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Standing up to Donald Trump didn't work.
I believe there are a number of Republicans who are gonna join us in trying to address healthcare costs for Americans. I expect Republicans to be at the table in the next few weeks. I expect the White House to be at the table. And if they do choose not to come to the table, they can own the disastrous premium increases
that will continue to rise. Will they? Well, each of those three senators, that's Independent Angus King and Democrats Jeanne Shaheen and Catherine Cortez Mastro, decided to break ranks with the Democratic Caucus to bring an end to the government shutdown. And they did so without getting any concessions from the Republican Party, including the effort to extend the subsidies for the Affordable Care Act, which
would prevent premiums from doubling. So it appears that premiums will be doubling. And Cenk, I'm sure you've got some two cents about this.
Yeah, to say the least. So look guys, I'm going to rip into these guys in a minute. And obviously it's the wrong thing
to do, we'll explain why in
a second.
But that's part of it. The more interesting part of it is why the different reaction? because Democrats surrender for a living. That's what we've been showing to
you for 20 years straight on
this show.
But this time around, the Democratic voters had a very different reaction. What was it and why?
I want to get into that too.
Well, let's get to the substance of the vote itself. And to be clear, I think my opinion on this is a little different from the whole of the Democratic constituency.
So I'll explain how in just a minute. But here's what you need to know about yesterday's Senate vote. So the vote passed 60 to 40, and that's what you need, right? You have a legislative filibuster, you need at least 60
votes in the Senate for anything to pass. But it was a procedural vote, and it's not going to bring an end to the shutdown per se. There are still other steps that
the Senate needs to pass in order for the government shutdown to end. So the Senate still needs to hold several more votes to ultimately pass a bill that would actually fund the government.
And then after that, the House would need to pass the legislation as well. Now, there were eight Democrats in the Senate who broke ranks with the party in order to vote in
favor of this procedural vote. And those Democrats include Senator Dick Durbin, Senator John Fetterman, the most unsurprising vote, if you ask me. You also have Maggie Hassan,
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β Ruben, Netherlands
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Get started freeTim Kaine from Virginia, whose vote I think I can understand a little more, especially considering the fact that so many people living in Virginia are federal employees.
So they were particularly harmed as a result of the government shutdown. You also have Angus King, who isn't independent, but he typically caucuses with the Democrats, Senator Catherine
Cortez Mastro, Senator Jackie Rosen, and finally Senator Jean Shaheen. And it is worth noting that none, none of those senators are up for re-election in 2026, meaning, there's this rotating group of
the bad guys in the Democratic Party, or the ones who are willing to raise their hands and be the so-called bad guys. Because it's not really politically harmful for them to do so.
And in this case, none of those eight senators are up for re-election in 2026. In fact, two of them are retiring, the others won't face re-election until 2028 or 2030. And you should also keep in mind that Senator Rosen accepted nearly
$1 million in health care PAC money, including from insurance companies last election cycle. And Senator Tim Kaine welcomed more than $700,000 in health political action committee cash, Cenk.
Yeah, so later we're going to get to why the timing on this too, but I just wanted to make a comment real quick. That if you don't know about how Senate politics and congressional
politics overall work, they do the rotating villains as Anna mentioned, because they want to pretend that they're on your side, but they're actually on the side of the Republicans and
the corporate donors. So that's why they rotate the villains and the people that are rotated in are usually don't have an election coming up, they're either retiring or it's going to come later.
So that people forget to be angry with them when they come up for a re-election later and the people leaving also get to be lobbyists really soon. So they're going to collect
millions of dollars for this vote. This has nothing to do with the Democratic voters. It has everything to do with the corporate donors who demanded
this.
And then in a minute, we're going to explain to you how they plan this surrender all along. Not just Chuck Schumer, who's definitely guilty, but maybe the entire caucus.
So last night's vote allegedly guarantees that the Senate will in fact hold a vote on the healthcare subsidies before the second week of December. But you should also keep in mind
that House Speaker Mike Johnson has stated that he's not committed to bringing that issue up for a vote. So keep that in mind, even if the Senate holds the vote, even if somehow the Senate passes
legislation that would extend the subsidies for the Affordable Care Act, there's no guarantee that House Speaker Mike Johnson will do that. And I should also remind you all, we're currently in the middle of open enrollment, meaning many Americans have already signed up for their health insurance in the coming year. So it is quickly becoming far too late for the extension of the
Affordable Care Act subsidies. And Americans are going to pay far more for their health insurance as a result of that. Now Republicans will get their way in essentially screwing over
the American people by allowing health care premiums to double in an already inflationary economy. In addition, SNAP will be funded through next September. Thousands of federal workers who
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Get started freewere fired during the shutdown will now get their jobs back. And there can't be any more layoffs of federal workers until next year in January. Back pay will also be guaranteed
for the hundreds of thousands of federal workers who were furloughed during the shutdown. And to get a little deeper into the weeds of this issue, the agreement contains a minibus, three full year appropriations bills that will fund certain departments like the agriculture department through the end of
the fiscal year next fall. And a continuing resolution to fund the rest of the government at existing spending levels through January 30th. Now, before we get to the Democratic outrage, I just want to get your thoughts overall, Cenk, on how the Democrats have handled
this because I'm actually a little bit surprised at how furious Democratic voters are.
Interesting, why?
Why are you furious? Because this is a typical surrender, right? We've covered this particular play like 100 times.
We have covered similar issues 100 times where it was a surrender and they didn't get anything at all. And sure, in this case, they're not getting anything at
all.
Republicans are not going to extend the subsidies. They don't care. They don't care about the suffering of the American people. So the longer the government
shutdown lasts, people are going to suffer as a result of snap. As we know, Trump was hell bent and he went to the courts to ensure that the federal government wouldn't tap into reserve funds in
order to make snap recipients hold. So there's going to be a lot of suffering in that regard. Obviously, a lot of employees at airports across this country have been calling in sick because they
haven't been getting paid, whether it's TSA, air traffic controllers. So air travel has been a complete and utter disaster that has a massive impact on our economy.
And I just don't know what the plan would be for Democrats if they massive impact on our economy. And I just don't know what the plan would be for Democrats if they insisted on keeping this fight going, knowing full well, Republicans don't care about you.
They don't care about the subsidies. They don't want to extend the subsidies. And they also don't care about people going hungry when they need
the SNAP benefits.
Yeah, okay, so you're not alone. Charlamagne Tha God said something similar to you, people are in too much pain. And same thing is happening for him as us.
You guys are emailing in, writing in, calling in, whatever, and all these shows and saying, my God, I'm so badly hurt because of these developments, we 100% get it. So the people who hurt you in those
cases are, in this case, you know us, we're fair and when Trump or the Republicans do something right, or they're 98 out of 100 times when the Democrats do something wrong, we call it out for you guys. But in this case,
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β Peter, Los Angeles, United States
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Get started freeit was definitely the Republicans. So Trump has said I'm cutting snap to punish the Democrats. In fact, he's still cutting snap, even though they have this agreement since it hasn't passed.
They're in the courts right now, the Trump administration is saying
we demand to cut snap.
So there's no, no, don't blame Democrats. That is 100% lie. Anyone saying Democrats want to cut snap is definitely Trump and Democrats are fighting against it.
I'm going to call it the Democrats in a second, but you have to be right on the facts. Okay, so now on the doubling of the premiums. So again, the Democrats had, I thought, a good strategy and
you did too.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, okay. So they said, look, we're not going to let your premiums double. And Trump and the Republicans were We're going to make them double, double, double, right? Now I know they did the usual propaganda about, it is the Democrats fault for it doubling because they did the shutdown.
Which by the way, the one upside of this, I acknowledge what you're saying, Ana, is that it takes that excuse away. Right. So now we're going to have
a vote and the Republicans are all going to vote to double your premiums because they're corporate the insurance companies while pretending to be populist, sure. Republican voters are a different phenomenon, Republican politicians are the worst of the worst.
Can I weigh in on that just very briefly? My heart breaks for Republican voters, because understand guys, this doubling of health care premiums, it's going to
impact all voters, including those who trusted Trump, trusted that the Republican Party was being sincere in saying that they were It's going to impact all voters, including those who trusted Trump, trusted that the Republican Party was being sincere and earnest in their fake populism.
Same with the snap benefits. If you look at the demographics and the voting base that's hurt the most as a result of the snap benefits getting taken away as a result of the government shutdown,
it's mostly Trump's voters. And some people are like, hey, too bad you voted for Trump, you deserve it. No, no, these are our fellow Americans. We should not be thinking about retaliation and political punishment against ordinary people just because they voted differently from us. What I'm furious about, though, is that this whole fight has made it abundantly clear to
me that the Republican Party, including Donald Trump, the same guy who insisted on his signature being on those COVID stimulus checks. He's not up for re-election, so
he couldn't care less about you. In the meantime, the bombs and the military aid and all of that going to foreign countries, that hasn't stopped. There hasn't been any debate about
that, but when it comes to taxpayer money helping our fellow Americans, they have no problem depriving you of public programs that you need to survive.
Yeah, so it might affect Republican voters more and I agree 100% with you, this is not the time for haha, okay? But at the same time, Republican voters, you have to realize what the facts are. And the facts are Trump unilaterally said he was taking Snap away. The courts told him he can't and he's still in court today,
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Get started freedemanding to be able to cut Snap. To punish you, for what? You didn't do anything wrong. And Snap normally does not get cut in government shutdowns. This is unprecedented.
He definitely did this and the Democrats are definitely opposed to it. Right. For all the criticism you can have. All right, now to answer your
original question, Anna. So what else could the Democrats
do?
Well, their strategy actually ironically was working and I think that's part of what made them panic because Trump was a cold sweaty tooth madman. He's in a cold, sweaty tooth madman. I mean, he's in a cold sweat and he was going around going,
the Democrats are doing this, they're going to make it. And he's like, this hurt us, it hurt us in the election. So he was being very, very clear that the Republicans were in
trouble. And the Democrats are like, because the play is, guys, good cop, bad cop. So for a lot of people that watch mainstream media, the bad cops are the Republicans, the good cops are the Democrats, but it's Harlem
Globetrotters and the Washington generals, the Democrats are supposed to
surrender.
I think the Democratic caucus panicked because Trump was about to was getting killed here, okay,
politically.
And so you think, what do you mean the Democrats are opposed to Trump and the Republicans? the Democrats are opposed to Trump and their opponents. No, they're not. No, they're giant liars. Enormous liars. And so I think that they thought, we got to end this,
we got to end this. But there's a giant second factor, which is the stock market, which I'm going to get to in
a second, okay?
But Anna, here's why the entire caucus was in on it, okay? Because they brought it to the caucus on Thursday.
Yes, I know, I know. So you're right about that. Like Chuck Schumer, he voted no. But Chuck Schumer voted no because he's politically vulnerable. But he's the one who agreed to
bring this up for a vote in the first place.
Yeah, no, no, Chuck Schumer 100% knew, but the entire caucus knew. Now there's reports out that the caucus was furious on Thursday night when these eight, originally ten Democrats were suggesting this, right? But then conveniently,
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β Adrian, Johannesburg, South Africa
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Get started freethey found the eight people who are not up for re-election in the next cycle. The caucus did that together, and no one leaked from that caucus. No one said these sons of bitches
are going to sell us out. Conveniently, they let them do it and then feign anger afterwards. Golly, gee, we had the Republicans on the ropes. I can't believe they let them off,
wink.
Why do you rotate the villains? The reason to rotate them is because you never meant anything you promised to your voters. So you have to make sure that your voters don't get really angry at you while you secretly do the donor
agenda, right? So now the biggest thing is, it's not that the Democratic senators are in love with Donald Trump and they're trying to protect his reputation.
It's that they always have to let the Republicans win. So the core issue is why? Why do they always have to let the Republicans win? Yeah, and what makes you think that they do? Okay, so in this case, the timing is critical. So the entire caucus waits till after the election.
Now why did they wait till after the election? If they thought it was hurting the Democrats, they would have acted before the election.
Yes, that's true.
So they knew with absolute certainty that this was advantaging the Democrats. Right, politically.
Yes.
Politically, it was disadvantaging Trump and the Republicans, but right after the election, they surrendered anyway, okay?
That's right, that was to be
expected, to be honest with you.
And I don't think anyone's really covering this, and you need to understand about the timing. So you see why it's after the election. So why now though? because Thanksgiving is coming up
and people need money to shop. So all those companies are yelling at all the senators going, you better open it back up. They need money to send to me,
okay?
You losers, do your job,
we paid you, we bribed all of you, open the goddamn thing back up. because if they get close enough to Thanksgiving and the holidays and
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Get started freeBlack Friday, it's going to Open the goddamn thing back up. because if they get close enough to Thanksgiving and the holidays
and Black Friday, it's going to massively affect the stock market.
You're totally right about that. Absolutely. But you also have to consider that Americans are going to suffer as we get closer to the holidays, right?
I know, but Anna, look, we have a poll on TYT.com. And one of the choices as to why this is a bad idea was the precedent that it sets, okay?
Democrats have set this precedent decades ago at this point. This is who the Democrats are. This is one of the rare instances in which, I honestly think this is one of the rare instances in which
the Republicans were unwilling to budge, they don't care.
I know, but then this is a rare
time, Ana. I know, but then this is a rare Tom Anna. So what's the strategy? Explain to me how it would ideally play out in your mind, because I want to understand, I really do. It's not like I'm looking to defend the Democrats. If anything, I'm the one who's
overly critical of the Democrats, according to our audience. So explain to me the proper way of handling this.
Yeah, so first of all, If you're going to do this strategy and you're going to have it last all this time. You've got to finish it. If you don't finish it, what you signal to Republicans is, we will always surrender. You just wait us out. Just wait us out, and
I guarantee you we will never do anything we promised our voters,
ever.
We serve you more loyally than we serve our voters. So now the Republicans for as long as this term lasts, at a minimum, let alone forever, know, yeah, you can call any Democratic bluff. Okay, they're our bitches.
So now when we go to do any bill, any negotiation, we just wait them out. Because these losers will eventually collapse right in front of our feet.
Okay, so that's a guarantee. That's it, all our leverage is gone because the Republican, but to be fair, they already know. So the big question that you're asking, Ana, is the giant difference between this one, this surrender, and the 100 other
ones you and I have covered together-
Right.
Is mainstream media is unable to, the walls have been breached. They're unable to contain the damage. because normally what happens in these is mainstream media then comes in and goes, bravo on the
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β Donni, Queensland, Australia
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Get started freebipartisan compromise. These brave Democrats did an amazing job of putting country and America above politics. Bravo, Democrats, surrender again and again, we love you. And they never called a surrender, etc. But hold on, Ana.
No one's answering my question. Republicans are not gonna budge, they're not a surrender, etc. But hold on, Ana. Hold on. My question, Republicans are not going to budge. They're not, they don't care.
They don't care.
So what do you do?
Hold on, hold on,
I'm getting to that. I'm getting to that.
Okay.
So mainstream media would normally say cover up the crime. And so we would move on and the Democratic base is so angry that even Gavin Newsom and Pete Buttigieg are pretending to be angry, and they're like, this was wrong, right? So why?
Because now online media is dominant. So even for not just Republican voters, we talked a lot about how Republican voters are now getting their news from online and
not mainstream media, not Fox News, but online content. And it's making them change their opinion on Israel. Now all of a sudden lowering drug prices, lowering housing prices, etc, right? But that's also happening for
Democratic voters. Democratic voters used to blindly follow mainstream media way more than Republicans did, right? So mainstream media told them, great job by Schumer, they go,
great job by Schumer. And whenever we criticize Schumer, you remember all the libs would come in and go, you guys are working with the Republicans. If you kiss Schumer's ass enough, we would have, etc, right? But they're not doing that this time because they're getting their news from online media.
So then what do you do knowing that phenomenon? You hold strong and you send out every senator, every congressman on every show. They should have been doing this from day one and say, look, they're gonna double your premium, they're gonna double your premium, they just cut SNAP, they just cut SNAP. And they did it for their donors, they did it for this company, they did it for that company, they did it for the health insurance companies, and they're screwing you over,
right? Until pressure builds, builds, builds, and it was working, cuz the Republicans just got their asses handed to him in election. If you can't hold strong after they lose every election in a cycle, it's a small cycle, but they literally lost every one of them, right?
So if that's at your maximum leverage, so that's when you need to finish the job and get your point across and make sure that everyone in the country knows it's the Republicans that are doubling
your premium and cutting your snap. And instead of taking on that media battle at the perfect time, at maximum leverage, they said, even if we have maximum leverage, we're going to surrender anyway because we don't work for you.
We work for the donors and we work for the stock market. And now people are all beginning to find out because the walls have been breached. And that's why people are all beginning to find out because the walls have been breached, and that's why people are so angry at them.
Whereas before a lot of the lib pundits would have been doing CYA right now. They would have been covering Schumer's ass and these eight asses, and they would have had all
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Get started freethe blankets ready for their asses. Now they're like, no, no, the voters found out.
You see what you're saying. I think the strongest point you're making is the point about making your case to the media, doing it forcefully. The problem is the Democratic Party, especially in the Senate, is full of people who are too old,
not effective communicators, and they haven't done a good job with that messaging. Look, my feelings about this are mixed clearly. I would love to see a Democratic
party that fights more effectively. At the same time, I hate seeing people suffer, especially as we get closer to the holidays. But we're curious what you think,
so leave us a comment in the comment section. because I'm very curious to see because I'm very curious to see what our audience thinks about it.
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