Beloved social media star peanut the squirrel was sadly euthanized over the weekend by New York authorities, who said he and another animal named Fred the Raccoon were a risk factor in the spread of rabies. [00:00:15] So who is peanut and why is this story spreading like wildfire online? Well, peanut amassed tens of thousands of followers on Instagram, TikTok and other platforms during the seven years since. Mark Longo, who runs an animal sanctuary, said he took him in after seeing his [00:00:34] mother get hit by a car in New York City. Longo brought peanut home, ultimately caring for the squirrel for eight months before trying to release it back into the wild. He said peanut returned to his porch a day and a half later with a broken bone sticking out of its tail, [00:00:50] at which point Longo determined peanut couldn't survive in the wild alone and instead would move in with him. In 2023, Longo and his wife opened Peanuts Freedom Farm Animal Sanctuary, which houses 300 animals including horses, goats and alpacas. [00:01:08] Longo was also in the process of getting peanut certified as an educational animal in regards to Fred the Raccoon. He was surrendered to Longo a few months back, and was in the process of being rehabbed, and was set to be rereleased into the wild. [00:01:24] However, after anonymous complaints, Department of Environmental Conservation, environmental conservation officials took the animals from Longo's home near the Pennsylvania border last week. State law requires people to get a license if they wish to own a wild animal. [00:01:42] The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation took peanut, as well as a raccoon named Fred, on Wednesday after the agency learned the animals were sharing a residence with humans, creating the potential for human exposure to rabies, it said in a joint statement with the Chemung County Department of Health. [00:02:01] During the course of the investigation, peanut allegedly bit one of the investigators, which ultimately led to Peanut and Fred being euthanized so they could be tested for rabies. Longo said Saturday that he didn't see peanut bite anyone during what he described as an hours long, heavy handed search. [00:02:19] The authorities haven't spoken with him since they left the property, he said. Honestly, this still feels kind of surreal that the state that I live in actually targeted me and took two of the most beloved animals on this planet away, didn't even quarantine them. [00:02:35] They took them from my house and just killed them. And Jank, this isn't even the craziest part. We'll get to that in a second. But what do you think about this? How the Environmental Health and Conservation Office handled this? [00:02:51] Look, I don't have much of an opinion. I'm just amazed that this is a national story. And if you're wondering, why is one dead squirrel when I could find, you know, plenty in our in any neighborhood in America, in the streets. Unfortunately, I hate it, but it happens. Why is this the a national story? [00:03:11] Because the Republicans are desperately trying to find a dead pet. I'm serious. They pretended that the Haitians were eating the cats and the dogs. And so JD Vance was talking about. Oh, yeah, the Pats. The Pats are coming after our pets. And so he gave a speech about how, the Democrats and the government [00:03:30] came after this squirrel because they're coming after our pets. So this became a national story. Insanity. Insanity. Okay. So all right, go ahead. It's now apparently our obligation to protect every squirrel and every record. Jordan, I don't know if they should have been killed. [00:03:46] Look, I don't know what they were doing in there. I you know, if there's a threat of rabies, that's makes it obvious and clear. But was there really a threat of rabies, or did the guy get annoyed that the squirrely pants or whatever his name is, peanut bit him? [00:04:02] I don't know, do you know? I don't. His name is peanut. Put some respect on his name and hashtag. Never forget. But to your point, it is ridiculous that this is a national story. But one of Trump's most prominent surrogates, Elon Musk, has been pushing [00:04:17] this nonstop for the past couple of days. He took to X, his social media platform, tweeting things like, so here's the thing with The Simpsons meme of don't tap. Don't make me tap the sign. If they will raid a house for a squirrel, they're sure [00:04:33] as blank going to come after you. He also said he also posted this meme. The people who want to take your guns invaded a home to murder a squirrel and a raccoon. He also reposted this tweet, which encapsulates Magas fury on this matter. [00:04:52] Why is the squirrel story so important? It's not because when government will invade your home and kill your pets, it suddenly feels real to average Americans. It brings the horror of being under the boot of tyrants to life. This straw may be the one that breaks the back of tyrannical government overreach. [00:05:12] And those who practice its evil, so be it. To liberty. Now, even as the drama played out, a fake Trump statement started to go viral and even tricked the likes of many Republican nutjobs. Ha ha ha. Get it? [00:05:28] Like Megyn Kelly. They're killing the squirrels. They're killing the raccoons. They're killing the pets. She did clarify. She was honestly kind of good. She did clarify later that even though it was fake, it was still funny. [00:05:44] But apparently the Trump campaign is still running on this, at least according to Don Jr and J.D. Vance. Take a look. They know that's coming across our border, and they allowed it to happen anyway. This is not sane. [00:06:02] They're not worried about any of that. They'll allow that to happen. But if someone adopts a baby pet squirrel. Oh, yeah. No justice for peanut? No, but think about it. Our government will let in 16,000 rapists to let in 13,000 murderers. [00:06:20] They'll let in 600,000 criminals across our border. But if someone has a pet squirrel without a permit, they go in there and kill the squirrel. Think about that. That's Democrat. That's the Democrat party. So I know Don's fired up about Peanut the squirrel. [00:06:35] We were on the way down here from Cincinnati. He was like, you know, is it really the case that the Democrats murdered the Elon Musk of squirrels? And I said, yeah, sounds like have you seen the videos of this squirrel? He's like, he's a genius. Or he was unfortunately, but the same government that doesn't care [00:06:52] about hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrant criminals coming into our country doesn't want us to have pets. I think we're talking about the Elon Musk of squirrels here. - Does that change your mind at all? - No, I figured it out. I figured it out in the middle of the story. [00:07:08] So, yeah, part of it is this. Hey, I told you, they're coming after the pets and they're trying to gain sympathy because they sounded like such weirdos, attacking childless cat ladies, pretending people are eating pets, etc. So they're trying to pull at your heartstrings and go where? [00:07:25] For Peta the squirrel, we can't. You see that we're humans. Meanwhile, they can't help but demagogue towards other ethnic groups while they're doing that. So I guess their slogan is save the squirrels hate the humans. So why don't we also love the humans? [00:07:41] Why do you have to constantly attack certain groups of people? But that's not the main reason why I realize in the middle, through the tweets. Oh, this is their stupid thing of. Do you see that? Don't trust the government at all. Don't let them do anything. [00:07:59] The government kills squirrels. Government regulation is so terrible. That's why you shouldn't apply to any of Elon Musk's companies or crypto. Oh, I see, I see. [00:08:14] So this is all like a giant anti-government thing. So they could say, oh, we got to take away all government regulation and laws and rules that constrain Wall Street. That can constrain the tech companies that constrain any cryptocurrencies, [00:08:30] take away all government regulation because governments kill squirrels. That's why they're making a mountain out of this molehill of little nuts. But that could accurately describe the Trump campaign. [00:08:45] - Molehill of little nuts. - Squirrel. My thing, my thing is, of course, this is not a national issue, but it also reflects just how out of touch they are and how they get so easily distracted by trivial things, and it could be to their detriment. [00:09:05] Now, some people praised their approach of going on podcasts and wading into a bunch of niche online controversies, and that has trickled down. Of course, Kari Lake is known to do that. Marjorie Taylor Greene does that, but the Trump campaign has done that a lot. [00:09:23] And think about when they're doing this three days from the election. The the last weekend before Election day, they are hammering this point about a squirrel. Go outside and talk to a random person who is not spending their day on Twitter [00:09:38] and see if that makes sense to them. And then you consider that the Harris campaign had 800,000 doors knocked in Pennsylvania. Do you think they're bringing up a a squirrel in New York? So I think this isn't obviously the only reason why they might lose, [00:09:55] but it is a symptom of a larger disease within that campaign, which reportedly is because of Donald Trump Jr and his role in shaping some of their strategy, some of their outreach, and some of the things that they prioritize because he's so close to JD Vance. [00:10:11] And it would be extremely funny if both the Tony Hinchcliffe thing, which was Don Junior's, push and also one of J.D. Vance's, hyper online advisers and staffers, his push, and then the squirrel thing just missing a wide open layup on a tough [00:10:32] against a beleaguered Democratic Party running on Biden's on the heels of Biden. I they blow it. It's because of dumb things like this. Yeah. And I just realized it's so meta. You know, whenever you want to distract anyone, you go squirrel. Right. And here they are literally at the end of the election, they're going squirrel. [00:10:51] Squirrel. Okay. So good luck with that strategy. But we still see you and you still sound nuts. Squirrel. Thanks for watching The Young Turks. Really appreciate it. Another way to show support is through YouTube memberships. You'll get to interact with us more. There's live chat emojis, badges. [00:11:11] You've got emojis of me Anna John Jr. So those are super fun. But you also get playback of our exclusive member only shows and specials right after they air. So all of that, all you got to do is click that join button right underneath the video. [00:11:26] Thank you.