>> Over the weekend, I was at Politicon, and I engaged in a debate with Tomi Lahren.
So look, I will highly recommend everyone watch the full debate.
It's really difficult to do highlights.
It's not really gonna give you the full taste of how it all went down.
But nonetheless, there were some favorite moments of mine that I wanted to share with
you, including this.
>> They are friends backstage.
And that we all should be as well.
So, if you wanna speak to that both of you, we're out of time now.
But I'll let you both have the last word.
>> Just one line, and it's a line from Bernie Sanders' campaign.
I'm willing to fight for someone I don't know.
>> Yeah, no, I think.
>> Yeah, I don't know why it ended there.
But nonetheless, I mentioned that line, because the whole point was kind of to end on a more
conciliatory note.
And I think that Bernie Sanders does do a really good job in saying, look, this is not
left versus right.
The policies that I'm fighting for are policies that I want to benefit all Americans, regardless
of political ideology.
I didn't expect the type of reaction from the audience that I got.
But there were people there who, I mean it was a pretty even split from my read.
There were a lot of Tomi Lahren supporters there, a lot of people who are supporters
of mine.
But I felt like the majority of people in the room really cheered for that message.
>> Yeah, well, it makes sense.
It's a message of empathy, and looking out for one another.
Now, a lot of conservatives, think that they believe in that.
But when they say it they mean, people of my family, my friends, my community, my church.
And if you're a conservative watching, a lot of you might be like, yeah, yeah, what do
you mean?
Well, progressives mean it in a broader circle.
We mean, yes, all those things plus maybe people who are outside of your community.
Maybe even people outside of your country, because they're still human.
See, that's where we get the difference between conservatives and progressives.
But as a message when you say it at first, people love it, of course they love it.
>> Yeah.
>> And that's why Bernie Sanders is popular overall, despite the fact that he gets non
stop horrible press coverage.
Because the people in power don't like that message.
They're like, look out for yourself.
Don't look out for anybody else.
And so, I wanna say if you wanna watch the whole debate, it's on YouTube.com/TYT.
Almost all the videos we do, well all the videos we do are on TYT.com, including the
membership videos.
But all of our individual videos from our show every day, our live stream, and then
when we do special events like the Politicon debate, are on youtube.com/tyt.
It's on many other platforms as well, but that's a convenient place to get it.
>> All right, so now let's get to some of the arguments.
And I'm not going in any type of chronological order here, I'm jumping around.
But this was an exchange that I thought was fascinating.
Take a look.
>> What do you think the biggest threat for young people in this country is, right now?
>> Socialism, yeah, I do.
>> Do you feel like socialism, define that for me, though.
>> That socialism is taking hold, yes, I absolutely- >> No, no, define what you mean by socialism
taking, I mean, define socialism.
Because I think we hear it thrown around a lot.
But I think, maybe I'm wrong, but I think there are differing opinions on exactly what
people are talking about.
Socialism in Venezuela, is different than socialism in Bolivia, is different than what
some people might call socialism in Norway and Sweden.
They all have aspects of it.
Canada even does too, but what is the socialism that you're most afraid of?
>> So, when you hear Bernie Sanders, which I know many of you are a fan of.
But when you hear him on stage saying, the government's gonna give you a job, the government's
gonna give you free health care, the government's gonna give you free college.
You work for the government, you live by the government.
You are- >> Do you not think that's a little hyperbole,
though?
I mean.
>> No, no- >> Has he said, the government's gonna give
you a job?
>> No, several job programs, he absolutely did.
>> Yeah.
>> But.
>> I'm gonna give you a job.
>> Absolutely.
>> Kinda like the new deal, you know?
>> Why am I not entitled to a college education for free?
What makes that socialism, but free high school education is not socialism?
>> Who made that decision in this country that, that was we were going up until high
school.
And if you wanna talk about college- >> But could we not make the decision that
we're going through college?
>> Who's going to pay for it?
>> College used to be free in America.
>> The people who pay for high school.
>> Public colleges used to be free in America.
They were.
They were properly funded and they were free.
I'm talking about public colleges.
They used to be free in America.
All the things that Bernie Sanders is campaigning on, are things that Americans used to have.
But they were taken away from us just to give the top 1%, the giant tax cuts that they're
enjoying today.
So.
>> Yeah, well.
>> This is now your opportunity to jump in and share your thoughts.
>> So finally, yes, okay.
>> You may speak.
>> Okay, thank you, I appreciate it.
First of all, I want to give a shout out to Clay Aiken who did a good job of moderating
there.
Those are really good follow up questions that you don't often get from a moderator.
And then when you jumped in, you give historical facts that are well undeniable.
And so, they always make it seem like Venezuela, and so Clay Aiken saying, well, maybe Venezuela
maybe Norway is a good point.
And then you saying, maybe America, that's what America used to be.
And that's when America had the highest economic growth, that any country has ever seen on
the planet.
Is when we had free public colleges, when we took care of our own, when we looked out
for someone who wasn't us.
And that's when, of course, the highest marginal tax rate was 91%.
>> Yeah, so I mentioned that at some point in the debate as well.
Again, it's really hard to show highlights, because a lot of the exchanges were lengthy.
>> Yeah, of course.
>> Depending on what the question was, which is why I really do want you guys to check
out the full video.
But one thing I will say is, people ask me immediately afterwards, did you crush it?
How did it go?
And I felt like there were so many moments where I wanted to say things.
And I realized something about right wing people like Ben Shapiro and Tomi Lahren, you
know how they speak very quickly.
And I always thought, it's a trick, right?
It's a trick to sound smart.
You speak quickly, and confidently, and you trick people into thinking you know what you're
saying, and there's some facts behind it.
But I realized in re-watching my debate with her to pick these clips, and then watching
Carl Kalinsky's debate with Charlie Kirk, they all had the same talking points.
>> 100%, that's exactly what I was gonna say.
>> And they're rehearsed.
And so when they're rehearsed, you can speak very quickly.
Look, I spoke slowly, because I wanted the audience to really grasp what I was saying.
I wanted them to absorb the statistics I was sharing, the research.
And then when I was waiting for rebuttals, it's just a talking point.
It's the same talking point over and over again.
In fact, I wanna move on to the immigration portion of the debate.
Go ahead.
>> Hold on, before you do that.
I just wanted to say, the talking points I heard from Tomi, were the same talking points
I heard from Charlie Kirk last year.
And so, that's why they just study those.
And they then train their audience to say afterwards or their supporters, real or otherwise,
to do their own talking points, eviscerated, destroyed, blah, blah, blah.
It's always the same, there's never any nuance, there's never any discussion of facts.
So for example, here's another fact.
Did you know that millennials, 70% of them say that they are either somewhat or extremely
likely to vote for a socialist candidate.
70% of millennials.
So when she's like, everybody wants socialism in this country, obviously like Venezuela.
I've heard that talking point for three straight years.
When, well number one, socialism isn't just Venezuela.
And number two, it's not true that no one wants it, not remotely true.
Now on the other hand, when you talk to boomers, they are in a completely different world.
So let me be accurate here.
How about voting for a socialist candidate?
For the older generations like baby boomers and the silent generation, that's only a 33%.
So think about the different worlds we live in.
So, for the older generation, a third of them go, okay, I could vote for a socialist candidate.
Two thirds are like, no, socialism, boo, Stalin, Castro, Venezuela.
And that's why, by the way, not just where Republican politicians live, but it's also
where the media lives.
A lot of the producers and management are very old at these companies.
And it's also where Democratic leadership lives.
They live in that world.
They're all incredibly old.
And so they think, well, nobody wants socialism, because they're in that older generation.
In our generations, well, I should say yours.
>> Yes, you should.
>> I'm Generation X, I'm somewhere in the middle.
Socialism is not just viewed as acceptable or tolerable, but it's actually a really great
thing, democratic socialism.
>> Yeah, yeah, because look, we understand.
I mean look, like in response to the Venezuela fear mongering, I mean people on the left
can do the exact same thing.
What about Chile, what about Chile, what about Chile?
>> Yeah.
>> Right, I could do the same thing.
>> Yeah.
>> With the wealth and income inequality that's happening in Chile right now.
Which is why you have mass protests, right?
But we don't play that game.
There's nuance, and there's research, and there's statistics in our arguments.
And that was the thing that was frustrating because, I was waiting for rebuttals based
on the substance of what I had to say.
And I felt like over and over again, if I made a really good point and it was irrefutable,
she would say, I agree with you on that, but what about, and then proceed to the next talking
point.
>> Cue the next talking point.
In fact, you're forcing to say one last thing, then we'll go to immigration.
That's why Jesse Lee Peterson, now he's an extreme example, but when you make a good
point on his show, he'll just go, amazing, and move on.
>> Totally.
>> Because they don't have an answer.
And that's why Sarah Palin in getting ready for her VP debate against Joe Biden, all the
way back in the day, she was so nervous.
And then realized, my god, I don't actually have to answer the questions, nor do I have
to debate him.
So she memorized talking points, based on topics.
And all she did, cuz she used to be a television anchor, She just read her talking points.
And the entire Republican Party has become Sarah Palin.
>> So let's go to this next clip, and this is about immigration.
We're finally move on to the immigration portion of the debate.
Which actually took up a lengthy portion of the debate overall, but just pay close attention
to the word anecdotal.
>> When you say that our president is closing port of entry, I went to San Diego into that
San Isidro port-
>> I know, but your anecdotal evidence means nothing.
>> I wanna talk about San Isidro, cuz what I'm saying is not anecdotal evidence.
That port was closed for five hours, because migrants during the invasion rushed it, and
they had to close it, because it was a national security risk.
>> That was the reaction after it was closed.
Trump closed it and that's how they reacted.
>> Five hours, border patrol had to close it.
I've been there, I stood there where these wonderful people were throwing rocks at our
border patrol agents, and then they were all physically ramming the fence to knock it down.
>> So is it possible that your experience in San Isidro at that one port of entry on
that one day- >> The biggest one on Earth!
>> Might not be an example of how all ports of entry are, on all days.
>> I'm talking about when it had to be closed, because she was referencing a specific time.
>> I understand what you're talking about, I did.
What you're saying is not inaccurate.
It's true, it did.
But is it fair to say that, that is an example of what is happening at all ports of entry
all of the time?
Or did it happen on the day that you were there?
>> It happened during the caravan.
>> The day that you were there.
>> It happen during- >> It happen when you were there.
>> But she was referring to that incident.
>> So that would be anecdotal, because that's an example of exactly something that happened
while you were there, right?
>> So look, I'm sure she'll complain that the moderator also has facts.
That's true.
So on this show, we often, I'll tell you these anecdotes that I have, when I run into Trump
voters.
I do it a lot in the post game for our members.
TYT.com/join to become a member, and you'll get all those anecdotes.
But I clearly lay out, those are anecdotes.
That guy doesn't represent every Trump voter.
And then I'll go to polling.
And I'll say so, here's a general trend, here's where it's heading.
And then here's an anecdote to back that up, as opposed to, I saw something once, so it
must be true.
>> Yeah, exactly.
And look, I think it takes courage to agree to do these types of events, where you're
obviously dealing with someone you disagree with.
Obviously, she and I do not agree on politics almost at all.
And so, on one hand, you have cold feet Crowder who refuses to debates, and needs his daddy
to step in and protect him.
On the other hand, you have Tomi Lahren, who agreed to do this, so I give her a lot of
credit for doing that.
And look, people have blind spots, people might have maybe a little ignorance when it
comes to what counts is evidence and what doesn't.
But nonetheless, I do appreciate that she was willing to have this conversation.
And with that said, just one final video that I want to show you, and it has to do with
my family values.
>> I think the wall is a solution.
Don't think that's the only solution.
We need to change our asylum laws.
So that people that are actually seeking asylum are able to see those judges in a timely manner.
And they're not right now, because anybody's coming across the border.
Which by the way, you're not claiming asylum if you come into this country illegally, and
then raise your hands, and say I'm claiming asylum.
You claim asylum at a port of entry.
That is not the case with a lot of-
>> So what do we do when border patrol agents are literally blocking ports of entry, to
prevent them from coming in legally.
>> Because they're- >> What do we do?
>> Let me- >> Because that's the thing.
>> Do I get to talk.
>> Trump has gone out of his way to do away with legal means to claim asylum.
>> Can I- >> And so, look I don't know what your family
values are, but my family values are if my family's in jeopardy, if their lives are at
risk, I will do anything and everything to get them to safety.
I love using their language against them.
>> Yeah, now that was wonderfully done.
But guys, these are cheap talking points as well.
When you have immigration or migration because of emergencies, whether they are emergencies
in terms of violence that's happening in Central America, or whether civil wars, or climate
change that's happening in the Middle East that's driving huge migration patterns.
And people's' families are in danger.
A lot of them shockingly are amazing, that they do find ports of entry, and enter in
the quote unquote legal way.
Others just crossed the border because they're running.
They're running for their lives or for their kid's lives.
So for example, when the ship pulled in during World War II into Florida, filled with Jews
who had escaped Nazi Germany, I don't know if they docked in a port of entry or not.
I think I'm okay with them docking anywhere they like, and we should have given them asylum,
and we should have protected them.
Instead, we sent them back.
So that is not family values either.
Not every case is not the Jewish ship coming in during World War II, but some are.
And so if you use a technical reason to say, well technically, now the Jews came into the
wrong place.
So we should have set to back the Germans in during Nazi era.
Okay, congratulations on your technicality, but that's not how values work.