In the days following Donald Trump's landslide victory against Kamala Harris. Anonymous text messages containing racist rhetoric are raising alarms in multiple states. The texts that were sent to black men, women and even children [00:00:16] have prompted investigations from the FBI and other federal agencies. Here's an example of one of the texts sent to an Alabama college student. Greetings. You've been selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation. [00:00:32] Be ready at 1 p.m. Sharp with your belongings are executive slaves will come get you in a brown van. Be prepared to be searched down once you enter the plantation. We're not exactly dealing with the smartest people. You are in plantation group. See? [00:00:49] Good day. Tasha Dunham of Lodi, California, said her 16 year old daughter showed her one of the messages Wednesday evening before her basketball practice. The text not only used her daughter's name, but it directed her to report to a plantation in North Carolina, where Dunham said they've never lived. [00:01:07] When they looked up the address, it was the location of a museum. According to the Associated Press, the messages have been reported in several states, including California, New York, Alabama, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Tennessee. However, Reuters reports that people in at least 21 states [00:01:25] have received these texts. They vary with the wording, but generally used a similar tone. Additionally, some of the texts mentioned the Trump administration. It was not immediately clear who sent the messages, and there is no complete list [00:01:40] of whom they were delivered to. At least some appear to have been sent through text. Now, in what the company believes is a widespread, coordinated attack, it told CNN on Friday. The FBI also put out a statement yesterday stating they're aware of the matter [00:01:57] and working with the DOJ and other federal authorities. The FCC's Enforcement Bureau is investigating the texts. FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel announced these messages are unacceptable, she said, adding, we take this type of targeting very seriously. [00:02:15] However, law enforcement in certain areas consider these messages a low level threat. Despite the emotional and psychological impact it has, especially on younger recipients. Look, we just talked about maybe the differences between 2016 Trump administration. [00:02:31] And now this is one of the similarities. We saw a wave of racist outbursts, outbursts after Trump got elected in 2016. This is just a rerun of the past Jank. What do you think? Yeah. So this is one of the things that people are legitimately concerned about. [00:02:47] Look, it just happened, right? So, Republicans always talk about like, oh, they theoretically going out there could go after your kids. How? Oh, what if they read a book and there's a gay couple in the book? Wow. That's going to destroy your kids, is it? Because they're going to find out later. There's gay couples in the world. [00:03:03] So, okay, we could debate that, but sending texts to your kids saying we're going to turn you into slaves, that's as disgusting as it gets and traumatic, etc.. Man, you send something like that to my kids. We're going to have issues, man. [00:03:19] And if you're a right winger, I mean, wouldn't you have issues? And so we don't look, we don't know who this guy is. He doesn't represent Trump or MAGA or other right wingers. But what we need out of Trump is instead of encouraging stuff like this, [00:03:34] because what people are worried about is that if he goes and empowers the worst elements of society again, then this is going to break out. It's going to be a contagion, and we're not going to be able to contain it, and we're going to be at each other's throats. Right. [00:03:50] Can he please stop saying that? There are fine people on both sides. However you interpret that statement like there is no fine person on the other side of this text. There's a terrible person on the other side of this text, so please catch them. And and and plea like Trump and MAGA are in charge. [00:04:08] So I hate it. There's no accountability at all. So we just have to see are they going to go yeah right. Go get him. Fine. People on the tech side I don't know. If they do, we're screwed. We're going to be fighting endlessly and we're going to rip each other [00:04:23] to shreds because nobody's going to accept this being sent to their kids. It's going to make people very, very angry. Right. So can he reel it back in? I have no idea. He hasn't so far, Jules. [00:04:38] I mean, I think we know to expect we've been seeing it on X for the last, you know, two years that Elon's been in charge and now Elon really is in charge. I think the Republican Party and MAGA and Trump and Elon will see this as a type of free speech and not as a vile hate crime attack because it's being [00:04:54] directed at the people that they hate. You know, we on on X, you know, the rise in this kind of rhetoric has been massive. And if you report stuff like this doesn't get taken down, you get a message that says, nope, we don't see anything wrong with it. And I think that's exactly what we're going to see. [00:05:10] I think we're going to see a massive ramp up in this kind of vile, hateful, evil rhetoric and trolling and just like rhetoric designed explicitly to cause emotional harm, especially to children. So this is unfortunately, this is not only not surprising, [00:05:27] we've been seeing it online. Obviously, it's spilling out into the real world and has been for for a long time. But, you know, with Trump in office and with MAGA in charge, there are essentially no consequences for these people. There's nothing that, you know, they're not even at this point, the paradigm shift we're in. [00:05:43] I would be surprised if you could be fired from your job for this. You know, Elon did that whole thing where he's he said, I'll represent you in court. I'll fight. You know I'll pay for your court representation if you're fired for something you said on X, I think we're going to see that in the real world, too. I think we're going to see a quote unquote strengthening of free speech, [00:06:00] which just explicitly includes, like evil, horrible hate speech that should be punished, that should be punished in a civilized society. And we'll see the exact opposite where it'll be rewarded, it'll be celebrated. We're already seeing that, you know, among right wingers. And now that they're in control, I think we're going [00:06:15] to see that across the country. It's this is this is one of the there's many terrible things that are happening. I think this is one of the worst. Yeah, we should mention so we mentioned the Trump administration was mentioned in some of these texts. They denied any involvement. Spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt said in a statement. [00:06:34] President Trump's campaign has absolutely nothing to do with these messages. But there is still concern. Many in black American communities say they anticipate a rollback of civil rights after Republican Donald Trump, who won Tuesday's presidential election over Harris, takes office on January 20th, Trump pledged during his campaign to end [00:06:51] federal diversity and inclusion programs. Edison Research exit poll showed Harris winning 85% of the black vote, while Trump won 13%, up one percentage point from 2020. Despite all the media narratives and concern about Trump winning [00:07:10] over the black community. Yeah. Last couple things here, guys. For the right wing, simple explanation. There's a difference between free speech and. Oh. It's great. Somebody could have the right to say something and you could still condemn it. You could say, even if you think they have the right to do that, to send it [00:07:29] to your kids, kind of to threaten them. Right. Which that's now we're getting into legal definitions of assault. Assault is not just hitting someone, it's threatening them. And they're going after the kids. Right. But. Okay, but let's say on that side of the debate, you say, no, He's still got [00:07:46] a right to terrorize your kids that way. Can you at least say. But it's terrible. And he shouldn't. Because if you don't say that and you go, hey, free speech, man, you're gonna have to deal with it, man. We're gonna talk about enslaving your kids. Well, then you're proving us right. And that's what I keep coming back to. [00:08:05] We're at the beginning here, and Maggie's going to show us who they were. The Democrats said that you guys were racist fascists. So are you or aren't you? We're going to find out. It's one thing to say. You freedom of speech. It's another thing to say that this is terrific and it's fun and it's trolling and it's hilarious if you say that. [00:08:21] Congratulations. You proved the Democrats right. I'd also like to throw in one more thing, which is that, you know, I don't think this is even something where the Republicans will look at it as a form of free speech. I think they're going to embolden and encourage this kind of speech and criminalize actual free speech. [00:08:37] You know, I'm thinking of when Ken Klippenstein dropped the JD Vance dossier, he was banned from X. I wouldn't be surprised if in this new paradigm, leftist thought, progressive thought, things that were harmful to Republicans were considered something like a threat to national security and silenced or criminalized while stuff like this, [00:08:55] which is, you know, it's hate speech, were again emboldened and encouraged and celebrated. I think, you know, I keep saying this is a really dark period. This is a really scary period. And it's not just that we're going to see, you know, the worst parts of our society glorified. [00:09:13] We're also going to see the best parts of our society criminalized and shut down. - And that's incredibly scary. - Yeah. So but last thing is, guys, let's let's see what happens. Because I don't want people getting so freaked out that they're [00:09:31] preemptively traumatized, etc.. The people who had this happen to them, they already felt it, right. They got every right to be super pissed, right? But for the rest of us, like for me, for example, there is potential. Attorney general said, we're going to arrest Denaturalize [00:09:50] and and deport Mehdi Hassan. So the right wing says, oh, he's just trolling. Well, we're going to find out, as Jewell says. Were they trolling or are they going to go arrest Mehdi Hassan, Ken Klippenstein, myself, etc.? If they go to do that, then we're really going to find out what MAGA is about [00:10:07] because there's an incredibly you know, there's a there's a perfectly high chance that they're going to go, oh yeah, you guys started it first. Yeah, of course you should. Who cares? Let's get him. Yeah, yeah. Oh, you did it. You did it. We're just doing it back. Ha ha ha ha! Right. [00:10:23] Well, if you do that, then you showed us who you are. And you couldn't wait to do that. You're just using it as an excuse. Is there some percentage chance that some of the right wing hosts, Joe Rogan, etcetera, goes, you're arresting Mehdi Hassan? Denaturalized and what the hell is Denaturalize. [00:10:40] That's not a thing. No. Hell no. You're not going to do that to Mehdi Hassan? I don't know. I have no idea. Right. I don't know if they're going to try to do it. And I don't know how the right wing and and the bros and the magazines, etc. Are going to react. But if they go, hey, there's very fine people on both sides, and you guys [00:10:58] started it, whatever the hell that means. So screw the Constitution. We're just going to target our enemies, then we're all screwed. Not just the left wing, but the right wing, because that means the right wing was bad guys all along. We're going to find out. Thanks for watching The Young Turks. Really appreciate it. [00:11:16] Another way to show support is through YouTube memberships. You'll get to interact with us more. There's live chat emojis, badges. You've got emojis of me Anna John Jr. So those are super fun. 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