Club Random with Bill Maher - Matt Gaetz | Club Random with Bill Maher

Episode Date: January 26, 2025

Bill and Matt Gaetz on the accusations against Matt, Bill’s preconception of Matt, Matt’s fandom of Politically Incorrect, how Matt supports both the NRA and the humane society, Bill’s take on h...unting (not a fan), the economy of lonely, desperate men, Matt’s relationship with Joel Greenberg, and much, much more.  Shop SKIMS Mens at https://www.skims.com/billmaher #skimspartner Go to https://www.RadioactiveMedia.com or text RANDOM at 511511 to save up to 50%, today!  Follow Club Random on IG: @ClubRandomPodcast Follow Bill on IG: @BillMaher Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast for free wherever you're listening or by using this link: https://bit.ly/ClubRandom Watch Club Random on YouTube: https://bit.ly/ClubRandomYouTube Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:01:20 You'll be solving customer challenges faster with agents, winning with purpose, and showing the world what AI was meant to be. Let's create the agent-first future together. Head to salesforce.com slash careers to learn more. Did you think I was not bright? Yeah. What gave you that impression?
Starting point is 00:01:40 Like everything you've said and done. Club. Random. Anybody who can't point out whether a side is wrong is just a vessel through which others are. Where's your side most wrong? You know I'm like one step away from Peta membership. I'm a total member. I'm a board member for many years. Yeah. So really? Yeah. I was like the only... There's an interesting thing about you I didn't know. You're an animal lover? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:02:09 I think I was the only member of Congress when I first ran endorsed by the Humane Society and the NRA. That usually isn't a coalition that teams up frequently. Well, I mean, you can be for gun ownership without wanting to murder animals with it. And also, you know, look, I talked a lot to people who hunt and shit, and, you know, they convinced me. Like, I was a little naive about some of that stuff.
Starting point is 00:02:42 First of all, farming actually kills a lot of animals. To plow a field, you've got to kill everything in that field, every mouse, every vole, every chipmunk. Everything that lives there has got to go so you can till that soil. And also, like when we go to the supermarket and you're buying chopped meat, I mean, somebody killed it. And sometimes, well, I just learned, sometimes you'll go there
Starting point is 00:03:09 and get like a pack of hamburgers meat, and it came from like 30 different cows. It didn't come off of one animal. You have pink slime. The one that gets me when it comes to that scale of farming is what they're doing with the palm oil in Indonesia, in South Asia, where it is just... You and I will live to see the last orangutan die.
Starting point is 00:03:33 The thing that is most like humans on the entire planet Earth will be extinct because of palm oil, as if that's some great need. No, it's not. It's not even good for you. No! Are you here? So, our origin story for me goes back to Politically Incorrect, what I still believe is one of the... I'm not just kissing your ass.
Starting point is 00:03:54 It's one of the best shows that was on TV. Thanks. It's way better than your show now. But it's... Politically Incorrect... This is so insulting. Politically Incorrect was so good. That's so insulting.
Starting point is 00:04:03 It's not. I'm just for the OG. You're saying to me what I did 25 years ago is better than what I've done the last 20 years That's insulting. I'm not gonna be mad at you for the rest of the interview I just want to tell you that's just a fucking stupid way to start a conversation So you think you peek 20 years ago bill, let's be friends. No, it's not Just a better artistic presentation of your work. First of all, you're wrong. You could say to me, I like that show too, but it's certainly not better than real time. It just isn't. It was what it was. It was a design train wreck.
Starting point is 00:04:37 People from different walks of life. Maybe you were young and it appealed to you more then. What don't you like about The Current Show? I think it's good. It's on a criticism of The Current Show. Look, I like Taylor Swift's current stuff. I don't think it's better than her initial album. Well, don't compare me to Taylor Swift. I'm not a big fan.
Starting point is 00:04:57 No, but in terms of artists, you can have better presentations of your art. So, but I mean, you know, real time, we have on actually intellectual people and people who are expert in talking about the subjects we're talking about. Politically incorrect, we had, you know, Carrot Top and Paulie Shore on.
Starting point is 00:05:17 No, but what I liked about it is that you would interface those folks with lawmakers, with authors, people like that. And you do that in real time as well. But not poorly sure. You have to be knowledgeable of what we're talking about. It's a much more adult show. Again, I invented it, sweetheart.
Starting point is 00:05:39 So I love politically incorrect. The sign is right behind you. But it's not better than what I do now. I mean, the game went up. It didn't go down. But everybody's like their opinion. Do you think part of that is attention span is so fleeting now?
Starting point is 00:05:54 When we would create content in my congressional office, the young staffers would come in and say, if it's above eight seconds, you're losing audience at such a rapid pace. I mean, it's so interesting that we're doing a podcast, which if you do just an hour, the audience thinks that's too short. I get what you're saying.
Starting point is 00:06:16 I've asked this question many times. I don't get the attention span of the American public. It seems to be either eight seconds or two hours. They want podcasts to be long. When I just did an hour, there was always screaming at me, no, more, more, more. What do you make of that? I look at what happened in the sports space where ESPN has to go and fire all of these expensive on-air talents in order to go put Pat McAfee on streaming
Starting point is 00:06:48 multiple hours a day in service of that long-form audience. But then again, the way that Instagram is driven now by the Reels or whatever it is, their stories. And then YouTube has their short-form content. Yeah, I guess it's either short or long, and the middle is losing. So are you happy to be free of Congress and all this kind of stuff? Well I don't seem- You seem very relaxed.
Starting point is 00:07:19 As relaxed as one can be under these conditions. I think that Congress is supposed to be temporary. I mean, I've done it for eight years. I'd been in elected office six years before that in the state legislature. So from age 26 to 42, I was an elected official. And I think that should be a season of life. I don't think it should be your whole life. But I mean, like, the things that people talk about when they get out of Congress, that
Starting point is 00:07:48 they are so happy that they don't have to do anymore, like fundraising and that stuff. I never did that anyway. I mean, I am the only Republican, I was the only Republican in Congress who took no lobbyist money, no PAC money. And I decided I would rather sink or swim on my own than be a valet for those people. Well, how did you get away with that? I mean, how did you then get the money to run your elections? Because why did they all, why does everybody else do it?
Starting point is 00:08:15 Before Donald Trump, there was no small dollar infrastructure on the Republican side. Obama had created that. He used the Chicago ward style system, put it on the internet, scaled it to the moon. And there was a- Wait, wait, wait. Go back. I don't know what you're talking about. What's the Chicago ward style? Democrats invested in the internet before Republicans, politically speaking. And so
Starting point is 00:08:37 they did this list building. Traditionally, that list building, you know, your ward boss would know this person needs a little help with groceries, this person's son needs a job, this person cares about issue X or the park, whatever. And that was managed very locally. What Obama understood is that you could digitize that and scale it to the moon. David Plouffe wrote a great book about it, one of the best books on politics, Audacity to Win.
Starting point is 00:09:03 Yeah, in 2008, they definitely had the technological advantage. It took us until 2016 to really catch up because the internet was the only thing that could harness all of this interest in politics that Trump was generating among low propensity voters and I rode that wave. I had like over a hundred thousand active donors throughout the country. I think my average donation was around $88. But also you do. I mean, look, again, I'm glad we're meeting and talking,
Starting point is 00:09:34 because I feel like I already know you better than what I've known for the whole time I've been seeing you just on TV and in the news, because I don't trust anything in the news. So, I mean, that's kind of interesting right there. But okay, first of all, where do you get your politics? Is it from your parents? Were they Republicans?
Starting point is 00:09:58 Yeah, my mother was a Southern Democrat who voted Democrat her whole life until Jimmy Carter gave away the Panama Canal. And then for some reason, that was the issue that turned my mother into a Republican. She must be thrilled that your boy is going to take it back. She can't wait. She's real pumped about the Mount McKinley change as well. What do you think about that? What do you think about us becoming an empire again and just annexing places? You know, I did not see that coming. And when
Starting point is 00:10:31 I say I did not see that coming, I'm going to spell it for you, I-D-I-D-N-A-Z-I. I did not see that coming because we really shouldn't be annexing. Should we? Annexing? I mean, doesn't Greenland have to actually sell it to us if they wanted to? Isn't it their choice? I care a lot more about whether or not we're gonna annex features of the Panama Canal or Greenland than whether or not Russia annexes Crimea.
Starting point is 00:11:04 Like, look, I think that you can do- But are you for it? Huh? Annexing Greenland and parts of the Panama Canal? Sure, if it's a deal that makes sense. But we don't own them. Well, yeah. So you're saying-
Starting point is 00:11:15 It's a real estate transaction, though. It's not a- an invasion is not a real estate transaction. Well, we don't say anything about an invasion. Well, how else do you take something? A real estate transaction. So they would have to agree to it. Yeah, we could buy it. OK, that's different than annexing.
Starting point is 00:11:31 Well, but I think. So you would agree that Denmark has to agree to it. We're not just going to take it. The people of Greenland, I think, would be the most dispositive voice. Yeah. OK, so we can go over the head of the government. What about, can we do that here?
Starting point is 00:11:45 If some other foreign country came and asked the people of this country, do you want free blow jobs? We could just do that. It would be a compelling offer. Some would say more compelling. That's the Matt Dates side heard about. It would be more compelling than what a lot of people feel like they're getting from the government now.
Starting point is 00:12:02 I don't know what you've heard about me. I don't know what you heard about me. Remember that one? Yeah. But a bitch can't get a dollar out of me. Well, that doesn't apply to you. Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to go there.
Starting point is 00:12:12 I didn't mean to go there. I just sang this song and put it. Way less than Skip Bayless, I would suggest. Oh, boy. I saw that story. 1.5 million. It's so typical though, isn't it? Guys who are certainly of a certain age,
Starting point is 00:12:25 but they can be young, who are just so desperate for any? You say they're married. I'm not knocking marriage, but you know, and it's just been so long since I'd have any sort of affection or anyone touching them or laughing at their jokes that they make such fools of themselves with. They just want something from someone of the opposite sex that makes them feel alive again. You're so right.
Starting point is 00:12:51 And what is so, I think, undertold in the sugar daddy, sugar baby dynamic that we say play out pretty regularly across society now is like, who's taking advantage of who? Because what you just described, a lot of these guys that fit that archetype, they get in to some young pussy that they hadn't been in before, and they will do anything. They'll give up their family, their house, their money. So like, oh wait, are you saying that they're the person utilizing leverage and the power dynamic
Starting point is 00:13:20 more than someone who quite literally has them by the balls? Well, when you put it that way, Congressman, former Congressman. Don't demote me. I won't. But okay, so I brought my book in. This book you'll love, I think, maybe not as much as my old one since that's your pattern. But I want to read you, this is a chapter on this, times you've never told me, it's very apropos for what you went through.
Starting point is 00:13:48 And I just, because it does get into economic issues. And also, I never done this on this show, but I wanna get the quotes right. I have quotes from people. And yeah, I've never brought anything on like this. But- I didn't know you were allowed to like bring homework. I never have done it, but you're a little different.
Starting point is 00:14:03 I gotta get this right. It's for your benefit as much as anybody. And it's not against you. I'm an honest broker more than anything else, okay? So, and that's why the left hates me too. The far left really hates me. And I welcome their hatred because I just will not carry the water
Starting point is 00:14:23 of all their insanity or yours. Well, and by the way, no one's actually... Annexing Greenland. Or buying it. Buying it is different. See, again, let's just be honest. Come on, we're just guys talking here. Those are two different things. Just look me in the eye and tell me you understand that. They're two different things. Buying something that they agree to sell to us or just taking from another country.
Starting point is 00:14:46 That's what Hitler did, and that's Putin. I know you guys like to be flirting with authoritarianism, but let me ask you that question. You're a married man now, right? Yeah. Okay. And your wife is lovely. Thank you. You did well.
Starting point is 00:15:01 And okay, so sometimes in a marriage, the couple, I've heard both sides, I've heard couples say, yeah, I'm a big flirt, but it's okay because he knows I'll never cross the line. But so that's just okay in the matter. That's like they've decided that's okay to flirt or the guy does it. Then I've heard some marriages where it's like, no, that is crossing the line. Okay, I bring this up because you guys are really flirting with authoritarianism. You know what I mean? He admires... Like, we didn't try to throw our political
Starting point is 00:15:37 prisoners in jail. We talked about it, but we didn't actually try. Oh, you did try. We never indicted Hillary. We never indicted our enemies. Yeah, because they blocked it. Who blocked it? The Justice Department. There were actually some people there at the beginning who were a little more fair-minded. It's not going to be that way in the second term, although that's the job you were up for.
Starting point is 00:15:59 I was. And honestly, I was hoping to- If you had been there in 2016, would you have indicted Hillary? Only if that's what the facts and the law commanded. I wouldn't have done it as some get back politically because look, that doesn't end. What I understand is if you do that to them and they do that to us, then you don't ever get out of the cycle. As someone who has held some power, it's a pretty frightening concept that when you get
Starting point is 00:16:22 out, the people who take power then can utilize the apparatus of the state to deprive you of your freedom. But of course, you went right to what aboutism. You didn't really answer what I... Well, I reject the premise that we flirt with authoritarianism. Hold on, man. Seriously, using every possible lever to stay in office after he lost the election plainly, just always being friends with Putin, he likes him, he likes Viktor Orban, always
Starting point is 00:16:54 like pining to be with team strongman and not really being that, not really that, you know, into our allies. You don't think that's flirting with authoritarianism. And if you flirt with it, he also makes jokes about, you know, maybe after this term, if it's so good, we should have another one, which would be, again, an abrogation of the basic tenets of the Constitution, two terms. You know, that's flirting. That's flirting. To even make a joke about it is flirting with authorities.
Starting point is 00:17:26 My question, like in a marriage, can you just flirt and not cross the line? Of course. Most don't, but okay. I'm telling you, most guys, if they flirt, what they're doing is they're seeing if the girl flirts back. If she doesn't, I was just flirting.
Starting point is 00:17:40 If she does, yeah, I'll fuck her. So you think flirtation only goes as far as your options at that moment. Eggs well put for a man. Well, yeah, it might be different for women. But I think that in Trump's case, he looks at four years of a pretty peaceful world. You have to concede that. And when I got elected, the places where I would come in some conflict with Trump would be where he would seek powers of war that I thought were reposed in the Congress and
Starting point is 00:18:12 Now and I had all these Democrats really eager to work with me now no war with Iran We should stop Trump from having that power But then as soon as Biden is cheerleading this war in Ukraine, all the anti-war Democrats became pro-war. There are no anti-war Democrats left. That's an interesting point. It's off the point. We're talking about a little bit.
Starting point is 00:18:33 It's a good... Well, if you're talking about the... You haven't lost all your skills as the congressman. Come on, man. If you're talking about the use of force to achieve your political goals, I think it's somewhat on topic. Yeah. It's not like the left doesn't do a version
Starting point is 00:18:45 I mean, they should not have been bitching about Trump is not a legitimate president. He's in the lit that was wrong I agree. It's very different than actually trying to stay in power We just had January 6th. It went off smoothly without a hitch places everyone places Okay, the rehearsal went great and now we do it and we go home. That's not what would have happened if you guys had lost, and you know that. That is an asymmetry you have to address. Okay, let me address it.
Starting point is 00:19:15 You're right. This past week we had a wonderful January 6th. The last time we had a Republican president elected, and Democrats did not object to the electors, do you know when the last time we had a Republican president elected and Democrats did not object to the electors. Do you know when the last time that was? I see this is the kind of bullshit. No, look, it was 1988. It was 1988 the last time they didn't object to the Republicans. They objected to George W. Bush winning Ohio.
Starting point is 00:19:41 Objection is different than calling the Justice Department and pressuring them to do things that even this own Justice Department wouldn't do. It's different than calling the guy in Georgia and saying, find me 11,000 votes. It's different than going to court with all these ridiculous cases that were laughed out of every courtroom. It's different than actually sending fake electors. Don't give me bullshit and we'll be friends. Bullshit me?
Starting point is 00:20:06 No, we'll still be friends, but I don't think you're a hack. Instead of someone who could actually have an honest conversation and admit this asymmetry exists. I don't believe it's asymmetrical at all. When you look at the way the Democratic Party used an authoritarian bum rush to get Joe Biden out of the race and replace him with with Harris?
Starting point is 00:20:25 What was it was that was that the great? You know sacrifice to the virtue of democracy and the great rejection of authoritarianism was Swapping her out for him like it's a Mississippi Square dance. I'm just gonna end this part of our discussion by saying You know, I think you're just looking in your eye, talking to you, not the media guy I saw. You're a lot brighter than I thought you were. Did you think I was not bright?
Starting point is 00:20:51 Yeah. What gave you that impression? Like everything you've said and done. No, and also because the media is, but I just never talked to. I could say, by the way, this is only a semi-compl compliment because what I'm saying is, I think you're absolutely bright enough
Starting point is 00:21:08 to know what I'm talking about. I understand why you have to carry the water for the other side because you are, you know, your career is just beginning. Trump loves you. That's a good thing in this day and age. And so I get it. I get what you can and cannot say,
Starting point is 00:21:24 and we can put that aside. Let's get back to Horde. Club Random is brought to you by the audio marketing gurus at Radioactive Media. Congratulations, you survived 2024. Now the question is, how are you as a business owner or CMO going to ensure your business not only survives, but thrives. You have the ability to overcome anything by taking control and steering it in the direction you wanna go.
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Starting point is 00:24:49 I didn't even know we were on that subject. Were we talking about Congress or the other time? I wanna read this, just because this really gets to the part about, this was really about economics. Because it's an essay, we did it on the show, the one that you don't think is so great, but it's actually way better.
Starting point is 00:25:06 Just because I said the first show was better does not mean I said the second show wasn't great. You're so right, I'm acting like a wife. You are, you are such a whiny bitch sometimes. I'm usually not. You just hit a nerve. But you're right, I'm acting like a wife who will not let it go.
Starting point is 00:25:20 And what about the remote? Matt, you never let me have the remote. And you say you don't understand. I'm going to my mother's. Marriage. All right. So this is about the gig economy, you know, the economy, or they also call it the remote economy.
Starting point is 00:25:37 Okay. So you can call it remote work, but what's really remote is any chance of getting health insurance. What are Uber and Lyft, but Americanized rickshaws? It's not like it's what anyone wants to do. No one ever had a friend throw up in the backseat and said, gosh, I hope someday I get to make a career out of this. And then there's OnlyFans, which in 2021 swelled from 12 million to 85 million users.
Starting point is 00:26:04 And if you're a little behind, you don't know what OnlyFans is, don't worry. It's the side hustle your daughter is using to pay off her college debt. It's just a platform where you can share recipes or maybe your poetry. Yeah, you can do that on OnlyFans, but no one does. It's women showing their vaginus to men who are masturbating. That's what we have a kind of a masturbation economy and. That's my question is. Women have become so cynical about men and the economy is so bad for them that so much of this economy revolves around the horny guys.
Starting point is 00:26:43 And women who are I don't think they really want to be on OnlyFans doing that. Would you? No. But that's sort of where our economy has sent young women who, combined with the fact that they're, for very good reason, so cynical about men that their idea is kind of, look, men are shit, so I'm going to get paid a little bit to begin with. That's only fair.
Starting point is 00:27:06 Now, here's the crux of it to me. Prostitution is a term we apply across the world. It doesn't just apply to sex. You can prostitute yourself in business, in politics, anything. It means doing something you hate for money. That's what it means. It didn't sound to me like the women you were with hated it. Put it that way. Yeah, I think there's a difference between sex for money and sex and money. And if you start to blur that line, we're going to need a lot more fucking prisons in this country. But I want to make a point about what you just read, that passage, because I think there's something that supersedes the horniness economy.
Starting point is 00:27:49 And I'm being serious about this, and it's the loneliness economy. Yes. I think that we are in a true epidemic of loneliness. But they go together, horny and lone. But I think one is actually more powerful, and it's not the horny. You're correct. There are many guys who just want the prostitute to talk to them or the stripper. Yeah. So I have a friend who,
Starting point is 00:28:10 she's a female creator on OnlyFans and we're having lunch and I was inquiring as to what it's like, like what are these superficial relationships? She described having multiple AI chatbots running at all times, just to interact with these people over text. And that was as economically productive as some of the on-camera activities. And I was amazed by that, and she ascribed it to the deep loneliness that these schmucks are feeling and the fact
Starting point is 00:28:45 that it created that connection. Don't call them schmucks. They're out there down on their luck enough. Don't you feel some sympathy? I think that we wallow in our own blank expressions of sympathy and so I'm just on the other side. Yeah, you know what, you're right. In cells is what they, you've heard that term? It stands for involuntarily celibate, which what I used to just call, I can't get laid. But my strategy wasn't to like join a club
Starting point is 00:29:16 with other fucking losers who can't get laid. My strategy, like in college, when I never got laid was to masturbate and plot, Plot how I could get laid. Yeah, but that would have to be before the masturbation because afterwards, the brain cells wouldn't be all that firing. I was a champion. You know what my strategy was?
Starting point is 00:29:36 Go hang out with your friends who are out getting laid. Right. And then there's gonna be somebody in the group that doesn't end up with one of them, and you could be that second option. So people wanna know two basic things. Okay. Then there's going to be somebody in the group that doesn't end up with one of them, and you could be that second option. Okay. So people want to know two basic things.
Starting point is 00:29:49 Okay. One, was he ever with an underage girl? No. Okay. I know you said that, and if the Justice Department had any evidence, and again, people are going to attack me. What are you doing? I'm not defending Matt Gaetz.
Starting point is 00:30:03 I'm telling the truth as to what it is. And if you don't want to hear the truth, you're the hack. The Justice Department, this was Biden's Justice Department, declined. I can't believe Biden's Justice Department wouldn't have wanted to get you if there was something. So the fact that they said, we got nothing, tells me something, that they had nothing. Now, I don't know what anybody does behind closed doors. There's lots of scandals about lots of people, but I got to go with what ... No criminal... So I put that aside.
Starting point is 00:30:34 Okay. Okay. Second thing they want to know is, was what he was doing considered prostitution? So that's what we're talking about now. And I couldn't agree with you more. Like the Beverly Hills housewife who really hates her husband now, but sticks around and fucks him a few times a year because she doesn't want to give up the big house. To me, that's much more prostitution. That is textbook doing something you hate just for the money. Same thing if he stays with her for the same reason, because he can't afford to get divorced. That's prostitution. But, okay, I wrote down the quote. There is this, okay. Well, first, you said giving someone money, you're dating, that they didn't ask for.
Starting point is 00:31:19 That's prostitution now? So, yeah, okay, that's your exact quote. But there's this in a text, I guess this is from your girlfriend at the time, talking about you and your wingman. The guys are a little short this week. If it can be more of a customer appreciation week, Matt. Now, were there coupons involved? I just have to ask the tough questions. Were there coupons? Bill, this is a text message I neither sent nor received. Another person is sending this message,
Starting point is 00:31:50 presumably about me, to tell other women that they shouldn't ask for money. It sounds like the person who sent that message really wanted to be the great recipient of any generosity and didn't want her friends to also be the recipient of that generosity. You're telling me that makes me some sort of criminal? I didn't send this message, I didn't receive this message. I'm referenced in it because one woman is telling other women, hey, there's no generosity for you. So the phrase customer appreciation week,
Starting point is 00:32:19 you never knew that before you saw it in this text. No. Okay, what about this one? Add to cart. Go on. It does not say that. Drive-by. There's something about something was just a drive-by. What's a drive-by? Was that a message I sent? I don't know. I was stunned when I wrote this. Okay. But there was also, they said you met women on seeking arrangements.
Starting point is 00:32:45 No actually, I've never had a dating profile on any website on any dating app. When this came out, why is it say that? Well, it's false. And by the way, the reason I can tell you it's false is when the media was reporting that I was meeting women on seeking arrangements, no less than seeking arrangements came out with a statement that said, Matt Gaetz has never been on our site. He's never had a profile here. He has never met any women on our site. So if seeking arrangements themselves are saying this is false, I have to combat these things in the media that are not true. And nobody loses their reporter license for saying stuff that's false.
Starting point is 00:33:25 It's just the information ecosystem. Well, here's what I'm gonna say to that. One, I never read that in the stories about you. You just tell me, wait, which absolutely could be because they left it out, because they do it all the time. It's one of my biggest complaints about the media is that I never, you say you're not lying. Well, you know what? You can also lie by omission. You cherry pick both sides
Starting point is 00:33:49 do it. I have to read both sides to feel like I have any knowledge of anything. And that just sucks, except for my show, which is always even handed. Okay, so I didn't know that. So that's either because the media lied to me or somebody in the internet, if they're going to say that this contradictory information, you're going to look bad, but I assume you wouldn't say that if it- I'm willing to live by those terms. If it couldn't be backed up. Okay.
Starting point is 00:34:16 Also, this is in your defense. This is another thing from an article, again, in a, I think, Washington Post. The committee found two women, 27 and 25, who did not consider the relationships transactional. So that's a direct quote, again, hacks. I'm just reading what I read. Did you read that one? I did.
Starting point is 00:34:38 I did. Sounded scandalous, me dating a 25-year-old woman and a 27-year-old woman and having a non-transactional relationship. Look who you're talking to. You don't know the half of it. Okay. So, this is an interesting quote. The committee, this is the ethics committee, typically refrains from releasing the findings after a member's resignation. I did not know that until I read it in the article. The committee typically refrains
Starting point is 00:35:11 from releasing the findings if you've quit already. So why did they make an exception for you? What is your, you must have bitterness about that. I don't actually, because I know in Washington. Oh come on, just admit that. No, everything goes out in Washington anyway. If you think that this document wasn't going to be released in one form or the other, then you don't understand how the leak ecosystem works in that place.
Starting point is 00:35:34 Every, yeah, sure, everything leaks. So other people were more worked up about that than I was, to be honest. I have a lot of enemies on the Republican side, more so than most Republican members, because I killed the golden goose. I have a lot of enemies on the Republican side, more so than most Republican members, because I killed the golden goose. Kevin McCarthy raised a billion dollars in special interest money and distributed that
Starting point is 00:35:52 among a couple hundred Republicans. That makes you a lot of fucking friends. The Ethics Committee is one of only three committees in the whole Congress that the speaker appoints directly. It doesn't go through the steering committee process. Ethics, rules, and intelligence. And so everybody on the ethics committee were Kevin McCarthy's asshole buddies, one of whom who voted to release it, the Republicans, was donating to my primary opponent.
Starting point is 00:36:18 So I wasn't exactly being judged by some non-biased arbiter. These were people with an axe to grind against me. Well, yeah. That's life. Yeah, I mean, it's hard to like, Kevin McCarthy, I really want to defend that guy. I mean, I always thought he was a huge asshole and not that bright. Did you? You thought, see, because I actually always found him to be a gregarious person. I don't know.
Starting point is 00:36:46 If he was here talking to me, I'd have a different opinion too. I bet you'd like him. Yeah, but I don't. OK, but I feel like he's much more of a square than you are. Well, that would have encompassed a lot of people, I think. But why are you giving me wrong man? Where I took exception with you. And I was always a huge fan of yours because when I
Starting point is 00:37:05 got to like, you used to always have Joe Scarborough on, and Joe Scarborough was my congressman. I was a huge Joe Scarborough fan. We were really close, even when I was like 12, 14 years old. And so I would be able to stay up late at night and watch content that otherwise would have been deemed too irreverent for me because Joe Scarborough was on. And then that created a permission structure for me to continue to watch your show because oh well Joe has been on that show, it can't be too bad for me to watch.
Starting point is 00:37:36 So he was our guy for a long time. I still like him. You guys went ape shit when he went to Mar-a-Lago two days after the election. I think that's great, by the way. Of course you do. Because he's... Look, the criticism was that he was kissing the ring. I think two days after the election was a little early, it did give that signal. Give it a week, you know, Joe?
Starting point is 00:38:05 Okay, but I like Joe. You know, my problem with people who like take media jobs is that, you know, they start out, very often on MSNBC this happens, they start out as the conservative. Of course, on MSNBC, you can be only so conservative. They don't really have like your type that wouldn't be on it.
Starting point is 00:38:25 But they have the Nicole Wallaces and the people, Michael Steele, the people usually they hate Trump. It's the country club conservatives, not the hunting club conservatives. It's the anybody but Trump conservatives, right. Which is doesn't look, I'm an everybody, anybody but Trump guy too. But like it doesn't represent the country or the party. So it's bullshit. But okay, so they start out as that, but they're also conservative and Nicole Wallace was like Bush is like, yeah, oh, Mrs. She was out there,
Starting point is 00:38:55 you know, cheerleading the Iraq war. Right. And the longer they're there, and the more time I see MSNBC on the paycheck, the more they become not just anti-Trump, but now they're just totally in league with, and I said, you know, look, I don't want people to become more conservative generally, but when you're, looks to me like the paycheck is dictating your politics, I do have a problem with that. Well, they're enslaved by their audience because they see what everybody is Yeah, what turns off their audience one turns on their audience and that becomes the thing that turns them on as well But like even when we say conservative liberal right-left, we are in a time of realignment right now
Starting point is 00:39:36 I think unlike any other time you've been in the media The who is the pro war party who is the pro-war party? Who is the pro-free speech party? Who is the pro-free trade party? Who's the stick up their ass party? That's the biggest one in my world. Because the stuff that used to get laughs because it was the moral majority doing it, stick up their ass stuff.
Starting point is 00:40:03 Pat Robertson, who's the other Jerry Falwell? This was your all those purple Teletubbies, you know are gay Well the Clinton thing and then who became the stick up their ass people and the left the left Well, and I mean you're who taught me about oral sex because you're welcome the Clinton. You're welcome. Mrs. Gates the the whole Clinton Ken Starr report really put your critique of the stick in the mud, stick up your ass, contingent of politics in the forefront. But like right now, there are times I see the political landscape where I have more in common with the populist leftists than I do the centrists
Starting point is 00:40:46 in my own party. On matters of government surveillance, I team up with Ilhan Omar more than I team up with the Republicans on the Intelligence Committee. On war powers... You're talking about Ilhan Omar? Ilhan Omar, yeah. Oh, you said it funny. Yeah, you'd be surprised how often...
Starting point is 00:41:04 Ilhan Omar. Ilhan. I know like a... Oh, is that how funny. Oh, well, she's, yeah, you'd be surprised how often- Ilhan Omar. Ilhan. I know like a, oh, is that how, am I saying it wrong? Yeah, it's Ilhan. My bad. I'm sorry, and sorry to the prophet. Peace and blessings upon him. I met no disrespect.
Starting point is 00:41:17 Whew, that's getting out of hand, that shit. Yeah, yeah, I would probably cut that. But I think, I don't know where that's gonna lead you, bro, but could be dicey. No, I mean, I've been down that road before. to lead you, bro, but could be Dicey. No, I mean, I've been down that road before. Do you con- Yeah. I have. That was your big-
Starting point is 00:41:29 You have to be, I mean, Zuckerberg just made a big deal about free speech and I'm behind him on it because I think he's right. He's doing a kind of a mea culpa. Like we fact check too much and look, is there a lot of misinformation? Yeah, but also misinformation has become like a code word for just stuff we don't like. You know, COVID started in a lab. Well, we just don't think that should be out there. So that's, well, it wasn't misinformation. It's just shit like that.
Starting point is 00:41:55 Not that I have to tell you. Well, and the stuff that's true. Like this, like when people were posting the true side effects of some of these vaccines, you had folks in the White House pressuring social media platforms to get that taken down. It wasn't even false, but it was just derogatory to
Starting point is 00:42:12 the narrative that they were trying to spin at the time. That should not be allowed. I think the more you decentralize that away from the fact-checker model to the community notes model, the more you make it durable to that type of government influence. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:42:27 So if you were in the Justice Department, like what would be your number one? Number one? Yeah, what would be the- Would be defang the weaponization. Stop the whole they go after us. I really mean that. Because if I'd have gone in there and done that stuff.
Starting point is 00:42:45 You really think the FBI is that partisan? Because I always thought of the FBI as mostly Republicans, mostly squares, guys who iron their underwear, you know, real straight arrows. The idea that it's infiltrated with all these like super radical left-wing types who are out to get Trump. You don't think they had a reason with all the communications that were unprecedented between Trump and Russia. You don't think they had a reason to start that Operation Crossfire investigation. I mean, his fucking campaign manager, Manafort, was completely in bed with the Russians.
Starting point is 00:43:29 Michael Flynn and the comrade, all these people in the administration who had all these discussions with Russians, Russians, Russians, and then just always, Russians, we don't know any Russians. I think the picture of him with like eight Russians. It sort of feels silly to talk about- It at least merited an investigation. It feels silly to talk about now that Trump was some asset of Putin when it was only Trump in the White House where Putin did invade another country. But in terms of when the investigation turned illegitimate, like, okay, I guess you have
Starting point is 00:44:01 reasonable suspicion around anything. But once they were applying for surveillance based on information that the FBI already knew was coming from Russian intelligence subsources, that's when they jumped the shark for me. They were signing FISA renewals when they knew that Steele was relying on people who were Russian intelligence people. There was a report. Was that the Horowitz report or was that the Durham report? That was Horowitz.
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Starting point is 00:44:58 Okay. One of them was about the FBI and it did find errors. Yes, it did. Absolutely. No, no, no And like doesn't it bother you when an FBI lawyer is pledging fidelity to the resistance while changing an email? That doesn't mean that there wasn't something there also. I mean, uh to go back to politically incorrect days OJ Simpson did kill his ex-wife and the police were also corrupt Sometimes both things can be true. Do you think they framed him?
Starting point is 00:45:25 OJ? Yeah, they took active steps to frame him. No, I don't. That's what I'm saying. They had their own problems, admittedly, at the LAPD. Yes, and that's the analogy with the FBI. They did, there were problems, and the FISA thing was the most glaring of those errors. You guys were important to look into that. But also, he was having contacts. Just to say publicly, Russia, if you're listening,
Starting point is 00:45:48 I mean, nobody ever did that. George Stephanopoulos said, you know, if a foreign power sent you intel, oh, well, I think you should look at it. No, you shouldn't. You should go to the FBI and say, a country who is not called America is trying to influence our elections. That's what you do. You go to the FBI. You don't look at it. Well, you know what? That would be nice. But Bill, as everything else in our world has become globalized, trade, information, our elections have become globalized too.
Starting point is 00:46:16 And the notion that the way we're going to be resilient to that is tattling to the FBI every time, it may work. But when I see the way these global corporations that rely on sovereign wealth funds of other countries are pouring cash into super funds, for Democrats and Republicans, it's like, oh, oh, but Don Jr. met with some lady in Trump Tower. There is such a foreign influence factor in our elections now. It is at such a high level. I don't know that there's anything that's gonna stop it.
Starting point is 00:46:46 Especially on your side. Oh, come on, man. You don't think that the Chinese were funding the whole PEN Center, the Biden Center at PEN. Manafort was trading polling information with a guy in the GRU. The Democrats didn't do that. Paul Manafort, despite a lofty title, was a very bit player in what was going on with
Starting point is 00:47:12 Trump. You know why? How do you know that? Because he had one specific task. We were dealing with a faithless electors problem at the Republican convention where we would win a state and then Ted Cruz was effective at using the party apparatus to substitute his delegates for Trump's delegates. It wasn't like we'd had a recent convention fight. One of the only guys around from the 80s that ever planned for a convention fight was Paul
Starting point is 00:47:35 Manafort. He demands this lofty title, then he works the convention problem, and at the same time is trying to showcase to the oligarchs on whatever side in Russia, Ukraine, that he was this made guy in Trump world. And that was messy and should not have happened. But I think, talk about whataboutism, to say that that's a parallel to the tens of millions of dollars that flow into our elections from foreign sovereign wealth funds through US companies and superpowers.
Starting point is 00:48:09 Yeah, it's both sides. It is both sides. Based on a ruling from a Republican Supreme Court. I think the ruling in Citizens United was wrong. Great to meet you. I'm having a good time. I'm glad, man. I'm having a good time. Are you? I'm glad, man.
Starting point is 00:48:26 I'm glad. You don't smoke pot anymore, right? I won't with you. It would mess with all the molly I took on the way here. Weren't you one of the most forthright ones to want to put forward legalization for pot laws? I'm very pro marijuana reform. I wrote Florida's first, second, and third marijuana laws. It just failed there.
Starting point is 00:48:52 Well, the vote on going from medical to adult use. Now in Florida, you have to go. It was on the ballot. Well, it didn't fail. How could fucking nutty, crazy, bath salt, alligator Florida not be legal for pot? Yeah, we don't allow the homeless to degrade infrastructure to the point where it hurts the firefighters.
Starting point is 00:49:15 Different issue. Different issue. And the liberals have completely fucked up that issue. It's in my brilliant special that's on probably now or just was, is anybody else seeing this? I talk about it, liberal versus woke as far as homeless goes. No, I mean, trust me, the liberals have a lot to answer for and I call them out on all of it, which again is why they don't like me and I don't give a fuck. You talk a lot.
Starting point is 00:49:38 I talk to it. You know what? I wonder if you give a fuck because you talk about it a lot. I don't. I do. You advertise how much it affects you by talking about it. No. Because I don't even do this.
Starting point is 00:49:47 No, no, no. I view you as a libertarian. No. All I'm doing is reminding people of my brand. My brand is almost unique. Not completely, but I'm glad that everybody is so in their echo chamber because it leaves this big space in the middle for someone who will do that. People will watch this. If they watch the whole thing, they'll go,
Starting point is 00:50:06 wow, what an honest conversation. Like, not like anyone I've ever seen with any politician. Like, that's what just two guys talking. And Bill was open. He didn't fucking hate that guy. Except he said it. But it wasn't about politics. And then we got over it, just like a married couple does.
Starting point is 00:50:24 And then we just had a real discussion. And then you kept nagging me about it, just like a married couple does. And then we just had a real discussion. And then you kept nagging me about it just like a married couple does. And when I think you're full of shit about stuff on your side, I call you out on that. And I'm also admitting, and I hope you are, I think I do it more than you, when my side is wrong and they are wrong a lot and that's why they lost this election and I tell them every day, you're just digging the hole deeper. Anybody who can't point out where their side is wrong is just a vessel through which others operate. Well, where is your side most wrong?
Starting point is 00:50:52 My side's wrong on marijuana reform. My side is wrong on some elements of climate change. My side is wrong when they try to extend the surveillance state at any cost. My side is wrong when they try to go and build Jeffersonian democracies out of sand and blood and Arab militias in the Middle East and convert every Central Asian cave. I've got to give that to Trump. He really doesn't like war.
Starting point is 00:51:16 No, he really doesn't. And that's not a bad thing. It's ironic. Who was the last president who really didn't like war? Jimmy Carter, the one they just buried. He never fired a shot It's funny that they have that in common, isn't it? It is and two guys who have nothing else in common and it's not that Trump doesn't have militaristic tendencies like I don't think he has any problems with torture or
Starting point is 00:51:41 Really powerful strong military but right now like one of the reasons we should be anti-war is because I'm not sure we would win very many of them. And that's not a criticism of the amazing men and women in the military, but the shit we build doesn't work. I was on the Armed Services Committee for eight years, and I saw the way what we spend money on is driven by what general is leaving to get what board seat or what contract
Starting point is 00:52:04 with Raytheon, Lockheed, L3. We've allowed all this consolidation in the defense. Okay, the F-35. The F-35. I loved it when Musk went after the F-35. I had said on my show two days earlier, I said, you know, they're talking about cutting shit. Let's see what happens when they go after the Pentagon.
Starting point is 00:52:20 And then he did it two days later. I was like, okay, you know what? I'm not pre-hating anything you guys are gonna do. Not pre-hating. Well, and Hegseth is uniquely critical of those things because these millennials who went and fought these wars and believed they were righteous and meaningful, who came more to the anti-war side,
Starting point is 00:52:43 like Tucker was a big pro-war guy, came to an anti-war side. Like Tucker was a big pro-war guy, came to an anti-war guy, Hegseth. He's just crazy now. Come on, come on, bro. He's, come on, the Moscow stuff, defending Syria, defending Assad, I mean, you gotta be kidding. But Hegseth, he looks like he's having a good time. Let's get him over here.
Starting point is 00:53:01 Yeah, yeah, he'd be a good hang. I bet he would. But, yeah. What? Don't get me started on the accusations against Hegseth because they are so ridiculous. I want to get back to the point about the military spending. He seems like a guy who does not know how to treat women.
Starting point is 00:53:18 Bill, you're telling me... You treat him nice. You take him to Broadway shows. You do the Anne Money thing, which is great. Some lonely housewife, fucks Pete Hegseth in a hotel, then has to explain something to her husband the next day, alleges rape. I just, I can't on that. But back to the military spending. The F-35 costs $100 million a copy. You know what percentage of them are fully operationally capable today?
Starting point is 00:53:48 29%. They don't work in the rain. If something costs $100 million, it should definitely work more than 29% of the time. But also the great thing Musk said was, they're obsolete. We're in the age of drones, assholes. We're in the age of drones. Why are you building fighter planes?
Starting point is 00:54:06 If you guys can go in and really do that kind of shit and wherever this country is really constipated, just rotor-router this kind of shit away, I will have great respect for it. I hope we achieve that. When I was sitting around Mar-a-Lago with Elon talking about how we were gonna do that name-dropper Elon says the way that we
Starting point is 00:54:28 Save the military and win the future wars is by designing a mechanism to get drone operators laid Because the whole culture of the Air Force is the like fighter pilot, you know the Air Force is the fighter pilot, macho, the Navy top gun. If you had that same archetype for the 240 pound guy who lives in his mom's basement but knows how to operate a drone, if we can get that guy some pussy, we are going to smoke China. Okay. Well, we've got the OnlyFans situation. I feel there's a-
Starting point is 00:55:03 The loneliness situation. I feel there's a loneliness situation. I feel like there's a way to Combine the only fans ladies with the drone operators and make this happen because there's really nothing more pathetic for America I Like I'm not a technological guy. So like I wouldn't even know how to get on only fans I mean, I don't really know how to get on You know, I don't know. I'm chachi BT. I just not I'm just a bit different. You know, I mean, I don't really know how to get on, you know, I don't know, Chachi BT, I just not, I'm just a bit different. You don't use AI?
Starting point is 00:55:28 No, I'm just not, I'm just of a different generation, okay? I'm old school, like, you know, padding, padding, sorry, that's who I am. But what I've read about OnlyFans is just, it's like, I can't believe what I'm reading, that these guys must know that this girl is not really their girlfriend and doesn't really give a shit about them and very often isn't even that girl. It's some fat guy in
Starting point is 00:55:51 the Philippines who is- Some chat bot that's running- Well, they call them chatters. Like that's the person who's communicating. The fact that they willingly, willingly convinced themselves that this is some sort of actual relationship where they're like tipping them by the minute, another five minutes and it... Just for the chat sometimes. Just, and of course you're not there in the room with them.
Starting point is 00:56:16 It's not a, you're not fucking them in any way. They're fucking you. And you. They're fucking. The fact that so many millions of men are satisfied that this is some sort of actual relationship, this generation, somebody told me a scary story about, she was telling me about her younger sister
Starting point is 00:56:34 who's like 17 and has a boyfriend for the first time and they were like, I'll bring her over for dinner. No, the kids just wanna be on the phone together all the time, FaceTiming. And when the girl goes to sleep at night, she leaves the phone on FaceTime all night, and so does the boyfriend. And they're sleeping together virtually with the phone on all night. And I said, do you have to pay for this? And she said, you know, they made a big mistake when they gave these kids unlimited data.
Starting point is 00:57:03 Yeah. Yeah. Because that shit wouldn't have flown in my day because your parents would have been like, you are on your roaming minutes. You have kids yet? I've got sort of an adopted son. Oh yeah, okay. How old? Right now, he's 24. Okay, so he's a little past this.
Starting point is 00:57:18 But what do you make of a generation that is doing that, that can't even turn off the phone when they go to sleep? I think it's worse than that. I've been reading the literature on the people who get the AI, boyfriend or girlfriend, that they know is AI, that they know is not an actual human. And they did these studies. And when you allow the person to interact with that bot and then you cut off the bot, they have sincere feelings of remorse over a breakup with a being that never existed. It's like Manti-Tai shit. It's not that different than OnlyFans where the girl isn't really, really there, but you're
Starting point is 00:58:01 right. That's a great point, actually. It is one small level past. Right. But it's basically- Are we getting that though? Aren't there going to be the AI relationships that- I don't know.
Starting point is 00:58:12 Define human romance? I'm so glad I'm in the generation I'm in, really. Even being almost 69 years old, which obviously has its bad parts, like you're not going gonna be around this long, is I still would not trade it. I mean, I sure wouldn't wanna be what these kids are going through,
Starting point is 00:58:32 I mean, and their sort of virtual existence. When we, my generation, you met people- Are you a Gen X or are you a millennial? I'm like the first millennial. I'm not a zennial. You typically met people at bars, but this generation doesn't really drink that much. Even when they're at bars, they're on their phone.
Starting point is 00:58:52 Yes. You couldn't spend that much time on your phone because you were having to hit the button three times to get to the right letter to send a message. But where did your generation, where did you typically go to meet a romantic partner? What was that typical hunting experience for you? Okay. Well, I was just so bereft of knowledge.
Starting point is 00:59:12 I would love it if it was here. I was a late bloomer. It's really good I never got married because I needed time to catch up to what a loser I was when I was. I had one girlfriend in high school, and when she dumped me, it was the worst thing that still in my life ever happened. I was a wreck for a year.
Starting point is 00:59:34 What did she break up with you over? Was it another guy? No, I was just being a dick. I was just being complacent. You know what it was? I got bored, like we all will do to a certain degree at all times and it's just how you handle it and I handled it because it was the first time like a dick. So then I went to Cornell which had it was like the worst possible atmosphere
Starting point is 00:59:59 to ever try to get laid. It was like the Ivy Leagues had just started even admitting girls so it's like a five to one ratio and I didn't know how to get laid. It was like the Ivy Leagues had just started even admitting girls. So it's like a five to one ratio and I didn't know how to get laid. So it was just low. It's not like the Cornell atmosphere had a whole lot else going on in the town. You could go tap into. Cornell is a shit place to go to school anyway. You get a great education, but it's cold and competitive. It's just a bad vibe up there. It really is. I never went back. So that was terrible. Then when I finally got out, then I went and moved to New York City and being poor,
Starting point is 01:00:31 and a pot dealer trying to be a comedian, also not a great formula to get laid in New York. Being a drug dealer wasn't a good formula to get laid? Not pot. I was selling small amounts to guys at the club and the band. But when I came out here at 27, it was like, or like I was selling small amounts to like guys at the club and the band. But when I came out here at 27, it was like, oh, I always say this town sucked my cock on the first date.
Starting point is 01:00:53 I just loved it from the beginning. And I got along better with the girls and I had a little, little game. And and then I just, yeah, you would go to bars. That's what it was. And I was still such a loser. I remember I had a friend who I didn't really like that much, but he was good at talking to girls. That's really one of the key signs of a loser. You got to have a guy, a wingman. Oh, I was going to mention this guy, Joel Greenberg. I'm very curious. He comes up in the articles. And I saw Megyn Kelly talking up in the articles and I saw Megan Kelly talking about him. Again, I had not heard this because again, you only get one half of the story.
Starting point is 01:01:32 First of all, what was your relationship with him? He sounds like you guys are asshole buddies. It was someone I deeply regret having spent any time with, but he was in politics in central Florida. He became a social acquaintance of mine. He had a vision on crypto, and he had a vision on all these different things. He was the tax collector. He began the first tax collector in the country to take crypto. So I was sort of enamored with the cutting edge nature of how he was going about things. And what I sort of learned through this is if you're around.
Starting point is 01:02:11 He's in jail. Let's just set this up. Yeah, he's in jail. He's in jail. And before anything would be, one of the things he's in jail for is lying about another person about having sexual contact with someone who was underage. But what I learned is if you're around people and they're doing stuff, and even if you're not doing that stuff, if you're the most famous person or you're the most powerful person,
Starting point is 01:02:31 if shit breaks bad, then everybody's going to point the finger at you. And that's what happened with Joel Greenberg. By the way, if the way I go down is drinking with Bill Maher at Club Random, I'm comfortable with that. Ginger, if you can hear this, you should go. Well, you just made up for that gaffe at Club Random. I'm comfortable with that. Ginger, if you can hear this, you should go. Well, you just made up for that gaffe at the beginning. That's a very sweet thing to say. I appreciate it.
Starting point is 01:02:51 No, you're one of these boomer, not boomer, you're Gen X, right? Yeah, I'm a boomer. You're a boomer? Gen X. Oh, thank you. That is so kind of you. No, I'm totally boomer. There's a whole echelon of you guys who became cult heroes to my generation. It was like you, Louis Black, Norm MacDonald, rest his soul, one of the funniest people to ever live. It was the calling out of the mores of the time that developed a really sincere following.
Starting point is 01:03:24 Yeah. No, I love it when I have fans in every generation, but especially as it gets younger. Because I do- Isn't your liberal fans are older, and your conservative fans are younger would be my guess? Yeah, probably. I know I never looked into it that much,
Starting point is 01:03:39 but that's probably what it is. But I also, I hear a lot, the guys on the golf course love you. Because, again, I'm not, I never have been afraid to, like, speak truth about what's going on in the left. And what's going on in the left, you know, I get it. I do not like Trump, but I never hate anybody who votes for him. I totally get it.
Starting point is 01:04:03 I get why people go. Would you agree that the two greatest politicians, well, Clinton might have fit in there, but Obama and Trump had- Oh, absolutely. Right. And I do believe- As a politician, he's non-parade, but so was Hitler. As a politician, I'm not saying he's Hitler, he's not. Well, you're also not saying Obama's Hitler. You're making a point. Exactly. Yeah. But Trump, you know, let me just be clear, because this is a thing that people do say.
Starting point is 01:04:31 Trump is not Hitler. Hitler fought the Russians. Okay. I'm thinking now that maybe your days as a party animal connected you more with who the American people really are. Is that a fair statement? Look, I was never a holier than now politician. I never... We know that. Yeah, but you know what? Some people who had personal foibles and follies would then go
Starting point is 01:04:59 and be in great moral judgment of others. And for whatever problems I've had in my life, I've never tried to represent that I'm a better person than my constituents. I just try to be a vessel for them. I think you're more like them. I don't consider you, especially having talked to you now, there are some dirtbags in your party. George Santos, give me a break.
Starting point is 01:05:26 I mean. Oh, George. What? Every generation gets the Princess Diana they deserve. And ours was George Santos taken from us too early. Well, that's not really a good analogy. Princess Diana. Well, Princess Diana, was she a charlatan?
Starting point is 01:05:42 No, it's a joke. I have a very funny one too. Okay, so, but then like, who, Lauren Boebert? She's a patriot. Lauren Boebert's terrific. Okay, but she gives hand jobs during musicals. So what? I agree. So you're against hand jobs now?
Starting point is 01:05:58 You're taking girls to musicals. Well, none that I had give me hand jobs, but I'm not entirely sure I would have turned one down. That's what they said, and my joke was like, they said, well, Matt Gaetz, he took prostitutes to musicals. I'm like, really? If you're taking a girl to a musical, isn't that payment in itself?
Starting point is 01:06:16 Well, by the way, think about how fantastical that sounds, that I was bringing prostitutes to Broadway shows. They were my dates. Right. I'm not what I'm saying. That is not a prostitute. See, I don't think people know what a prostitute is. A prostitute is someone, first of all, who has a pimp, OK,
Starting point is 01:06:34 who gets hit with a car antenna, you know, who gives blowjobs behind dumpsters. That's a prostitute. And of course, there's high end. But they don't get taken to Broadway shows. That's a prostitute. And of course, there's high end. But they don't get taken to Broadway shows. It's a black boy. Well, let me offer a defense of some of the people that you've criticized. I serve with a lot of congressmen and women who live perfect family lives, never looked
Starting point is 01:06:58 the other way, never done anything other than live a purpose-driven, holy life. And they get that congressional pin on, and they go and sell out the country. And they vote for whoever gives them money, and they vote for whatever lobbyists give them attention. And then there are people who are flawed and irreverent and have tough moments that are caught on TV, but they sincerely do what they think is best for the country. And that's why I had friendships in Congress that a lot of people wouldn't realize I
Starting point is 01:07:29 Was friends with Ilhan Omar? She and her husband and my wife and I have had dinner together and spent social time together I would not have guessed right and and you know why because while I disagree with her strongly on matters of policy and she would Say the same of me right I at least knew she fucking believed it. Okay? And say what you want about AOC. She believes what she says. And for like way more than half of them up there, they don't even believe what they're
Starting point is 01:07:57 saying. They are just reading scripts that are written, produced by others. And I resent that more than a substantive disagreement. I did so. Well, it's been a pleasure before I evacuate to talk to you. I sincerely hope that- It really has.
Starting point is 01:08:16 Yeah, well no. It's been a pleasure. One more beef man I had. You've called me a bully more than once on your show. No, I think what we did was we showed you a picture of you and said he always looks like he has a look on his face like, eat it, nerd. Yeah, but I am the nerd. No, but you look different.
Starting point is 01:08:35 First of all, you look different in person. More like a nerd? No less, more normal. Yeah, well that always bothered me about your coverage of me because- I mean, you've seen the way they do you on Saturday Night Live? I know. I mean, that's what they think you look like.
Starting point is 01:08:49 It doesn't... That's not what you look like to me right now, looking at you in person. Maybe it is on TV or, you know, people just present differently on TV sometimes. I'm a weird looking guy. But you're not. That's the thing. You're not. But I was expecting one. Really.
Starting point is 01:09:06 The Molly must be kicking in right now. All right. Well, thank you for coming here. I appreciate it. And, you know. We should do real time. I would love to. Would you do it?
Starting point is 01:09:16 Yeah. If, you know, I got. Would you do a panel? I got no fear of your panel or your audience. No, no. But sometimes you got to do my podcast, too. I will. All right. I got a podcast coming up. We you got to do my podcast too. I will. All right.
Starting point is 01:09:26 I got a podcast coming up and we'd love to have you, bro. I appreciate it. Nice time. I got a podcast coming up. You mentioned your podcast. It's so new it doesn't have a name. Over the Line with Mac8s is going to be the name. Oh, Over the Line.
Starting point is 01:09:43 I will be on it. Thank you. All it. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Appreciate you. See you.

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