YouSaid · the spoken record

Cenk Uygur

lines on the record: 292
first: 2024-08-30
most recent: 2024-08-30
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“Yeah, like Iran, Israel gets to be a real thing, not just a pinprick and a little bombing here and an assassination there. But no, we're going to war, right? If that happens, then all bets are off and no one has any idea who's going to win. Okay. And if they're pretending that they know, that's ridiculous because it's so unpredictable. And then the third bogey for her is...”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So there's not enough information yet. So since I make a lot of predictions on air and then brag about it unbearably. People are always they'll stop me in the streets. They'll be like, predict this, predict my marriage. Brother, I don't know anything about your marriage. How can I possibly predict So, in the case of this campaign, right now I got Kamala Harris at 55% chance of winning, okay, which is not bad. Doesn't mean she's going to win by because then that wouldn't be a 10-point margin. That's not going to happen, right? But I say around 51 to 55, but it's nowhere near over because of a lot of things. One, the Democrats are still seen as more establishment and people hate the establishment. Two, War breaks down in the Middle East, which is now unfortunately bordering unlikely right uh if that war breaks out all bets are off”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Two to three proposals, right? Not everything, not everything. Two to three proposals. They all poll over 70%. They're all no-brainers, and they're all things that Joe Biden promised. We want those in the bill, otherwise we're voting no. At that point, the media, what would have happened is the media would have exploded, and they would have said AOC and the rest are the scum of the earth. They're ruining the Democratic Party. We're not going to get the bill. They're the worst. You have to withstand that. If you cannot withstand a nuclear blast for mainstream media, you're not the person because you have to run that obstacle course to get to change. If they had stood their ground, they definitely would have won on one to two of those issues. Instead, they went with a strategy that was called. It was literally called trust Biden.”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So I don't need her to force a vote on Medicare for all. I don't need her to go on some wild tangents that don't make any sense and is only going to diminish your power. But when they eviscerated all the progressive proposals and build back better. How did that happen? Mansion and cinema used every ounce of leverage they had. They said, I'm just not going to vote for it. I don't care. Okay. You know, the status quo is perfect for my donors, so I don't need you. I vote no. Okay. Now take out everything I want. And Biden did, right? Progressives had to push back and say, here is”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“On the speakership, okay, who's your alternative? Oh, we don't have an alternative, already giant red flag. Okay, what's the issue you're looking to have them vote on? Medicare for all. Oh, you don't know politics. So I love Medicare for all. We have to get Medicare for all. But if that's the first one you put up without gaining any leverage, you're going to get slaughtered. Put up something easy. Force a vote on $15 minimum wage or pick another one that's easy. Paid family leave. These are all polling great. Because if you force a vote on that, you could actually win. And if you win, you gain leverage. And then you do the next one and the next one. And then you do Medicare for all. Not bullshit gradualism that the corporate Democrats do, but actually strategically, practically building up power and leverage and using it at the right times. So if I thought that's what AOC was doing, I would love it.”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So while I fight for the ideal, I'm very practical. So, for example, She wins, and then one cycle later after 2020. There's these guys who want to quote unquote forced to vote. And it was on the speakership of Nancy Pelosi, and they wanted to use it to get Medicare for all. I'm like, guys, forcing a vote is a terrific idea.”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“We're all still on the same team. It's a spectacular success. Me, Corbin and Schoycotter saying, do it again, do it again. Like, now don't abuse it. Like, don't be a clown and do it every other day. But like when it matters, you need to be able to challenge Pelosi, right? In my opinion, she just got to a point where she got exhausted being uncomfortable. It's like, it's really hard. The media hates you and they keep pounding away and calling you a radical and you're destroying the Democratic Party, you're destroying unity. So whereas if you go along, all of a sudden you're a queen. And now all of a sudden the mainstream media is saying, oh, AOC. She could be the progress.”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And once they're gone, AOC then goes on an establishment path because why were they gone? Oh, they insulted one of her colleagues. Yeah, that colleague who's a total corporatist and was selling out one of our policy proposals. If you don't call out your own side, you're never going to get anything done. But if you call out your own side, you become persona n grata, and it is super uncomfortable. And we couldn't get them to do things that were uncomfortable. Now, she's going to find that outrageous, and she's going to be very offended by that. And she's going to point to a bunch of things she did that were uncomfortable. And to be fair to her, she has. Until that speech, she was pretty good on Palestine when we desperately needed it. She's pretty good on a bunch of issues. Corey Bush did that campaign on evictions, et cetera, on the Capitol Stats. That was great. AOC's original sit-in and Pelosi's office.”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I'm like, well, the other candidates are going to get pissed. And you're staking the entire enterprise on one candidate. And I'm like, Short, I'm not in it. I'm doing the media arm. You're in the trenches. You're the guy making the decisions. So I'm going to trust whatever you say. You sure? And he said, yeah, I'm sure. So him and Corbin go over to AOC's campaign. AOC then wins that miraculous win. Then she hires shortcut to be her chief of staff and she hires Corbyn to be her communications director. Within six months, they're gone.”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“She wins for a number of reasons. That's one of the reasons, but there's many others, and she did a terrific job herself. She then takes Shoykant and Corbin, who was the head of Just Democrats and Corbin was communications director for Just Democrats. Then Shoycott made one of the most brilliant political decisions in arguably in American history. He said he called me and he said, Jenk, I'm going to go from head of just Democrats to running AOC's campaign.”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“We found Just Democrats and launched it on the show. Our audience, Ryan Grim. And at that point, AOC and all those Rashida Talib, et cetera, they were all dying to come on a young Turks. Makes sense. I would too, of course. It's not because it's the young Turks in any media outlet. And most media outlets, almost all the media outlets reject them. We cover AOC more than all the other press combined, right?”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So it's tough talking about these things because people take it so personally, right? And that's why you'll see very few politicians on our shows because we give super tough interviews. And the words out in the street, right? Like, don't go young Turks. They'll ask you super hard questions. So there's only a couple do it. Like Rokana does it. He's brave. We'll get into shouting matches sometimes in the middle of bills and stuff. But at least he's there to defend his position. I respect him from Tim Ryan. A little bit more of a conservative Democrat when he was in the House. He would take on any debate, et cetera. So there's a couple of good guys that do it, but generally they don't. This relates to AOC because when AOC is running, We do 34 videos on her. We get her millions of views.”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Don't do it because he can't. He's too damn nice. He just can't attack the other guy. Now that's problem number one in strategy. Problem number two is something you alluded to. So Biden gets in office. Bernie thinks they're friends. They're not friends. Biden's just using him. So he uses him to get the credibility and then he eviscerates eighty-five percent of the progressive proposals that Bernie put forward. Biden throws away $15 minimum wage that was Bernie's signature issue, even proposed the public option, dumps paid family leave for no reason. I can go on and on. And Bernie co-signs on it because he thinks he's in an alliance. He thinks Biden's on his side and he thinks we're going to get things done. And to be fair to Bernie, like I said earlier, Obama got only 5% of his agenda passed and Biden got 15%. Okay, so you're right, Bernie. You got three times more than under Obama.”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“But I would get it to a point where they'd think, I don't know if I'm going to vote for Jank, but I know I'm not voting for the other guy. Okay. So you got to do that if you want to win. So they prepared this. He says, I'm going to do it. He goes on the podium.”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Bankruptcy bill when she was first lady she was totally in favor of the American people and against the bankruptcy bill because it has the banks you can't discharge any debts and bank debt etc it's an awful bill it's one of the most corporatist bills she was on the right side as a first lady she becomes a senator takes banker money and all of a sudden she flips over to the banker side say it bernie for god's sake say it right then in one of the debates in 2020 his team prepares attacks against biden They're not personal. They're not like I, you can sense by now if I'm in a political race, my objective is rip other guys' face. Politically, rhetorically, never physically.”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I never get offended. No, after I'm done, you're going to be offended. Okay. Fight back. Fighting back wins. And we couldn't get Bernie to fight back. In 2020, he was one stayed away. He won the first three states. He crushed the Nevada. All we needed was South Carolina. But in order to get South Carolina, we all knew everybody on his campaign, everyone who's in progressive media. We all knew you've got to attack Biden. If you don't, they're just going to tsunami you. You know, corporate medias and the corporate politicians are going to run rough shot over you. You have to make the case against them. And so two times Bernie flinched, one in 2016 in the Brooklyn debate, they asked, did the money that Hillary Clinton taken from the banks affect her votes? And he said no. Of course it affected her votes. Of course it did. You have to say yes and you have to show it and prove it.”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Because at least you got a little bit past the fakeness. Like he's a con man and he's a fraud overall and he does everything for his own interest, but at least he doesn't speak like a bullshitting politician, right? And he's not wrong that you have to bully your own party to amass enough power to get things done. And he showed that that's possible. The problem with the Democrats is civility. So my whole life, they're like, oh, no, no, no, don't say anything. Let's lose with civility, right? So for example, in debates, you know, whether it's on TV online or whatever, Democrats or people on the left are always saying, I'm offended.”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Because why did I think that? I didn't say it of any of the corporate politicians and the guys who were supposed to challenge her and stuff because populist and honest, right? And the country's dying for an honest populace, dying for it, right? So love the brother. Now, that doesn't mean that he's right on strategy and he drives me crazy on strategy. So two elements of that. Number one, in 2016 and in 2020, for God's sake, attack your opponent. You said something about Trump that I disagree with where I'm defending Trump. You don't like what he did to the public discourse. No, I don't mind it. And I'll tell you why.”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So I love Bernie for the same reason you're saying it because he's a real person, he's a populist, he means it, and that is so rare in politics. I feel like I'm Diogenes and I went looking for the one honest man and found it in Bernie. And so I did a video in 2013 saying Bernie Sanders can beat Hillary Clinton in a primary. In 2013, that video exists.”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“We all got to work towards picking the most genuine candidates. So here on the right-wing side, for example, I would prefer Marjorie Taylor Green to a Mitch McConnell any day. Marjorie Taylor Green is genuine. She might be genuinely nuts. I don't agree with her. She might be even more right-wing than others, but I believe that she means it. And I'll take that any day over a fraud corporatist like Mitch McConnell, who's just going to do what a donor's command of him, et cetera.”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You don't often give your opinions, but when you give the opinions, I actually agree like a huge percentage of the time in this conversation. I fought for Shapiro in the primer and when she was trying to pick for a VP because I thought there's no way she's going to pick walls. He's way too not just progressive, but more importantly populist, right? So I didn't think she'd go in that direction. And Shapiro actually did a bunch of populist things in Pennsylvania. That's part of the reason why he's so popular in Pennsylvania. He looks like a smooth-talking politician, but his actions are pretty good. And so Shapiro was great. Walls was great. The Obamas are legendary. Even Clinton at his advanced age makes terrific points in his speech where you go, well, that was hard.”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And they took me, Dean and Marianne off the ballot in North Carolina and Tennessee. I'm like, guys, if you're going to make a case for democracy in the general election and you cancel elections in the primaries, do you not get how ridiculous you look, how hypocritical you look, right? So I didn't want them to Biden to endorse anyone, but I'm shocked that they didn't all endorse her because normally what happens is they all endorse. So bottom line, Lex, is did she like earn it in a perfect system not even close, right? But did she earn it enough in this imperfect way where at least she showed some degree of confidence that assuaged my concerns? Yes. Because a normal Democrat would bungle that. They wouldn't go talk like Hillary Clinton wouldn't have talked to the delegates. She would assume that she's the queen and that they would all bow their heads.”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“There's what should happen and what is likely to happen. So should Biden not have endorsed? Yeah, of course. I think Biden should have done the same thing as Obama and Pelosi and not endorsed and say, hey, we'd love to have a process where we figure out who the right nominee is. And at that point, I'm really worried about Kamala Harris because she's doing word salads nonstop, right? So I'm like, don't make the same mistake we did before and just pick someone out of a hat. Test them. Test them. You get stronger candidates when you test them. The authoritarian nature of the DNC drives me crazy. They don't believe in testing candidates. They don't believe in letting their own voters decide. And look, when we were in the primary, they canceled the Florida election.”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I don't know. I wasn't there, but probably right, or they planned. I don't know. But the bottom line is it was glaring that he didn't put her in the first letter. Okay. So he had to put her in the second one. Fine. No problem. But Obama Pelosi and Schumer did not endorse Kamala Harris. That's huge. Normally the Democrats would all endorse her and would all say, she's anointed, shut up everybody. And then MSNBC would scream, shut up, shut up. She's anointed, right? But they didn't do that. So then Kamala Harris had to win over the delegates. And I thought she would win them over in the convention, but she locked them up in two days. And I know, because I know delegates because I ran. And the delegates are calling me saying she's getting on a Zoom right now with us, right? She went to all the states and worked her ass off and locked up enough delegates to get to get.”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“A great case for this in the New York Times podcast that he did, that made a huge difference and he was great for doing that. So I believe in an open convention, but I know Democrats that love to anoint because they don't trust the people. So they think the elites are geniuses. Don't worry, we'll pick the right candidate. Yeah, I remember when you picked Hillary Clinton, how'd that work out, right? And I remember when you said Joe Biden was the right candidate in 2024, how'd that work out? Do not anoint, right? But in the end, they didn't. So what happened was Biden does the first announcement. Either forgot or on purpose didn't put Kamala Harris in there. So there's all this Kumbayan out. Nah, they don't like each other. Okay. And Biden's been screwing her over the entire time she's been vice president. So he doesn't put her in the original statement. And I'm like, whoa, I do a live video immediately. I'm like, Kamal Harris is not in the statement, right? In the middle of my video.”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yes and no. So I argued for an open convention. And so what Biden has stepped down when we were trying to get people into the primary knock him out, then that would have been a perfect solution. Then all the governors could go in, Walls, Bashir, Whitmer, Kamala Harris goes in, obviously. They have a real primary. At that point, me and later Dean Phillips came in, me, Dean, and I mean Marianne wouldn't drop out. Me and Dean would definitely drop out because our whole point was get other people in the race, make sure we win, right? So, okay, then you would have had a great primary. It would have been the right way to do it, both morally, you know, constitutionally, et cetera, but also as a matter of politics, because you would have gotten a lot of coverage for your young, exciting candidates, and you would have legitimized the idea that you're protecting democracy. Okay, so that didn't happen because of Biden, it is what it is. So now when Biden drops out, at least do a vestige of democracy. Go to the convention and do what it's designed to do, which is pick a candidate. Ezra Klein made it.”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You're going to force all of us to kick the living crap out of them and tell everybody he's an egomaniac, which he is, and he's doing this for two so that he could be, if you don't know Washington, in that bubble, if you're a one-term president, you're a loser. If you're a two-term president, you have a legacy and you're historic. He's running for one reason, one reason only. My legacy I will be a two term president, I will be considered historic. I'm like, brother, now you're going to be considered a villain, the villain of the store. You're handing it right back to Trump. You're not going to win. And you know, look at the numbers. Any political professional knows you're not going to win. So you have hero or villain, and you get to choose. But if you think you're going to be a hero and beat Trump, that is not a choice you have. That is not going to happen. And they didn't believe us. But by then, they did.”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“They built statues of them, right? The Democrats, if you're a right winger, you hate them, I get it. But with the Democrats, would have said he beat Trump and protected democracy in 2020. And he steps down graciously now to make sure we beat Trump again in 2024. And he lets go of power voluntarily. He's going to be a hero, an absolute hero, but if he doesn't.”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Not only did I agree with you 100%, I reached one of his top advisors, one of the guys you see in the press all the time as in his inner circle. I never said that before because we were in the middle of it and I'm never going to betray anyone's confidence and I'll never say who it was. He was gracious enough to meet with me as I was about to enter the primary. And look, it's smart too because get information, intelligence, et cetera. Is this guy going to be trouble or not trouble, right? But at least he took the meeting. And the case I made is exactly the one you just said, Lex. I said, if he drops this about 10 months ago, I said, if he drops out now,”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No, Jenk, I think you're too extreme that Biden works for the donors 98%. I think he only works for the 80% or 55%. Fine, we could have that debate. But you can't argue that it isn't his source of power. And you can't argue it anymore, even if you were going to argue it earlier, because once the donors said we're not giving you any more money, he didn't have any options. He couldn't go on. But was he forced out at like knife point or something? No. So was it volunteer? Yeah, ultimately, if Biden decided to stay in, there was nothing we could do about it. And so he had to voluntarily make that decision, but he voluntarily made it because he had no choice left.”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Both. So, again, it depends on what you mean. So, was he forced out? Of course he was forced out. You think he just woke up? He's like, oh, yeah, you know what? Screw my legacy. I don't want to be a two-term president. I'll just drop out for no reason. No, we forced them out. Of course we did, right? And when I say we, I had a tiny, tiny, tiny role. The people who had the major roles Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama, and all those folks. But even they were not the main driving force. The number one driving force were the donors. Is the source of power of Bernie or Massey, the people, right? What is the source of power for Biden, the donors? The donor's made Biden, he is the donor's candidate, and the donors, that's why he told the donors nothing will fundamentally change. If you say Lex.”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Right. But since all of us said it, and strange bed fellows, I loathe Nancy Pelosi, but she was on our side. I got a lot of issues with Bill Maher. He was on our side, right? I got a lot of issues with Axel Rodd and Carville, and they were on our side. So, the people who believed in objective reality kind of independently made a plan, let's show people objective reality. And we did, and we drove them out, and it made all the difference.”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Charlemagne agrees. All of a sudden we're having buzz, and then people go, Oh, Charlemagne said he has no chance to win. Then Charlemagne's on the Daily Show, talks to John Stewart. John Stewart does the segment. This is not necessarily causal, but Buzz's building, right? So then John Stewart does the segment, if you remember, and people got super pissed at him, too old, can't win that buzz this building. Meanwhile, unrelated to us, David Axelrod and James Carville, and I'm like, guys, figure it out. Who does Axelrod speak for? The top advisor for Barack Obama. Who is James Carville the top advisor for? The Clintons? This is the Clintons and the Obamas sending their emissaries to say we can read a poll. He's going to lose, change the direction. So when the debate happens, we laid the groundwork. If we hadn't laid the groundwork, debate would have been the first time that Blue Maga would have thought, oh, maybe Biden can't win.”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Booking agent in New York. We talk to him and he says, Well, you know, I'm actually in New York this week. And he says, I'm going to go talk to those guys and I'll come back to you. And he was really decent because normally, you know, he charges a lot. Just take the money, right? And go, oh, yeah, yeah, I'll get you on. But he was a wonderful guy. He said, I talked to them. You're banned. So don't do it. Like, you're not your band at CNN, your band at MSNBC, and I think you're banned on Fox News, but I'm not sure. Okay. So long odds, why do you do it? Because if you think we're going to crash into the iceberg, you might as well bum rush the captain's course, right? I'm lunging at the wheel. So what difference can I make? Well, I can make a difference by going on every shaw on planet Earth and going, he's too old, he's in the 30s, he has no chance of winning, no chance of winning. I go on Charlemagne Show, Breakfast Club, right?”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Okay. And so then I ask our paying members on TYT, I say, guys, you're going to vote and then I'm going to do what you tell me to do. If you say, no, I like Biden or I think Biden's the best candidate. Or even if he isn't, we're not going to be able to win on this, so don't do it, right? Should I enter the primary against Biden? Okay. 7624, go, enter, right? I'm a populist. You tell me to go. You're my paying members. You're my boss. I'm going to go. Okay. So I enter the primary. Now, I'm not born in the country. So people are going to freak out about that. I'm a talk show host. The establishment media despises me, right? So I'm not going to get any airtime. In fact, consider hiring the”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Why would they be terrible in front of the camera and great off camera? That doesn't make any sense. But once you get people enough propaganda and MSNBC created Blue Magga, right? They'll believe anything. So they believe that Biden was dynamic and young and that he was the best possible candidate to be Donald Trump. When in reality, he was about the only Democrat who couldn't beat Donald Trump. Number one, I don't co-sign on a bullshit. I don't care which side you're on. Number two, as you heard earlier, I can't have Trump winning. It endangers the country. It endangers our Constitution, etc. So I'm going to do something about it. And so I start something called Operation Hope on the Young Turks. And we ask the audience, what should we do, right? So there's different projects in Operation Hope. But the first project that pops up is knock Biden out of the race.”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Like, okay, let me get this right. It's like an SNL skit, right? I'm like, so behind the scenes is like, all right, Sally, get me the memoir on that, and we're okay. We're going to do this, and I'm in command of the machine.”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“He's in the thirties. No incoming in the thirties has ever come back to win. So I'm like, it's already over. Then all of a sudden, oh my God, Trump takes the lead with Latinos. It's double over. Later in the process, Trump took the lead with young voters. I'm like, this is the most over-election in history. A Democrat cannot win if they're not winning young voters. That's impossible. Trump's cutting into his lead with black voters. This thing is over, right? And I go tell people, and they're like, you're crazy. Why do they think I'm crazy? Because MSNBC is lying to them 24-7, telling them that Joe Biden created sliced bread and the wheel and fire. And my favorite targeting point was he's a dynamo behind the scenes.”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“See a Hillary Clinton sign for hundreds of miles, right? Is Trump paraphernalia everywhere, right? So that's not end all be-all. You could say it's anecdotal, but you begin to collect data points, right? But then the real data points are in polling. Okay, so now I'm looking at Biden polling.”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yes, so about a year ago, I'm looking at the polling. And first of all, I have eyes, right, and ears. So whenever I see Biden, I'm like, this is a disaster. And then I go and talk to real people. And when I say real people, I mean not in politics. That's not their job, right? Because people involved in politics for media have a certain perspective and it's colored by all the exchanges in mainstream media, social media, et cetera. Real people aren't on Twitter having political fights. They're not watching CNN religiously, etc. Whenever I was at a barbecue, you guys all Democrats in some barbecues? Yeah, what do you guys think of Joe Biden? Like almost in unison, too old. Every real person said too old. So I look at what real people are saying. That's why I thought Trump was going to win in 2016. I go in the middle of Ohio.”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And their sons, and they fuck each other. Oh, wow. Okay. They don't have sex with their mom. They have sex with a different mom. Or they date. But then the show is, oh, then they go off into a corner, etc. Right I'm like, you're doing this kind of like the worst degrading, ridiculous immoral programming. And then you found a video on YouTube that has a problem. Get the fuck out of here. You're just trying to kneecap your competition.”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That's their competition and they're getting their ass handed to them. So I did a story on the young Turks about CNN article about all the dangers of social media. Like, guys, this is written by their advertising department. Okay, and they're advertising, and in fact, they go to the advertisers and they find a random video on YouTube or Facebook out of billions of videos. And they're like, look at your ad is on this video. Do you denounce and reject every big tech company and every member of social media? Advertisers like, yeah, I do, right? Meanwhile, they're doing Mill Fisland on TV.”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So text a complicated one because, yeah, people write the code if they're left wingers, they're going to have certain assumptions and they might write that into the codes or the rules. And so, but they're also, generally speaking, wealthy. They're usually white, they're usually male, and those biases also go in. And there's a lot of people on the left who object to that bias, right? Okay, but that's a fair and interesting conversation. And one we have to be careful of and one we could find and hopefully find a middle ground on. But that's not the major problem. The major reason why big tech gets attacked is because they are competitors of who. Social media competes with mainstream media. So mainstream media has been attacking big tech from day one, pretending that they're really concerned. Yeah, they're really concerned.”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Its pro corporate for all the reasons we talked about before corporate media, corporate politicians. So if you don't believe me today, whether you're on the right or the left, watch. Next time an economic issue do they fall, how do they react? When anytime it's a corporate issue, where does the media go, right? So that's the real bias of the media. And so since the real bias of the media is pro-corporations, that is not a left-wing position. That is considered more of a right-wing position. I even think that's a misnomer because to be fair to right-wing voters, they're not pro-corporations. They're not pro-big business. They're not pro-corruption. But the Republican politicians are, so it gets framed as a right-wing issue, right? So if you think that the corporate media is too populist, you just don't get it. They aren't. They hate populism. So now when you turn to tech.”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“News and MSNBC closed ranks. And you just saw it happen with price couching. That issue of price gouching, all of a sudden there's a lot of MSNBC hosts, CNN hosts, Washington Post writes an op-ed against it, and everybody panicks and was like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You can't control anything a corporation does. This is wrong. This is wrong, right? Oh, what happened? I thought you guys were hated each other. All of a sudden, you totally agree. Fascinating. Okay. Same thing happened on increasing wages when they were talking about increasing the minimum wage. Stephanie Rule giant screed against it on MSNBC. All of a sudden, Fox News at MSNBC agree, right? Do not touch beloved corporations. So now that gets us to our real bias. It's not left or right.”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Okay, yeah, I mean, you're kind of right. It is a bias. It is a bias towards equality in that case, but that is perceived as on the left. Now, fast forward to today, you don't have that on the racial issues as obviously as much as you had it back then, but on gay marriage that existed for a long time where the media is like, well, they kind of should have the same rights as straight people, right? And the right wing went, bias, right? So, okay, you're kind of right about that, but at the same time, I would argue their position is correct, right? So can they go too far? Of course they can go too far. Okay, now, but that's not the main deal, guys. That's to distract you. The main deal is economic issues. And again, we say it ahead of time, and you can see if we're right or wrong, right? So we will tell folks when we get to an economic bill, you will see all of a sudden the guys who theoretically disagree, Fox.”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Okay, so let's break that down. Tech and media are totally different. So let's do media first and we'll do tech. So on mainstream media corporate media, and I actually think that right-wing media like Fox News is part of corporate media. They just play good cop, bad cop. And so in that realm, the bias is not right or left, except on social issues. Okay, so and that's where that image comes from. On social issues, yes, the media is generally on the left. And right wing, sorry, but like this started in the 1960s and the right wing got super mad at mainstream media saying that black people were equal to white people. That's not the case anymore, okay? Right wing calm down. I mean, they are citizens. They should have equal rights, and the right wing goes bias.”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“They just will not put you on. That is the number one way they rig an election. Bobby Kennedy Jr., sitting at 20% in a primary, no town hall. 20%'s a giant number, right? And you're not going to do a town hall. You're not going to do a debate. 12% in the general election. A giant number in a general election. No town hall, no debate. If no one finds out about you, they don't know to vote for you, right? If they don't find out your policies, corporate media rigs elections more than anything else in the world.”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It happened to Bernie in 2015. It happens to any outsider, right or left. The media, if you're an outsider, will say, well, radical, number one, they don't platform you, right? So they're not going to have you on to begin with. Nobody's even going to find out about you if nobody finds out about you. You're done for, right? So Bernie broke through that because He was so popular, and the rallies were so huge that local news couldn't help but cover him. Jesus Christ, what are all these people doing in the middle of the city, right? And he slowly broke through that. But do you know that in 2015 as he's doing this miraculous Ron Agas Hillary Clinton? Nobody thinks he has a chance. And here comes Bernie, and he's almost at 48%. He had seven seconds of coverage on ABC that year.”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Then you're screwed. The vote isn't rigged, but the district is rigged so that the incumbent wins no matter, almost no matter what, right? So that's why we've gotten so polarized, because the gerrymandering creates like 90% of seats that are safe. So they don't have to compromise. They don't have to get to a middle. They could just be extreme on either side because they already locked it up. Okay, so that's the number one way to rig an election. Now finally, the last part of it is maybe the most important, maybe even more important than Gerry Manor. And that's the media. So it just happened to RFK Jr.”
2024-08-30 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #441 – Cenk Uygur: Trump vs Harris, Progressive Politics, Communism & Capitalism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source