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STOP! If You Do This YOU'RE GETTING CHARGES! Rent Freeze, Kristen Bell, Coronavirus Relief, Maduro - YouTube
Channel: Philip DeFranco
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- 'Sup you beautiful bastards?
[1]
Hope you had a fantastic Thursday.
[2]
Welcome back to The Philip DeFranco Show.
[4]
And a quick note before we get started:
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One, as a friendly and in
no way threatening reminder,
[9]
the Philip Defranco Show
is now at the very least
[11]
five days a week,
[12]
meaning tomorrow you will get
a Friday Philip Defranco Show,
[15]
and also if something big
happens over the weekend,
[16]
I have a home studio,
[17]
so make sure also you're subscribed,
[18]
you have that bell clicked,
turned on for all notifications,
[21]
and two, tomorrow's Friday
Philip Defranco Show is
[23]
an extra special one because
I was able to sit down
[24]
with Doctor Fauci.
[26]
He of course, the immunologist
who is the director of
[28]
The National Institute of
Allergy and Infectious Diseases,
[30]
member of the White House
Coronavirus Task Force.
[32]
We talked about the Coronavirus,
[34]
what the short-term future
as well as the 18-month
[36]
future looks like.
[37]
I also asked some questions
that you guys recommended.
[39]
So, keep your eyes open for that tomorrow.
[40]
But, with that said, welcome
to the Philip Defranco Show,
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buckle up, hit that like button,
[44]
and let's just jump into it.
[46]
And the first thing we're
gonna talk about today is
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incredibly important news,
[49]
especially if you're a...
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I believe the technical term
is a "worthless dick hole",
[54]
or if you happen to come
across a "worthless dick hole",
[56]
the Justice Department's
second-highest ranking official
[58]
has now said that people who
threaten or intentionally
[61]
attempt to spread the
Coronavirus could face criminal
[63]
charges under terrorism laws,
[65]
and more specifically, what
we saw was Deputy Attorney
[67]
General Jeffrey Rosen
send a memo with guidance
[69]
to top justice department officials,
[70]
law enforcement agency chiefs,
[71]
and U. S. Attorneys across the country.
[73]
And in that he said,
[74]
"Because Coronavirus appears
to meet the statutory
[76]
definition of a 'biological agent',
[78]
such acts potentially could
implicate the Nation's
[80]
terrorism-related statutes.
[82]
Threats or attempts to use
COVID-19 as a weapon against
[84]
Americans will not be tolerated."
[87]
Now in this, he didn't state
whether his warning was
[88]
precautionary or if it
came in response to reports
[90]
of intentional exposure,
[92]
but we have seen prosecutors
at the state level
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already beginning to press
terrorism charges against
[95]
those accused of maliciously
trying to infect others.
[98]
Prosecutors in Missouri, for instance,
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charged 26-year-old Cody Lee Fister,
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who posted a video of himself
licking merchandise in
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a Wal-Mart, and that video
showing Fister saying,
[105]
"Who's scared of Coronavirus?
[106]
Don't touch your mouth?"
[107]
And he then licks a row
of deodorant sticks.
[109]
And so the City of Warrenton
Police Department said
[111]
Monday that Fister was
taken into custody after it
[113]
received numerous calls from
people reporting the video.
[115]
Those calls coming from
both local residents
[117]
and even people from places
as far as the Netherlands,
[119]
Ireland, the United Kingdom.
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And so with this, Fister
was later charged with a
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terrorist threat in the second degree.
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That crime is a class E felony,
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which means that it could be
met with a prison sentence
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of up to four years and a fine.
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New Jersey has also been
hit with a case of similar
[130]
reckless behavior,
[131]
with the state's Attorney
General's Office saying Tuesday
[133]
that it charged a man for his
behavior in a Wegmans store.
[135]
And there, according to reports,
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a store employee was
concerned that the man,
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50-year-old George Falcone,
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was standing too close to
her and an open food display.
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He then allegedly stepped
forward to within 3 feet of her,
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leaned toward her, and
purposefully coughed.
[146]
Falcone also reportedly laughed,
[147]
saying that he was
infected with the virus,
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and then told two other
employees they were lucky
[150]
to have jobs.
[151]
So this seemingly worthless
dick hole was ultimately
[153]
charged with harassment,
[154]
obstructing administration
of law and other governmental
[156]
function, and terroristic
threats in the third degree,
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which one again, that last
charge alone is punishable
[161]
by up to three to five
years in prison and fines of
[163]
up to $15,000.
[164]
There's also a woman in
Pennsylvania who may also
[166]
soon be hit with terroristic
threat charges herself.
[168]
This because reportedly yesterday,
[169]
she walked into a supermarket
and purposefully coughed
[171]
over produce, parts of
the bakery department,
[173]
and meat case sections.
[174]
Right, and so following this incident,
[176]
the store's co-owner
wrote a post on Facebook,
[177]
saying, "While there is
little doubt this woman
[179]
was doing it as a very twisted prank,
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we will not take any chances
with the health and well-being
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of our customers.
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We had no choice but to throw
out all product she came
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in contact with."
[187]
And while the store said that
it had not yet calculated
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the total loss, they estimated
that it may be well over
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$35,000, and regarding that
very large sum, they wrote,
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"We are checking to see if
our insurance company will
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cover it, but even if they do,
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our rates will surely go up next year."
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Also going on to say, "I am
absolutely sick to my stomach
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about the loss of food,"
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and going on to say, "In these times,
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when so many people are
worried about the security
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of our food supply,
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it is even more disturbing."
[208]
Now with this specific situation,
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police were contacted, the
local district attorney's
[212]
office has promised to aggressively
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pursue numerous charges.
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And so I guess with all of that said,
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it brings us to the main point,
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like a lot of stories these days,
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brings us to, don't be stupid, stupid.
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This is not a joke.
[222]
You're a joke.
[223]
People are out there dying,
[224]
people are out there hospitalized,
[225]
people are out there scared.
[226]
At the very least,
[227]
just try to pump the breaks
on being a garbage person
[229]
for the next few weeks, if not months.
[231]
And for everyone else out
there who doesn't need
[233]
the most obvious advice in the world,
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know that this is something
being taken seriously,
[237]
that something can be done about.
[239]
But I guess to end this story,
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the question that I want
to pass off to you is,
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what do you think about
this level of charge?
[244]
Do you think that it makes sense?
[245]
Do you think it's overblown?
[246]
Yes, no, why, why not?
[247]
But from that, I want to share some stuff
[249]
I love today in Today In Awesome,
[251]
brought to you by DBrand.
[252]
And if you didn't know,
DBrand is an awesome company
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that makes custom cases,
skins, and screen protectors
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for all your gadgets,
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and they are huge supporters
of the tech community.
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In fact, DBrand took
their tech sponsorship to
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an entire different
level by partnering with
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Jerryrigeverything on
a line of phone cases
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called Teardown.
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He's a creator, if you don't know,
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who absolutely tortures tech products with
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durability tests.
[269]
His most popular videos
are called Teardowns,
[271]
where he takes apart
phones and examines their
[272]
insides, and so with this new partnership,
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DBrands bring the Teardown to the masses.
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They had it available for a
wide range of smartphones,
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Macbooks, even your Nintento Switch.
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I've also got DBrands'
Teardown case for the
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new Galaxy S20, and I love it.
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It's also durable enough for my life.
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If you don't know, I have two children,
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so when it comes to electronics,
I need the ability for
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that to happen.
[290]
And for that to not be a
potentially devastating moment,
[292]
or even a scary moment.
[294]
And the best part is that today only,
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they're having 20 percent off
of the entire Teardown line.
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And so to grab yours, just head on over to
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dbrand.com/defranco, or
click that link down below,
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and be sure to use code
"Defranco" to get 20 percent
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off today.
[305]
And the first bit of
awesome today is we got some
[306]
brand-new clips with
Eugene Lee Yang over on
[308]
A Conversation With Clips.
[310]
We've also got clips with
MKBHG coming down the pipeline.
[313]
So definitely check that out,
it's one of the top links
[314]
down below.
[315]
Then, in turn your mind off awesome,
[317]
BBC Earth gave us Wet Animals
Shaking In Slow Motion,
[319]
Cosmopolitan got Doja Cat
to paint a nude model,
[321]
The Infographics Show
gave us "Why doesn't NASA
[323]
Launch Trash Into The Sun?"
[324]
Then, if your definition
of awesome maybe includes
[326]
watching someone slowly slip into madness,
[328]
I want to direct you
toward Dave Jorgenson's
[330]
Quarantine Twitter thread.
[332]
And if you want to see
the full versions of
[334]
anything I just shared,
the secret link of the day,
[335]
really anything at all,
[337]
links as always are in the
description down below.
[339]
And then, let's talk about
money, jobs, unemployment,
[342]
and the economy in general.
[343]
And so first, let's
talk about unemployment,
[344]
because we knew unemployment
were likely to be high,
[347]
but the number that we've seen is actually
[348]
pretty staggering.
[349]
Reportedly, 3.28 million
people filed for unemployment
[352]
last week alone.
[352]
To make the comparison,
[353]
that is exponentially higher
than any single week we saw
[355]
in the 2008 recession.
[357]
In fact, this past week
broke the previous record for
[359]
weekly unemployment filings
by nearly five times.
[361]
Right, the previous record
was almost 700,000 people
[363]
back in 1982.
[365]
Look, understand, I'm
not saying this to cause
[366]
fear or panic.
[367]
This is a very, very
specific circumstance.
[369]
Also a very unusual one.
[371]
Right, a typical recession takes time.
[372]
It plays out over a series of months,
[374]
even years,
[374]
however this situation
in the United States has
[376]
basically all happened
over a matter of two weeks.
[378]
And so because the circumstances
are so wildly different,
[380]
it's hard to use those
previous numbers to predict
[382]
what's going to happen to
the economy even just a
[384]
month from now.
[385]
You know, I mention the 2008 recession.
[386]
There we definitely never
saw weekly unemployment
[388]
hit into the millions,
[389]
but it was higher than
average for about five years,
[391]
and so when you added all
of those years together,
[393]
you got a total of about
26 million claims filed,
[395]
and with the Coronavirus,
[396]
we could continue to see
extremely high unemployment rates,
[398]
but that could only last for a few weeks.
[400]
After that, economists
have said that the economy
[402]
could bounce back relatively quickly.
[404]
And so what a number of
experts have said is that
[405]
instead of treating this
like a typical recession,
[407]
let's look at it more
like a natural disaster.
[409]
Right, something that causes
the immediate shutdown
[411]
of an entire economic region.
[412]
Look at Louisiana in
Hurricane Katrina for example.
[414]
On average, you have about
4,000 unemployment claims
[416]
being filed each week in Louisiana.
[418]
When Katrina hit back in 2005,
[420]
we saw this massive yet momentary spike,
[422]
and that spike is actually
very similar to the
[424]
nearly 73,000 people who
filed unemployment claims
[426]
in Louisiana last week.
[427]
But of course, unlike
most natural disasters,
[429]
it's not just one state.
[430]
It's just about every state,
[432]
with states like California,
Massechuttsetts, Michigan,
[434]
New Jersey, Ohio, and Texas,
[435]
all boasting some of the largest numbers.
[437]
But by far the biggest
spike that we saw was in
[439]
Pennsylvania, where nearly
380,000 people filed
[441]
for unemployment.
[443]
But still, one of the
biggest questions that people
[444]
have in their mind is,
[445]
is this still a recession.
[446]
And actually on that note, this morning,
[447]
we saw Jerome Powell, Chair
of the Federal Reserve,
[449]
addressing that question
in a pretty rare interview
[451]
with the Today Show.
[452]
- We may well be in a recession,
[453]
but again, I would point
to the difference between
[455]
this and a normal recession.
[458]
This isn't...there's
nothing fundamentally wrong
[460]
with our economy.
[461]
Quite the contrary.
[462]
The economy performed very
well right through February.
[465]
We've got 50-year low in
unemployment for the last
[468]
couple of years,
[469]
so we start in a very strong position.
[471]
This isn't something that's
wrong with the economy.
[473]
This is a situation where
people are being asked
[475]
to step back from economic activity,
[477]
close their businesses,
stay home from work,
[479]
so in principle, if we get
the, get the virus spread
[483]
under control fairly quickly,
[486]
then economic activity can resume.
[488]
- All right so essentially
saying we may already be
[489]
in a recession, but continuing
to push the narrative
[491]
that this is a much different situation.
[493]
But very notablely here,
Powell also stressed of course,
[495]
we still don't know how
quickly that could happen.
[497]
And in the meantime, it's
predicted that unemployment
[499]
could climb as high as 40
million people by April,
[501]
which then of course brings
us to the question of
[503]
well what happens to that
potential 40 million people
[505]
and also everyone else?
[506]
And so of course, one
of the biggest things
[507]
that we're seeing regarding the economy
[509]
is the two trillion
dollar stimulus package.
[511]
And last night we saw the
Senate unanimously pass it.
[514]
It now goes to the House.
[514]
They're expected to vote
on it tomorrow morning,
[516]
and if it passes without any revisions,
[518]
it would then head to President Trump,
[519]
who says that he would
sign it immediately.
[521]
Now in response to this,
[522]
so far the stock market
appears to have responded
[523]
favorably.
[524]
You know, back in mid-February,
[525]
stocks were at an all-time high,
[526]
you had the Dow-Jones sitting
at about 29,000 points.
[529]
But then, the Coronavirus
starts battering the U. S.,
[530]
stocks plummet, by Monday this week,
[533]
the Dow-Jones had sunk to 18,000 points.
[535]
Notably, it had not been
that low since 2016,
[537]
but as the stimulus package
got closer and closer
[540]
and further along, we saw
the stock market climbing.
[542]
And as of recording this video,
[543]
the Dow is sitting at
around 22,000 points.
[545]
So there's that regarding Wall Street,
[546]
but of course, what about Main Street?
[548]
What's happening to Joe and Jane Blow?
[549]
So, in this 883 page bill,
[552]
Americans in general will
receive a one-time direct
[554]
deposit of up to $1,200,
[556]
and married couples will
get up to $2,400 plus an
[558]
additional $500 per child.
[560]
This is available for
individuals with incomes
[562]
up to $75,000 and married
couples up to $150,000.
[565]
Also 350 billion dollars are
aimed toward small businesses
[567]
of 500 or fewer employees.
[569]
Reportedly this relief would
come in the form of loans,
[571]
with companies able to
receive up to eight weeks of
[573]
cash-flow assistance, and if
employers maintain payroll,
[575]
the portion of the loans used
for covered payroll costs,
[577]
interest on mortgage
obligations, rent, and utilities
[580]
would be forgiven.
[581]
Also individuals can delay
the payment of their 2020
[583]
payroll taxes until 2021 and 2022.
[586]
All testing and potential
vaccines for COVID-19 will
[588]
be covered at no cost to patients.
[590]
And of course the biggest thing,
[591]
for all the people that are
being laid off right now,
[593]
a 250 billion dollar extended
unemployment insurance
[596]
program.
[596]
Yesterday, we talked about
how several Republican
[598]
Senators said they had an
issue with people potentially
[600]
actually making more money
if they were laid off.
[602]
This because in addition to
the normal unemployment check
[604]
that people would receive,
[605]
each week they'd get an additional $600.
[607]
And so as is, certain people
might actually bring in
[609]
more money on unemployment right now.
[611]
And this would last for
four months and also be
[612]
extended to people that are self-employed,
[614]
independent contractors,
and gig economy workers.
[617]
Now two things here I want to hit on.
[618]
One, this in no way covers
everything in the bill,
[621]
in fact I'll link down below
for all the other aspects,
[623]
all the other industries,
[624]
but also, two,
[625]
a thing to keep in mind
is that this is not
[626]
the end of the story.
[628]
Right, even with this bill
being two trillian dollars,
[630]
right, about ten percent of the U. S. GDP,
[633]
a number of economists
believe that another stimulus
[635]
bill on top of this will be
needed to help the economy,
[637]
either A, to stop continued
bleeding as the Coronavirus
[640]
continues to spread, or B, if
the Coronavirus is contained,
[643]
then using it as a way to kickstart things
[644]
once things have started because,
[646]
as Jonathan Parker, a professor
of finance at MIT said,
[648]
"This should not be thought
of as a stimulus bill,
[651]
this should be thought
of as social insurance in
[653]
a disaster state of the
world for the most hard hit."
[655]
And saying, "The idea
is to freeze time for
[657]
a month or six weeks and let people emerge
[659]
with not a huge amount of debt,
[661]
not starving, not being evicted."
[662]
Right, and so one of the
biggest things to understand
[664]
with this situations is, you know,
[665]
we can throw whatever
economic policy, stimulus,
[668]
pull whatever levers we have,
[669]
none of that matters if
the problem of the virus
[671]
is not handled,
[672]
and that's the big thing
driving all the potential
[674]
outcomes and the timeline right now.
[676]
Also, really quick,
[677]
to go back to that point of rent,
[678]
it's almost April first,
[679]
meaning a lot of people's
rent will be due very soon,
[682]
which, given the state
of what is happening here
[684]
in the States, is why people
are demanding a rent freeze.
[686]
Right, because while major
cities like Los Angeles
[688]
and New York have halted
evictions during this
[690]
pandemic, tenants will still
have to come up with the money
[692]
once this is all over,
[693]
which right now doesn't seem
possible for a lot of people.
[695]
Also, some states have been
able to suspend mortgage
[696]
payments as well, including California,
[699]
where just last night,
Governor Gavin Newsom said
[701]
that four out of the five
U. S. Banks agreed to delay
[703]
mortgage payments and stop
foreclosures for 90 days,
[706]
with the remaining fifth, Bank of America,
[707]
willing to do so for 30 days.
[709]
New York Governor Andrew
Cuomo taking a similar
[710]
measure last week.
[711]
But this still leaves
renters who are in most cases
[713]
the most economically
vulnerable in a tricky position
[716]
because their payment is
still on the calendar.
[717]
And that's renters in general,
[719]
but also in a particularly tricky spot,
[720]
California and New York.
[721]
They have some of the highest
rental prices in the country.
[723]
For example, in LA
specifically, 60 percent of the
[725]
population spends at least
30 percent of their income
[728]
on rent with some even
spending over 50 percent.
[730]
Over the past week, you
maybe have seen people using
[732]
the hashtag like #CancelRent online,
[734]
saying things like,
[735]
"Governor Gavin Newsome,
how can you possibly
[737]
justify not giving rent relief right now?
[739]
Your orders forbid us from making income.
[741]
Landlords are getting mortgage relief.
[742]
But renters are expected
to keep paying rent,
[744]
with what income?
[745]
Outrageous, shame on you."
[747]
Another reading,
[747]
"Being immunocompromised,
vulnerable, and unemployed
[749]
is a lethal combination.
[751]
Deciding between life
saving medications and food
[753]
slash rent is highly problematic."
[755]
And you also have some
government leaders calling
[757]
for it as well, like New York
State Senator Mike Gianaris,
[760]
saying "Let's #CancelRent
for 90 days to keep people in
[762]
their homes during the
Coronavirus crisis."
[764]
And others like Representative
Alexandria Ocasio Cortez
[766]
tweeting, "I just don't
understand how it's reasonable
[768]
to expect what could be
millions of people and small
[771]
businesses, who suddenly
had their incomes cut off,
[773]
to pay rent, mortgages, and
major bills on April first
[776]
without any payment moratoriums
or immediate relief."
[778]
We've also seen a number of
companies get involved with
[780]
this discussion as they are also feeling
[781]
the weight of this virus.
[782]
Cheesecake Factory, for example, said that
[784]
nationwide, it will not
be paying rent in April,
[786]
saying that the decline
in restaurant traffic
[788]
has been a severe blow to them
[789]
and telling Eater in a statement,
[791]
"We have to take both into
consideration in terms of
[792]
understanding the nature
of our rent obligations
[794]
and with respect to managing
our financial position.
[797]
We have very strong,
longstanding relationships
[799]
with our landlords.
[800]
We are certain that
with their partnership,
[802]
we will be able to work
together to weather this storm
[803]
in the appropriate manner."
[805]
And online, this move in general
was received rather well,
[807]
with people who have been
calling for a rent freeze
[809]
saying this is a strong example,
[811]
some saying that corporations,
[812]
because they're so big,
they have so much weight,
[814]
they were now leading the revolution.
[816]
There have also been stories
of individuals popping up,
[818]
like that of Kristin
Bell and Dax Shephard,
[820]
who actually own property
that they rent out in LA.
[822]
They are actually waiving rent
for the people who live there
[824]
for the month of April,
[825]
with their rep saying that
tenants got an email with
[826]
the news over the weekend and adding,
[827]
"The message expressed
empathy and encouragement,
[830]
and promised to work with
residents going forward as best
[832]
as possible as everyone
learns to adjust to the public
[834]
health crisis."
[835]
Right but of course, on the other side,
[836]
you have a number of people
against a rent freeze,
[838]
a rent strike,
[840]
and this is because while
some places have lifted
[841]
mortgage payments or other
kinds of debt relief,
[843]
that is not the universal case,
[845]
and in fact there was a
Bloomberg Opinion piece
[846]
that was published that
suggested that freezing rent
[848]
could ignite a mortgage crisis,
[850]
with that piece saying,
[851]
"There's pretty much no way
around people eventually
[853]
paying what they owe,
[853]
ideally with the help
of the U. S. Government,
[855]
or else turning a health
crisis into a banking crisis."
[858]
Right so that's the
situation as it is now,
[860]
and I mean April first
is less than a week away.
[863]
So if something happens,
it's gonna need to happen
[864]
soon, and so in the meantime,
for landlords out there,
[866]
there's just advice.
[868]
Advice from the likes of Tom Bannon,
[869]
who is the chief executive
of the California
[871]
Apartment Association,
[872]
one of the nation's
biggest landlord groups,
[873]
and he's argued for landlords,
[875]
halting evictions for
tenants who have been
[877]
affected by COVID-19 is good business.
[878]
Adding, "Here's the reality.
[880]
If you evict somebody,
[881]
the chances of getting a
new resident are not good."
[883]
And I'll say personally,
[884]
I don't understand a
situation where people don't
[885]
have to pay their mortgage,
[887]
but the people renting from
them still have to pay.
[889]
It feels like it goes against
the whole point of the
[891]
relief effort and if anything,
[892]
opens up the possible exploitation
of the most vulnerable.
[895]
But for now, we'll have to wait and see.
[896]
I know in New York City in the past day,
[897]
we've seen Bill de Blasio saying
that he's looking into it.
[900]
Gavin Newsom has said that he is exploring
[901]
legal options to do this.
[903]
But for now, we wait,
and each moment we do,
[905]
April first gets closer.
[906]
And the last thing that we're
gonna talk about today is,
[908]
if you can believe it,
[909]
there is a bit of
non-Coronavirus news that
[910]
we should talk about.
[911]
And this is about Venezalan
President Nicolas Maduro,
[914]
because this morning,
[915]
the Department of Justice
charged Maduro and 14 others,
[917]
including senior officials,
[918]
with narco-terrorism,
corruption, drug trafficking,
[920]
and other charges.
[921]
Now this indictment,
which was announced by
[922]
Attorney General Bill Barr,
[923]
accuses Maduro of conspiring
with the Columbian rebel
[926]
group known as the
Revolutionary Armed Forces,
[927]
AKA FARC.
[928]
And FARC is a U. S.
designated terrorist group,
[931]
known for getting its
money by smuggling cocaine,
[933]
and according to a press
release from the DOJ,
[934]
"For more than 20 years,
Maduro and a number of
[936]
high ranking colleagues
allegedly conspired
[938]
with the FARC,
[939]
causing tons of cocaine
to enter and devastate
[941]
American communities."
[942]
It goes on to say that Maduro
was so successful because
[944]
he and others "corrupted the
institutions of Venezuela
[946]
and provided political and
military protection for the
[948]
rampant narco-terrorism crimes."
[950]
And adding, "Maduro and
the other defendants
[952]
expressly intended to
flood the United States
[954]
with cocaine in order
to undermine the health
[956]
and wellbeing of our nation.
[957]
Maduro very deliberately
deployed cocaine as a weapon."
[960]
With the press release
alleging that Maduro has been
[962]
one of the leaders of a drug cartel called
[964]
the Cartel of the Suns since 1999.
[966]
In his role as leader of that cartel,
[968]
Maduro negotiated multi-ton
shipments of FARC-produced
[971]
cocaine, directed the cartel
to provide military-grade
[973]
weapons to the FARC,
[974]
coordinated foreign affairs
with Honduras and other
[977]
countries to facilitate
large-scale drug trafficking,
[979]
and solicited assistance from
FARC leadership in training
[981]
an unsanctioned malitia
group that functioned,
[984]
in essence, as an armed
forces unit for the cartel.
[986]
Also a note, there is a lot
more in that press release,
[989]
and in the indictment,
[990]
which officials say is more
than a decade in the making,
[992]
but, main point, top level allegations.
[994]
Maduro is directly involved
in drug trafficking and
[996]
that he corrupted the
political institutions
[998]
of Venezuela to do so.
[999]
And also, very notably here,
[1000]
the release also said
that the state department
[1001]
was actually offering rewards
of up to 15 million dollars
[1005]
for information leading
to the arrest and arrest
[1007]
of Maduro.
[1008]
But also, that said, it
is unlikely that he will
[1009]
be arrested and actually
see the inside of a
[1011]
courtroom in the United States.
[1012]
But still, regardless, this is a huge deal
[1014]
for a few reasons.
[1015]
First of all, it is just
incredibly rare for the
[1017]
United States to indict a
foreign leader on drug charges.
[1020]
In fact, according to reports,
[1021]
it is only the second time
that the U. S. Government
[1023]
has filed criminal charges
against a foreign head of state.
[1025]
And secondly, this is a
very serious escalation
[1027]
of the Trump administration's
pressure campaign
[1028]
on Maduro and his regime.
[1030]
In case you forgot, the United States,
[1031]
along with sixty other countries,
[1032]
do not recognize Maduro as the rightful
[1034]
leader of Venezuela, instead recognizing
[1035]
opposition leader Juan
Guaido as the country's
[1037]
true leader.
[1038]
This while Maduro has held on to power
[1039]
while the people of his
country continue to suffer.
[1041]
And very notably here,
many have said that Maduro
[1043]
has used the drug trade to keep powers
[1044]
the country's oil industry
has collapsed on him,
[1046]
which was Venezuela's biggest resource.
[1048]
And this while the United
States has slowly been
[1049]
ramping up efforts against Venezuela,
[1051]
first imposing sanctions on individuals,
[1053]
then expanding those to a
full blown embargo on oil
[1055]
and also Venezuela out of
the U. S. financial system.
[1058]
There have also been
smaller efforts as well,
[1059]
I mean, we talked about
Trump inviting Guido
[1061]
to the State of the Union.
[1062]
But as far as this most
recent and huge update,
[1065]
it seems like Maduro had a heads up on it.
[1067]
Even before the charges
were officially announced,
[1068]
we saw Maduro responding
in a Tweet on Twitter
[1070]
rejecting them and writing,
[1071]
"There's a conspiracy
from the United States
[1073]
and Colombia and they've
given the order of filling
[1075]
Venezuela with violence.
[1076]
As head of state, I'm
obliged to defend peace
[1078]
and stability for all the motherland,
[1079]
under any circumstances."
[1081]
Now normally, one of the
big conversations around
[1082]
this might be, hey, with this huge change,
[1084]
are we gonna see mass protests?
[1086]
But, the thing is, with
the Coronavirus outbreak,
[1088]
the protest movement against
Maduro has died down.
[1090]
Like we've seen with other countries,
[1091]
the pandemic has significantly
weakened Venezuela,
[1093]
making it very vulnerable.
[1094]
But yeah, ultimately, as
far as what happens next,
[1096]
we're gonna have to wait to see.
[1097]
And that is where I'm
going to end today's show,
[1099]
and hey, if you like this video,
[1100]
you like jumping into the
news with us each day,
[1102]
hit that like button.
[1103]
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[1105]
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[1106]
ring that bell to turn on notifications
[1107]
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[1109]
Also, if you're looking for
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[1110]
maybe you missed yesterday's
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[1112]
or you want to check out a brand new clip,
[1114]
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[1115]
one of those right now.
[1116]
But, with that said, of course as always,
[1118]
My name's Philip Defranco,
you've just been filled in,
[1120]
I love your faces and
I'll see you tomorrow.
[1123]
- I hope you like this video.
[1125]
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