After shelling out millions of
dollars to bribe Washington to
end the eviction moratorium.
The National Association of
Realtors and its allies are furious
with the Biden administration for
caving to progressive lawmakers,
specifically Cory Bush, by
extending the eviction moratorium.
I love this story, very rarely do
we get to drink the tears of rich
men who thought that
their legalized bribery would work.
And I love celebrating actual
progressive action that leads
to incredibly important protections
for people in their homes who
are facing eviction, but
obviously more needs to be done.
So thank you, Cory Bush, but
let's talk about how these
lobbyists are now crying.
The industry felt whiplash,
said National Association of
Home Builders CEO Jerry Howard,
whose group includes about 3,000
property managers impacted by
the original moratorium.
He said this, and
this is probably my favorite quote.
It certainly is a slap in the face
to the housing industry and
to the people that shelter America.
[LAUGH] >> Okay, let's pause for
a second.
This is a slap in the face to
the very people who shelter
America, I mean, we want to evict
these people during a pandemic.
But we shelter America, everybody,
we shelter, we're the good guys.
We're the good guys,
we shelter America.
Let me give you more.
>> Hold on, I got a comment on
that. >> Go ahead.
>> You're literally trying to
unshelter them on this issue.
You're trying to evict them, and
there's a moratorium to stop your
evictions, and you have the nerve
to put out a statement saying,
now they're not going to
let us do evictions when we're
the humanitarians that shelter you.
>> Yeah >> [LAUGH] No, the whole
point of this is the unsheltering,
but they have no shame whatsoever.
But this story is amazing, guys,
because it tells you exactly how
politics actually works.
>> It is pretty incredible, and
it's one of those rare instances
where in an outlet or
publication like Politico,
you get these lobbyists who just
say it like it is.
Then they're very transparent,
like Cindy Chetti for instance.
She's the Senior Vice President at
the National Multifamily Housing
Council, which sounds incredibly
lovely, but it's not.
She said that the odds were stacked
against the industry as outrage
over the ban's
expiration snowballed.
And then she said this, we did
lobby a lot, we did step into gear.
I'm not sure there's anything else
we could have done.
I feel comfortable that we did
everything we could.
And what did they do exactly?
I mean, shelling out literally
millions of dollars to lawmakers,
to the Biden administration to end
the eviction moratorium.
The Realtors PAC contributed nearly
$2 million to House Democratic
candidates in 2020 alone, and
that includes $10,000 apiece to
Maxine Waters and Nancy Pelosi.
And what was also fascinating about
the story was how incensed everyone
was, including, I don't know,
I got the feeling
that even the reporters over
Politico were like what's going on?
Because Maxine Waters takes these
bribes from the very people
that we're talking about here.
And she happened to be one of
the democratic lawmakers who was
fighting to extend the moratorium.
Now, I want to be clear, Cory Bush
was the progressive lawmaker who
essentially made the Biden
administration bent to her will,
and I really respect that and
I love that.
But Maxine Waters was also speaking
out about the need to extend
the moratorium regardless of what
she was receiving from these
corporate donors.
But look,
that is an exception to the rule.
Every single time we do these
types of stories, the money talks,
because they're legalized bribes,
that's all it is.
So Cenk, you want to jump in?
>> Yeah, I can't love this story
enough.
First, the Politico angle is really
interesting, because what they're
doing here is, they're reporting on
the gamesmanship of politics,
which is political 101,
that's what they do.
So they're stating this as a loss
for this particular lobbying arm.
They're like, it's like almost all
the other lobbyists are making fun
of the real estate lobbyists.
They're like, the drug company
lobby got everything they wanted.
>> Right. >> The oil company got
everything they wanted.
[LAUGH] Look at the loser realtor
lobby.
They couldn't even get what
they wanted.
And that's what Politico is
reporting here.
That's why, I mean, these quotes
are amazingly honest because
they're just reporting on the game.
And they don't think they're not
commenting on the game like,
isn't that outrageous that these
lobbyists buy our government on a
regular basis, and they're outraged
the one time that they were foiled?
So here, I'm going to
give you a couple of quotes.
So the same Cindy Chetti that Ana
mentioned is senior Vice President
of the National Multifamily Housing
Council said, I'm quoting Politico,
said the odds were stacked
against the industry as outrage
over the ban's expiration snowball.
The outrage is not from
American people,
the outrage is from the lobbyists.
And they genuinely mean it,
they don't think it's weird to say
I'm outraged that politicians
actually represent the voters for
once, outraged.
And Politico is like,
that's a good point.
This is outrageous, let's note that
the lobbyists are outraged that
democracy broke out.
Thank you, Cory Bush.
All right, now, under Maxine Waters
that Ana mentioned,
listen to this telling quote.
Because here, you could actually
take this story and say look,
Maxine Waters took their money but
then voted against them or
was ready to vote against them.
And so you can give Maxine Waters
credit, credit where credit is due,
right?
But her quote is telling, so
forget Maxine Waters.
Let's know what the quote says,
she said, now I know that there's
a strong lobbying effort and
the realtors have come, and they
put a strong letter out last night.
And some people are saying,
quote, my god,
I don't want to cross the realtors.
Now that's Maxine Waters talking to
fellow Democrats.
She is relaying what she finds to
be perfectly normal.
People in the democratic caucus
saying, my god,
I don't want to cross the realtors.
They don't find that to be
a remarkable statement,
they find that to be very normal.
I don't want to cross
the lobbyists, that might hurt me.
I would normally screw over my
voters on behalf of lobbyists and
that's why I'm concerned.
And Maxine Waters here is doing
a good thing saying,
don't be too concerned.
Don't worry,
we have other lobbyists, okay?
But put that aside,
again I give her credit.
Hey, don't be too concerned about
the lobbyists because normally you
would be, that's the assumption
that every Democrat has.
Forget the Republicans,
the Republicans have always been
against the eviction moratorium,
are always on the side of the real
estate interest and
every other lobbyist group.
And notice, she also said they put
out a strong letter.
So it almost sounds
like Trump, right?
That they do put out a strong
letter, okay, it was very strong.
Now, why is she saying in that way?
Because when the lobbyist put out
a letter that's strong, they're
saying, you better watch yourself.
We're not going to give you
the millions of dollars anymore.
That's why Democrats in the caucus
are worried,
that's why the Democrats actually
never voted on it.
That's why Corey Bush had to do the
protests, because they were never
going to vote on it because the
realtors put out a strong letter.
>> That's right, and
I want to give you another figure
because it gives you a sense of
just how powerful this lobbying
group really is, especially
compared to one of the most
influential lobbying groups and
that's the US Chamber of Commerce.
So The National Association of
Realtors has some of the deepest
pockets in Washington.
As Politico reports,
shelling out nearly $700 million to
influence policies since 1998.
The spending puts it behind only
the US Chamber of Commerce.
So that's, look, when we talk about
housing in America,
when we talk about how the system
seems to be rigged against working
Americans and their shelter.
This is what is at play behind
the scenes.
This is the kind of
legalized bribery that takes place.
This is what shifts policy against
working Americans.
And so it's an incredibly powerful
lobby.
And so, I mean, that also speaks
to Maxine Waters and how she does
deserve credit for being on the
right side of this issue, given how
powerful this lobbying group is.
>> Absolutely, and so
I'm going to read you the last few
quotes here, right,
because this article is amazing.
And the assumptions built into
the article is amazing.
Let me go back to the first
paragraph because it's going to
relate to the Joe Biden quote I'm
going to read you.
They said President Joe Biden's
stunning decision to revive
the eviction ban in response to
intense pressure from progressives
has left one of Washington's most
influential business
coalitions feeling angry and
betrayed on the sidelines of power.
>> Did you spend a lot of your
money to bribe the politicians and
it didn't work?
Are you angry?
>> [LAUGH] This almost reminds me,
let me give a very curious analogy,
of Bridgerton, okay?
[LAUGH] >> Okay, [LAUGH] I didn't
know where to go in there.
>> Yeah, I will tell you why
because it feels like one of those
things that the high society writes
like, gossip in high society.
The real estate lobby has lost
influence.
They are not going to get a good
suitor this year.
Everybody in real estate lobby
is going to be punished,
they feel betrayed by Biden.
They thought he was going to do
everything that they want.
They assumed like every other
lobbyists, that Biden would
do everything that they wanted.
That's why they're feeling angry
and betrayed.
And it's left one of
the most influential business
coalitions in a tiffy, okay?
And again that's just reporting
Politico, winners and losers,
[LAUGH] you lobbyists weren't
corrupt enough or your corruption
didn't work well enough.
Now we get to a killer quote inside
article, they say in the case of
evictions, lobbyists even had
Biden's word that the ban was done,
only to have the president abruptly
backtrack.
>> The betrayal.
>> Wait a minute.
That's the lead,
you buried the lead.
So this whole time,
the Biden administration has been
pretending, no, we were in favor of
the eviction moratorium, but golly
gee, there was nothing we could do.
Cavanaugh who whispered something
in a case and so
we didn't have any choice, but
Biden didn't want to do it, right?
But wait a minute, we just found
out in Politico as an aside, he had
promised the real estate lobbyists
that he would end the moratorium
because of the money that
they gave the Democratic Party.
Now, did Politico make note of that
and go, my god, Biden
has been lying the whole time?
No, they just assumed that's
normal, of course,
the president was lying.
>> It's normal behavior.
>> Yeah. >> Right?
>> And is Jen Psaki being asked
about it,
hounded in the White House press?
No, nope, she got one question
about it last week and
then she's done with it.
And she said, I give Pelosi and
ourselves credit,
not Cory Bush because we were
always going to do it.
No, you weren't,
now that is proven to be a lie.
Is there going to be any
accountability?
No, the press would keep on
pretending that Joe Biden has
the positions that he claims to
have, but never actually does have
because secretly he's
been promising the lobbyists,
don't worry I'm going to deliver
for you guys.
And why did any of these plans get
foiled in the first place?
Because justice Democrats stood up
and said no, we say no.
And so Cory Bush, and you guys go
back and watch the video I did
the night Cory Bush got elected.
I said, this is a real person, and
she's going to make real change,
because she's not one of them,
she's one of us.
And she did, and what did I tell
you about AOC's sit-in?
I said was the best thing he's
ever done, because that's how you
actually get power by getting the
media attention, influence, etc.
And they've got to do it and create
that kind of good trouble over and
over again because
it actually works.
They tell you not to do it in
mainstream media and democratic
leadership, not because they're
worried is isn't going to work,
but because they're worried that
it is going to work.
And it did work in this case
to have real progressives fight
and win.
And by the way,
as I've told you for
20 straight years now,
the only way to win is to fight.
Power never concedes without
a demand.
If Corey Bush had not demanded it,
these lobbyists would have been
high fiving, drinking champagne,
and Politico would have written
an article about how great the real
estate lobbyists are in killing
American dreams.