Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Stay strong, because they are weak.

Welcome to day five of every-bit-as-bad-as-you-thought-it-would-be.

The way to stop violence is to stop manufacturing the hatred that fuels it.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

The republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

Museums are not America’s attic for its racist shit.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

One lie, alone, tears the fabric of reality.

“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

T R E 4 5 O N

American history and black history cannot be separated.

They are not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you do not.

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

Do we throw up our hands or do we roll up our sleeves? (hint, door #2)

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

You are here: Home / Elections 2024 / 2024 Primaries / Late Night Open Thread: Grifters Gonna Grift, Young Turks Edition

Late Night Open Thread: Grifters Gonna Grift, Young Turks Edition

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Since I grew up with Armenian (and Greek) neighbors, my first thought was to wonder if Cenk Uygur timed his announcement to coincide with the destruction of Artsakh. But in reality, I doubt he has any wider perspective than What will my credulous listeners fall for?… and when it comes to foreign affairs, those listeners are sub-literate at best, and malevolent at worst.

Open Thread: Grifters Gonna Grift, Young Turks Edition

Dave Weigel, in the Semafor article at the top:

… Democrats have ignored the president’s primary challengers, and that won’t change for Uygur.

He won just 7% of the vote in his first bid for office – a longshot progressive run for Congress in southern California. And early polling of the first primary states, which found a majority of Democrats ready to support a Biden alternative, didn’t entice anyone else into the race. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who on Monday bolted the party to run as an independent candidate, was trailing Biden by between 45 and 70 points.

But Uygur said that he could “break through” in a way that Biden’s other challenger, Marianne Williamson, had not. (“She’s a terrific person with great policies,” he added.) He’d learned from his House campaign that “the mainstream media, generally speaking, are grotesque liars,” and wasn’t afraid of scrutiny of his brash or suggestive on-air comments — a problem that cost him the endorsement of Bernie Sanders in his congressional race.

“I don’t believe in traditional campaigning,” he said. “I will do almost all my campaigning in the media. I love diners. I love meeting actual voters. But that’s mythology, and you’re not going to diner your way into beating an incumbent president.”

Uygur has a different audience than Kennedy or Williamson. He worked briefly as an MSNBC commentator, but parted ways with the network 12 years ago, focusing on building his progressive video news channel, which has 5.6 million YouTube subscribers.


Reader Interactions

82Comments

  2. 2.

    Ruckus

    In all my decades I can’t remember when politics was so screwed up on one side, which is of course bleeding over just a tad to the other, sane side of US politics.

    A person wants to run for president and he doesn’t even know the main restriction on HIS ABILITY to actually run. I may have actually finally heard everything, including gross stupidity.

  3. 3.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Ruckus: Well, I’m with Gas Stove Prayer Warrior: Cenk knows the facts perfectly well, and he’s in for the folding green.  And nothing more.  The only question is whether his donors will know those facts.

  9. 9.

    wjca

    Can a candidate get negative numbers in a primary election. 

    Assuming, strictly for the sake of discussion, that they put him on the ballot in Maine, perhaps he will find ranked choice voting put him below “None of the above”.  (No, I don’t know if “None of the above” is even an option.  But we’re dealing with hypotheticals here.)

  10. 10.

    wjca

    @Chetan Murthy: Cenk knows the facts perfectly well, and he’s in for the folding green.  And nothing more.  The only question is whether his donors will know those facts.

    It’s one thing to bilk donors when you have no realistic chance of winning.  Happens all the time. Caveat emptor and all that.  And after all, there have been unlikely upsets in the past.

    But when you’re flat ineligible?  That’s more like wire fraud than politics.

  16. 16.

    NotMax

    One can file papers of intent to run until the cows come home, but even such a doddering, toothless entity as the FEC is under no obligation to accept them as valid in light of such a blatant disqualification.

  19. 19.

    Tony Jay

    @HumboldtBlue:

    Brilliant, isn’t it? My boy thinks it’s the funniest thing since The Goes Wrong Show and when we showed it to his Mum last night we had to stop 1/3 of the way in because she couldn’t breathe and had jaw ache from laughing so much.

    Are there Oscars for YouTube content? Those guys are serious contenders.

  27. 27.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Chetan Murthy:

    Well, I’m with Gas Stove Prayer Warrior: Cenk knows the facts perfectly well, and he’s in for the folding green. And nothing more. The only question is whether his donors will know those facts. 

    Doubtful given how many liberals forked over money to GOP grifters like the Lincoln Project.

  28. 28.

    Brachiator

    Per source, Cenk Uygur, host of the Young Turks will announce a Democratic primary bid against Joe Biden tonight. One major obstacle to Uygur’s longshot presidential bid is that he is a naturalized citizen and thus ineligible under Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution.

    And I thought that the 2016 presidential campaign was a circus.

  29. 29.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    Can a candidate get negative numbers in a primary election.

    I may have mentioned the Bloom County Meadow Party before, and it’s been said that Berkeley Breathed has been the Cassandra of the comics pages since the 1980s (he had Donald Trump’s number even then, and TFG really didn’t like him). I vaguely recall that one time Opus polled lower than a cucumber, and the Meadow Party, when it was running Bill the Cat for president, routinely got approval ratings in the neighborhood of minus-13 percent (absolute, not relative).

    On the other hand, the Meadow Party ran not one, but two candidates who wouldn’t wear pants. Which is why I continue to assert that they’re the perfect fit for Baud!2024!

  31. 31.

    Brachiator

    @wjca:

    But when you’re flat ineligible?  That’s more like wire fraud than politics.

    Or an average day for George Santos.

  32. 32.

    Tony Jay

    If they’re just letting any old unqualified foreign johnny campaign for President then maybe I’ll decide to stand. Though of course, by ‘stand’ I mean be wheeled around the TV studios reclining on a chaise-longue while being fed grapes and declaiming variations on “New Guy solutions to Old Man problems!” and “I stand foursquare behind Israel!”, since apparently that’s all you need to do to be declared credible at the moment.

    Also, I think a tour of the Late Night celebriwhore circuit wowing viewers with my white-rapping skills. Is that still a thing for joke candidates? Policies don’t seem to be a deal-breaker, but I feel there should be something else shoved in that gap to stop the campaign from rattling, and since Russell Brand has shit all over the ‘Say creepily outrageous things with your legs wide open” go-to there’s got to be something there to keep the scandal mags from sniffing around all the dead interns I may or may not be planning to adorn my secret campaign lair with.

    VOTE FOREIGN GEEZER/PATCHOULI DREAMWEAVER ’24 – “Who Says Excitement Has To Make Sense?“

  35. 35.

    Tony Jay

    @NotMax:

    You kiss your Momma with that mouth?

    ETA – That’s not a no, I will probably steal your suggestion and have it printed on T-Shirts with a saucy question mark.

  36. 36.

    Jay

    @Tony Jay:

    Okay, I just filed. I am coming in from The North,

    the real north, Canada, you know, White walkers and shit.

    I am one of the few remaining Red Tories, socially liberal, fiscally conservative.

    I poll well with women, having 8 remaining abs at my age, also wymmn, by basically, not being an asshole.

    I have LBGTQI support, by being a long standing member of the poly/kink community,

    and do well with evangelicals, being raised Scottish Presbyterian, (50% less Jesus, 50% more beatings),

    My 501Cwill be launching tomorrow, I will update so the Jackals can donate online.

    I also have Steven Harper’s donors list which I will be mining.

  37. 37.

    JoyceH

    Just stopped by to join in the laughing and pointing at Tuberville. Greetings from drizzly Bath.

  39. 39.

    Tony Jay

    @Jay:

    Stump Speech – Version One –

      “My fellow Americans gullible Colonials friends, you’ve all heard what the candidate from The Revenge For 1812 Party has been saying, and it’s appropriate that we take this time to correct the record and expose him for the anti-American carpetbagger he truly is.

    He says that he’s from the True North. How about that, Wisconsin? Minnesota? Do you feel respected? North Dakota, do you like what you hear? I don’t think so. Necrophilia? coprophilia? Show some respect to Main Street, buddy.

    He says he’s a Red, like that’s something to be proud of. He says he’s a Tory, like you didn’t fight – and win – a War of Independence to boot those guys back when Joe Biden was still at Steam-Engine College. He says he wants libertines running society while cutting taxes for the super-rich. Talk about being a tool of the status-quo!

    Throwing women into wells, feeding them with polls, exposing himself, tossing around Woke terminology and then calling all of you assholes if you don’t like it. This guy is a real life Buffalo Bill! Maybe we should give his details to the FBI, let them handle his nonsense.

    And all of that’s before we even get into the stuff about beating Jesus out of people!

    You’ll need that foreign funding, pal, because the American people can see through you and your anti-Alaskan Agenda! Say it with me, No Maple Syrup On Ma’s Apple Pie!

    U.S.A!  U.S.A! U.S.A!”

  40. 40.

    Mai Naem mobile

    Years ago Cenk used to have an evening show on Sirius Progress with Ben Mankiewicz and a young lady(can’t remember her name but it’s not the one he does the show with now.) Anyway, the morning host had done some kind of election special with Cenk and he was talking shit about Cenk the next morning literally  calling him an asshole who only wanted to listen to his own voice.

  42. 42.

    Jay

    @Tony Jay:

    so it’s you, me and Cenk in a Battle Royal, invented in Calgary, by The Sheik, in 1974.

    Okay

    I have a folding chair or two,……..

  45. 45.

    Tony Jay

    @Jay:

    I’m going to Trumpify the Independent Con-didate debates by declaring myself the presumptive winner and sitting them out on a toilet somewhere.

    Really Frigging Kooky Eye-Eye can have my podium, he’s your problem now, no backsies.

  46. 46.

    Frankensteinbeck

    I dunno.  Do you think this might be the latest political left attempt to convince another round of young idealists not to vote because Democrats Are Why You Can’t Have Nice Things?

  47. 47.

    Tony Jay

    @Baud:

    Is New Hampshire the state Rhode Islanders rent cabins in when they need somewhere to dry out their alcoholic kids? I can work with that demographic.

  51. 51.

    Tony Jay

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    “We tried to get on board with Democrats but they rigged their primaries with xenophobic ‘rules’ to keep us down”?

    It’s got some promise, but needs work.

  53. 53.

    Tony Jay

    @Jay:

    But Cenk wants to grift run complain from his double-wide chair as a Democrat, I thought we were competing with RFKookyII and #sadscornedscholar for the coveted Independent candidacy?

    Next you’ll be wanting to jump into the GOP Primaries and hoist Ron-D out of his booties and OMG let’s do that!

  54. 54.

    Tony Jay

    @Baud:

    “He’s dodging me. It’s a simple matter of respect. Look, Joe, I’ll make it easy for you. Let’s debate things you know all about. We can start with questions about the utility of whale-oil lamps, the Missouri Compromise and Who’s Hotter – Louise Brooks or Clara Bow? Then, maybe, if you’re still awake, we can get serious and move onto what’s really at stake in this election. The Limits of Gerontocracy, The War on Free Speech and Did The Armenians Have It Coming For Starting WWI? Will he? I dunno. Guy’s so old he probably doesn’t know either.

    We’ll be back after this break. Don’t forget to subscribe and if you haven’t done it already hit the like button, bro.”

  55. 55.

    Splitting Image

    @Bruce K in ATH-GR:

    I may have mentioned the Bloom County Meadow Party before, and it’s been said that Berkeley Breathed has been the Cassandra of the comics pages since the 1980s (he had Donald Drumpf’s number even then, and TFG really didn’t like him). I vaguely recall that one time Opus polled lower than a cucumber, and the Meadow Party, when it was running Bill the Cat for president, routinely got approval ratings in the neighborhood of minus-13 percent (absolute, not relative).

    The only thing Breathed got wrong in Bloom County was that he had Bill the Cat sell secrets to the Russians before Donald Trump’s brain got put into his body.

  56. 56.

    Matt McIrvin

    Uygur’s run is ridiculous, but I do think Israel/Hamas just reset the effort to convince the left that Biden is a progressive candidate to zero. They’re going to be deeply uncomfortable with him coming out so forthrightly pro-Israel in a war that is just going to get uglier, and the effort to convince them to stay home or vote third party in November ’24 will benefit. I suspect this is going to be about that.

  57. 57.

    Ripley

    @Tony Jay:

    Don’t forget to subscribe and if you haven’t done it already hit the like button, bro.

    Turns out, “smash that love button” is a very popular genre on PornHub and some other, even less reputable, sites.

    I had to go back and edit dozens of my YouTube videos. Yeah, they sent me a t-shirt, but I’m trying to build an audience, y’know?

  63. 63.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Baud: I mean, in purely practical political terms it may not matter because the same stance probably will shore up Biden’s position with more centrist/normie voters, which may be more important. But I guess it’s a bit unseemly to mostly analyze that terrible situation in terms of its effect on US politics.

  64. 64.

    Geminid

    @Matt McIrvin: The Israeli/Palestinian conflict has always been a potential wedge issue for Democrats. I think that is why, when AIPAC let reporters know a couple months ago that they were planning to back a primary challenger to Rep. Ihlan Omar, Hakeem Jeffries issued a statement within hours that Democratic leadership would “vigorously support” Rep. Omar.

    AIPAC considers Jeffries a strong supporter of Israel, and he is. But Jeffries was not about to let AIPAC pit Democrat against Democrat.

  65. 65.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Geminid: It’s a salient wedge issue specifically in the upper Midwest/Great Lakes, where we need all the support we can get. It will be a tricky balancing act.

  66. 66.

    Geminid

    @Matt McIrvin: I think this war will end before too long, maybe even by the end of the month. I’m not sure it will still be a salient issue next year.

    In May of 2021 people here were up in arms over Israel’s bombing of Gaza. There has been almost constant violence since then, but at a lower level and it got scant attention here or in most media outlets (until Saturday). With the exception of the time Israeli soldiers raided Jenin and killed the prominent Al Jazeera journalist, people generally don’t show a lot of interest. Which is not a good thing, for many reasons.

    I could be wrong, but I think it will be the same this time. People will say, “No way, this time it’s different!” But in three months, I think it will be the same.

    It won’t be in Israel, but that’s another story.

  67. 67.

    Baud

    @Geminid:

    On my feed, there’s a Poltico article about the DSA and Israel.  I don’t click on Politico as a matter of principle, but you might be interested.

  68. 68.

    Steve Crickmore

    I support Cenk Uygur launching a campaign to run in the Democratic Presidential primary, since Biden has been so ineffective in communicating the message of his administration’s solid economic record and the very real danger of fascism Trump presents to the nation, should ‘the orange man’ be returned to power. “Donald Trump and his MAGA Republicans are determined to destroy American democracy,” Biden said at one of the fundraisers, where about 1,500 donors shelled out $250 to $7,500 to hear him speak alongside Broadway stars like Lin-Manuel Miranda and Josh Groban. But you won’t see a clip of it on cable news anytime soon. Biden was speaking at a private fundraising event where cameras aren’t allowed — one of four such events he attended in Manhattan, a few weeks ago. Public rallies and speeches are not Biden’s strength. Cenk Uygur is strong, partisan, humorous, and vigorously anti-Trump. He continually beats on the drum that Trump tried to organize a coup. Yes, Cenk is an anti-establishment figure too, but the alternative, the Democratic primary coronation of a president, whom the public thinks is ‘too old’, as polls show, who only speaks ‘sotto voce’ crticisms of Trump and his movement, does not seem so promising. I think Biden will eventually win the presidency, (we hope by more than just an squeaker), but a challenger such as Cenk Uygur will introduce to the msm some progressive energy, such as Bernie did, and will compel ‘old Joe’ to be more forceful, if only to the refute the mythology that he is past it.

  69. 69.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Steve Crickmore: on trans rights he’s to Biden’s right, which is a characteristic he shares with a lot of “progressive” left figures for reasons I don’t entirely understand.

  70. 70.

    Geminid

    @Baud: A couple months ago the DSA came up here, and an infrequent commenter said that he was a DSA member and would attend the Chicago DSA convention as a delegate. I wish he had reported back afterwards because the DSA interests me. But I don’t blame him for not reporting because many people here are hostile to the DSA. I think my DSA jokes may have prompted his comment.

    He made his point, that the DSA is not a political party in the standard sense of the word. Also, that he cared little for the DSA’s International Committee. I am not really that hostile to the DSA because, unlike some others on the “Left,” they are sincere and not cynical. But I like to make jokes.

    The Israel/Palestine conflict is a wedge issue for them too (as is Ukraine). They had a rancorous debate last year over Rep. Bowman’s vote for Iron Dome funding . There was a move to expel him from the local DSA chapter that became a national controversy. Jercobin msgazine, which fancies itself the intellectual leader of the movement, weighed in on Bowman’s side. In the end, Bowman was not expelled.

  71. 71.

    Geminid

    @Matt McIrvin: I don’t think Cenk Uyger is going anywhere. His following is pretty small and he lacks the charisma to expand it.Uyger is not a very nice person, and it shows.

  73. 73.

    Steve Crickmore

     

    @Matt McIrvin: I coudn’t seem to find the exact references, but it may have been in Cenk’s failure to crticize his host Ana Kasparian for wishing be referred to as ‘a woman’ rather than a ‘birthing person’ which is what the  trans-gender advocates wish us to do. The Biden administration, congressional Democrats, and liberal groups across the country had repeatedly dropped words like “mother” and “woman” from their language in order to appease the transgender community. I think ‘a birthing person’ may be discrimatory to women who cannot or no longer have children. This is where I think the left has become too nutty and alienates the average voter.

  74. 74.

    Steve Crickmore

    @Matt McIrvin: I coudn’t seem to find the exact references, but it may have been in Cenk’s failure to crticize his host Ana Kasparian for wishing be referred to as ‘a woman’ rather than a ‘birthing person’ which is what the   trans-gender advocates wish us to do. The Biden administration, congressional Democrats, and liberal groups across the country had repeatedly dropped words like “mother” and “woman” from their language in order to appease the transgender community. I think ‘a birthing person’ may be discrimatory to women who cannot or no longer have children. This is where I think the left has become too nutty and alienates the average voter.

  77. 77.

    Sandia Blanca

    Does anyone else remember “Air America”? Al Franken, RFKjr, Cenk Uygur, Marc Maron, Rachel Maddow, Janeane Garofalo, Randi Rhodes et al. So at least three of them have now run for office. I think Rachel should be next.

  78. 78.

    Kosh III

    Cenk said ” “the mainstream media, generally speaking, are grotesque liars,”
    He got at least one thing right.

    Watched him once or twice when he was on MSNBC and was profoundly underwhelmed.

  79. 79.

    wjca

    @Tony Jay: “I stand foursquare behind Israel!”, since apparently that’s all you need to do to be declared credible at the moment.

    I wonder if I could get away with “I’ve got serious reservations about Israel’s approach”, provided I follow that immediately by reciting the Shema — in Hebrew, of course….

  81. 81.

    H-Bob

    If a state keeps Cenk off the ballot due to his ineligibility, doesn’t that state also have to keep Trump off the ballot due to his ineligibility?  Wheels within wheel!

  82. 82.

    Citizen Alan

    @Geminid:

     I am not really that hostile to the DSA because, unlike some others on the “Left,” they are sincere and not cynical. But I like to make jokes.

    Assumes facts not in evidence. Rank and file DSA members are sincere, albeit painfully naive and trapped in a bubble with all the other cosplay Marxists. The leadership of the DSA, I am convinced, knows perfectly well that their organization exists to (a) sap votes from Democrats and (b) make socialism in general seem ridiculous, but they love that money the oligarchs pay them under the tabler.

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