Alright, so interesting speech, I kinda mixed thoughts about it.
>> Me too I have a list of good and bad.
>> We have lists of good and bad.
>> Yeap. >> Okay, so let's start it.
Okay, so Joe Biden gives the state of the union tonight and a bit of a mixed speech,
there's a bunch of positives.
He mentioned a lot of things he did that were positive, that were true.
Whoa, okay, so I'm gonna list some of those for you and then a bunch of things
that of course we were discouraged by some of them fall in the bucket of things
he didn't get done and almost kinda pretended that he got them.
>> No definitely pretended he had done.
>> And then, >> Like tax increases for the rich,
he didn't get that done.
>> Yeah, and drug reductions and prices etcetra.
So we'll get to that too.
And the second part that was discouraging about the speech is how much he needlessly
embraced Republicans.
And so he gave them half credit for all the positive things he did.
>> That's right. >> When he got maybe like 12 votes on
all of those bills from all of those Republicans.
So it's just totally needless and that's what he does all the time.
And I can explain why in a second do.
But first let me just list a couple of quick things.
He's bragged about the best unemployment rate we've had since 1969 that is true.
And a lot of jobs have been created.
He bragged about reducing the deficit by $1.7 000,000,000,000 in the last years.
That's a pretty great job right?
And then on top of that and these are very rare for Joe Biden.
He then mentioned that no one in history has ever increased it more than
Donald Trump.
>> Yeah, that was fantastic.
>> Yeah. >> And that was true.
>> And the republicans lost their like boo, we don't like facts.
>> Yeah. >> Were anti facts.
Okay, so that's indisputably true.
>> Real quick just a caveat to that.
It would have been nice if he also added the fact that part of what made
the deficit explode under Trump's leadership was the tax cuts for
the rich and corporations.
>> Yeah, but of course he didn't do that.
So on the infrastructure bill, he had the second time where he tweaked
the republicans, where he said, I'll see you at the ribbon cutting ceremonies
basically, because he's making fun about how they're trying to take credit for
it after voting against it right?
>> Right. >> So that was a nice little jab there and
it was right to talk about the infrastructure bill.
And he mentioned some of the positives of it, which are very true.
And then, they passed provisions saying that companies that are over a billion
dollars have to pay at least 15% in taxes.
Look, I would do a lot more.
It's the bare minimum, but good, good, good.
And the republicans were like no boo boo,
that's our beloved corporations don't do it.
And so that, look, I give you more of the list, I wanna go to Anna in a second.
But one of the interesting things about the speech was what the republicans
applaud and what they didn't applaud.
So, they refused to applaud holding oil company executives accountable.
They refused to applaud when he was talking about lowering drug prices.
So, I mean, there was a moment there where it looked like the republicans were
basically saying it was bad to reduce drug prices.
That was unbelievable right?
And then when he said, billionaire should at least pay the same tax rate
as teachers and firefighters, no republican applauded.
None of them stood.
And so that is like they have a pro billionaire.
Billionaire should pay less than teachers.
Do they think that's a popular position,
at least pretend you're on the average American side.
So either and then the republican started booing at one point,
McCarthy shushed some female voice on his side.
It sounded like marjorie taylor green because they were getting out of control.
And then Biden started debating them a little bit that he shouldn't
have done that.
>> No don't engage with them.
>> Yeah, that kinda devolved so I've got more banana.
What do you think? >> So let me expand on the moment what
the speech devolved because he was addressing the hyenas in the audience.
Like Marjorie Greene who lost it when Biden accurately called out
the Republican Party wanting to cut or privatize Social Security and Medicare.
First off look, I love that Biden brought that up and
he had such a great opportunity to like hit it out of the park.
There were a few fumbles within that moment that I wish didn't happen.
Don't get distracted by them losing their minds, you're calling them out accurately.
Don't try to lessen the blow to the Republican Party by pretending like, no,
it's only half the Republican Party that wants to privatize Social Security or
cut Medicare.
No, it's all of them, all of them want to do it.
They use different terminology, they use different framing.
But at the end of the day, whether your raising the retirement age or
literally privatizing Social Security, it's the same thing.
It's cutting Social Security because republicans want to assist their
donors in avoiding tax increases to keep Social Security well funded right?
So there's that.
Don't pretend like there are any republicans who are interested in
protecting these social spending programs, they don't wanna do that.
So my biggest issue with Biden in this speech was when
he mentioned his clear wins and
they do exist, he needlessly decided to give some credit or some positive PR
to the Republican Party which has fought him every single step of the way.
So to respond to one of our viewers,
the comment from Liberal Dan is did Anna CASS Berrien and John Cougar not see how
brilliant Potus was in getting the GOP to say he was lying and then say,
well I guess that's a commitment to protect Social Security and Medicare.
No, I don't think that it was a perfect moment because again he did some positive
PR for republicans pretending that like some portion of them actually wanna
protect these programs they don't.
And you think that Biden's playing 3D Chess?
We'll see.
Remember he met with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy Wednesday of last
week to negotiate for the whole debt ceiling issue.
You don't need to negotiate.
There's no need to negotiate.
And by the way after the meeting, Biden was glowing.
It was such a great meeting.
That's not a good sign.
No, it was not a great meeting.
Whenever Kevin McCarthy wants to cut in spending is irrelevant.
Okay, they're gonna vote to increase the debt limit or
the debt ceiling because if they don't,
the entire world economy collapses along with their stock portfolios.
Call their bluff, don't negotiate with them and
don't do positive PR on their behalf, go ahead, Jrink.
>> Yeah, so guys, the things that they say here aren't necessarily gonna happen,
I need you to know that right?
So if the republicans say we're not gonna cut those security and
Medicare and Biden goes, good.
Like they have a deal, they don't have a deal.
And Biden cuts terrible deals with republicans all the time.
He should never even met with McCarthy.
He should have said I dare you go ahead.
Don't raise the debt ceiling.
And that's all 100% on you.
And that winds up embarrassing the republicans, and if anything goes south
now they'll say, Biden and us agreed or Biden and I, we are equally at fault.
If you clearly say from day one, I'm not cutting Social Security and Medicare and
these other important programs, you have to raise the debt ceiling and
that's not negotiable, then you're strong.
You put them in a tough spot.
Instead he's sitting there playing patty cakes with them.
And guys, the speeches for marketing, okay, he's running for president and
he's touting his accomplishments.
As usual with Biden, he doesn't sometimes positive in a good way and
were fair about that and sometimes in a ham handed way and were fair about that.
So let me give you a couple of examples.
So, he keeps saying, let's finish the job.
That's his campaign slogan, let's finish the job okay?
But George Bush, when he was running for re election,
kept emphasizing don't switch horses midstream.
Okay, so this is Biden's version of that.
There was a good line about regulators and he said the watchdogs are back like, well,
I mean that would be great, but I like the line, I like the line, right?
And great line that he kept emphasizing in
the beginning about economic dignity absolutely.
The ones they like not only have they stripped us of health care,
paid family leave, higher wages, etcetera but
they've also stripped us of our dignity and I like that he framed it that way.
Now, when it gets to the other stuff though he said all these things as if they
passed them.
>> Yeap. >> And as if the Democratic Party even
agreed with them when a lot of them they didn't write.
So Proact has no chance of passing.
Paid family leave has over 80% popularity and
he can't even get all the democrats lined up.
They pretend but then they wouldn't get rid of the filibuster in the senate and
that's what cost us.
And so and none of the republicans are in favor of it.
The child tax credit, bring it back, come on, what are you bringing that up for?
You know you're not gonna bring it back.
You know the republicans are gonna vote for it and
you know you're not gonna fight for it right?
So that part is just marketing.
And then there was confusing parts when he was talking about not one person
foreign leader will replace Xi Jinping in China.
>> Yeah. >> That didn't make any sense at all.
>> There was, >> He's like name me one.
And I'm like what are you getting excited for?
I don't even know what you're talking about yeah.
>> There was also the super awkward moment, I don't know if you caught it but
he was talking about Tyree Nichols and he accidentally called Tyree Tyler.
>> I didn't get the sir name.
>> Yeah there were a few moments like that.
Whatever it's Biden he has gaffes like that all the time.
So, I'll just chalk it up to another one of his gaffes.
But when it came to some of his touting of labor protections,
so look there's a difference between how he might appear during this speech.
So if someone isn't really fully informed on what he did and didn't accomplish,
maybe it all looks great right?
But for everyone else they know it's a mixed record.
So, his National Labor Relations Board has been pretty good,
especially when it comes to protecting some of these union organizers at
places like Starbucks per see that who were retaliated against by Starbucks as
a result of them wanting to organize their workplace.
So, he definitely deserves credit for that.
The NLRB under his leadership deserves credit for that absolutely.
But at the same time it's really hard for
me personally to forget the fact that he could have intervened on
behalf of rail workers to force the employers to provide paid leave.
So these workers could deal with family emergencies,
deal with personal matters right now they get penalized.
Some of those rail workers don't even get a single day of paid leave.
And when they were about to strike Biden crushed them.
And I have an issue with that, I can't forget about that.
>> Yeah 100%.
So, finally when you look at the summary of this, you've got,
the frustrating parts where he's kinda misleading folks.
For example, when he says corporations should do the right thing,
that's not a thing.
No corporation goes, you know what I'm gonna turn down billions or
millions of dollars in profit because I wanna do the right thing.
Corporations are profit maximizing machines.
They're not human beings treating them as if they're humans you could appeal
to is absurd.
And it feeds into their lack of action in congress to hold them accountable.
So in summary, yes, there were good parts I liked also, by the way,
when he pretty much yelled out, let's ban assault weapons.
The right wing is gonna hate that, but he was strong about it and
I appreciate that right?
But the appeasement of the republicans was maddening.
So when he talks about here, I'll give you the last two examples here.
The non compete agreements okay?
So that's another good proposal.
Hey, why are you making it?
Somebody working at burger king sign a non compete agreement that's absurd.
Non compete agreements should be for people with unique talents.
And you say, okay, look, I'm paying you all this money, but
I don't want you to go over that movie studio or that other team, etcetera right?
It shouldn't be for regular average Americans,
that's crazy and it's very impressive.
Okay, so you got a good proposal, then you're supposed to put
the republicans on the spot and say, hey, wait a minute, are you gonna say
that the companies should be allowed to take away their job opportunities?
Is that what the republicans are gonna say?
Say it I dare you to say it right?
Whenever they pushed back with all the yelling, whether it was on social
security or Medicare or here's the last one the $35 cap on insulin.
Now, most of it is a fraud.
They protected the drug companies that we can't negotiate with 99.9% of them, right?
But an insulin because it's so prominent and gets so much attention,
they did do the right thing.
>> For Medicare recipients specifically.
>> Yeah right It's a fig leaf.
It's just for Medicare recipients and it's just insulin, right?
But at least that is good right?
And the republicans even opposed that that's perfect.
That's when a strong leader has to say all right republicans,
you're not even applauding to this.
Do you want people to pay more than $35 for their insulin?
Stand up and say it, tell them what you really want.
>> Yes. >> You're fighting me on it, aren't you?
You fought us tooth and nail because you wanted that insulin company to be able to
charge hundreds of dollars and bankrupt these senior citizens.
Say it, say it loud and say it proud because I see you doing it and
I see you voting that way.
But Biden does not have that fight in him and he's never going to.
>> No it's not his style so he is not combative.
And look while the Social Security moment in my opinion was mixed,
the part of it that bothered me was it looked like when republicans
started losing their minds after he called them out on wanting to
privatize Social Security or cut Social Security.
He let them get in his head and
he was starting to fumble and bumble in the middle of his speech.
No ignore them.
You do have the moral high ground here, right?
You wanna protect Social Security and Medicare?
Hopefully you're being honest about that.
They don't, they wanna cut it.
You called them out so stick to what you're doing here.
Call them out and don't cower as soon as they start yelling.
>> So, you'll see flashes of strong Joe Biden and Dark Brandon if you will.
>> Yeah. >> But it's actually not Dark Brandon.
It's strong Joe Biden when he says ban assault weapons,
make sure that insulin is only $35 etcetera, right?
But there actually is no Dark Brandon where he actually goes and
fights republicans on your behalf.
>> Right.
>> Right so that's where he gets super.
That's where he becomes putting right?
And he melts and he's like, hey hey guys guys no, okay alright good, good.
Alright let's not cut it see that we all agree we all agree.
I mean, half the bills that he passed, he got no republican votes and he made it
appear like that they all voted with them [CROSSTALK] my republican friends.
And I appreciate that a lot of them, by the way,
there's a reason why he did it because he promised bipartisanship in his 2020
campaign, >> Right.
>> So he's trying to take credit for bipartisanship, but
that's beneficial to him maybe maybe, maybe, but it hurts the rest of
the Democratic Party because it gives republicans credit they don't deserve.
It's actually a very selfish act plus at the end of the day,
it's not gonna help them anyway.
It's counterproductive because it's fighting the other side is a much better
way to win than to give them false credit they didn't even earn.
>> Listen, feeling like you need to be obsessed with a campaign promise
that the majority of ordinary Americans don't care about is crazy.
Ordinary Americans care about their lives improving their financial stability
existing because a lot of Americans don't even have that right?
They don't care about whether or
not you can be friends with the Republican Party, okay?
They don't care about that at all.
Corporate media cares about that because bipartisanship typically
means handouts to corporate interests.
Okay, ignore the corporate media,
serve the people who you claim to serve the voters,
they don't care about the unity and bipartisanship, they want results.
And if you're going to put bipartisanship and
unity above getting results, I think it's actually a terrible strategy.