We had a very special moment in right-wing
propaganda yesterday. Ben Shapiro and Tucker
Carlson both had clips that are top entries
into dumbest take of the day. I'm going to
play both of the clips for you. I want you
to decide which is the dumber take of the
two videos I'm going to play for you today.
We have exhibit a, exhibit a is a clip from
the Tucker Carlson program on Fox News interviewing.
I guess he still is considered comedian Adam
Carolla and they talk about political correctness
around gendering people. And I actually can't
tell if the clip is comedy or political commentary.
It's either really unfunny comedy or really
stupid political commentary that's clip number
one. Now, on a normal day, that clip, which
I'll show you in a second, would be the dumbest
take of the day from right wing media. But
then incomes, Ben Shapiro, who claimed that
anyone who has a second job simply has failed
themselves. It's poor people's fault that
their one job doesn't pay enough and that
they need a second job and it's their fault.
So we have a competition here for dumbest
clip of the day. Yesterday, first Tucker and
Adam take a look
and I would say drop them off at a business
and let him be, uh, what they used to call
me on the construction site. Start off as
a glorified boomer, which is low man on the
totem pole. Ooh, can we say low man anymore?
No. Low. What? W I, I don't wanna I don't
want to use a pejorative here and assign ready
answered right now the Pronoun is day low.
They [inaudible] not on the totem pole because
that's cultural appropriation point low. They
on the Barbara poll, no low they on the flag
pole. No, definitely not of the flag pole
on the utility pole low. They are on the telephone
pole. Yeah.
So the premise here is, oh, isn't college
a scam? And then they're getting into, are
you allowed to say low man on the totem pole?
Because everyone on the left and everyone
in colleges is so politically correct. Again,
is this comedy? It's so, it's just not funny.
Is this political commentary? If so, it's
really stupid. So that's option a. All right,
let's now look at option B for dumbest take
of the day from yesterday. Here's Ben Shapiro
on people who have jobs that don't pay well
and on people who have two jobs.
Well, the fact is that if you had to work
more than one job to have a roof over your
head or food on the table, you probably shouldn't
have taken the job. That's not paying you
enough. That'd be a you problem. Also, it
is not true that the vast majority of people
in the United States are working two jobs.
It just is not true. According to the census
statistics, a small but steady number of American
workers have more than one job because either
they need extra income or because they want
to gain more experience or explore different
interests. There's a recently released us
Census Bureau report and apparently what it
found is that approximately 8.3% as of 2013
so it's actually lower now, 8.3% of workers
had more than one job. That was as of 2013
it's a lot lower now, so this notion that
there are just tons and tons of people who
are working multiple jobs.
It is not really true. It's not actually the
reality. In May, 5% of Americans had multiple
jobs, 5% that's really what's bringing down
the unemployment rate is those 5% of workers
who have multiple jobs. Hey, for all of the
talk about people working at Uber, it's, it's
held to that range actually. Really since
2009 it's always been a very, very low number.
So this again is just a lie. It is also this
bizarre idiocy that you can dictate to the
economy what the economy ought to do every
time everybody tries to dictate to the economy
what it ought to do to the economy, fights
back because it turns out the aggregate knowledge
of the market economy knows more than you
do. I know. Shocking.
How is it an individual person's job that,
uh, or set a different way because I don't
want to use the term job in both cases. How
is it an individual person's fault that most
jobs don't pay that? Well, in the bottom half
of the economy and that wages have been stagnant
for the bottom half of workers for decades,
Ben is right about one thing. The number of
people actually working two jobs is pretty
small, but it's still bigger than he wants
to admit. I mean, 5% is still one out of 20.
If you go to the supermarket, uh, and there
are, you know, a hundred people there, five
of those people are likely working two jobs.
That's not nothing. Okay, but it's not huge.
I will give them that, but the really dumb
part of it is if you had to work more than
one job, it's your fault that your main job
doesn't pay enough, even though you have no
control over the distribution of jobs and
the wages that are available in the economy.
If there are only so many jobs that pay well,
you can't control that. Right? This is actually
the epitome of that cartoonish, Childish Libertarian
idea that a 16 year old here's about iron
rand reads one book and now believes this,
even though they don't really understand anything
about how the economy or the world works combined
with the sort of abject cruelty of modern
conservatism, it's the kind of delusional
worship of free markets and liberty that these
people fall into. Typically before they know
anything. Ben Shapiro comes from a relatively,
you know, upper-middle-class family thinks
that even if he didn't, he would still have
found a good job period. Simply because he's
determined to do it. The idea that you might
have to choose from the available jobs even
if it's a job that doesn't pay well or even
if it's two jobs that don't pay well because
you've got to pay your bills and you have
no parents to bail you out.
That doesn't even enter into Ben Shapiro's
mind. I actually don't think he's being disingenuous
here. I think this is a combination of his
personal privileged position in society combined
with cartoonish, right wing economic ideas
combined with a complete lack of empathy.
I think that that's what it is. I don't believe
he's being deliberately disingenuous. I think
he's just clueless and somehow hasn't got
gotten out of those childish Libertarian ideas
that 16 year olds often pick up and then lose
by the time they get to college and learn
how the world actually works. This is what
I call right wing politics brought to you
by a privileged upbringing and a complete
lack of empathy. That's how you get to this.
So my question to you is, which is the worst
take? Is it Tucker Carlson and Adam Corolla
or is it Ben Shapiro? I think that the Tucker
one is more cartoonishly stupid, but the Ben
Shapiro one is more dangerous because represents
a common American conservative worldview that's
completely disconnected from reality and it
gets people supporting bad policy.
It gets people seeing the world in a way that
is totally unrealistic and thinking that really
bad ideas are actually really good ideas.
So I think if I had to vote cartoonishly stupid
Adam Corolla again, you know, I don't have
to get back into it. Dangerous when it comes
to actually making political progress in this
country, Ben Shapiro and the ideas that he
puts out there, particularly because he puts
them out there by talking really quickly and
confidently as we've analyzed before in a
way that people hear it and they're just overwhelmed
by what seen seems like just crystal clear
and perfect logic. Let me know what you think
and make sure that you are following the David
Pakman show on Instagram at David Pakman show.
While you're there, follow me on Instagram
at David Dot. Tacton. We'll take a quick,
uh, a quick break. Not a quick, we'll take
a quick break. A lot more coming up today
