# Cenk Uygur running for Pres
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cenk-uygur-running-for-pres/991927
**Category:** Politics & Elections
**Created:** [October 22, 2023, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cenk-uygur-running-for-pres/991927 "2023-10-22T17:08:45Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 10
### Author:  [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2023, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cenk-uygur-running-for-pres/991927/181 "2023-10-24T14:49:44Z")
I think the requirement for being naturally born, plus the requirement for being at least 35 years old, de facto ensures that someone will have lived in America, and be experienced in living in America, for quite a long time. I’m fine with that.
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### Author:  [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2023, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cenk-uygur-running-for-pres/991927/182 "2023-10-24T14:49:50Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#):
>
> Not Mexican, but Russian or Chinese sleeper agent is the worry.
And we no longer have Frank Sinatra to protect us! Good point.
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### Author:  [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2023, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cenk-uygur-running-for-pres/991927/183 "2023-10-24T14:51:06Z")
See, now you get it.
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### Author:  [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2023, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cenk-uygur-running-for-pres/991927/184 "2023-10-24T14:54:35Z")
We insist our presidential traitors must be natural born American citizens.
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### Author:  [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2023, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cenk-uygur-running-for-pres/991927/185 "2023-10-24T14:55:45Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#):
>
> I think the requirement for being naturally born, plus the requirement for being at least 35 years old, de facto ensures that someone will have lived in America, and be experienced in living in America, for quite a long time. I’m fine with that.
Cenk Uygur was maybe five when his family brought him to America. He knows his way around a hot dog, and has forgotten more about football than I’ll ever know. So what? Arnold has a funny accent, is that what’s troubling you Bunky?
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### Author:  [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2023, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cenk-uygur-running-for-pres/991927/186 "2023-10-24T15:00:19Z")
I’m not sure what most of that means, other than that you have a complicated emotional attachment to this thread, but had you asked me whether I would be fine with a minimum residency status, as the child of immigrants and the parent of immigrant adoptees, I would’ve been perfectly fine with it.
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### Author:  [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2023, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cenk-uygur-running-for-pres/991927/187 "2023-10-24T15:03:37Z")
This thread is like my child! Of course I want the best for it; God willing, it could even become President someday. Or win the Superbowl. How dare you.
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### Author:  [@epbrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2023, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cenk-uygur-running-for-pres/991927/188 "2023-10-24T20:47:48Z")
> [@Hatchie](#):
>
> Please, what downsides? I don’t see how being a naturalized American disqualifies you in any way.
If you don’t see any downsides, you’re not qualified to discuss the policy change - at the very least, you should be _thinking_ about worst-case scenarios and how to prevent them. The time to realize that a hostile foreign government could put someone in office is not _after_ the US has been annexed to China by President Xi. The fact that Cenk’s been here since pre-school doesn’t mean every potential candidate has.
You should also note that of the 8 countries where this is possible, all instances where it happened have been foreign-born natives - people with parents from the country and in the country but born elsewhere.
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### Author:  [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2023, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cenk-uygur-running-for-pres/991927/189 "2023-10-24T22:03:47Z")
Gosh. That’s not paranoid at all. Well somebody else will have to reply to that. You’ve made an airtight case, except of course for the un-American objection but better we ditch a bit of our ideals, which will never be missed, otherwise President Stalin (secretly naturalized as a US citizen in 1905, before he had the mustache - you didn’t know that was possible, did you? Prove it isn’t!).
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### Author:  [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2023, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cenk-uygur-running-for-pres/991927/190 "2023-10-24T22:16:22Z")
[Cenk is opposed to Affirmative Action](https://twitter.com/cenkuygur/status/1674525429305311232)
But that’s not all, politics fans:
> **[Thread by @saladshooter9 on Thread Reader App](https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1676297819265593353.html)**
>
> @saladshooter9: Cenk Uygur, a Bernie Bro who claimed any non-Bernie supporter was a "neoliberal centrist corporate shill", has gone full right-wing, opposing affirmative action. This is just the tip of the iceberg f...…
Archive one: [Thread by @saladshooter9 on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App](https://web.archive.org/web/20230707224141/https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1676297819265593353.html)
Archive two: [https://archive.ph/VeuGP](https://archive.ph/VeuGP)
He’s a misogynist, saying things like:
> women put off by his desire to quit a steady job in law “whores” and say that women are “poorly designed creatures who do not want to have sex nearly as often as needed for the human race to get along peaceably and fruitfully”.
He also denies the Armenian Genocide, and the name of his show, The Young Turks, is also the name of the group that perpetrated that genocide. I mean, imagine a German who “has questions” about the Holocaust just coincidentally hosting a show named _SS-Totenkopfverbände_. Everyone seems weirdly cool with this, probably because awareness of the Armenian Genocide hovers around nil and nonexistent.
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### Author:  [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2023, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cenk-uygur-running-for-pres/991927/191 "2023-10-24T22:44:31Z")
Can I take a guess - you never heard of Cenk Uygur before this thread, Googled him, found a lot of dirt and made a tidy package designed to make us gasp.
Yes he did write letters to his college newspapers denying the Turks committed genocide. That’s bad. He has disavowed that stance but if some can’t accept that his views have changed that’s understandable.
He often comes off like a frat boy on his show when talking about women. Maybe he tries to mitigate some of his more objectionable remarks by saying “it’s a joke! Come on! We’re just having fun here”, but I dislike that aspect of the TYT bull sessions (ladies invited, and Ana and the other regulars laugh it off but it’s pretty cringe worthy) and if this bothers anyone I can’t say you’re wrong.
I already wrote about the English-language idiom “young Turks” and the mods want us to drop it, so I will.
Cenk is a complex person. I don’t like everything he stands for. But I appreciate him and his passion and ability to articulate why issues matter, why politicians like Joe Biden are not always beholden to the concerns of the people who supported them, and what we should be doing about it. I’ve already said he’s an imperfect messenger, but right wing? That’s pretty steep. I’m curious how the presidential run plays out. That’s why I started this thread.
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2023, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cenk-uygur-running-for-pres/991927/192 "2023-10-24T22:48:31Z")
> [@Hatchie](#):
>
> I’m curious how the presidential run plays out.
My prediction? It goes _nowhere_.
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### Author:  [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2023, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cenk-uygur-running-for-pres/991927/193 "2023-10-24T22:49:53Z")
Noted.
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### Author:  [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2023, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cenk-uygur-running-for-pres/991927/194 "2023-10-24T22:57:02Z")
So seriously, what’s his plan? Is he going to enter the primary race nationwide as a candidate? What’s his plan?
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### Author:  [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2023, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cenk-uygur-running-for-pres/991927/195 "2023-10-24T23:02:48Z")
> [@Derleth](#):
>
> Cenk is opposed to Affirmative Action
Cenk says in that tweet that he’s opposed to AA because it attaches a stigma (he uses the word “stereotype”) to minorities, but thinks the more urgent thing to abolish is legacy admissions.
I disagree with him on this only slightly – the long-term plan should be to phase out AA, but I do not believe that the US is at the point where it should eliminate it entirely _today_.
It seems that in trying to find actual policy positions that Cenk holds that are supposedly abhorrent, we really need to scrape the barrel.
I don’t need to agree with Cenk on everything to think he’d be a good candidate, but the fact is, I do agree on the vast majority of things.
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### Author:  [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2023, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cenk-uygur-running-for-pres/991927/196 "2023-10-24T23:05:45Z")
> [@Hatchie](#):
>
> Can I take a guess - you never heard of Cenk Uygur before this thread, Googled him, found a lot of dirt and made a tidy package designed to make us gasp.
None of that is relevant. None of that disproves anything I posted.
> [@Hatchie](#):
>
> Yes he did write letters to his college newspapers denying the Turks committed genocide. That’s bad. He has disavowed that stance but if some can’t accept that his views have changed that’s understandable.
The name of the show hasn’t changed. You get why that’s a big deal, right?
I mean, he isn’t even a Progressive, really. [He posted this](https://twitter.com/cenkuygur/status/1459682727687426048):
> Right-wingers, you hate me (I’m not overly fond of you either). But you want to fight big pharma, and so do I (for different reason). You want election reform, I want election reform. One day we should stop bickering about social issues and fight our corporate overlords together.
He’s willing to make common cause with MAGA proto-Fascists to take down “corporate overlords” which is Officially Not a codeword for Jews. He’s a Populist at best. But maybe that was before they staged their coup oh wait it’s from November 13, 2021.
Best case, he’s a grifter trying to sell books and advertising on his show. Worst case, he’s a slightly Progressive-flavored Trump who will be just as bad for the country.
Archive one: [Cenk Uygur on Twitter: "Right-wingers, you hate me (I'm not overly fond of you either). But you want to fight big pharma, and so do I (for different reason). You want election reform, I want election reform. One day we should stop bickering about social issues and fight our corporate overlords together."](https://web.archive.org/web/20220224140011/https://twitter.com/cenkuygur/status/1459682727687426048)
Archive two: [https://archive.ph/VTvXa](https://archive.ph/VTvXa)
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### Author:  [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2023, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cenk-uygur-running-for-pres/991927/197 "2023-10-24T23:16:14Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#):
>
> My prediction? It goes _nowhere_.
Can it go to where it already is?
> [@](#):
>
> Right-wingers, you hate me (I’m not overly fond of you either). But you want to fight big pharma, and so do I (for different reason). You want election reform, I want election reform. One day we should stop bickering about social issues and fight our corporate overlords together.
Spoken like someone that wants to be Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s running mate!
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### Author:  [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2023, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cenk-uygur-running-for-pres/991927/198 "2023-10-24T23:17:58Z")
> [@Derleth](#):
>
> The name of the show hasn’t changed. You get why that’s a big deal, right?
Cenk acknowledged the Armenian genocide years ago and the only time it’s been mentioned on the show is in condemning it.
I would change the name of the show if I were him though.
> [@Derleth](#):
>
> I mean, he isn’t even a Progressive, really. [He posted this](https://twitter.com/cenkuygur/status/1459682727687426048):
So you implicitly seem to be asserting here, that any effort to find common ground with Republicans means someone is not a “true” progressive. That’s bananas.
Especially when the things you are quoting him on are progressive positions – he’s trying to sell progressive ideas to Republican voters. Because, it turns out, when you take away a lot of the tribalism that you seem to want, most people do support progressive positions.
> [@Derleth](#):
>
> He’s willing to make common cause with MAGA proto-Fascists to take down “corporate overlords” which is Officially Not a codeword for Jews.
Brilliant, so now we cannot even push back against corporate corruption and the corporate-oriented US political system without being accused of being anti-semite.
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### Author:  [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2023, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cenk-uygur-running-for-pres/991927/199 "2023-10-24T23:19:06Z")
Since when do Republicans want to fight big pharma? Not the corporate profit side, certainly. Is it the vaccine side of things?
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### Author:  [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2023, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cenk-uygur-running-for-pres/991927/200 "2023-10-24T23:21:20Z")
> [@bobot](#):
>
> Since when do Republicans want to fight big pharma?
Something something FAUCI something CHINA something something something FREEDOM.
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