.”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  17. “Everything is, you know, in comes are higher, health is better, et cetera, right? So hope is not misplaced. It's real. It's empirical. Okay. So now we talked about how you could get money out of politics and that's.”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  18. “Yeah, definitely. So two things about that that are super important. First of all, this is why I tell people to have hope. I don't believe in false hope, right? So if you think Kamala Harris is your night and shining armor, she's going to come in. She's going to get money out of politics. She's going to ignore the donors. That's false. That's crazy talk, right? So why am I in favor of Kamala Harris? I'm going to live to fight another day. I'm worried that Trump's going to end the whole thing. And then we're not going to have an opportunity to actually get a populist win, right? So, and I'm encouraged by some of the things she's doing. Maybe she does even 25% of her agenda, but I'm not going to give you false hope that she's your savior, right? But I believe massively in hope. And number one, because it's true to the point that we were talking about earlier, Alex, and how last 200 years have been choppy, but overall fantastic. Terrible things have happened in that time period, some of the worst things that have ever happened in history. But overall, life expectancy is high.”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  19. “I don't know. I don't know. But, guys, so in those stories, I'm not important. And even Bobby Kennedy Jr. is not important. What it reveals about the media is what's important. So they're going to find those needles, whether it's, and even if they don't have the needles, you know what? We'll cut the tape before your joke's punchline, right? So we'll just run it and we'll lie about you. Who cares? And so, oh, they also said that I had David Dukan to share his anti-Semitic point of view. If you watch the interview, I told David Duke, you're an anti-Semite, you're a racist, you're a bigot, you're an idiot, right? It was the toughest interview he's probably ever had in his life. And other journalists got mad at that part. And they were like, no, guys, you're just flat out lying. I watched the interview. Did any of you watch the interview? He takes the guy's head off, right? And so the New York Times issued a correction on that one. So they're like, okay, fine. He was being sarcastic when he said, sure, you're not racist, Dave.”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  20. “So, I start out the joke nice and dry, and I go, Look, is the horse going to object if he's the one getting pleasure? Now, and as my co-host, she's younger at that time. And she's like, that seems like a bad idea. I'm like, of course it's a bad idea. Okay, but I'm being dry. But some people are laughing in the studio and stuff. And then I say, you know, if I was Emperor of the world, I would make that legal. And they cut the tape. If you watch the rest of the tape, I say, now would the horse object? But they cut the tape so the New York, so originally a right winger did that and then like an establishment troll. In that primary, started putting out those tapes to everyone, Jake Tapper retweeted it, didn't look to see if it's edited or not edited. The New York Times implied that bestiality was part of my agenda. Please tell me that.”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  21. “Long history of being anti-Semitic and anti Muslim. Okay, so there's this. Oh, this is a famous one, relatively famous. I did a joke about bestiality, like. A dozen years ago”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  22. “Like I'm Muslim. I mean, I'm atheist, but I grew up Muslim, my family's Muslim, my background's Muslim. You don't think that's relevant in the story? And they did it based on one joke I told about. And they say, oh, also, of course, they say that I'm anti-Semitic. You start with that. That's just baked in for everyone, right? So I had made a joke about how Orthodox Jews and Muslims, They think that getting into heaven is a little bit of a fashion contest. Okay. So the Orthodox Jews go in there with the Russian coast from the 1800s and the giant Russian hat, you know, the Muslims go in with their robe and the skull cap and stuff. And God's looking around going, no, no, no. Ooh, nice outfit. Come on in, right? Like, do you really think the creator of the universe gives a damn what you wear? Okay, so the New York Times took that and said.”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  23. “Wait, wait, I found another one. The other thing you should know about Bobby is that he once said in a divorce deposition that he had a brainworm that, by the way, turns out that affects millions of people and is not that big a deal, right? But look, he is a radical. Ah, he is this defines him completely. The spectacular case of that actually happened to me. So I ran for Congress in 2020. The New York Times, LA Times, CNN, they all... Me with needles. Okay. So they said, his long history of making anti Muslim jokes. First of all, they didn't even say jokes. They said anti Muslim rhetoric.”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  24. “in a limbo and he would drive back from the campaign event in a limo but the press never reported the limo they only reported him in the red pickup truck as if that's what he drives see that's the theater of politics why because Fred Thompson was a corporate Republican so they loved him so they go yeah sure yeah red pickup truck good old Fred Thompson right but if you're an outsider and they don't like you then they're gonna look at the haystack of your life and they're gonna try to find needles so they've done this to Trump they've done this to Bernie they've done this to Bobby Kennedy Jr. And with Bobby, they're like, ooh, there's some juicy needles in here. Okay. So they find those and they go, you see this? The only thing you should know about Bobby Kennedy Jr. is that he found a dead bear and put it in Central Park.”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  25. “Fossil fuel companies accountable, protecting communities that had poison dumped into the rivers, et cetera, right? So the thing that affects everybody is when he gets like corporate media smeared the hell out of him and they didn't allow him to speak and then they did the needle in a haystack trick. So whenever it's an insider, they find the best parts of their lives and then they amplify. So Joe Biden has average Joe from Scranton. Motherfucker's been in DC for the last 52 years. You think we don't have eyes and ears? Okay. Like average Joe from Scranton, who are you kidding? So there's a guy named Fred Thompson who's an actor and he was a senator from Tennessee later. And he had this great little trick that he would do as a red pickup truck that he would campaign with, right? So he looks like a regular joke, right? But he's a millionaire actor. But here's the funny part. He would drive to the red pickup.”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  26. “In fact, he's one of my best friends. And I know why this is my theory on why Bobby and my friend are led a wildlife. Both of their dads died young. When my friend's dad died, he was eighteen and his dad died in his arms. And he has a motto, what is lived cannot be unlived. So if I had a great time and I thought it was hilarious to dump a dead bear at Central Park, then I loved it and I had a great time and nothing you could do about it, okay? And sometimes that'll get you in trouble and sometimes you'll have a fantastic time, right? And obviously Bobby's dad was killed when he was young.”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  27. “Yeah, so he was on our show. People love that interview. You could check it out anytime. That's great, right? And why do people love it, whether they're right or left? Because we're fair. We actually ask them about his policy positions. He explained them. I challenge him. And then he explains, and we give him a fair hearing. But I knew Bobby a little bit before he ran when he was an environmental lawyer, right? And his legal work is excellent. And he's been on the right side of most of the issues for most of his life. So, A, I like him on that. Two, on his wildlife, the dead bear and the worms and all that stuff, right? So there's two important lessons you should get about out of that. Well, one's just about Bobby, but the other one's a general one that's really important for you to know, no matter what you think of Bobby Kennedy. On the personal front, I have a friend that's very similar to him.”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  28. “I love it. And so this is another thing the left does wrong from time to time, which is if you agree with a right-wing or 2%, they'll be like, oh, welcome in. Come on, vote for Trump. Come on in. Yeah, woohoo. Water's warm, right? If you disagree with the left, two percent. They're like, that's it. You're banished and you're a Nazi. Brother, how are we going to win an election if you're banishing everybody there is right? So hold up these Republican voters are coming at your anti-war position. Take the win. No, they're MAGA and I won't deal with them. Even when they agree with you, that doesn't make any sense. That doesn't make any sense. Take the win, right? So when Charlie Kirk says yes to paid family leave, when Patrick Bet David on his program says yes, roughly says yes to paid family leave, take the win.”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  29. “I think I'm taking this Steel Manning too far. But the credit was that he changed the rhetoric of the right wing. They went from the party of Dick Cheney, war is great, and lets it, you know, all Muslims are evil. And so he hates Muslims too, but that's a different thing, right? But like, oh, we have to attack the enemy. We have to start wars, et cetera. To now Republican voters are generally anti-war and hate Dick Chaney. Oh, I'll take it. I'll take it. So that's a great thing that Trump did. Even if he didn't mean it, even if he does these provocative things that could lead to a much worse war. Even if I'm worried that he'll be so reckless, he'll start a bigger war. At least he did that right. And so I'm happy to have our right-wing brothers and sisters join us in the anti-war movement. And I'm not being a jerk about it.”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  30. “Use nukes. And Rudy said, Yeah, that's what it means. So that means you have to at least bluff that and you have to get them to believe that he's a madman. That's the madman theory of Nixon. And Rudy said that too. He was very clear about it. But the problem is if you get your bluff called. And so if you actually attack Russia, you're going to start World War III. That's why... Yeah, if you could just get away with bluffing, maybe, but he's playing a very dangerous game and he massively increased drone strikes. On the other hand, he didn't bomb Iran further. And on the other hand, he started the process of withdrawal from Afghanistan. So not black and white complicated record. And one thing I'll give him another piece of credit here.”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  31. “He's not his anti war record is so complicated because moving the embassy in Israel and killing the top Iranian general were super provocative and they could have easily triggered a giant war there. And they knew what's going to happen if you get into any kind of real war. Trump's going to want to prove his buttons larger. So then he's going to do massive, ridiculous bombings. I mean, I worry about nukes. And so we had Giuliani on the show on the RNC, and I asked him this question. I said, you know, I keep saying, oh, they wouldn't do it if I was in charge. I'm like, what does that mean? Because it sounds like what it means is they wouldn't do it because they know if they did it, I would do something insane, like attack Russia.”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  32. “So, I don't like talking about Russia because there's so much emotions that go into that topic. The right wing, the minute you mention Russia, they're like, oh, it's a hoax and all this baggage that comes with it, et cetera. To me, Russia's not any different than Saudi Arabia or Israel for Trump. You give me money, I like you. You buy my apartments. I like you, right? If you don't give me money, I don't like you. It's not that complicated. So, okay, take like Don't worry about the Russia part of it. Like the bottom line is Trump thinks, what do I care about those three regions of Ukraine? I want to get this thing done, right? So he'll go and he'll say Ukraine. We're going to withdraw all help unless you agree to a peace deal with Russia and Russia wants those three regions. That's the peace deal. That's it. So Ukraine will lose a part of their country and will get to a”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  33. “They actually care more about their own interests, of course, than they do about Ukrainian interests. So, in fact, there's a good argument to be made that Ukraine could have gotten a peace deal earlier and we prevented it. But the bottom line now is probably how a deal gets done is they let go of three more areas in Ukraine. They already lost Crimea. They'd have to let go of three more regions. And that is tough. Because at that point, Russia is a little bit encouraged every time they do an invasion they get more land. They might not get all the land they wanted, but they get a lot of land. So it's a very difficult issue.”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  34. “On the one hand, almost all other politicians are going to be controlled by the military-industrial complex, and that complex wants to bleed Russia dry. And that's what the Ukraine war is doing. It's a double win for the defense contractors. Number one, every dollar we spend to Ukraine is actually not going to Ukraine. It's going to U.S. Defense Contractors, and then they are sending old weapons to Ukraine. The money is to build new weapons for us. So a lot of people don't know that. So the defense contractors want that war to go on forever. And they're an enormous influence in Washington. The second win is they're depleting Russia and Russia's gotten themselves into a quagmire like we did in Iraq and Afghanistan and they're bleeding out. So the military industrial complex wants Russia to bleed out for as long as humanly possible.”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  35. “Military industrial complex comes to Trump and says No, you have to show him who's tough and bomb this area and Trump says no. They did a small bombing, not a large bombing. I don't want the war. I'm not going to do that bombing. That was this shining moment.”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  36. “Yeah, yeah. So Trump is a massive risk because of all the things we talked about earlier. But there is a percentage chance that he's such a wild card that he overturns the whole system. And that is why the establishment is a little scared of him. So if he's in office here, I'll give you a case of Donald Trump doing something right. Something wrong first and then something right. So he bombs Soleimani, the top general of Iran, and kills him. That risks World War III. That risks a giant war with Iran that devolves Iran is four times the size of Iraq. If you're anti-war, you should have hated that he assassinated Solomon. But after the assassination, Iran doesn't want to get into it, even though they're in a rage. And they do a small bombing. You could tell if it's a small or a big one, right? So that's them saying we don't really want war, but for our domestic crowd, we have to bomb you back, right? And that's when the...”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  37. “Okay, so let's say he says that in a debate because he's liable to say anything, right? You just say, okay, so you think every reporter that was there, every photographer that was there, every human being that was there, they're all lying. They have a conspiracy of thousands of people, but none of them were actually there. Understand how insane you sound.”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  38. “Know Trump's a disaster in a debate. He's a one man wrecking crew of his own campaign. So any competent debater would eviscerate Donald Trump. I mean, just on any given topic, when he says something. Like, here, let's take one lunatic conspiracy theory that he just had recently. And by the way, if you're a right-winger and you keep getting hurt every time I say he's a lunatic or I insult Donald Trump, you sound like a left-winger. I'm offended. I'm offended. I'm offended. Get over it. Get over it. Okay. So we have disagreements. Hear what the other side is saying. And by the way, I say the same thing to the left. Okay. I say you think everybody on the right's evil? You're crazy. No, they just have a different way of looking at the world, which, by the way, is an interesting conversation. We should talk about that in a minute too. But so I do it to both sides. But okay, Trump says, oh, I don't think there's anyone at Kamala Harris's rallies. All the pictures are AI.”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  39. “Right. I mean, like, so Biden said he was going to take the corporate tax rate to 28% and he barely tried. You say you're going to take it to 28%. Why should we trust you? You guys said $15 minimum wage and then you took it out of the bill. Why should we trust you? Those are very tough questions. She's never going to get that in mainstream media. Mainstream media is going to have faux toughness, but in reality they're going to be softballs, right? And so the debates, you're right, Lex, is a little bit easier because Sarah Palin proved that you could just memorize scripted talking points. And she admitted it later. She's like, she was super nervous. She memorized the talking points. No matter what they ask, she just gave the talking point, which, by the way, people barely noticed because that's what all politicians do. She just admitted it. And so.”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  40. “Right. No, but the problem for her coming on our show isn't that we would be unfair to her. It's that we would be fair. So we would ask questions she is going to have trouble answering.”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  41. “Oh, definitely, definitely. Is going to sound really funny. I'm too honest, but I am in the context of Kamal Harris probably shouldn't come on the young Turks. We do a really tough interview and it would hurt her.”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  42. “Yeah, we'll have to see, right? We'll have to see because she hasn't done any tough interviews, she hasn't really been. I hope to God that doesn't happen.”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  43. “Oh, that's not close, Kam La Harris. Yeah, unless she falls apart, unless she goes back to the bad era, right? That's risk number three.”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  44. “Momentum. Mark Kelly, you might be a good guy, but number one, he's a very corporate Democrat. And number two, It's like watching grass grow. Oh, he's terrible at speaking if you ask me, right? So I thought for sure she's going to pick Markelly, right? Because that's what a normal Democrat does. Or if they want to go wild and crazy, they'll go to Bashir. So I was like, please let it be Shapiro because he's at least not bad. He's done some populous things and he's strategic. He's really smart. I need smart candidates. Dumb candidates don't help. They don't have a mind of their own. They can't take risks. They're not independent thinkers. They're going to lose. So she picks the smartest, most populous candidate. Boom, boom, we got a winner. That's a good campaign.”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  45. “So, you have to give Kamala Harris ultimate credit because she's the leader of the campaign and she makes the final decisions. But there's apparently a couple of people inside that campaign that are ass kickers. And they have convinced her to take risks, which Democrats never take. And it is correct to take risks. You cannot get to victory without risk. So the vice president pick is the bellwether. When Hillary Clinton picked Tim Kane, that's it. She's going to lose because Tim Kane is playing pre-Vant defense. He's wallpaper. I mean, he'd be lucky to be wallpaper. He's just a white wall, right? It's just, and when he speaks, it's white noise. He never says anything interesting. He's the most boring pick of all time. That's saying we already won. Ha ha. Okay. If Kamala Harris had picked Mark Kelly, that's the Tim Kane equivalent. Oh, he's an astronaut. I don't give a shit that he's an astronaut. What is he saying? Is he a good politician? Does he have good policies? Is he exciting on the campaign trail? Is he going to add to your...”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  46. “And so, but then the third act shocks me. Biden steps down. She goes, grabs all those delegates in a super competent way that we talked about earlier, and then she goes out and gives a speech. I'm like, oh, that speech is good. Okay, another one, another one. I'm like, wait a minute, these are good speeches, no more word salads. She picks Tim Walls and shocks the world. I'm like, that's the correct VP pick. That is a miracle, right? And then she goes and does the economically populous plan, all those proposals about housing that people care about, grocery prices that people care about. Real or not real, that is correct political strategy. So this Kamala Harris is back to their original Kamala Harris, who was a very competent, skilled politician.”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  47. “So Biden's like, here, have this albatross around your neck. It's called immigration. Good luck. I'm not going to do anything about it. I'm not going to change policy. But I'm putting you in charge of it to get your ass handed to you. Okay. And she does. So that's a disaster. And then she starts doing interviews where she's like, We have to become the being, but not the thing we were and the unbecoming. And you're like, what is going on? Why can neither one of them speak? Yeah.”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  48. “So, anyways, so she's doing terrific. And then after that debate until Biden drops out, is this disaster area for Kamala Harris's career in the primary, she starts falling apart. She can't strategize right. She's for Medicare for all. No, she's not. She's for Medicare for some. What's Medicare for some? I don't know, right? And she goes in the next debate and tells C. Gabbard kicks her ass and then goes to the third debate, gets her ass kicked again, and she's starting to drift away. At this point, and this is funny, I have more votes for president than Kamala Harris does because Kamala Harris dropped out before Iowa because that's how much of a disaster her campaign turned into when she was leading. She was leading, right? So then she becomes vice president. And Biden, probably because of that bus line, Jill Biden caught tremendous feelings over that line.”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  49. “In the primaries in 2020 is a very competent politician who's in line to be the next Obama. She's killing it, district attorney attorney general, senator. And then the first debate, if you remember, she won. She had that great line about there was a little girl on that bus that was integrating the schools and that girl was me. And Biden being the knucklehead that he is. He's caught on tape going. Don't have that reaction, brother. Okay, because he's criticizing his segregation policy on buses back in the 70s, right?”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  50. “She goes back to word salads so that there's three phases of Kamala Harris' career. She's not necessarily any different in terms of policy. You can frame it in a bad way. You could frame it in a good way. You could say, oh, she's just seeing which way the wind is blowing. And then, oh, she's a tough cop prosecutor. Oh, and then she's doing justice reform when you need people who want justice reform. Oh, she's a waffler, right? Or you could paint it as she's pretty balanced, right? She prosecuted serious criminals very harshly, but then on marijuana possession got them into rehab. And you know what? That's actually what you should do, right? So I'm not talking about policy. So there you could have one of those views about Kamala Harris and I get it. I'm talking about stylistically. So Kamala Harris until the second debate.”

    2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source