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April 22, 2022 - Jimmy Dore Show
56:38
20220422_TJDS_20220422_Podcast_-_42122_1.35_PM
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Here's an interesting story.
So there's this thing called NFTs.
It stands for non-fungible.
What is the T?
Token.
Non-fungible token.
I've had people try to get me involved in that.
And I said, if you can explain to me what it is that I understand it, I'll get involved.
Nobody can explain to me what exactly it is.
If they did explain it to me, I wasn't smart enough to understand.
And I think now I know why, because I think NFTs are bullshit.
You know, Tim Dillon explained it to me.
What he said.
Because I was saying that.
And basically, it does two things.
One, it makes crypto more legitimate because the thing to like buy with crypto.
And it also is just another thing for rich people.
Like normally, they buy a painting and stick it in some vault somewhere.
That's right.
And so once you have so now that people have so much money, they got to find new things to spend it on.
So they have to make up shit like metaverses and NFTs, all kinds of stuff.
Well, watch how it's not working out for them, Kurt.
Why Jack Dorsey's first tweet, NFT, plummeted 99% in value just in one year.
Well, what happened?
Well, in December 2020, Jack Dorsey created a non-fungible token out of his first ever Twitter post.
He turned a static image of a five-word tweet into a digital file stored on a blockchain and voila, an NFT was born.
And this is it.
That was his first tweet.
He turned it into a digital thing.
It lives on a blockchain.
I'll give you $500,000.
More.
Got more.
A few months later, the image sold at auction for a stunning $2.9 million.
That's almost as much.
You can almost buy a house in Los Angeles for that money.
Yet in an auction this past week, no one bid more than $280.
So they tried to auction off that NFT that was for almost $3 million.
They got $280.
And even current bids on OpenSea only amount to about $10,000, a 99% drop in value.
What happened?
Dorsey's NFT initially garnered little interest, with some people bidding a few thousand dollars in December 2020, a time when NFT still had few believers.
But in March 2021, the market entered hype mode, with monthly sales on OpenSea jumping to nearly $150 million, up from just $8 million two months prior.
Iranian crypto entrepreneur Sina Estavi got swept up in the frenzy buying Dorsey's NFT for $2.9 million.
He tells Forbes he paid such a hefty sum due to the NFT's uniqueness and association with such a valuable company as Twitter.
While you could argue that Dorsey's first tweet, NFT has historical significance, the 2.9 million price tag is nearly impossible to justify.
The bubble price Estavabi Estavi paid epitomizes the great fool theory at work.
What is the great fool theory?
The greater fool theory argues that prices go up because people are able to sell overpriced securities to a greater fool, whether or not they are overvalued.
That is, of course, until they are no greater fools left.
Investing according to the greater full theory means ignoring valuations, earnings, reports, and all the other data.
Ignoring the fundamentals is, of course, risky.
And so people subscribing to the greater fool theory could be left holding the bag after a correction.
So what they're saying is you just have to find a rich guy who's an idiot and he'll buy it from you.
And then he'll find a guy richer than him to buy it.
But at some point, you stop running out of rich idiots.
And then that's when it crashes.
And that's what that reverse pyramid scheme.
Yes.
What is the utility of that NFT?
Does Jack Dorsey take you out to dinner in Silicon Valley?
says Mitch Leskama, an NFT collector.
What is the real value proposition here?
I think time has probably told us, and it's probably nothing.
Yeah, I spent all my money on a monkey with a funny hat on this crap.
On April 5th, Estavi put the NFT up for auction for $14,969 either or about $50 million.
Embarrassingly, he tried to sell it for $50 million.
Embarrassingly, no one bid more than $280.
No one knows why the bid came in so low, he says.
It seems that few people took it seriously.
We know.
We know, as Devon.
I think we know why.
Few people took it seriously because it's not serious.
Bidders just realized what it was, a publicity stunt, a way to get exposure, says Blake Moser, an NFT collector who has nearly 400 NFTs.
I do think Sinna Estavi accomplished what he was looking for, exposure to his NFT.
Estavi has indeed gotten attention, but he seems severely out of touch with the rapidly changing NFT market.
The market isn't ready to jump into literally anything that a celebrity or someone of high stature might release.
Laksama says, I think last year was a really good time for that, but a lot of people have grown weary of cash grab tactics.
While the failed auction shows that NFT hype has waned, the market is still very active with trading volume hovering around $2 to $3 billion a month on OpenC, up from $150 million a year ago.
Prices for some NFT collections like the Bored Ape Yacht Club remain near all-time highs.
Yeah, see, I invested smart.
And that, you got your smart.
Smart monkey, smart monkey.
Over the past day, bids for Dorsey's tweet have risen to about 10 grand.
Estavi says he won't sell for anything less than 50 million.
Good luck.
There are few investment vehicles in history that will turn out to be worse investments than NFTs.
I have to agree.
I have to agree with that.
I don't know.
Does Twitter even turn a profit yet?
I don't know.
So there you go.
There's your NFTs bought for almost $3 million, sold for only got $10,000 as a high bid now.
So they only lost 99.9% of its value.
Jack Dorsey's first tweet.
Why don't you put an edit button in there, asshole?
Yeah, no shit.
He was the free speech champion of Twitter, it turns out.
Right?
That's how fucked up Twitter is.
Establishment media sets of artists fighting.
Good luck.
Bullshit.
We can't afford.
He's fomenting this.
Watch and see as the jet golf.
The median speeds and jumps the medium and hits them head on.
It's the Jimmy Tore Show.
Yes.
Thank you.
Our guest today is a working class hero, Christian Smalls, the founder and president of the Amazon Labor Union, Who scored a huge victory this past April 1st when workers in Amazon's JFK 8 warehouse in Staten Island voted to unionize with representation by the ALU.
He has previously been fired by Amazon for blowing the whistle on unsafe working conditions and poor treatment of workers at the warehouse.
Christian, welcome back to the program.
Thank you for having me.
It's been a pleasure.
So I just want to let people know.
So that was a big deal.
Amazon workers on Staten Island vote to unionize a landmark win for labor.
And I just want to ask you, Christian, what was it like organizing?
Because we hear people talk a lot who call themselves Democrats or liberals or lefties or pro-worker.
We heard people talk about organizing along class lines.
Now, what does that mean to you?
And is that what you did?
Yeah, you know, we didn't just talk about it.
You know, Jimmy, you've been covering me since I was terminated and you've seen sort of the transition of how I've continued to persevere and advocate for workers' rights for almost two years, over two years now.
So I didn't just talk about it.
I went on the ground and I actually got my hands dirty.
And I stayed outside of an Amazon facility for 11 months.
And the workers saw that.
Workers saw me out there every single day, day in, day out, rain of shine, just continuing to advocate and build relationships and earn the trust until we were able to become successfully the first union in American history.
And so talk about the coalition of workers that you put together and what kind of people make up your coalition.
These are former and current Amazon workers.
Most of them are still currently working there.
Some are, unfortunately, they were terminated as well, or they no longer work with a company, but they also continue to advocate along with me.
Some actually were even directly underneath me when I was a supervisor there.
So there's, you know, my vice president, Derek Palmer, who's been around since day one.
Jason Anthony, he used to be underneath me day one.
Gerald Bryson, who breaking news, guess what?
He just got reinstated as of today.
Oh, for breaking.
So Tim J has been uplifted, I believe.
A judge just approved that he'll have his job back.
So that's two years back pay going back to him.
And he's supposed to be reinstated within two weeks.
So that's great news for the labor movement and for Amazon workers.
He was with me.
He was underneath me as well.
And Jordan Flowers still day one.
And everybody else that joined us in our two-year journey, there's so many amazing people.
I can't name all of them, but I can tell you that they uprooted their lives.
They changed their whole lives for this movement.
And they moved to Staten Island.
Not really, I'm sure, sure about what we was going to do, but we moved everybody to Staten Island and we all came together and said, this is where it has to happen.
You know, at JFK 8 and Staten Island, we were able to do so.
And so now, what was your pitch to the workers to get them to join the union?
Because not everybody did.
A lot of people voted against it.
So what were the hurdles you had to get over in their mentality to get them to go along with your union?
Well, the fact that we are Amazon workers, you know, we know the engine out of the company.
We know the grievances we lived in.
You know, we lived the reality of our situation in our community.
You know, we didn't really have to pitch too much because it was the fact that we are actually living in the same type of predicament that they are.
You know, we traveled the commutes two and a half hours, three hours each way.
We dealt with the TOT system, the unpaid time system.
We dealt with the system that Amazon created.
And we can relate to the language.
We can relate to the grievances, as I mentioned.
And I think what we're pitching is that we want change for our own selves, for our working environment, for our working conditions.
You know, Amazon is ran off a system of metrics and numbers.
The union was about compassion.
It still is about compassion and caring about one another.
You know, we did things that were unprecedented, not traditional.
We took care of one another.
We showed the workers what it is to stand up and be encouraged to do that.
And also just, once again, earning the trust, having several conversations, being consistent, not just having a bunch of lip service or having a third party or an established union that we have to educate about Amazon.
We are the actual workers.
We know the problems.
And I think that resonated more so.
Did you experience workers who normally would have differences politically, putting those political differences aside and coming together around your union?
Absolutely.
You know, Staten Island, if people don't know, it's Trump Island.
You know, it's not Democratic at all.
And we couldn't tie ourselves to political candidates, even though individually I may do so from time to time, endorse certain folks.
The union itself, ALU, doesn't endorse politicians.
We don't pick sides.
We don't care whether you're left, right, up, down, middle, red, green, blue, yellow.
It doesn't matter.
We want to represent all workers.
At the end of the day, everybody's a worker.
You know, it's not about political views and we can't pick and choose who we want to organize with.
We want to include everybody.
So what you're saying is if you're an Amazon worker, it doesn't matter if you're a communist, a socialist, a Democrat, a libertarian, a gun nut, or a Trumper.
You all are experiencing the same kind of oppression from the same oligarchy.
And so you all have common needs and you can coalesce along common ideas.
That's what you're saying.
That's what solidarity is.
People scream solidarity, but don't know what it is.
They pick and choose when they want to use it.
If you're talking about solidarity, you got to find a commonality.
You've got to build up the commonality.
And the commonality for Amazon workers is the working condition, the environment, the culture.
And what we do with ALU is we created a culture that resonates with the mass and the majority.
And that's how you form a union.
And that's what a union should represent.
You're talking about unity.
You talk about bringing people together.
Once again, you build off the commonality of what the issues are.
So we don't fall into the rabbit hole of, oh, because you're left or right, we don't want to organize with you.
So a lot of, so you, so that you're JFK 8, the fulfillment center you organized is in Staten Island, like you said.
So there's going to be a lot of Trumpers who work there.
And so they're now in your union.
And you caught a lot of flack because you went On Tucker Carlson and to help spread your message.
You know, workers come in all stripes and you representing a class of people.
You're not representing political ideologies.
You're representing a class of people.
So you went on Tucker Carlson and you did it.
You did a really great job.
I think you did a great job.
And everybody has their own agenda.
Your agenda was to get your message out.
And I think you did.
And so let me just play it.
It's very brief.
It's only about two and a half minutes, maybe three minutes.
So I'm going to play it.
And then I just want, so people have a context of what we're talking about.
So let me just play it.
So were you surprised that Sandy Court, Alexandria Casio-Cortez, who has said repeatedly that she's on the side of the worker against the corporation, wasn't standing with you at the barricades?
Yeah, I mean, you know, it wasn't just her.
It was all of them pretty much.
You know, it's not.
Fair.
You know, I don't want to make it just between us and AOC because, you know, a lot of them didn't show up.
And, you know, once again, we have no ill will against them.
We know that whether they shouldered or showed up or not, they didn't make or break our election.
We just had to continue to organize.
Yeah, I mean, it's just a weird moment because, I mean, I'm on the right.
I've never been particularly pro-union, but it does seem like Amazon needs some counterbalance.
Like it's this huge company.
The workers have no power.
And maybe we could, I don't know, share a little power with people who work there.
So that's my view anyway.
So tell us where you are in your organizing efforts.
Well, right now, you know, we're fighting for a contract.
You know, Amazon's disputing the election results.
So we're in walking and chewing bubblegrum at the same time.
We're fighting for a contract.
We're preparing for another election in two weeks on April 25th.
We're going to be voting at a second location directly across the building that we just unionized.
So we're in the thick of a fight right now, you know, a legal battle.
And, you know, we just have to stay grounded and pretty much begin our campaign all over again.
I mean, you'd think that Amazon would be open to a union, that Amazon would be open to a union.
Wouldn't you?
It's a very progressive company.
Why do you think they're trying to thwart you from organizing?
Amazon hasn't been unionized in this country since the beginning of its existence.
And they're very anti-union.
They created a system that hires and fires people.
They create a system that they have full control of the working people.
And, you know, having a union obviously brings representation for the workers that'll benefit the workers at the bottom, like myself, hourly associates, entry-level workers that don't get the right to negotiate.
So forming a union gives us the right to collect a bargain with the company, form a contract to protect ourselves.
So that's exactly what we're trying to do with the Amazon labor union.
We're hoping that we'll be a catalyst for something that'll take place nationwide.
Well, I certainly am rooting for you.
I mean, maybe if they throw some more woke slogans at you, you'll forget you can't feed your family.
Chris, I appreciate your coming on.
Thank you very much.
So that was the entire interview, and it was fantastic.
And I think that, you know, I saw an article that more Democrats watch Tucker Carlson than watch MSNBC.
So you're reaching a big broad, you're not just reaching right-wingers or Republicans.
You're also reading, you're reaching Democrat centrists.
And you caught a lot of heat for going on Tucker Carlson.
And I just wanted to show two examples and then you can respond to it.
This is from someone from Media Matters.
Now, Media Matters normally focuses on clipping videos of right-wing people and showing how horrible they feel they are.
And so they thought it was wrong for you to go on.
They said Tucker Carlson is a hateful bigot and he uses his program every night to spread his hateful bigotry.
Someone like Smalls appearing on his show only gives Tucker credibility he doesn't deserve.
And then one more, there's a necessary conversation to be had about why so many pro-labor electeds kept their distance from JFK 8 fight.
But Tucker Carlson's investment in that debate is only to weaken, divide, and confuse.
Don't play his game.
So what do you say to that, Chris?
It's just ridiculous.
First of all, I stay out of Twitter.
I tweet and I go about my business.
That's what most people should do.
But I guess people have nothing else better to do than have Twitter fingers all day.
But that's not what organizing is, you know, not social media and not tweeting.
You know, I stand in solidarity with somebody and not doing anything.
You know, it doesn't matter whose show I go on.
I'm going to have Slack going for going on the show with you tonight.
It's like, people don't understand.
It doesn't matter who I talk to.
It doesn't matter what show I'm on.
Somebody always got something to say.
And that's just what I learned in my short two years of organizing in the labor movement.
It doesn't, I'm damned if I do.
I'm damned if I don't.
So it doesn't matter if I go on your show.
It doesn't matter if I go on MSABC.
It doesn't matter if I go on CNN, Fox.
To me, I'm going on Fox, but everybody focuses on the person I'm interviewing with.
And that's ridiculous.
Forget about what I'm talking about.
They worried about Tucker Carlson.
I don't give a damn about Tucker Carlson.
I've never met the man, never watched his show.
I didn't even watch the interview until now.
So that just tells you how much I don't care.
And the only thing I care about is the workers.
And I'm hoping that people understand that.
It's like, you know, it's about the message, about what I'm talking about.
It's not about who I'm interviewing with.
And if I have the availability to get on somebody's show that has a big platform, I'm going to do it because it's about reaching the mass, like you mentioned.
And that's what I mean.
So let me just, of course, I'm being facetious, but when you're organizing a union at Amazon that has all stripes and colors of people and from all different political persuasions, is it helpful to your organizing effort to call half the people at that place racists and bigots?
Is that helpful?
Absolutely.
I mean, no.
I mean, of course, you know, because I went on, I done done a thousand and one interviews with many people.
And the one interview everybody's having a Twitter war about is Tucker Carlson, really.
It's like, come on now.
If you go back from the beginning of when I got fired, I've been on plenty of people's shows, including yours.
And it doesn't matter.
People always got something to say.
But I don't care about that.
I don't care about social media.
I'm doing the work on the ground every day.
You know, that's what's important.
It's the workers that are actually affected by how we're organizing and what we're doing.
So as long as they are okay with it, I'm okay with doing what I need to do.
Okay.
What's funny is that you didn't, you kept your eye on the ball about what's happening, getting your message out about workers and not making it about personalities, which was very smart of you and very deft of you to do that.
And the irony is the people who were criticizing you were doing that.
They were actually quote unquote taking the bait and making it about personalities instead of about the issues.
And so that's why those people have never done anything in their life that even comes close to what you've already accomplished, which is the biggest momentous thing that happened for union organizing in a generation at least.
So you're out there getting it done.
And people are, of course, telling you where you could do it better.
People who've never done anything.
And what you've tweeted out was you're focused on me.
I'm focused on we.
And that was the perfect comeback.
Now, I just have a few questions for you.
In the New York Times article about your victory, they say the near-term question facing the labor movement and other progressive groups is the extent to which they will help the upstart Amazon labor union withstand potential challenges to the result and negotiate a first contract, such as by providing resources and legal talent.
Now, is any of that happening?
Is the other labor organizations stepped up to help?
Yeah, of course.
You know, now that we won, you know, everybody and the mother is reached out.
You know, this is what we want.
We wanted to shake the labor movement up, shake up the politicians as well to get their support.
And it's never too late to get involved.
And that goes for everybody who didn't show up in the beginning.
But we just have to make sure that they have the workers' interest.
And that's my job as interim president is to make sure that whoever wants to get involved, they absolutely can, but they can't just get involved for a week or two.
They got to make sure they're here for the long haul, especially the New York progressives and the New York elected officials, the unions, established unions.
If you're going to get involved with Amazon workers or the AOU in any capacity, we want to make sure that you are here for these workers on the day-to-day.
And you're putting something on paper: better laws, better bills that are going to help us organize and help the workers get protections.
So I remember not too long ago, I was on Twitter and I saw someone tweet out.
They said something like, hey, what are we supposed to do when Trumpers want to join our union?
And someone responded, you declare victory.
That's what you do.
You declare victory.
So that's when you have the power, when you have people from all sides of the political spectrum coming together.
They can dismiss you if it's just a bunch of progressives or a bunch of libertarians or a bunch of greens or a bunch of social.
If there's just a group, a small group, the bigger the group, the less they can dismiss you.
And I think that's a great lesson to take.
I have one more video I'd like to show you.
This was Jim Kramer on CNBC.
And this was his assessment of the problems at Amazon or the problem of the union at Amazon.
And I'd just like to get your response.
Well, we know that the union work rules are what everything is about.
It's the same case with Starbucks, too.
If you can't tell your employees when they work, then you're really not able to have much of an ability to be able to move product or move coffee.
And I think the people, the unions will be in charge of time that you need to work.
And that would be dreadful for very dreadful for Andy Jasmine.
So did you, we were able to hear that?
He's saying this is all about unions being controlling the time clock and when people are going to work and when they're not.
And if the company cannot control when workers work, that that's dreadful for them.
That's going to, what do you say to that?
That was funny as hell.
So he's saying basically they're going to lose a bunch of money.
That's what they're complaining about is losing a bunch of billions and millions of dollars that they don't really need anyway.
I don't care.
You know, yeah, we're going to control people's work, working 40, 50, 60 hours a week.
Yes, we want them to have a family and family time.
So if he's mad about that, oh, well, I don't get the damn.
Because yes, we do work 40 to 60 hours a week and we work 10 to 12 hours a day with a 30-minute lunch.
And I think I don't think they relate to what our lifestyles are.
So if we want better, and that's exactly what the union is going to do, I'm all for it.
You know, I can care less about what some rich people are discussing.
Okay, so your next election is on the 25th of April.
And what is that?
What is that about?
This is our second election in Staten Island.
It's LDJ5.
It's sortation, assortation center right across the street from JFK.
It's about 1,600 workers.
And yeah, we are in the heat of that.
We got organizers out there daily just organizing inside and outside.
And we're hoping to be successful.
This will also be a historical moment for the movement and for the AOU.
Well, Chris, I just can't tell you how much it means to everybody what you're doing.
And you're setting an example.
You're not tweeting.
You're not Facebook.
And you're actually getting your boots on the ground and organizing people and getting it done.
You're doing it much better than the politicians.
You're embarrassing the politicians like you should be.
And of course, not that hard.
And you're doing it.
So I just want to say thanks.
And, you know, please keep us abreast of whatever you're doing.
And anything you need amplification on, just let us know.
And we'd be glad to have you back on.
Any last words you want to tell everybody?
Oh, yeah.
Thank you once again for bringing me on.
And yes, continue to support us.
At amazonlaborunion.org at Amazon Labor on Twitter.
Follow us and stay supportive.
It would be appreciated.
Okay.
Christian Smalls getting it done.
Thanks for everything.
And we'll talk to you soon, buddy.
All right.
Take care.
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I want to tell people about this.
I want to want to bury the lead, but I have a lot to tell you about this.
So the thing is, the U.S. Progressive Caucus, the Congressive Caucus, right?
The Progressive Congressional Caucus, that includes the squad, they endorsed a corporate Democrat against Nina Turner.
Now, who is Nina Turner?
Nina Turner is like the loudest last hope for people who are voting, progressives voting Democrat.
She's their last hope.
Even though she has indicated she is going to be exactly like the rest of the squad, this is their people's last hope to vote Democrat.
She's got to do it.
Once Nina Turner gets in there, she's going to do it, right?
Now, she got endorsed when she ran in a special election in Ohio.
She got endorsed by the Progressive Caucus.
And, well, Pramila Jayapal.
Her leadership proud to receive the endorsement of Pramila Jayapal.
She is the leader of the Progressive Caucus, and she endorsed her in her.
But then what happened?
Well, Chantelle Brown, that's who she was running against, the corporate Democrat.
What happened?
After Turner aired an advertisement touting her support for Medicare for all, corporate lobbyists, including those representing Big Pharma, held a fundraiser for Brown.
And the anti-Medicare for all lawmaker, Jim Clyburn, intervened to support her campaign.
So the shitlib Democrats and Big Pharma got together to go against Nina Turner and for this corporate Democrat.
The DMFI PAC and the corporatist dark money group Third Way spent $2.4 million promoting Brown and opposing Turner.
Even so, and then she won, the corporate Democrat beat Turner.
Even so, the Congressional Progressive Caucus welcomed Brown with open arms.
She also joined the Congressional Progressive Caucus Adversary Caucus, the New Democrat coalition, which includes several congressional.
So she's also a blue dog Democrat.
She's in both, she's a blue dog Democrat, which is a conservative Democrat, and she's in the Progressive Caucus.
You shouldn't be allowed in both.
And they let her in anyway.
By the way, she also got support from an Ohio Republicans to beat her.
Ohio Republicans voted for her, and she got a contractor that she had awarded $17 million to as a city councilor, a potential tit for tat that resulted in an ethics probe.
So she lost.
But she still supported the squad.
This is Nina Turner supporting the squad.
Remember when we were doing Force the Vote, when we figured out here at this show that there was enough people in the squad that they could block legislation.
There were such narrow margins in the House that the squad actually had power and they couldn't pass legislation without the votes of the squad, meaning AOC, Pramila Jayapal, Rokana, you know, the Mark Poe, all the people in the squad called progressives, right?
Okay.
Ilan Omar, Ayana Presley, you know who they are.
So they had to, and so they were supposed to withhold their vote for Nancy Pelosi as speaker.
She couldn't become speaker without their vote.
And they had to get something for their vote.
That's how politics works one-on-one.
So we decided, because we helped them get elected, we decided what we wanted them to ask for was a vote on Medicare for All since we're in the middle of a deadly pandemic, and it would be bad optics for someone to vote against it in this.
So I had a good chance to build momentum for Medicare for all.
It had a good chance to build momentum for Medicare for all.
They wouldn't do it.
The squad wouldn't do it.
They sold out and they lied and gaslit.
Pramila Jayapal said that if they had a vote on Medicare for all, it would end the movement for Medicare for all.
Just making stuff up, stuff that is there's no historical evidence for.
Wait, Jamila PayPal said that?
Yeah.
She said that it would end Medicare.
She said that it would end Medicare for all.
So people were, like us, were criticizing the squad for not doing what they said and telling people to stop voting for Democrats and stop donating to them.
Right.
Now, other people were saying you have to be nicer.
Here's what she said.
Here's what Nina Turner said when the squad was supporting her and they weren't supporting us.
When the squad had turned its back on us and didn't do anything, this is what she said.
It's okay to be disappointed, but the squad is ultimately the best that we have in terms of being able to push an agenda.
And what that means is that you might not always agree.
So what that means is we have nothing.
If they're the best, then we have nothing.
So this is her, this is what's called gaslighting.
So this is Nina Turner, and she's gaslighting, which is another name for lying.
So she's bullshitting you about the squad.
And here it comes.
With the methods, I need people to understand that when you are on the inside, it doesn't mean that you are selling out.
I know they've gotten a lot of pressure, but they are the ones up there holding it down.
Holding what down?
Yeah, what are you talking about?
What are you, you're just making up words now.
They didn't hold down any, holding it down.
They didn't hold down anything.
They didn't use their leverage to get a vote on Medicare for all.
They didn't use their leverage to get a $15 minimum wage.
They didn't use their leverage to get student debt relief.
They didn't use their leverage to get marijuana relief.
They didn't use their, they didn't use their leverage for anything.
They didn't do anything.
They're holding it down.
You know what they're holding down?
A vote to give $2 billion more to the cops.
They held that down.
You know what they held down?
A bill to give more billions of dollars to the Iron Dome.
They held that down.
What have they held down?
They've done nothing.
So this is why it's kind of funny that the progressives have their bushing a knot over this, for lack of a better term.
It's just funny because she's already told you, this is a year ago.
She already's telling you she's going to go and be just like the squad, which means if she was elected already, she would be endorsing other corporate Democrats over people like her.
That's why it's so mean what they did to her because she could have been holding it down.
That's right.
She could have been holding it down too.
It's so mean.
Here, let's listen more.
They're pushing as hard as they can.
And just because things.
She said that squad is pushing as hard as they can.
So this is just 100 miles an hour bullshit coming your way.
Okay.
And why is she doing this?
She's doing this to defend politicians who are turning their back on voters.
Okay.
They're pushing as hard as they can and still being able to be invited to parties.
Yes.
They're pushing as hard as they can and not without.
I'm going to push as far as I can push right up into where I'll get my Matt Gala invitation taken away.
That's where I stopped pushing.
You don't understand what it's like.
Yeah.
Okay, here we go.
They're not going exactly the way just because they're not using the exact tactics that some activist community want them to use.
Is that the ones that they're going to be?
You mean the tactics that they ran on that they said they would do?
You mean those tactics?
This is amazing.
So this is called garbage and propaganda and bullshit and gaslighting.
And it's an insult.
This is insulting.
Because guess what?
If you're throwing away members of the squad who are our best opportunity to get what we need and also some members of that progressive caucus, you're not going to have anybody there.
So if the prerequisite insulation is the prerequisite for relationship means that I have to do or the squad has to do everything you say the way you say do it, then there's not much of a relationship at all.
No.
Oh my God.
So do you see how she's so this is her making excuses for politicians who sold out, sold you out and did nothing for you, right?
And I was tuning out because it was so insulting, but what really is getting me is this guy nodding along like, yes, I'm swallowing this.
And you're going to be disappointed.
Hell, they're going to be disappointed with me.
I'm disappointed with you already.
Everything you just said was already a disappointment.
I'm already disappointed.
And immediately after this, she started tweeting about access to health care instead of Medicare for all.
That's where she started to go.
Okay, here we go.
Here we go.
I said that to Tim Black when we interviewed.
I'm saying it to you, Mike.
I want them to know you're going to be disappointed at some point.
This is her campaign speech.
I'm going to disappoint you.
Vote for me.
What?
I'm not going to hold their feet to the fire.
Vote for me.
Oh, my God.
If she ever goes against that guy from Colorado, it'll be a real.
It'll be a real great.
But that does not mean that you give up totally on the people who are the best fighting chance that you have.
And then there's something called strategy.
And, you know, our strategy of never using our leverage, but just saying strategy in a really condescending way as if you don't know that I'm bullshitting you right now.
Strategy?
What's their fucking strategy, you gaslighting bullshitter?
What's their strategy?
What was their strategy?
They didn't have a strategy.
And you know what their strategy ultimately was?
Their strategy ultimately was to not endorse you.
And they're going to endorse your corporate opponent who takes big pharma money and campaigns with Republicans.
That's who those people who you're defending right now over activists like me.
That's what they just did to you.
They just stuck a knife in your back and turned it.
And what did you get for doing this?
You got nothing.
You lost your credibility by doing this.
Congratulations.
You went on to start.
Yeah, you're holding you down now.
You're holding you down.
So she already revealed who she is.
This is bullshit, right?
And now Pramila, this is after Pramila Jayopel said if we had a vote on Medicare for all, it would end the movement.
This is just making up garbage.
People would magically get healthcare.
If you don't have a vote on Medicare for all, it helps us get Medicare for All.
It's the craziest thing you ever heard.
And that's what she's defending.
That's what she's defending.
So she already tipped her hand.
Here we go.
The grassroots strategy is different than the strategy once you are on the inside.
Strategy.
You know, somebody is sold out.
And I assure you that the squad has not underlined bold underscore sold out.
They just endorsed the corporatist that's running against you.
Underline, in bold.
They just endorsed the corporatist running against you.
Underline.
In bold all caps.
A question.
Is this saying this after this?
A year or before?
No, this is a year ago.
This is before.
So, yeah.
So this was after Force the Vote.
This is her strategy.
Oh, okay.
I just want to make sure.
I'm like, she's not talking like this after they just don't like that.
No.
Oh, God.
Here, there's a little more.
Anyway, they need the grassroots.
You can hold them accountable, but you don't throw them away.
And they never say, what does that mean?
Hold them accountable.
That was the question I asked all through Force the Vote.
What is our mechanism to hold the squad accountable when they don't do this?
We knew they weren't going to do it.
But I said, and I kept asking panel after panel of good progressives, what's our strategy to hold them accountable?
They've had no strategy.
I asked Kyle Kalinsky, who was the founder of the Justice Democrats, what's our strategy to hold him accountable?
He said, we don't have a strategy.
I said, when are you going to hold him accountable?
And he said, we're not.
You're not going to do anything?
He said, no.
That was that.
And then he went on to tell people to be nicer to the squad that I was wrong and that you have to be nicer to them.
Well, here she is being nicer to them.
And they just endorsed the biggest corporatist hack in the world against her.
Wait, why did they, I don't understand why she's calling them grassroots, the squad.
No, no, she's saying that the grassroots, like people like us, the organizers, that just because we have our own strategy, they have their strategy and they need the grassroots.
Yeah, I know they need the grassroots, Nina.
That's why they're supposed to do what we tell them to do.
We'll lead from Twitter.
Yeah.
We'll send you a flexi arm when you get something done without any help.
Some of the pressures, even with Congresswoman Corey Bush, I would just want to use her as the example.
I mean, she just got there.
Overall, the squad members overall just got there.
They just got there.
Let them get settled.
Let them get settled in.
Let them lose the house to the Republicans in November.
And then after a couple of more election cycles, they'll know what they're doing.
This is gross.
That's gross.
Because that's really like bold-faced, like, hey, this is about me and my career.
That's right.
Don't forget.
It's mostly that.
So I got to be secure.
So here, that's a little bit more.
Ones who've been there a little longer.
And then you have people just throwing up their hands, throwing them away just because they're not using the tactics that you want them to use.
You don't know what is going on.
So that's her.
No, I know what's going on.
I want health care and they won't force a vote for it.
That's what's going on, you liar.
And here's what's here's why I love this.
When politicians refuse to do what they ran on while capitulating to corruption, it absolutely means we throw them away.
They blew it.
I will throw away Nina Turner away in a heartbeat if she betrays us.
That was Apocalypse David saying that.
Well, guess what?
She got beat to it by the squad.
The squad threw Nina Turner away.
Guess who threw Nina Turner away?
Pramila Jayapel and the Progressive Caucus.
That's who threw her away.
She's saying, don't throw the squad away.
They threw you away.
And guess who else they threw away?
The grassroots.
They threw everything away.
And so that's why.
Anapollock, unapologetic, said some don't want to hear it, but Nina Turner will go to Congress and turn into a regular incrementalism-loving status quo defending Democrat.
It's absurd to spend more time browbeating people with no healthcare than criticizing politicians who ran on Medicare for all, but opposed a floor vote.
I'll read that again.
It's absurd to spend more time browbeating people with no health care, which is what she's doing, than criticizing politicians who ran on Medicare for All but opposing a floor vote.
So she's wagging her fingers at people without healthcare who want them to do something about it.
And what is she doing?
She's defending the people who won't help them get healthcare.
How'd that work out for you?
They didn't endorse you anyway.
Oh my God, that's funny.
They didn't endorse you anyway.
Now she'll never get a Netflix deal.
Now she'll never get a Netflix.
Compton J tweeted out.
Are you surprised that Pramila Jayapel and the Progressive Caucus is supporting Chantel Brown over Nina Turner?
And I didn't, I didn't get a chance.
I went back to look for that.
I think they deleted this.
I would love to see what the results were.
Can you see if you can find the results?
I couldn't find them.
David Sirota, even David Sirota, who tried to find a way to defend the squad around Force to Vote, did a poor job of it, but even he's had it.
Even he's had it.
He said, let's be clear, this is very likely Pramila Jayapel selling out the entire movement because of her unbridled ambitions to get a fancy but meaningless leadership title among a House Democratic caucus that will be obliterated in the midterm elections.
A total betrayal on every level.
So David Sirota is saying that Pramila Jayapel, the head of the Progressive Caucus, is selling out.
That's what he used the word, selling out the entire movement.
And what is she selling it out for?
Her own career ambitions.
Now, Kyle Kalinsky will tell you that's not corruption because she's not taking corporate money.
Although we did find out, we'll do another video where she is taking corporate money.
But he would say that's not cool.
By definition, that's not corruption because they don't take corporate money.
But that doesn't have anything to do with the definition of corrupt.
That's corrupt.
When you sell out the people who elected you and you turn your back on your policies that you've endorsed and your supporters endorse for your own personal advancement in your career, that's called corrupt.
That's the definition of corrupt, not that bullshit definition that Kyle Kalinske tried to make everyone tried to gaslight you with.
That's a gaslight.
This is real, that David Sirota is correct.
This is real corruption.
Not that gaslighting definition that the founder of the Justice Democrats gave you to protect the squad.
This is it.
She's selling out for her own personal career advancement.
That's corruption.
Uh...
Thank you.
So, oh, this is what the progressive caucus said.
This is how they justified it.
Evan Brown, executive director of the Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC, told the lever, endorsements are put to the pack for consideration when the incumbent Congressional Progressive Caucus member requests it.
And the Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC regularly endorses members who ask.
So Chantel Brown was allowed to be a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, even though she's in bed with big pharma Republicans and many other nefarious corporatists.
And so she asked them to endorse her, and so they did.
That's their excuse.
She asked this.
But what about if there's a more progressive person running?
That's not what this is about.
Wow, they really did Nina Turner dirty.
That's so.
They did.
They did.
Well, Nina Turner did us dirty by defending them when they were selling us out at record speed.
And now they just did that to her.
It's kind of funny.
So just to remind you who Pramila Jayapal is.
This is what she said about President Biden.
This is true.
Now, President Biden hasn't done anything.
He didn't do anything he ran on.
Didn't give you the $2,000 check.
He didn't give you the $15 minimum wage.
He didn't give you student debt relief.
He didn't end the war.
He didn't do anything.
He didn't do marijuana.
He didn't do anything.
Did he promise, though, to eventually shake hands with an invisible man on stage?
I think he did promise that.
So here's what she said.
I think President Biden has risen to the moment, and I really do give him an A in what he's done so far.
I think President Biden...
So do you see what you're doing when you vote for Democrats?
Do you see what you're doing?
That's the most, that's the head of the Progressive Caucus.
So over the past year, under Jayapaul's direction, the organization has worked closely with the Democratic establishment with few clear legislative victories to show for it.
So the Progressive Caucus and the squad have been working closely with the Democratic establishment.
What did they get out of it?
Nothing.
Nothing.
Oh, I'm sorry.
They got advanced in their own careers.
That's what they got.
Breonna Joy Gray asked the question.
So she's Bernie Sanders' former press secretary.
Says, it will be interesting to see which leftists signal support for Nina Turner over the next few days and which remains silent in the wake of the Congressional Progressive Caucus endorsement.
Any word from the squad yet?
Well, as of this taping, no.
So maybe the squad would come out and support Nina Turner and go against a Progressive Caucus chair.
Not happening.
Not happening as of this recording.
I hope it does happen.
We'll see what happens.
It doesn't matter if it happens or not.
You already saw that Nina Turner already indicated she's going to become just like them when she gets there.
Holding it down.
Holding it down.
And I just want to remind you, AOC was the one who gave us the idea to have a Medicare for all vote.
She said Medicare for All has been on the floor of the Congress since 2003.
The bill is 15 years old.
A stream of studies from both left and right have shown that by funding the mechanism, immense cost savings for Medicare for All, almost every modern nation.
So this is what's, that's how they used to think.
And then when they had a chance to get a vote on that, of course, they didn't.
They succumbed to the leadership, to the establishment.
And he's right.
Stop donating to Justice Democrats.
It's not rational to fight for politicians who never fight for you.
So there you go.
I guess Katie Porter also is endorse.
Because she's part of the Congressional Caucus.
I would love to hear from Katie Porter.
See what Katie, who Katie Porter is endorsing.
I have a strong feeling she's going to disappoint.
We'll see.
By the way, none of this matters.
It doesn't fucking matter if Nina Turner gets elected or not.
It really doesn't.
She's better than Chantel Brown, but she's already indicated she's going to become whatever the squad wants her to be, whatever the leadership wants her to be.
And it's funny they turned her back on her.
Isn't that amazing?
That's funny.
I didn't turn my back on her.
They turned their back on her.
It's fucking hilarious.
So, and that's called karma, I think.
So when Nina Turner gaslights and lies to protect politicians from their grassroots supporters that hard, and then they come back to stick a knife in her back or in her front, they stuck a knife in her front.
I guess I think that's called karma.
Okay, over to Steph.
Okay.
Actually, she found you the Compton J poll.
She'll send it to you right now so you can look at it.
What was the result?
What was the result?
Tell him the results.
You can just tell me the result.
People saying they're not surprised.
80% said they're not surprised.
Only 12% said they were surprised.
No, it turns out 87% said they're not surprised.
Only 13% said they were.
Hey, this is Jimmy.
Who's this?
Jimmy Dean.
This is Air Pacino.
Oh, I got to do.
Oh, here.
Hang on.
Hang on.
I got to get a picture of you up here, Al.
All right, there we go.
How are you doing, Al?
Jimmy, I'm doing fucking great.
Right.
I hear there's a new lady in your life, buddy.
That's right.
I'm head over heels for this board.
Nor is her name.
Nor you got it.
Her family is from Kuwait.
And let me tell you, she sets my oil fields on fire every goddamn night, even though I'm sad.
Yeah, I got it.
When did you start seeing her back during the pandemic?
It was nice to have her little company during all that solitude.
I've come to really like this girl.
She's sweet.
She can cook.
I heard there was something a little unconventional about your relationship.
Is that true?
What do you mean?
Not really.
We're both pretty conventional.
Nice mix of going out and staying in.
Key to a healthy relationship.
Netflix and chill one night, paint the down red and color rug the next.
No, no, I mean your respective ages.
I'm sorry, I don't follow.
Well, Al, you're 81 and she's 28 years old.
Oh, right, right, right.
The age thing.
Yes, Al, the age thing.
Well, that doesn't really matter to me.
Yeah, I bet.
I mean, I get it.
I do.
She's in her late 20s, and that's when a woman's look starts to fade.
Ah!
Stuff starts to sag a little bit.
But that doesn't matter to me.
If you have a real connection, these things don't bother you.
You're in love and you age together.
So nice of you that you're not bothered by her 28-year-old sagging skin.
I really, that's so big.
All that is absolutely not what I'm talking about, though, Al.
Al, some people would find a 53-year age gap troubling.
Who?
What people?
I don't know, Al, people.
Nah, you mean women people.
They're the only ones who give a shit.
Middle-aged women.
I know what they say.
Do look how old Hal Pacino is.
He shouldn't be dating, little Miss Thing.
He's so old.
Well, that just means you wouldn't want to date me yourself, so fuck off, lady.
It just seems inappropriate.
It just seems hot as shit is what it is.
What?
Well, what gives you the right to date somebody so young?
I'm Al fucking Pacino.
That's what wasn't the fucking godfather.
Come on, get real.
What do you think we're doing out here?
I'm rich and famous.
Hey, you know, there's a lot more to that phone call, but we don't have time in today's podcast.
How do you hear the entire phone call?
You got to become a premium member.
Go to JimmyDorkomedy.com, sign up.
It's the most affordable premium program in the business.
All the voices performed today by the one and the only of the inimitable, Mike McRae, who can be found at MikeMcRae.com.
That's it for this week.
you be the best you can be, and I'll keep being me.zust quer out Don't freak out.
Don't freak out.
I'm not kidding.
Don't, don't, don't, don't, bring out.
Don't you, don't, don't.
Don't don't do not broke out.
Do not freak.
Don't freak out.
Do not, do not.
Do not freak.
Do not freak.
Do not freak out.
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