Far-left founder of progressive political show “The Young Turks” and Democratic congressional candidate Cenk Uygur urged his staffers not to unionize, a report from Huff Post outlined Monday.
Uygur, who is running for the congressional seat of disgraced Democratic Rep. Katie Hill (CA), reportedly pleaded with employees at an in-person, all-staff meeting earlier this month to avoid unionizing.
Before the meeting, National Review noted in a report published Monday, “a Twitter account purportedly representing the employees of The Young Turks announced their ‘decision to go union,’ saying they are ‘proud’ to ‘put into practice in our workplace the values that our work helps bring to the screen every day.'”
The statement read, “We stand in solidarity with the renaissance of labor activism we see now in workplaces of all kinds throughout the country.”
According to staffers at the meeting, however, Uygur argued against unionizing, “at one point throwing his papers on the ground and reprimanding an employee,” National Review noted.
“The reality is we’re in a precarious position,” Uygur reprotedly said. “We’re in a digital media landscape where almost no one makes money or is sustainable.”
“For a smaller digital media company, those are absolutely real considerations,” the “Young Turks” founder continued. “It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have a union. Everyone should know the full context.”
Uygur’s anti-union position, it seems, only stands for his business — at least in relation to his past statements in support of unions.
“The popular progressive activist and political commentator has previously expressed strong support for unions, and has endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, who has suggested punishing companies that refuse to recognize unions,” National Review highlighted.
Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro, who debated Uygur back in 2017 at Politicon, took notice of the glaring disconnect between the progressive’s rhetoric and actions. In a snarky Twitter thread, Shapiro aptly reacted: “BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA :: takes breath :: AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.”
The mockery continued:
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA :: coughs :: AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHBAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA ::dies::
And continued some more:
:: is revived by paramedics :: AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Shapiro wasn’t done just yet:
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA :: asteroid obliterates all human life ::
Back from the life-destroying astroid:
:: is reincarnated as alien life form on Mars :: AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA :: coughs :: AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHBAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA ::dies::
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) February 24, 2020
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA :: asteroid obliterates all human life ::
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) February 24, 2020
:: is reincarnated as alien life form on Mars :: AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) February 24, 2020
During the mostly one-sided Politicon debate back in 2017, Shapiro zeroed-in on Uygur’s shaky economic understanding, hitting the progressive for “preaching Keynesian economics.”
“The problem with Keynesian economics is that it doesn’t even work in theory, because again, once you go to the logical extreme, which is remove all of the money from the rich people who are saving all of their money, and give it to all the poor people who buy hamburgers, that doesn’t help the economy or spur the economy,” Shapiro explained, The Daily Wire noted.
“You had an investor; when you started TYT (The Young Turks), you were given four million dollars by Buddy Roemer to start TYT,” Shapiro continued. “That’s great; that’s the way business should work. But that money didn’t come from a bunch of poor people buying hamburgers; it came from a very, very wealthy guy who gave you money to create a business a lot of people want to patronize.”
To view the full debate, click here.