>> Chuck Todd recently had an interview with Rolling Stone where they got into alternative
facts, and fake news, and all of that.
And Chuck Todd said something that a lot of people had a problem with.
We're gonna get to that in just one second, but what was the sort of impetus for this?
It was a special that they are going to do on truth and lies.
And the reason Chuck Todd says that he and his show, they have to address this is because,
for good or bad, our show has been at the forefront of this topic of disinformation.
The first Sunday of the Trump administration is when the phrase alternative facts was debuted.
It was on Meet the Press that Rudy Giuliani used the phrase truth isn't truth.
So look, whether we like it or not, our platform has been used, or they've attempted to use
our platform to essentially disseminate, or to sort of, what I would say, is to lay the
groundwork for this.
He says my fear is the next news consumers.
How will they know truth from fiction?
How will they have the tools to discern from this?
Okay, all of that sounds maybe okay so far.
But there is a question to answer that a lot of people did have a problem with.
They asked him, let me bring you back a little bit, were you surprised by the consistency
that the Trump administration was willing to spread disinformation with Sean Spicer's
initial press briefing when he lied about the crowd size at the inauguration?
Were you surprised that the president and other administration officials and their allies
just kept it going?
And Chuck Todd responds, I fully admit, listening to you ask that question now, and me giving
you the honest answer of, yeah, I guess I really believed they wouldn't do this.
Just so absurdly naive in hindsight.
Donald Trump's entire life has been spent using misinformation.
His entire life.
I've spent years studying him now on trying to figure out how did this guy even learn
politics?
Where did he learn?
And we'll have more on that, but that's sort of the money part.
>> Yeah, there's actually things that I think are slightly worse, but I'm trying to understand
them and I've been trying to be as understanding as I can.
But really it occurs to you three years into the Trump administration that maybe they're
not leveling with you, really, really?
I mean, so what do you want me to say?
What do you want me to say?
Look, I've given Chuck Todd credit from time to time when he challenges a guest.
At other times I've been tough on him because he hasn't challenged guests.
It depends, credit where credit is due, and lack of credit where it's due.
But in this case, so do you not understand politics at all?
That's because that's the best-case scenario, otherwise you're a Patsy.
So like three years in the Trump administration.
So look, I'll give you another example.
Later in the interview he's talking about Ted Cruz, and he thought that Ted Cruz was
gonna come on and disagree with Donald Trump on the issue of Ukraine because Ted Cruz is
a Russia hawk.
And he said, I was stunned.
And he said, I really naively thought maybe he wants to remind people that with Russia
and blaming Ukraine, this is getting ridiculous.
You thought Ted Cruz was going to say Donald Trump is being ridiculous and that he was
wrong on Russia and Ukraine?
That just happened.
That interview was like a week ago or something, right?
How could you possibly think that?
But they do, they're like little children.
I'm trying not to be demeaning, but I bet Ted Cruz is gonna do the right thing.
You thought Ted Cruz was gonna do the right thing.
>> Are you gonna be really this easy on them?
You're being this easy on them?
You're letting them off the hook for this children's stuff.
Their job is not to tell the truth.
Their job's not to report the truth.
Their job is to win ratings.
This is ratings-based news, and if you offend somebody in the wrong state that costs you
half a point that is how you lose your job and go to live on an, whoever the last guy
was, island.
I mean, if you can say prevarication, if you can say falsehood, if you can say demonstrably
false, if you can say fabrication, you can say lie.
They don't want to say lie because they were afraid of alienating viewers.
And so that is why they're gonna play dumb about this and do all these false equivalencies
as far as they possibly can.
Because it is not their job to call a spade a spade.
It is their job to get the widest possible audience they can get, and that means not
offending anybody with actual facts.
>> Yeah.
>> By the way, if you're ever gonna have an affair, it's wrong to have an affair.
But try it with Chuck Todd's wife cuz Chuck doesn't ask follow-up questions, trust me.
>> Okay.
See I wouldn't have gone there.
>> You really shouldn't do that Chuck Todd's wife, don't.
>> And the thing that frustrates me the most is they clearly, like CNN and MSNBC, different
strategies sort of, but they're both clearly like, if we just do x, then the conservatives
will watch us and they'll trust us once again.
>> Barack Obama thought that.
>> Exactly, and they pursued this strategy for years, which is why over the past few
years so many Fox viewers have switched over to watching CNN and MSNBC.
>> Wait, that hasn't happened at all.
They hate you even more.
They think you're the enemy of the people.
A lot of people in America would not be that bothered if a terrorist attacked one of these
offices.
That's how much- >> Actually a terrorist did, Caesar Sayoc
sent the bomb.
>> Exactly, sent pipe bombs, and how much did that bother?
Was there any backing off of the enemy of the people talk?
>> Did it garner any sympathy from any Trump supporters?
>> No, no, not at all.
They went right back to chanting about enemy of the people.
Look, I got two more layers of harshness here.
You say I'm not harsh enough, hold my beer.
>> Okay.
>> Okay, so later in the interview Chuck Todd says, look, the Iraq War and the aftermath
discredited enough politicians and enough media.
Did it?
No, it didn't.
It didn't discredit any of them.
So afterwards John Kerry, who voted for the Iraq War, became the Democratic nominee in
2004.
And then Hillary Clinton, who voted for the Iraq War, became the nominee in 2016.
I mean, they all lost and they all suck and they were rejected by the American people.
No, Hillary Clinton won.
Is she president?
For God's sake, is she president?
No, you keep the establishment people who were for the Iraq War, who paid no price at
all for being constantly wrong.
And who's leading right now in the national polls?
Joe Biden, who voted for the Iraq War.
What price did they pay for being so wrong?
>> And they've been very harsh on him for that.
>> And the media, are you kidding me?
Anyone who was right about the Iraq War was ostracized.
Cuz it was so embarrassing to look at people who were right and who told you you were wrong.
Everyone on TV was wrong.
Everyone on TV was wrong and not one of them lost their job.
But if you were a progressive who called them out, you're all gone, you're all gone.
>> Cuz again, their job is to win the ratings and war is ratings crack.
Donald Trump represents four straight years of war-sized ratings for them, which is why
some of the people who write the checks for some of these media outlets don't really want
to give away their ratings or their newspaper circulation or their lovely tax cut.
It's not a matter of the journalists rising up to beat the Trump supporters.
You've gotta let the truth beat lies.
That's why you're here.
That's why you went to journalism school.
If you wish to be remembered, you already know, Chuck Todd, how history is gonna consign
Donald Trump to the trash heap of mediocre fascist.
Get on the right side of the curve before it is too late.
But again, it's not their job.
These are guys who watch Star Wars, watched The Empire Strikes Back, and halfway through
Return of the Jedi said, wait, Darth Vader is not the hero is he?
Come on.
>> Yeah, so let me continue on the Iraq War cuz Chuck Todd continues.
He says, it turned out that the previous generation of national reporters missed a story in the
moment.
I'm not saying they were dishonest in the moment.
They were too trusting of their sources.
They maybe were too naive.
I don't think it was active disinformation.
See, you don't understand anything.
You're telling me Dick Cheney was not doing active disinformation, and you're saying that
with a straight face in the year 2019.
That Dick Cheney was not lying about weapons of mass destruction.
Forget that, about the connection to 9/11.
Iraq had no connection to 9/11.
You allowed Dick Cheney on Meet The Press, your organization did, and have them do those
bold-faced lies and lied us into war.
And what, did anybody get punished?
Are you kidding me?
Tom Brokaw goes around on a cloud at NBC and everybody has to go kiss his ass while the
cloud goes by.
Tom Brokaw's not run out of town, you idiot.
You got duped by Don Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney and you aided and abetted those lies.
No, Brian Williams, you name it, it doesn't matter.
You all did it.
>> Brian Williams is the only person to lie about the Iraq War to get a demotion in America.
>> Yeah, and that's not because he said the Iraq War was a bad idea.
That would have been correct, right?
No, he states that, well, he fudged about being on a helicopter or whatever, right?
Look, and it isn't about any one particular person.
I've met Brian Williams, he's a very nice guy.
It isn't personal.
I know they'll look at this and think we hate them and it's personal.
No, it's that you're not good at your job.
You actively lie to the American people.
So here comes the great irony.
So Trump, when he says enemy of the people regarding the press, that is dangerous talk,
okay?
And I believe in journalism.
And we here at Young Turks, we're trying to protect journalism and re-build it.
So did anybody get Iraq right?
Absolutely, McClatchy Newspapers did a fantastic job on Iraq.
Print journalists studied the sources, questioned their sources, and got the story right.
Amy Goodman was right.
There were other people who were right, okay?
So it's not like you couldn't see it.
And honestly, we were podunk, know-nothing talk show hosts at the time on Serious LA
Radio with almost no audience and we saw it.
Jesus Christ, if we could see it, and Brokaw and Brian Williams and Chuck Todd, you all
couldn't see it with the billions of dollars you had?
No, you didn't want to see it.
And not just back then, today.
Now you turn around and go, it turns out Ted Cruz might be a liar.
Are you kidding me?
>> And as you're saying that you're even saying like, I mean, the previous generations, I
mean.
I mean, look, I don't think it was active disinformation.
I mean, Ted Cruz might have said one thing wrong on my show.
But are you trying to say Dick Cheney might have been doing active disinformation?
No, no, no, and you guys, you schmucks.
The right wing is never gonna like you.
The whole point of the right wing is to tear down every source of information we have.
Professors, well they bring you information, they're terrible, don't believe.
Media, they bring you information, don't believe them.
Scientists, they bring you information, don't believe them.
Why?
Cuz they wanna replace it with propaganda.
So it is not an attempt to make you better.
It's an attempt to destroy you.
Progressives, on the other hand, believe in journalism.
And what do you do?
You spit in our face cuz we're right.
It drives you nuts.
We were right about everything, the Iraq war.
The Republicans only do tax cuts for the rich.
They never care about the budget.
I can give you a thousand things that we were a 100% right on.
>> 16.
>> Okay, and climate change, and you are lying about Medicare for all as we speak.
As we speak, you are lying about it.
So the reality is, you're not the enemy of the people but are you opposed, fundamentally
opposed, to progressives?
Yes.
Are you fundamentally opposed to doing factual correctness?
Actually, the answer is and this is super depressing, yes.
You're in favor of political correctness.
Hey, I don't wanna lose my Republican viewers.
I don't wanna lose access to my Republican politicians.
So what am I gonna do?
I'm not gonna tell you the truth.
I'm gonna take the truth and pervert it so that it's 50/50.
I'm gonna equate the liars with the people telling the truth.
And in fact, the people telling the truth about Iraq War, etc., I'm not gonna allow
them on TV.
I'm not gonna allow them on TV.
But Ted Cuz and Dick Cheney and all those monsters, and Kellyann Conway and Rudi Guilani,
they'll be littered all over TV, all over TV.
And the only Democrats that'll be allowed are people that believe in the Pentagon and
the Brennans and the Claire McCaskills.
The ones who are, the Republicans are right.
The Republicans are right.
Tax cuts for the rich are great.
Let's do these, aggressive wars are great.
Look, if you think you're doing journalism, you're not even close.
You're not even close.
I know that you're gonna hate us way more than you hate the right wing, because the
thing that gets under your skin the most is when someone is right about you.
>> Yeah.
>> It's easy to brush off Donald Trump, the guy's a clown.
He lies every day, 7,000 times a day.
It's easy to brush him off.
It's easy to even go, Ted Cruz, wow.
After 7,000 lies in a row, maybe I brush them off.
I'm sorry, Ted.
Come back on the show, Ted.
Please, I'm sorry.
>> And it will have been forgotten by the next time he's on.
That's the issue.
>> Yes, 100%, they're gonna learn nothing from this.
They're gonna learn nothing from this.
But when we're right, God it drives them crazy.
God, that's the thing they can't stand the most.
>> The only thing worse than hindsight needing 15 years to still get it mostly wrong is with
Ted Cruz, the next time he's on, they're gonna pretend that he's an honest gentleman from
wherever, from Texas.
And the next war, they're going to buy whatever is told to them.
And honestly, if the whistleblower hadn't blown the whistle, and if Zelensky had his
interview with Fareed Zakaria, they would be covering that totally serious and straight-faced
too.
This isn't even like at this late hour I finally understand.
It's I'm saying I understand it then I'm gonna go right back to doing the thing that I do.
And last thing, guys.
So whether it was Jake Tapper telling maybe his son we never have progressives on, so
let me ask you a question about progressives.
Jake, did you ever think, wait, why do we never have progressives on?
Hey, wait, it looks like Bernie Sanders might win the presidency.
I know you guys don't believe that cuz you hate him.
And you say, Bernie Sanders.
He's leading in New Hampshire.
I almost caught him in Iowa.
And he's second in Nevada, second in national polling, has been throughout.
Bernie Sanders, no one I know in the country club thinks he's gonna win.
And you don't think you're biased?
It never even occurred to you that he might win, and if it does occur to you it comes
to you in a night sweat with dread.
And you don't think, hey, maybe I'm biased.
No, no, no, no, no, God forbid, God forbid.
I wouldn't want to ruin your pretty little dreams about who you are and how sacrosanct
you are.
But so, Jay Tapper, did it not occur to you that at least, at the very, very least he
represents a quarter of the country?
I think he represents 16%.
I can show you the polling to can back that up, but we can have that debate later.
Okay, let's say 25%, let's say your number.
So 25% of the country, you don't care about them.
The Republicans, but hey, 25% of the country.
We never have you sons of bitches on.
Okay, here, what have you got?
Say one thing and get the hell off my show, right?
And then Washington Post, you did that brilliant story, Washington Post, about the Pentagon
and how they've lied for every year of the Afghan War.
Did you learn anything from it?
My prediction is nope.
No, you'll then turn around and the next time the Pentagon says something you'll kiss their
ass and you'll write it down as a fact.
Even though you know as an institution that they lie almost as much as Donald Trump does.
They lie on purpose as a matter of strategy.
You are the ones who exposed that.
And I give you credit for that wonderful reporting, but you have instant collective amnesia.
Ted Cruz will be invited back on.
The Pentagon will be believed in the next story.
David Axelrod said none of us think that Bernie Sanders can win.
But I don't know, it just occurred to me that maybe.
How come you live in a world that no progressive is ever allowed in, the truth is not allowed
in, and then you get all hurt when someone points it out aggressively?
But when the Republicans punch you in the face you're like, yes, sir.
Thank you, sir.
May I have another?
But not progressives, you don't have enough power.
So I will spit on you progressives and never allow you on.
You see how unbiased I am?
>> All right, I think you get my point of view.