Cenk Uygur: uncertainty

Transcript context

…We can come back to that. Yes, I did. And which makes it Tuesday for me. I get a lot of criticism for everything. And by the way, Democratic Party, you’re welcome. But Biden’s a really interesting example. I’m really glad you brought it up. So the video on TikTok was just showing Biden then, Biden now. And you’re right, Biden was so dynamic. When you see how dynamic he was, we did side-by-side, and then you see him now going “I can barely finish.” Anyways, you’re like, “Oh, that’s not the same guy. I get it.” And that got 5 million views because it resonates. They’re like, “Yeah, yeah, of course”. But when he first started, to the point you’re making Lex, he wanted … In fact, I know because I talked to him about this, his very first bill was anti-corruption. Why? Because at that point, everything changes in 1976 to 78, the Supreme Court decisions that basically legalize bribery. But remember Biden is ancient. So he’s coming into politics at a time when money has not yet drowned politics. And in fact, the American population is super-pissed about the fact that it’s begun. They don’t like corruption. So early Biden, because he’s reading the room, is very anti-corruption. And the first bill he proposes is to get money out of politics. But as Biden goes on for his epic 200-year career in Washington, he starts to get not more conservative, more corporate, because he’s just taken more and more money. By the middle of his career. He has a nickname, the Senator from MBNA. Okay. Nickname, the Senator from MBNA. Okay. MBNA was a credit card company based in Delaware, and the reason he had that nickname is because there isn’t anything Joe Biden wouldn’t have done for credit card companies and corporations based in Delaware, which are almost all corporations, okay? So he became the most corporate senator in the country, and hence the most beloved by corporate media. Corporate media has protected him his entire career until about a month ago. So, for example, in the primaries, both in 2020 and 2024, if you said the Senator from MBNA, I guarantee you almost no one in the audience has heard of it. If you heard of it, good job. You know politics really well, but the reason you didn’t hear of it is because the mainstream media wouldn’t say, “That’s outrageous of Joe Biden to be such a corporate stooge.” They’d say, “That’s outrageous of you to point out something that’s true and something we reported on earlier.” So they protected him at all costs. Now, finally, when you get to this version of Joe Biden, he can’t talk, he can’t walk, he bears no resemblance to the young guy who came in saying that money in politics was a problem. Now he’s saying money in politics is the solution. In 2020, he said, “Well, I can raise more money than Bernie. I can kiss corporate ass better than Bernie. I’m the biggest corporate kisser in the world. So, I’m going to raise a billion dollars and you need to support me.” l, I can raise more money than Bernie. I can kiss corporate ass better than Bernie. I’m the biggest corporate kisser in the world. So, I’m going to raise a billion dollars and you need to support me.” Now, of course, he doesn’t say it in those words, but that was the message to the establishment. Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Obama, Clyburn, everybody goes, “Oh, that’s right. Biden, Biden, Biden, Biden, not Bernie. ” I don’t know that there’s anybody in the country who instinctually dislikes Bernie more than Barack Obama. That’s an interesting… I’m not taking that tangent at this moment. You mentioned mainstream media. What’s the motivation for mainstream media to be corporatist also?…

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