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AIPAC is FINALLY a Toxic Brand. They'll Likely Just Shift to Other Orgs. · IndieNewsNow LIVE! Clips

• 0:00
  [music]
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: Who are these people?
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_01: APAC Toxic.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_01: And it's actually like a raincoat, which is funny.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_01: I looked for a barrel to put the APAC logo on, but it was tough to get it to bend.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm like, all right, find me a raincoat.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: I'll put it on that.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: So what's happening here?
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_01: Well, there's two different stories.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: That add up to all the money they're spending.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: And we've been talking about the Hasbara budget and the amount of money
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_01: that has been put into AIPAC already in 2026 and this election cycle,
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_01: as well as, of course, the last cycle.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: And that they're going to pivot.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: They're just going to put it into other organizations.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: It's not that the money's not going to be there,
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: but the effect and the toxicity of the AIPAC brand is a story in itself.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: And what we've seen,
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: Abdul El Saeed,
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: and we've seen a couple of people now overcome massive funding from AIPAC,
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: or AIPAC-affiliated organizations, and still win a primary.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: These people have not made it through a general election yet.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: But here's the first story, is that the guy who is challenging Abdul El Saeed,
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: Abdul El-Sayed beat an AIPAC-funded candidate.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: Now the candidate who's going up against El-Sayed in the general,
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: the Republican, is saying, I don't want your money.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: I'm good.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: Because it's turning off a lot of voters that might actually vote for me.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: So then they can run a tack ad saying that I got money from AIPAC.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: So I don't want that.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: I'm going to take the teeth out of that tiger.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: So how are we going to do that?
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: So this is Middle East Monitor the other day.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: In a further sign that support for Israel is becoming politically toxic,
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers' team has asked AIPAC not
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: to run advertisements backing his campaign in Michigan amid fears that association
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: with the pro-Israel lobby could cost him votes.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: Now what's funny is I thought that these organizations were not allowed
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_01: to have contact with campaigns at all.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_01: Wasn't that part of like how they get charitable 501c status?
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_01: Someone who knows about this might be able to inform me a little bit better.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_01: But the request reported by Axios,
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: which I also have questions over its accuracy or if that's just a plant to smear
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: for propaganda.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_01: It's the latest indication that AIPAC's brand has become increasingly toxic in U.S.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: politics as public support for Israel declines and candidates seek
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: to distance themselves from the lobby.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: Not really,
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: just that one particular section of the lobby,
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: but they'll take it from a bunch of different portions like J Street.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: So now Rogers,
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: who's the Republican nominee for the Senate,
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: is running against Abdul El-Sayed, as I said.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: Who is an outspoken critic of Israel and U.S. military support for the occupation state.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: So Rogers, on the other hand, has been a staunch supporter of Israel.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_01: So it's not that he doesn't want Israeli money.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: It's specifically AIPAC.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: Well, then he can say, I'm not taking AIPAC money.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: I took friends of Israel,
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: Republicans for this, funneled through this LLC, and this fly-by-night PAC.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_01: They don't need AIPAC to be able to fund this guy.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: He's sending a direct message, hey, AIPAC is a problem for people right now.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome, Anti-War News.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_01: How are you, friends?
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: Good to see you.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for joining.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: Mike Rogers again met with APAC chair Michael Tushin in Los Angeles last week.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_01: Again, how is that legal?
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: I thought that these super PACs are supposed to have no direct contact with
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: the candidates that they're funding or that they're funding on behalf of or funding
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_01: the opponent, you know, smearing the opponent of.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: But no, apparently not,
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: because the following day,
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: the lobby shelved an advertisement that it had already produced attacking El Saeed.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: It wasn't in favor of Rogers.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: It was in opposition to El Saeed, which is how a lot of these organizations work.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: They don't actually promote the candidate.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: They smear the opponent.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: And that's how you know who they're for.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: AIPAC had been preparing to spend millions of dollars in the November election
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: after pouring more than 30 million into an unsuccessful effort to stop El Saeed
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: from winning the Democratic primary.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: They're not going to stop, and I'm sure that that's what this article will continue to say.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_01: Rogers' political team believes that AIPAC's intervention in the primary backfired
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: by giving El Saeed a powerful campaign issue.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yes?
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: But his support for Israel is the campaign issue,
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_01: which it's not just AIPAC's money, it's his Israel support.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: El-Sayed repeatedly portrayed the contest as a battle between Michigan voters
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: and wealthy outside donors seeking to impose Israel's priorities.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: Because it was.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: And defeated Congresswoman Haley Stevens.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_01: Who was a cringe machine, okay,
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_01: who couldn't get a thing right,
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: who walked away from would-be voters that asked her basic questions
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: because she didn't want to answer and thought that ignoring it and sweeping it under
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: the rug was going to actually be a successful strategy.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: Hilarious.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: However...
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_01: Rogers' team did not seek to cut ties with APAC entirely,
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: but reportedly wanted its support to be less visible.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: Like I said, we want you to set up shadow LLCs and fly-by-night overnight super PACs.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: Just like you did in other races in order to hide exactly where the money's coming
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_01: from or even better if you did it from the ones that sounded like Sunrise and
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: the other things.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: That's even better because it's making people think that it's actually coming from Democrats.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_01: Nope.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: The campaign suggested that AIPAC donors could instead contribute to
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: a pro-Roger super PAC and that the lobby's political strategists could assist behind
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_01: the scenes without AIPAC running ads under its name.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: Which again would be illegal!
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: AIPAC rejected the proposal because they want to keep their charter and wanted
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: a visible role in defeating El Saeed, according to Axios.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: Not only do they need to beat this guy,
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: they need everybody to know that it's them that's doing it.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: Arrogance.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_01: Talks between the two sides have since stalled.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: That doesn't mean that these guys aren't still going to run attack ads on El Saeed.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: They're going to.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_01: Rogers nevertheless insisted that he welcomes the support from
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: the pro-Israel community, just not from this specific organization.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: The dispute exposes an increasingly awkward problem for AIPAC.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I would say so.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: Politicians may still welcome its wealthy network of donor
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: and campaign infrastructure while becoming reluctant to be publicly identified
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: with its brand.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: I can't imagine why.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_01: Because they're advocating for censorship,
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_01: for merging our militaries, and for baby murder in Israel.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah, and land theft, and resource theft, and ethnic cleansing.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_01: The problem is particularly acute in Michigan,
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: home to one of the largest Arab American populations in the U.S.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: Recent Fox News poll,
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: wipe your ass with that,
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: cited by Axios,
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: wipe your ass even more with that,
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: found that 55% of Michigan voters opposed continued U.S. aid to Israel.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's even higher than that.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's, again, a very small sector of people that Fox News was able to reach.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: Because you know they're completely unbiased and can reach any kind of voter, right?
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_01: Before the Democratic Party, a primary...
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_01: Polling also found, again,
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_01: wipe your ass with polling,
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: it's garbage,
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: 49% of likely Democratic voters viewed APEC unfavorably,
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_01: compared with just 12% who viewed it favorably.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: Again, I think people lie to these people, or they just make it up.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_01: Another survey found 64% would be less likely to support a candidate receiving AIPAC donations.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: In the end,
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: if they said,
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_01: I would advocate to give your kids free school,
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: and I would get you guys all health care,
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_01: and I would make sure that your water's clean,
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: and I'd fight the data centers,
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_01: they don't give a fuck about what you say about Israel, most of them.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: The Arab-American population would absolutely care.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_01: Most of the population of Michigan,
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: which is overwhelmingly not Arab-American, Or Zionist would probably not even care.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm sad to say that.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: But I do believe that that's the case.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_01: If you appeal to their wallet and you appeal to kitchen table issues and not the war overseas.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, and I'll advocate for stopping the war in Ukraine and the war here and there.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_01: And he'll ignore what they're doing in Israel.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_01: Because, well, that's our ally.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_01: That's going to benefit us.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: They'll dance around that.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: But the word AIPAC has become a toxic word.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: So now the minute they get accused of taking AIPAC money, it's a problem for them.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: So like, can you get me the money another way, just not through AIPAC?
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_01: And they're like, no, we want to do it through AIPAC because they want to brag about it.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_01: El Saeed turned that hostility into a campaign weapon.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: After AIPAC,
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_01: we know,
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_01: spent tens of millions of dollars trying to defeat him,
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: he openly challenged the lobby to spend more in the general election,
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: telling it, come back and burn it again.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_01: Which is not very smart.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry, it's not, because...
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_01: 95% of all congressional races are won by the candidate who has the best funding.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_01: It is very rare, few,
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: and far between,
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: historically,
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: that overfunded candidates like this win,
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: or underfunded, you know, like, will actually lose.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_01: Mike Rogers,
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: if he ends up with the kind of funding that we expect him to get against El Saeed,
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: will probably beat him.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: In a somewhat conservative state.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: Now,
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_01: that also depends on the economy and what Trump and the Republicans end up doing
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: over the next couple of months with the economy.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: But I have a feeling that Rogers,
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_01: especially in the Senate,
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: they're going to play on the fear-mongering about his name and
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: about him being Muslim.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_01: And it's not going to be about anything else.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's going to be straight up racism and fear-mongering to most of the population.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_01: Because only a percentage of Democrats put this guy on the ticket.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: Most of the general population had no say when it came to Abdul El Saeed being on the ticket.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_01: So now we're going to see a real referendum.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, sadly, I think America's still a racist country.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_01: In a lot of ways.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_01: So again, the backlash against AIPAC extends beyond Michigan.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: That's where I wanted to go further with this.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_01: Matt Ryan,
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_01: New York Democratic Congressman,
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_01: who previously had been endorsed by the lobby,
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: announced last month he no longer wanted its support after voting
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_01: to halt $3.3 billion in annual U.S. military.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_01: That's a pander.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_01: We know that that's never going to happen,
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: so anybody doing that has gotten permission from the party to stray and do that
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: in order to potentially save their seat.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: Okay?
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_01: Quote, I expect groups like APAC will not support me in my future elections,
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_01: and frankly, I don't want their support.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: Uh-huh.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: He does want their support, just not through the word APAC.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_01: He was returning funds linked to the organization.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_01: Uh-huh.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_01: But are you going to return K Street money?
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_01: Are you going to return individual donor money from people that fund APAC?
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: I'm guessing no.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_01: This guy, Ryan, was one of 103 House Democrats who voted to end the military assistance.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: Only 37 Democrats.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: Again, he's a House Democrat.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_01: So he's got J Street.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: Only 37 had opposed a separate Israeli military aid package in 2024,
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: indicating a sharp erosion of the bipartisan consensus that once surrounded U.S.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: support for Israel.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_01: How many Democratic representatives are there again?
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_01: In the House, there's over 200, if I remember correctly.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_01: 203, 205.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_01: That means you've got 100 House Democrats still that are with Israel.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: That ain't enough.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_01: You don't have enough to get this thing taken down.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: But they're acting like, oh, it's a sharp erosion.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but not enough.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_01: Not right now, not yet.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_01: AIPAC's own campaign tactics also suggest an awareness of
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: the growing stigma surrounding its political intervention.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_01: So here's the pivot.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_01: In May,
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_01: pro-Israel donors were increasingly using fundraising groups with innocuous names
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: that obscured their connection to Israel.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_01: Basic 101 dark money campaign nonsense.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: The shift comes alongside a dramatic deterioration in Israel standing with
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: the American public following its assault on Gaza.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_01: Again, not a war,
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_01: an assault as the result of a prison break for one day
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: that has now inflicted three years of collective punishment and destroyed more
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_01: than 80% of the territory.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_01: A Gallup poll,
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_01: which you again can wipe your ass with,
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_01: released in February,
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: found that for the first time in 25 years of its polling,
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: more Americans sympathize with Palestinians than Israelis,
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: although the difference fell within the poll's margin of error.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_01: Even still, it used to be single-digit percentage points, maybe under 20.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_01: Certainly, three years of genocide has changed that.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: Amazing!
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: 41% sympathize more with Palestinians compared with 36% with Israelis.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_01: And what about the other 32%, 33%, whatever it is, that we don't have an answer?
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_01: They don't know?
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_01: They don't give a fuck?
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_01: The divide among Democrats was far greater.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_01: So Republicans are still in the tank for Israel.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: 65%, at least most of them.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_01: And again, All of this is playing uniparty duopoly.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: Remember, they all are on the same side when it comes
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: to it.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_01: The split is just so they can,
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: some of them can say they fought it and fought the good fight while still losing at
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_01: the same time.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: Among Americans, 18 to 34, Palestinians lead by 53 to 23.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_01: That's pretty stark.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_01: And that's great.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_01: The kids are all right.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: The kids are seeing this because the kids have TikTok and
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_01: the kids don't watch corporate news that's propagandizing them.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_01: The kids don't watch rage-baiting Fox News, race-baiting Fox News, OAN.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_01: But what they do,
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_01: and Turning Point USA has completely outed itself as an Israeli operation over
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: the last year, and they've taken the mask off.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: It's a lot easier to see these days.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_01: AIPAC has also suffered a series of expensive electoral defeats.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_01: So good.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_01: I'm glad I don't have to necessarily cover this as much.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_01: But in addition to El Saeed's victory,
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_01: California Democrat Aisha Wahab,
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_01: and that's what the next article I have,
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_01: recently won a congressional election,
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_01: special election, despite more than $6 million in AIPAC spending against her.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_01: So this is all great stuff that all the money that they're putting into this
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: and setting on fire ends up not, Giving them the outcome that they want.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: It also spreads around that money.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_01: And in some ways, like we've always said, they don't even care if they win or they lose.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_01: Because the idea is to keep the machine going.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Anti-War News, for agreeing.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, the country is still racist as hell.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_01: You know, reasons AOC will never be president.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: Same type of shit.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: And it's sad that,
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_01: but then again,
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_01: the United States elected a guy named Barack Hussein Obama who ran
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_01: against Hillary Clinton and then fossil John McCain.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_01: So maybe I'm wrong.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_01: You know,
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_01: because Mike Rogers could play the role of John McCain at some point,
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_01: you know, in this case.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_01: And Abdul El Saeed's name doesn't necessarily make a difference.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_01: And the fact that they try to smear him over his name could end up biting them again in the end.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_01: But I think the country's seen this before.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_01: And it didn't turn out so great for them when it came to Obama, for most people.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_01: So...
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if they're going to go for this,
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_01: but I did want to go to another Indie Media Award honoree, Truthout.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_01: Again, I have my issues with Truthout.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_01: Sharon Zhang is the best of the people over there,
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_01: okay, and earned her own Indie Media Award honoree separately.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_01: Go start.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_01: I spent less than 2016 in one, right, than Hillary, sure.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_01: 5% of lesser funded candidates.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_01: Low estimate in U.S. elections win.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Ghostart.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_01: Over on Rumble.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_01: Go check out.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_01: APAC, again, loses yet another house race and poured millions into.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_01: This was talking about This woman in California,
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_01: this special election,
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: which kind of, again, I don't pay attention to electoral politics.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: This was for just a short term.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: Eric Swalwell passed the torch, you know, the dude who farted on camera in the House.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: But it's the race to become who's the incumbent to run in November.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_01: So now you've already got the name recognition that you've already gotten the vote
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: from people in August.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_01: You'll be on the ballot again in November, I believe.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_01: First Afghan American ever elected to the U.S. Congress.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_01: First Muslim woman ever elected to the California legislature.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: She slated to serve out Swalwell's term, which ends in January.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_01: She'll represent a swath of the Bay Area.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: APEC, Super PAC, United Democracy Project.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_01: So now you've already started to get different names involved.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_01: Two and a half million into opposing Wahab and backing Hernandez.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_01: Much of it in the final weeks, which is how all these campaigns do this.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_01: The spending's been somewhat puzzling,
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: baffling even pro-Israel leaders in the state who question why
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_01: the lobbying powerhouse would spend so much on a race that,
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_01: unlike many others, has not been defined by the candidate's stances on policies.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_01: It's because they want to sweep,
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_01: because they feel like anywhere that there is an Israel on the agenda,
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: they're losing.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: So let's go somewhere where Israel isn't on the agenda,
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_01: put ourselves in favor there, and try to swing to our candidate.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: That's what they're doing.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: Wahab has expressed support for Palestinian rights as an Afghan.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_01: But again, this is also fear-mongering against Muslims.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_01: This is fear-mongering against the other.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_01: Fear-mongering against people who wear headscarves.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_01: It's been limited to a few hints along the campaign.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_01: She doesn't want the smear money coming from AIPAC, but it came anyway.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_01: And then, of course, when asked by streamer Hassan Piker, who cares?
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_01: So she went on and did an interview with that clown.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, but like I said, humanitarian aid is important to me too.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_01: So we've already got, she's already hedging.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_01: She already touted that legislation she introduced regarding Gaza discusses holding
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_01: the perpetrators accountable from both sides.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_01: Oh boy.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_01: So we know what we've got here.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_01: This is a standard issue, both sides, two-state solution Democrat.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_01: Next.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_01: Okay?
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_01: They seem to have more money than God.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_01: On every single credential, I'm the most qualified, so what's the elephant in the room?
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_01: All I can say is it's based on prejudice and racism.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_01: Well, sort of,
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: but it's also,
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_01: again, based on their worry that you might vote against anything about Israel.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_01: And then they'll overfund you to the hilt and outfund you and fund your opponent.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_01: She doesn't fit the profile of progressive candidates typically opposed by APEC.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: Her campaign platform says nothing about progressive priorities.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't matter.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_01: If it's not rabidly pro-Israel, they're going to fund your opponent.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_01: Come on, Sharon.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_01: Again, referencing the interview with Hassan.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_01: Come on, man.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_01: That's not news.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_01: A conversation with a live streamer.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_01: That's not news.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_01: Nonsense, really.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_01: And again, this is why I don't follow electoral politics.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_01: What I do is I follow the money that's being poured into electoral politics,
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_01: which will then be used to elevate other candidates down the road,
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_01: to elevate politics.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_01: Media agencies and ad agencies that place the ad buys that might inflate
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_01: the networks that end up with the money, for example.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_01: There's a lot behind why I talk about this.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_01: Again, APAC losing steam,
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_01: APAC losing its luster with the general public as a toxic brand is Has happened over
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_01: the last three years.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_01: It started honestly with the college kids and bless those kids three years ago,
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_01: two years ago for protesting on campus and starting to raise this issue.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_01: And it's taken a long time.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_01: A long time.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: And again,
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_01: so finally,
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_01: it's made that much of a crack of a dent in the massive, overwhelming propaganda.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_01: On top of the fact that like Ryan Christian,
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_01: the last American Vagabond says all the time, I think people see it.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_01: Like they see the shoehorning and the forcing of trying to insert Israel
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_01: into everything and make everything a referendum about Israel.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_01: People are tired of it.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_01: And they see it.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_01: I think they do.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_01: So there's me ranting a little bit about fuck electoral politics.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_01: And that's why, especially at the federal level, you and I have no say over any of this shit.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_01: None.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_01: We can yell about podcasters.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_01: But again,
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_01: when APAC is funding multi-millions of dollars through shadow LLCs
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_01: and overnight super PACs,
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_01: We can't compete with that except by what we're doing right now,
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_01: which is organizing,
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_01: quote unquote,
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_01: but talking about and continuing to talk about exactly what's happening over there
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_01: and showing the video about.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_01: What's happening in Gaza and what Israel is doing in Lebanon and what we're doing
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_01: in Syria and how Chevron is getting the contracts in Venezuela and all
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_01: the different things that are happening worldwide and how it's all connected
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_01: in support of Bitcoin and crypto,
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_01: which we're going to talk about in a minute and which serves Zionism,
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_01: which serves the billionaire oligarchy and technocracy.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_01: And it all kind of feeds into this issue.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_01: Large group of people that stand to benefit and control everything
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_01: to tokenize every single bit of our lives.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_01: Again, so support independent media because we need it more than they do for sure.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_01: Those are the people that have already done so.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_01: Cash App,
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_01: Dollar Sign,
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_01: Indie News Network,
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_01: go-fee.com slash Indie News Network over to our website, IndieNewsNow.com.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_01: Again, that's the name of the website.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_01: That's the name of the show because these stories come from a website called IndieNewsNow.com.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_01: You can link to that, which then connects you to all these different outlets and
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_01: And newsletters and video creators that we showcase and highlight here.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah,
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_00: so cash up,
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_01: code-fee.com slash Indie News Network, indiemediatoday.com over on Substack.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_01: I see Mark Taylor over at democracy.inc.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_01: Put up a comment over there I'll look at in a minute.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_01: And then INN Newsletter for the network as well.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_01: We're founding members of Indie News Network.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_01: Go check us out, indienews.network.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_01: Or at IndieNewsNow.com.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you to everyone who supports this channel,
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_01: who subscribes, who shares, who tells everyone they know.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_01: And again, support independent media because we need it more than ever.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: That's what she said.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_01: I know that.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I'll see you soon, fam.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_00: No!
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_00: We just fucking lost the stream!
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: I guess this isn't such an awful place.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_00: Is that what you want me to say?
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: You prove it's possible to sleep for days.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I still think you're right here awake.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: The cost of living isn't much to make.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_00: But God, it's so hard to say.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: And when they told you everything I said, were you safe?
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: Will you say?