Elon Musk took some jabs at George Soros on Twitter,
tweeting the following, Soros reminds me of Magneto.
Now, Magneto, if you're unfamiliar with that character,
Cenk has some details on who he is.
>> Yeah. >> I don't wanna butcher it.
I am not familiar with the character.
>> Okay, so he's part of the X Men.
He's the main villain, okay?
And apparently, and I didn't know this because I'm not that deep a fan,
I've only seen a couple of movies.
And maybe Emma knows better.
But he's, I think, also Hungarian and Jewish,
just like George Soros in real life is Hungarian and Jewish.
So he is saying, [INAUDIBLE] and he's a villain, okay?
So there's some interesting theories as to why Elon Musk is trying
to paint him as a villain,
and one that's very controversial, which we'll get to in a second.
>> So apologies in advance, but Ed Krassenstein plays a role in this story
because he gets into an exchange with Elon Musk over this.
So he tweets the following.
Fun fact, Magneto's experiences during the Holocaust
as a survivor shaped his perspectives as well as his depth and empathy.
Soros, also a Holocaust survivor, gets attacked nonstop for his good intentions,
which some Americans think are bad merely because they disagree with these
political affiliations.
>> The way right wingers go after Soros is just antisemitism, but
we can broadly critique billionaire donors having broad influence in politics.
It's just the signaling out of him is the substitute for
Jewish in right wing circles now, these days.
>> Yeah, look, again, I don't know the X Men that well, maybe Magneto
was just a Holocaust survivor and not a Hungarian and Jewish, et cetera.
But Soros is gonna make what Emma is saying a little bit more clear, and
then I'll give you the full context.
>> So, in response to Brian Krassenstein tweet,
Elon Musk kind of clarifies what he's referring to, to some extent.
He says, you assume they are good intentions.
They are not.
He wants to erode the very fabric of civilization.
Soros hates humanity.
So, look, I am familiar with that argument, right?
And it's always in the context of Soros funds the campaigns of these
progressive DAs.
The progressive DAs don't actually deal with crime,
they don't prosecute criminals, and these cities are falling apart as a result.
They don't believe in Western civilization, that's the argument that
they make in the context of criminal justice reform and progressive DAs.
So, I give you that context because I don't know if Elon Musk is
specifically trying to be anti-Semitic or if he's using this to
make a point about the efforts that George Soros supports and funds.
>> But even that's anti-Semitic because it is this notion
that Jewish people are controlling the mechanisms of power.
They're the puppet masters, and they are influencing, they use this with Brag, too,
because he had donated to Color of Change, Soros.
They're influencing the black DAs or the non white people because they're
not civilized enough to be the puppet masters themselves to do X, Y, and Z.
>> So I hear you, but the thing that I'm concerned about in making that argument is
we have to be consistent, right?
So when Ilhan Omar calls out the Israel lobby and
then gets criticized as an anti-Semite because, she's buying
into an anti-Semitic trope that Jewish people are the puppet masters, right?
We defended her because I don't think that she intended to use a trope,
I think she was trying to make a point about corruption and money in politics and
honestly did not frame it in a way that was a little more careful.
How is this different?
>> Well, because of the context of who he is versus who she is.
>> No, well, that's not all.
You're right, Emma, I agree with you, let me be clear.
But I think it's to me, it's night and day,
and I'll explain, and I know it requires nuance, right?
But not much.
So first, everybody forgets what Ilhan Omar said.
All she said was about a lobbyist, it's all about the Benjamin's.
And then they were like, my God, that's a lobbyist for Israel or
something like that.
So you must mean that you're anti-Semitic.
>> But it isn't, look, I don't think she meant to, again, use a trope.
But it is a trope, and unfortunately- >> But it's not a, wait, look,
there's two different things, guys.
There's tropes about Jewish people controlling the world and
being the puppet masters.
I think Emma interviewed, when you were at TYT, you interviewed someone with a giant
tattoo of Soros on their back- >> Yes, I did.
>> If you remember, right?
And it was a puppet, I believe it was half his back, right?
And he was the puppet master.
So, historical context is super important here.
For thousands of years,
there's been the anti-Semitic charges that Jews control everything and
that we got to go get them because they're trying to destroy all of civilization.
And all those conspiracy theories end with the Jews killing everyone or
almost everyone.
It's really super disgusting.
>> I get it.
But that's not the only anti-Semitic trope, Cenk.
Another anti-Semitic trope is that all Jewish people care about is money.
>> Yes.
>> Yeah, okay.
>> Yes, so let me make the distinction.
So when Musk says he wants to erode the very fabric of
civilization, Soros hates humanity.
He's saying he has bad intent.
He is trying to destroy people, you should be super mad at Soros,
who's trying to destroy humanity, okay?
With that intent.
Whereas Ilhan Omar said, about a lobbyist, it's all about the money.
So, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, so do we have to discern every time,
is it a Jewish lobbyist or a non Jewish lobbyist?
Because for the lobbyists, it is literally their job to be all about the money.
So I will never agree with a charge this is often used, and this is what sucks
about identity politics and how it's misused and oftentimes by the Democrats.
Whenever they are cornered, they will go to, I'm not corrupt.
You're an anti-Semite, because that guy happens to be randomly Jewish, or
that person is in favor of Israel.
And you're saying, no, no,
don't ignore all of the money that I am taking from all of the lobbies,
whether they're Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, Jewish, it doesn't matter, right?
So that is a false talking point, you should never agree to that.
On the other hand, when they say, here is a Jewish donor and
we're only naming Jewish donors.
We're not naming the Koch brothers, the Mercers, all the Wilkes brothers, and
by the way, the corporation- >> [CROSSTALK] Donors, though.
>> Exactly.
>> [CROSSTALK] Donors, yeah.
>> They're Republican and Democratic donors.
So they use the charge of anti-Semitism to cover up the corruption for
the Democratic and Republican Party.
And when they do that,
they are deeply hurting the cause because they're the boy who cried wolf.
But is there actual anti-Semitism?
Of course, there is.
>> Yes. >> And so, Emma's seen it,
Walter Masterson, I keep saying this.
He goes dressed MAGA and QAnon, he turns off the camera, he asks them, and
he says almost every time they say, it's not really the immigrants,
it's not really the gay people, etc., it's the Jews, it's the Jews.
I had David Duke on here, it's the Jews, it's the Jews.
They all say it.
And when they talk about Soros, they definitely mean.
And by the way, I should be clear, I'm sure that not everyone knows
the conspiracy theory, I'm sure that not everyone is anti-Semitic.
And so some of them might say it and have no idea the Soros is even Jewish.
But unfortunately, a big chunk of them do know that, and that is what they mean.
And it's one thing for a rando that Emma's interviewing in a Trump rally to say,
it's another thing for Elon Musk to say it, because every anti-Semite looks at
that and goes, we knew it, see, he's confirming it.
>> [CROSSTALK] Says Soros on his show.
Tucker Carlson, when he was on Fox News, would say Soros, Soros, Soros,
all the time.
And that's not because, what you're saying I want us to be consistent, too.
But I think the point is that the Israel lobby is not really made up entirely of
Jewish people in this country, a lot of it's right wing evangelicals.
So when you're saying it's all about the Benjamins, when she says that,
it's a reference to an interest group.
This guy Soros in right wing circles for Chan,
Epsilon nonsense, has become a substitute for Jews.
And Victor Orban is running ads with Soros's face on it in Hungary as an effort
to drum up anti-Semitic sentiment and trying to use that to his advantage.
This is a global right wing project, and Soros is a substitute for
Jews because they can't say it.
In the same way Trump wanted to go after Black Lives Matter,
but he'd say Antifa because that sounded a little scarier.
They're good at these code words.
>> Yeah, and the code word they mainly used back in 2016 was the global elites-
>> Globalists.
>> And Globalists.
Now guys that's super frustrating because they actually are global elites.
And who are they?
They're the guys who run all the banks and finance and private equity.
And if you look up their boards, they are Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Christian, Jews.
They don't care about anything but the color green, okay?
That's what it's all about.
So, when we talk about donors, we make sure that we talk about it in a broad way.
And so, yes, there are some prominent donors here in America who happen to be
Jewish because there's Jewish people in the country.
Sheldon Adelson was Trump's biggest donor, he happens to be Jewish, okay?
But the Koch brothers have given more than everyone combined, and
they're not at all Jewish.
ExxonMobil is not Jewish.
The corporations are the biggest donors, they're the biggest problem, and
they have no religion, no ethnicity, etc.
So one side uses the anti-Semitic tropes as an excuse to take all the donor money
from wherever it comes from and pretend that any criticism is anti-Semitic.
And the other side clearly is winking and nodding at some of the most
dangerous things out there that is deeply anti-Semitic.
And you can usually tell by, do they say Jews and non Jews or
are they only saying Jews?
And for Republicans, the only donor I've ever heard them call out is George Soros.
>> Yes. >> How about all of your freaking donors?
>> But hold on, hold on.
I mean, look, George Soros exclusively gives to Democrats and
Democratic causes, which is why I can understand.
Like when we criticize the Koch brothers, I mean,
we criticize money in politics, period, right?
It's a nonpartisan issue for us because we think the money should not exist,
that corruption should not be baked in the political system.
But is it possible that they're attacking Soros specifically for
what he supports financially through his donation?
That's the point that I'm trying to make.
>> Yeah, no, no, no but, Anna, so, that's a great question.
Number one, I criticize Soros because he wants to keep money in politics,
because he's got a ton of money in politics.
And by the way, Soros is a massive capitalist.
And so I don't agree with a lot of what he's doing in politics.
But there's a way of talking about it where you say, hey, I don't agree
with this policy, I don't like that he's putting money into politics, etc.,
and then you mention non Jewish donors as well, etc..
And then they're saying, he wants to erode the very fabric of civilization,
Soros hates humanity.
That is directly from a conspiracy theory.
So, to Anna's point, like I said earlier,
not everyone who says Soros means anti-Semitism.
Probably a big chunk of them have never even heard of that theory, right?
And not everyone who criticizes donors means anti-Semitism at all, right?
But do a big chunk of them know that theory?
And is that why they're saying Soros?
I'm saying, absolutely.
>> And within the context of what Elon Musk has been posting, and he's saying,
he's doubling down today saying the Texas Mall shooter, it was like a psy up,
some of the reporting on him.
So this is the context in which we're seeing this guy get red pilled.
That's why I think you can put it over the top here for sure.
And I'm less credulous about it.
Anti-Semitism is the socialism of fools.
It is a really simple way to explain away structural issues
about corruption and capitalism in this country.
And they make it about one group being the puppet master when in the reality,
it's the totality of interests and
the insane way we've decided to structure our society.
>> And I'll say, again, one more time.
Look, he's not a rando.
A lot of right wingers think he's the smartest man in the world.
And so for them, and they've harbored conspiracy theories for
a lot of them for their whole lives.
And so when they hear Elon Musk confirm it, it's a big, big deal to them.
>> Yeah.
>> So that's the context.
So make of it what you will, and so depends on if you're in.
But guys, in a time of massively rising anti-Semitism,
I think we should all agree that a guy this prominent framing it this way,
that is tailor made for those conspiracy theories, is not helpful.
By the way,
we didn't even mention the real reason that Musk might be attacking Soros.
His Business Insider is reporting that Soros took
$16 million out of Tesla shares that he owned.
By the way, if that's why Elon Musk is doing it,
he's the Stephen Crowder of the business community.
If you burn people who take money out of your company or
who sell shares of your stock, nobody's gonna want to put money in,
because then they don't know when you're gonna burn their house down
when they decide to take money out for whatever reason, right?
So, no matter what you think of whether it was anti-Semitic or not,
it is very poorly played from a business perspective,
if Business Insider is right about that information.