Club Random with Bill Maher - Vivek Ramaswamy | Club Random with Bill Maher
Episode Date: August 20, 2023Bill Maher and Vivek Ramaswamy on Bill’s debate advice for Vivek, whether or not Vivek wants to be V.P., what China and Iran have in common, how Vivek is like Kendall Roy, why Vivek wants to end the... F.B.I. and the I.R.S., Bill’s cautious take on Vivek’s candidacy, why Vivek builds businesses around young people, Big Tech’s role in elections, a big disagreement about Trump, and much, much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Climb right now.
Hey, Bill.
I'm here.
I knew you would be.
How you doing, brother?
How are you?
You back in the morning.
Look, I get to bro hug.
I brought you something from my garden.
Oh, that's nice.
Nice.
It does look nice, yeah.
Have you ever seen in zucchini that big? I think it's a little better than night. It's substantial. It's substantial. Yeah.
Well, Jesus, I appreciate that.
Yeah.
You know, I was talking to such a stud
that you find this merely substantial.
Oh, that's good.
No, I mean, it looks like it was genetically
modified with elephant cock.
I mean, are you kidding?
Have you just been at the Iowa State fair or something?
I've been hanging out there a lot.
Yeah.
Well, don't they have like, like biggest vegetable prizes with in this, I think you had to go there
and compete.
Have you been to Iowa?
No, I don't go there.
I just want you to admit that this is like, it's, it's, it's, it's very impressive.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Yeah.
It's very, well, thank you.
Well, thank you.
I've heard you had me.
The elephant cock size.
So can you, I'm going to take it with me. No. You're going to take it with me. So can you, I'm gonna take it with me.
You're gonna take it with me, well.
Well, they said you're hungry.
Yeah, well, you know, I'll, I'll,
cause you're like on the, you're on the go, go, go, go.
Oh, time, man.
Yeah.
See, this is what's great.
But this is what's so advantageous
about running for president when you're 38.
Cause I remember 38.
And I still run around the country,
but I couldn't do it like that now.
I mean, you really...
Did you been through that phase?
Absolutely.
Yeah.
You can just run your body, ragged 24-7, especially I'm sure you don't drink or, I mean,
you're...
Not a...
Try to not have too many vices, yeah.
But do you think it should be legal nationally?
I think that we should align the federal law
with the state law.
I think it undermines the rule of law that we have.
So that means, yeah.
Yeah, it means yes.
Yeah, right.
Absolutely.
Yeah, because it's so silly now.
It's a joke.
It's a farce.
It's a joke that I have to look up
where when I'm going to a state.
And by the way, I don't even do it anymore
because I figure if they're going to get me
in Oklahoma for having this with me,
there'll be the ones who are embarrassed, not me.
Well, also, here's the thing though,
is when you have different standards of law,
like when you have that look the other way
and sweep it under the rug,
that's when you actually get an unfair state
that can target people for saying the wrong
thing, thinking the wrong thing.
I don't like what you did here.
I got to throw this statue book at you and then we're going to do something where we
otherwise don't charge it.
And historically racism.
Yeah, historically.
Head behind states rights.
Oh, absolutely.
I mean, this was a, this was part of our past.
Right.
And today, I think it, you know, political discrimination, I think is the new equivalent of unfairness
in the law that we've seen for racism in maybe decades and centuries past.
Well, I will say this where I think we're fairly in agreement on.
I keep saying my mantra is, let's live in the year we're living in.
Yeah.
Because so many people seem to, on the left, this is a left thing.
They seem to want to insist on having our deplorable past permanently stand in for our much improved
present, which doesn't mean there isn't work to be done. There certainly are still racist in America and racism, but I feel like we are very often not treating it like,
oh, this is 2023 now, and this is where we are.
This is a work that has to be done,
but let's not be chasing these phantoms of racism
that aren't the parts that exist anymore.
Yeah, and I think that we can celebrate that.
Yeah, I think that we should celebrate that. Progressive, right? I think that we can celebrate that. Yeah, I think that we should celebrate that.
Progressive, right?
I think that we all should.
We're all, I mean, in some ways, I am pro progress.
Right?
Does that make me a progressive?
A conservative?
I don't know what those labels are, but I'm pro progress.
And so, I think that the fact that we, what I tell some people, you know, often friends
on the left is, have we been hypocritical for most of our national history?
Yes, we have.
But our worst hypocrisies.
Hypocrite, if you mean like all men are created equal.
Yeah, that we don't live up to.
We have, in the point I was getting to is those hypocrisies
are our best evidence that we have ideals at all, right?
Nobody calls Iran a hypocrite.
That's a great point.
Nobody calls China hypocrite.
You can't call them hypocrite,
because to be a hypocrite,
you had to have the ideals in the first place.
So then there are no ideals.
Now, are we a nation of gods or are we a nation of men?
We're a nation of human beings, okay?
Human beings are by definition flawed.
So if you have a nation built on ideals
and it's comprised of human beings and not angels,
then you will fall short of those ideals. It's just like definitionally what happens.
At least we have ideals. That's what I'm talking about.
And also that we do improve.
That, you know, this is what so annoying about. I've done many editorials about this. Just like,
again, just live in the year we're living in and stop like going after Columbus
and like, yes, people were atrocious back then.
You committed a trust in these good things.
I mean, there are elements of Columbus that we admire
and still celebrate it.
Well, we wouldn't be here.
Well, I guess we would.
Somebody would have found it eventually.
It's so big.
But you can be spirit of exploration,
the spirit of being the, the, the, unafraid.
Try that we take on.
To have the balls
To get into three little wooden ships that are probably the size of this room and it just go
When you didn't know what was on the other side or you thought India was on the other side's which you thought
But it was a you had no idea. Yeah, you they everybody else had a fall off
They said you will fall off the edge of the world.
That's right.
But the reason they did it was because before the trade had to go through the Middle East,
if you wanted a trade with China like Marco Polo, you had to go through the Middle East
and it would call the middle because they were literally middlemen like every all the
trade went through.
Totally.
And Columbus basically said, I would
rather fall off the edge of the world and have to deal with those people. Getting the deserts and
the conditions through one more day. I mean, these guys were the, they were the pioneers, the
explorers. And even the founding fathers had that spirit that spirit like take another guy who has that spirit Thomas Jefferson
Right, you have this historical view of Columbus. He's bad. He had his evil yet slaves. Well, he was fucking one of them
Yeah, I have more than one. I think is actually the really accurate truth, but the reality is
He's also a guy so so people say I'm young running for president. I'm 38
You know, he was when I wrote the Declaration of Independence?
12.
33.
Oh, yeah, I spelled the difference.
That was close.
Yeah, but big game credit.
Well, yeah, you're right.
He's writing the Declaration of Independence and he decides that he needs a swivel chair.
I don't know if I feel like I could use a swivel chair right now, but he decides he
needs a swivel chair.
So he invented it.
Who did?
Thomas Jefferson.
Invented the swivel chair? So he invented it. Who did? Thomas Jefferson.
Invented the swivel chair?
Yes.
I thought Franklin was the inventor.
Well, Franklin was also an inventor.
He invented the Franklin stove.
He invented the Bifocal Spectacles.
Franklin's case, he actually invented one
of the earliest remedies for the common cold.
So all of these guys, they weren't like the kinds who said,
oh no, you're not an expert.
What?
You're not trained in that.
They just said, we're gonna do it. We're gonna trained in that. They just said, we're going to do it. We're going to figure it out.
What remedy?
What's the cold remedy?
It was something that it was like a home brew, but it worked.
And it still works.
You know, I think there have been, I will say this.
I will say this.
There has not been a good, like for all the things the pharmaceutical industry has created,
a cure for the common cold is not on the list.
Right.
And so we haven't gotten further along
than mentioned in Franklin.
And the shit that the pharmaceutical companies sell
to treat it, the night will...
It's far worse for you than what Benjamin Franklin came up with.
And probably in the long run, worse for the cold.
Yeah, it's hack-not-it.
I mean, it might treat immediate symptoms a little bit
or something, but I mean, some of that stuff.
And look, I've...
Designed nachos, so you forget about it. I hate to do anything like something, but I mean, some of that stuff. And look, I've designed knock you out,
so you forget about it.
I hate to do anything like that, but like the one symptom I had
when I had COVID was, I had a stuffy nose for a couple of nights.
That was really... Are you stuffy right now?
No. Okay.
Why? Do I sound it?
You sound a little bit, yeah.
Well, I've got that 24 hour COVID.
No, no problem.
No.
No.
So, I did reach for the nasal spray because it was just easier to sleep if I cleared my
passages.
But I didn't know that about Benjamin Franklin, huh?
Franklin?
And Thomas Jefferson.
And well, Jefferson, I mean, Franklin, I kind of knew, but I didn't know about the cold remedy. Jefferson, I did. I guess they were all, huh? Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. And well, Jefferson, I mean, Franklin, I kind of knew,
but I didn't know about the cold remedy.
Jefferson, I guess they were all,
so you know, the Franklin stove is named after Benjamin.
Yeah, back then there was something called the Renaissance man.
Yes.
And a Renaissance man, you did everything.
And why that's not, of course, we were.
I love, I'm into that.
I'm into that.
You're a Renaissance man.
I wouldn't say I would call myself a
Renaissance man, but I respect the ideal. And yes, I do have diverse. Yeah, that's
part of different things. Right. Well, not some box that you check in some sort of ordered
society. On me and I will have multiple. Renaissance man, you know, could speak many languages.
He knew archery. He could be the same guy. Plastillic music. Music sword fighting.
I tried to do this in the campaign trail. It sort of gets my team, gets under my team's,
uh, makes them nervous sometimes, but we'll play the piano. We saw, I play college kids in tennis
when I travel across the country. We'll get the best college players in the local college tennis
team. Hit with them. I wrapped to M&M at the Iowa State Fair.
Oh, I saw that. Don't do that again. I was a good guy. I was a good guy. I was a good guy.
I was a good guy.
I was a good guy.
I was a good guy.
I was a good guy.
I was a good guy.
I was a good guy.
I was a good guy.
I was a good guy.
I was a good guy.
I was a good guy.
I was a good guy.
I was a good guy.
I was a good guy.
I was a good guy.
I was a good guy.
I was a good guy.
I was a good guy.
I was a good guy.
I was a good guy.
I was a good guy. I was a good guy. I was a good guy bill is I kind of do what I feel like doing at that moment. Yeah, that's the problem.
It's kind of my, I know.
But people.
It has the spirit of our Renaissance.
Okay, but I don't want.
Why do you think the swivel chair, I'll invent the swivel chair.
That's kind of where I'm at.
The idea of president, I do what I want at whatever moment is not like an appealing thing.
I see why you're, I see why your team is trying to take you away.
Just the wrapping.
Tennis is great.
But you know, Tennis is more fun anyway.
So that's where I've had it.
Right.
But my point is, I think we have lost that spirit, right?
Our inner animal spirit as a country,
the people who run it, it has been caged.
It's been tamed.
It's been domesticated by this culture
that celebrates vulnerability,
victimhood, and penalizes their pursuit of excellence in being free.
And my view is, I think it's a mentality that I, you know, now we're doing well in the
polls.
When I was at 0.0%, I said the same thing.
I'd rather just tell people this country who I am and what I stand for.
If they want to vote for me, five.
Oh, yeah, you definitely.
And if they don't, then don't.
I'm, I'm, I'll be very comfortable with that decision.
Well, I mean, but I wish more politics, I would wish for more politicians to step up and
embrace that.
Right, but, you know, like you're, whatever you're getting, seven percent.
It's no one's taking that seriously, like someone with seven percent.
Now, could you be president? Yes.
Things could change.
But this is the time when you're at seven.
I've seen this before with politicians.
When you can say anything.
Because no one's paying that much of attention.
And it's not like, well, he's not going to, this guy's not going to be president.
I know he's a cook who thinks we should get rid of the FBI and the IRS, which is.
As you studied, it's not cookie actually, I'll explain
you why it's not good.
It's the FBI.
Yeah, let me explain that to you.
We're going to collect taxes and catch kidnappers.
You.
So let's talk FBI actually on talk FBI.
Oh, geez.
Yes, please.
I'm impressed.
No, I've been reading the platform.
I do this for a living.
You allow you to be on my show, right?
It's good.
Yeah, yeah, but I know I am.
Yeah, no, I'm up on political stuff.
Yeah, yeah, you know, for the political stuff, but this but this is this is you know, getting into the details. So
Shining at the FBI. Well, that's a pretty big detail. Get rid of the FBI. Yeah, I would shut it
down and I'll tell you why. Oh, Jesus. Wait, you're ready to have an open. You're not
going to be listening. I'm listening. I know you. You'll listen. So, so, so I'm bothering
with this, right? I better have a book recommendation for you before I get to it. G-man.
Government mandates the history of the FBI.
J. Edgar Hoover's history of the FBI.
You read that book that will already open your heart and mind to the argument I'm about
to make.
I'm already reading a book about cross-dressers, so I can't.
Okay.
Well, you know, this can come next, you know.
Okay, go ahead.
The stressors are important too.
But just as this, the FBI is a failed institution.
It is at once politicized corrupt and has been in many ways designed to be corrupt.
J. Edgar Hoover designed it that way.
The same FBI that threatened Martin Luther King with suicide, blackmailing him over incorrectly
collected tapes, is now targeting its domestic terrorists for people who show up at concerned
parents of school board meetings.
So in some ways it's coming from the FBI.
Yeah, it's coming from the FBI.
Now, here's an answer to this.
Okay.
At the local level, you've got local cops and you've got local prosecutors.
You don't have a separate bureaucracy sitting in between.
Well, now let's talk about the federal level.
You've got the US marshals
and then you got the DOJ, the DOJ has its issues, but I think the president can reform that through good appointments. You don't need the separate bureaucracy sitting in between. So I'll walk you
through the math because I know you like details for this to be credible. Well certainly for this issue.
Yeah, but this issue, right? Because you brought it up. 35,000 employees at the FBI.
this issue. Yeah, but this is you, right? Because you brought it up. 35,000 employees at the FBI.
20,000 of them report into work at the J Edgar Hoover building. Still they celebrate his legacy. The J Edgar Hoover building of the FBI they walk into. That's the bureaucratic rock. That's
NDC. So you're saying 20,000 hours of 35,000 FBI men work in Washington in the same, they fit 20,000 FBI men work in Washington in the same they fit 20,000 people in one building.
I mean, it's a giant building.
20,000 people.
I don't know how many of them show up in the post-COVID era for Zoom or whatever.
And they have field offices.
But I think our back office functions.
15,000 of them are frontline agents.
These are good people do an investigative work on drug crimes or sex trafficking or whatever
they be.
They're not specialized at the FBI. So I've offered, if I may say it myself, unprecedented
detail on how to get this done. Those 15,000 moves some of them to the US marshals, which have
been far more effective at fighting child trafficking rings than the FBI. Move some of them to the
DEA, which has been far
more effective on the front lines of the fentanyl epidemic. If you're going to get rid of an agency,
why don't you get rid of that one? The DEA? Well, actually, the investigative crime,
I mean, just we have laws in this country. So you could debate with you like the laws or not.
But I'm saying as long as you have the laws, we're talking about effectiveness here.
And my point is the FBI is broken. Take financial crimes.
So you're saying the 20,000 people who work in Washington, they are all superfluous.
They're, I can't tell you that every one of them to the last T is, but I've got four years
to first term. I got to move quickly. I think you should say chop it off, shut down the
FBI. Okay. So move them to the US marshals, the financial crimes enforcement network at
the US Treasury to the Secret Service,
which has some financial crime as well,
and then to the DEA.
That's the answer.
So here's something the FBI was involved with,
I'm asking who would handle this.
Yes.
Say, an ally country like Australia has a tip,
and we trust that they are an ally
and the person is credible. And he has been talking to someone who got drunk in a tip and we trust that they are an ally and the person is credible. Yep.
And he has been talking to someone who got drunk in a bar and said he had information
about how a foreign country Russia was trying to infiltrate our election.
And he was placed in this candidate's operation.
He was operative for the person running for precedent. So the Australian diplomat
tells the FBI, do you think that's right? Well, I think we could have we could
separately talk about the circumstances of that particular case. But you're saying somebody
gets a tip. Well, that's how the Trump Russian investigation has. Which, you know, I mean,
you could argue this in multiple ways, Bill. Well, I'm a drunk Russian. What I'm arguing is this.
You could say that that actually is part of the corruption that led to this.
Okay, but what I'm arguing is this, because this is what happened.
Yeah.
And Australian diplomat, somebody we trusted said this guy, it was George Poppidopoulos,
I think, with his name, was a little drunk one night.
And he was telling him about how much the Trump campaign team was coordinating with the
Russian government.
Should now we can argue the rest of the night about what happened after that, of course
they did, but should that not be investigated by the FBI?
And if not the FBI, I don't see how the federal marshals or who the Texas Rangers are going
to handle that one.
I actually think the US marshals would be a fine place if you move people to the division.
As a side, I mean, I'm going to resist the temptation to go down the rabbit hole of debating
something that's like a dead horse that we need to beat for what was, I believe, a deeply
flawed Russia collusion.
Okay.
That went nowhere.
But let's just talk about something like it is your question for the
ways of reorganizing the. We have facts that are well at least fact we have the reports of two
Republicans right. We had the John Durham report. Right. We have a Durham report. Yep.
And what was the one before that? The report report was about the FBI's. Yeah, yeah. They were both about the investigation of the investigation.
Yes.
Right?
The FBI opened this investigation into whether Trump
was too involved with Russia.
Let's just put it that way, based on the Australian tip.
And of course, it turned out he was.
His campaign manager was sharing polling data
with a guy in the GRU.
But you know, who else was involved to involved with Russia?
Was Hillary Clinton campaign?
Not exactly.
That's ridiculous.
He was via who's the British guy Christopher Steele with Russian disinformation operative,
getting the golden shower story on, planted down, all who uses opposition party research
to get their rights.
And you know it.
I'm saying both parties politics apparently yes far dirtier than ever imagined
Well, okay, both political parties and I just don't think it was good for the country bill
Okay, but again query for the let's go back to what we can actually talk about for real
Yeah, because it's like anxious. No, no, no because the two reports
Okay, the Durham report and the heart they both said the same thing and these are Republicans
At least Durham is.
I mean, to be honest,
about the partisan distinction.
Well, everybody else cares about it.
So let's not pretend you don't care.
Well, the reason I don't care,
because there's a lot of,
I think about it as whether or not
you're part of the managerial class,
or whether you're actually being accountable.
Well, that's important too,
but also,
And that exists in the Republican Party
and the Democrat Party alike,
that we are a crazy partisan right now.
And people only stick with their team, even when they know better.
I tell grassroots conservative audiences across this country, you want to go to a place
like Iowa, and this will surprise some people.
I think it's unique to now.
I tell hard conservative audiences that I could care less for the Republican Party.
I really could.
And I go to places like this outside of Chicago.
That's not brave. That's how Trump got elected.
Well, I mean, I think I'll, I hear something that's a little bit.
There are Republican parties. I'm not claiming to be brave. I'm just claiming to be where
the country is right now. The country does not care as much for those partisan
distinctions as the observers of politics would think. I went to the south side of Chicago.
I went to Kensington in the inner city of Philadelphia. And those are places where Trump
didn't go or where other Republicans don't go.
Good for you.
Well, the thing that I found is that I, here's what I will say. I've probably done hundreds
of campaign events. I have not been in a room that was more hard line on two things,
closing the southern border and ending the war in Ukraine, then an audience of 200,
mostly 99% of them black Democrats in supposedly hard-cored left.
Doesn't mean they're right.
In New Chicago, which is interesting.
Doesn't mean they're right or it's not the right thing to do to keep funding their Ukraine
more.
We can come to that in a second, but my point was in the comment, which is that the partisan
boundaries on two of the most important issues of our time, probably the most important foreign policy question
right now is what we do with the war in Ukraine.
And a fundamental issue relating to our southern border because they're turning south shore
high school into an encampment for migrants.
It's a fascinating finding that no Republican has showed up there.
Now they differed from me drastically and we had at it, one woman walked out and left
when I'm against racial reparations. And so we have real disagreements, but the most, and I'm not exaggerating this, the most
vehement agreement for militarizing the southern border and taking $200 billion to aided Ukraine
for a community that says, wait a minute, a, this migrants getting $7,000 per person per month
in South Shore High School, be were sent
in $200 billion to some other country halfway around the world.
What about me?
And there are deep echoes of that in the non-establishment wing of the Republican Party as well, which
will I come back to the fact that agree or not with the individual policy positions.
I just don't think that right now, the moment we live in, R versus D, capture, which is inspiring, actually,
is the possibility.
I wish you were right.
I don't think you are about that.
Not that everything you said there was wrong.
I mean, it's important stuff.
I mean, it's funny, you're such a good talker
and you're such a likable guy.
I think you really could go for it.
I mean, I must say, you're one of the few guys
who I find both disarming and all-arming.
Thank you. Thank you, Bill. That's it.
But complementing. But complementing.
No, I mean, no. I mean, look, you're attractive looking, you're young.
The country is, first of all, here's a big advantage you have.
Biden and Trump, people hate this matchup.
And they hate that there's two geriatrics.
So you're like the most not that.
They're both over twice my age, literally.
Yeah. Right.
And you know, you've got color in your face.
It's not either orange or, you know, ghostly.
But these are all.
There are older people who can be sharp
and they're younger people who have lost their wits.
But I think I would like to think,
and I think so far we're having fun in this,
bringing a young spirit to running the country. Even when I think about would like to think, and I think so far we're having fun in this, bringing a young spirit to running the country.
Even when I think about the cabinet, this is neither here or there,
but when I was running my companies, one of my philosophies was,
even in the industries that I was in, right?
So the first industry was a biotech industry.
The median age at our company for the biotech industry was young,
in terms of people who work there.
And for me at least, and this is this way I would run the federal government,
it might be different for other people in the way they built their companies.
But for me, I tend to find that people whose peak in their career is still yet ahead of them,
I'm not going to say a young or old because there could be people who are advanced in years,
whose peak is still ahead of them.
But somebody whoever it is is their peak is ahead of them versus somebody who actually
has a great resume.
But by definition, if you have a great resume, it means you've accomplished great things.
By definition, if you've accomplished great things for many people, that means that chances
are your peak might be behind you and you're obsessed with talking about that.
Boy, do we accomplish a lot more with people whose peak
is still ahead of them.
So my campaign, fully staffed by young people, my campaign manager is younger than me.
Talk about the way I've built my companies.
So for the federal government, when I think about my campaign, I'm going to have some older
people.
A few, a few, of course.
You know, every society, you're from a young. You're from an ancient culture that seemed to understand like most cultures in the world,
the village elders, you know, Confucianism in China.
Like most countries revere the elders for their wisdom.
It's true.
You have a great amount of energy at 38.
You're super smart.
But I do see a something that alarms me truly because you don't have the wisdom about certain
issues.
I don't think you think Trump lost the election.
Well, I think that big tech interfered.
Well, you and I have talked about this like a year ago.
What the fuck does that matter?
I want to say.
Who got the, of course, big tech interfered.
They interfered for Trump.
What was the largest, all about Fox News being, it's the largest. They interfered for Trump. What did, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, just answer this. No, no, you can't come back.
You can't play politician now.
Well, I'd like to come back to the afterward on this, because the L by Jelvin win the correct
the amount of electoral votes that they said he won and therefore is the illegitimate president.
I think the reason he's not the reason the reason the election was rigged.
No, big tech.
That's really the answer Bill and I'm just a matter.
It does matter.
It does matter.
Yes, it does matter.
Here's what matters.
But we can't we can't at the moment.
It's happened.
I accept Biden's the president, Julie liked the president of the United States.
Everybody does bad things during campaigns, including using big tech.
What matters is then who got the most votes?
We have to start with somewhere that's real. That's what's real. Who won those states that puts him in the White House?
And you cannot just say to me, yes, Biden won the election.
Yes. Well, I've heard it. I said that at the time.
I said it's time to say it's the election.
Because I can't see.
Biden has most votes in the election.
Biden has most votes.
You can't say those words. It's like you're a husband who can't say it.
No, Biden. But the reason is Bill. I mean, there's good data on this. We was systematically suppressed.
The Hunter Biden bribery stroge is relevant today. That's what I mean.
Even an election where most people who are independent said, many people who are independent,
enough to change the outcome of the election, said they would have changed their vote,
had they had access to that information.
It's the greatest form of election interference in human history.
No.
That's actually the fact.
That would be Russia if you're listening.
Please find Hillary's emails and then release them on WikiLeaks.
That was the biggest breach.
I mean, you can't really believe.
You're taking about James Comey and his statements before the 2016 election.
I've talked about Trump.
Trump said that.
I don't need James Comey.
Trump said, Russia, if you're listening, you don't remember that moment.
I mean, you don't remember that.
I don't, I don't predict you'll remember that moment.
But I'm talking about large technology companies in this last election.
Okay.
I just think if we don't learn from that bill, we're destined to make the same mistakes
again.
But here's what I'll say. I don't believe that.
That's an example.
You'll call lack of wisdom.
Okay, but.
And we can agree to disagree on that.
Your running is like,
I'm not the bullshitter guy, like the other guys.
And then you just told me,
you don't remember when Trump said,
Road to the...
I actually don't, but...
I've been trying at moment.
It's been replayed as Zillion times.
Back when I was here with this and...
And you're, oh really, you were that tuned out from politics.
I mean, whether what Trump was saying on a given day in 2016, that was that was replayed
as a billion times because it was he was impeached over this.
I mean, the impeachment though I can talk about.
I mean, the impeachment was on a flawed basis.
I mean, that's a hard reason to now understand.
But here's the problem right now.
We're still spending and this is why I'm in this race, we have spent literally seven
years now relitigating and rehashing that series of events that whatever they are is not
going to change.
Well, yes, because that's what's wrong with this election right now as well.
Well, that's the nature of justice when people commit crimes.
If they're not punished for it, then they tend to commit the crimes again.
So the fact that I'm still talking about it, yes, he's got for it.
I think these indictments are deeply politicized.
I think they're bad.
I think the future is good.
Let's just talk about the one that matters.
The one where he tried to overthrow the United States government.
You don't think that the...
You're talking about the third one from Jackson.
I'm talking about the Jackson.
The Jackson Smith indictment.
Absolutely.
So I believe that I would, of course, I would have made very different judgments than Trump
made that day, but Trump expressing his view on the outcome of the election, even knowingly
telling a lie is not unconstitutional.
It's not like legal violations.
Alvereza case, which 2012, but he didn't do it.
Famously said, politicians can have a first
amendment right to line.
Jackson Smith's indictment acknowledges that,
which is the interesting part about this.
Okay, but this is not what we're talking about.
We're talking about things like putting up fake electors.
That's not just words.
They did that.
A slate of fake electors.
We're talking about a guy on tape saying,
this is the one that came down the other day about Georgia,
a guy on tape saying,
I need you to find me 11,780 more votes.
Now, that alone, if I just had that, wouldn't that be a case?
I need you to find me, he's saying to the-
And they didn't do it, right?
But that, oh, yes, I tried to rob a bank the other day,
and I did get the money.
What law, I mean, here's where I'm at.
What, not every bad judgment or every bad act is a crime.
What law did that violate?
He's the president.
What law did that violate?
I probably the oath of office that he took
when he would defend the United States.
That's not a more recent, I mean, George Bush violated the oath of office. What is when he would defend the United States. That's not something more important.
I mean, George Bush violated the oath of office.
What is more important when he said troops to Iraq?
This is why we vote people out.
That's how elections are known.
I know, but so I think that's the fundamental difference in how we do things in the United
States where you're taking deeply held judgments that you disagree with.
Great.
Go to the ballot box.
No.
So that's how we do things in the United States of America. Which is exactly what we use. Exactly what he's on trial for. One of
the counts is I think it's a cheating people out of their vote. The question is what's
best for the country at this point in time? Well, and I do not think that in the middle
of an election, well, the first thing we, you know, we can decide. I agree with you.
Look at the timing of this indictment. I agree with you that it may prove that we
may look back on this and say because the indictment's only make Trump stronger. He's
like a rapper, you know, the more times he gets arrested, the more street crede has. And
I think, you know, the idea that Republicans don't like him because he's, they love that
he's a, they said the porn stars, they love that he was fucking porn, they love to be fucking porn stars, Republicans, gay porn stars, but still.
I think Bill, to really understand what's going on in the country, we have, first of all,
right now, on one hand, the son of a U.S. president collecting multi-million dollar
bribes from foreign countries that that president is now arguably making good on in different ways.
Oh gosh.
And on the other hand, we have,
Yes, I mean, that's true.
Sitting a former president of the United States that currently, by the way,
it would be a lot easier for me if Trump were eliminated, by the way.
And some of the reason polls this week, I'm in second, polling averages, I'm in third,
it would be a lot easier for me if Trump were out of the way.
I don't want to win this election by be seeing a political opponent
eliminated by the federal police state. I think that is a disastrous precedent.
Unless he committed crime, Mr.
that police should be apprehending him. So let's get if you want to get into the details on this,
let's get to the. Let's talk about the espionage act, which is being charged under.
That is the most un-American law in our history. Not in this act. Let's talk about the espionage act, which he's being charged under.
That is the most un-American law in our history.
Not in this act.
He used to lock up anti-war activists.
I'm not sure that is what he's being tried under.
For the second indictment, it is the espionage act that he's charged under.
For the documents case.
Take in the documents.
The documents.
Okay. You switch the cards there.
So many indictments.
There's four of them at the exact same time.
I'm not talking about the time. What's not?
Well, I, if it was up to me, I wish they hadn't brought the stormy Daniels ones.
I wish they hadn't even brought the, I mean, he's guilty of all these things.
Of course.
Yeah.
I would stop.
I would not go on the documents.
He's not guilty of anything in the stormy Daniels.
You don't know why?
I can, you're a smart guy.
Let me just explain this.
I don't care about that.
I never care about that.
I don't care about that one, but it relates to the ones that followed because it's evidence
that there's something else going on here.
So, so you will agree with me on this one, okay?
He says guilty of it.
Well, let me just test you on this for a second.
See how you feel.
They said that the crime there was that he should have used campaign funds to pay hush
money to the porn star. You know what? If he had
used campaign funds to pay hush money, that actually would have been more of a crime than
not doing it. I did a whole thing on it. I'm a free way. You're free with me on it.
So I don't need to be so quiet on it. No, exactly. But the point is if there's four of these
separate things coming right at the same time, Smack dab in the middle of an election.
Because it happened, it's like they made it up.
But Bill, I just wanted to make this one up.
They literally made this one up.
They certainly did.
They certainly did not make up, excuse me.
They certainly did not make up the idea
that he tried every single possible way
to steal that election.
He tried it by-
I was talking about the first time.
He tried it by- That was literally made up the idea. three. He made that, that was really made up to that.
Well, I'm talking about the one that's important
and you know what's important.
He tried it through pressuring Mike Pence,
who was doing something in a very ceremonial role
to pretend that he could change the vote.
The fake electors.
He pressured the secretaries of state
and these the legislatures.
They think, talked about bringing out the military.
They talked about seizing voting machines.
This country has done one thing that was more amazing than any other.
They've done many amazing things, but to me, the Jewel and our crown, the peaceful transference
of power, so many countries cannot get this right.
We were one of the few who could get it right.
And one guy, your boyfriend Donald Trump, broke broke this and fuck, don't give him the boyfriend
stuff.
Exactly.
Come on.
Come on.
I'm running against him in this race.
I think you're running to be his vice president.
Well, I'm glad you smoked that view out.
I've already said, and I'll say it again, I'm not going to work for any minute.
So you would say no to me.
I would say no.
You would say no to the vice presidency if Donald Trump offered it to you, I don't do well in a number two role.
I just don't just start your thirty eight.
I don't do well.
And I've been a number two role in a long time.
I think there's a lot of ways to change this country.
Wow.
And each person has to look in the mirror and ask themselves, how do you have the maximal
impact you can?
I do it through the private sector.
I do three books in the last two years.
I start businesses.
That's what I want.
You only go right to the top or...
Well, to me, it's not a hierarchy.
It's not about a top.
Well, it is.
You're saying you're going to have the most impact.
You will literally not be the second most powerful person in the world.
If power were, if power were my currency and the probability of adjusting my power calculus,
yeah, of course you would take it.
But if the question is actually, how am I using my God-given talents to have a maximal
positive impact on a country that has given me so much, being in that vice president role
wouldn't be it.
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I mean that's the more I love about you.
You know, it's like I agree,
and I find it just heartening when I see somebody
who like, I mean, your parents
weren't even born in this country, right?
No.
I mean, this is, I mean,
you need no money to this country.
Obama, I'll say something, you'll probably agree with this.
Obama, when he ran, like, and when he was in office,
sounded more like your rival from South Carolina, Tim Scott.
Yeah, he did a little bit, actually.
Well, I mean, it was more personal.
It was more personal.
It was more personal.
It was more personal.
It was more personal.
I mean, it was more personal.
It was more personal.
It was more personal. It was more personal. It was more personal. It was more personal. It was more personal. and like not discounting racism, but not making it the number one thing and like everything
is about that.
That was Obama and that seems like Tim Scott today.
Yeah, I think that there's a lot of similarities in that sense between the two of them.
Absolutely, aspirational for the country.
My view is the American dream is such a, here's where I'm a little different than to
Scott.
But his big line was, my story is not possible in any other country.
Obama used to say that.
That was not one.
I do remember that.
That one.
It stuck with me.
All right.
So, I mean, I think there's a deep truth to that.
He doesn't say that anymore, interestingly.
And I'm saying, that's what I'm saying.
When people say, Bill, you've gotten more conservative, I'm saying, no, they changed.
Not me.
I love that.
You're allowed to change, too, when you're human being. I loved that. You're allowed to change too, you're human being.
I am, and I do.
I always change with new information.
And sometimes I have to, but basically,
I've just been working on a book of all I wrote a tutorial,
so I read every one going back to 2003.
And it was a great way to like discover,
like archeology wise myself.
And I'm like, do I say?
I love that.
And yeah, I loved it too.
And, you know, the first 10, 15 years of real time,
it was much more one-sided making fun of the Republicans
because the left gave me nothing.
Obama was a disaster for comedians.
He was perfect in every possible way.
I mean, there was nothing you could, and that.
You're not basically, I did, but I see what you're coming up with.
I see what you're coming up with.
I see what you're coming up with.
From the left wing perspective, I agree.
His personal life, the fact that no corruption,
and they were looking for it,
the fact that Obamacare was like paid for,
things Republicans used to care about,
paying for things, they're being prugled with,
now it's just anybody right to check for anything,
both sides.
The Republicans are just the hypocrites
because they pretend that they're the fiscally.
Well, the way I look at it, that's why I don't talk about republicans and democrats. Like I said,
I think they're far more on the same party than they are not. But if you,
but if you got to use valid access to get on a ballot. And that's your team. You can't alienate
them. You're going to have to, I know you only want to be number one in everything. I want to unite
the entire country. I want to unite the entire country. I think there's two years. Well, you can't.
want to be number one. I want to unite the entire country. I want to unite the entire country. I think there's two years. Well, Bill, I'm hopeful that we can. I think this
is, but I, but I'm sharing that one, bro. Yeah, but here's what I would say is like 20
years from now, I don't think we can. I think we're in a window where we have a shot at
getting this done on actually not celebrating our diversity, but actually finding
a common thread that all of us still share his Americans.
I think it exists.
Can I give you some campaign advice?
You're such a personable guy.
You're so smart and the energy is amazing, but unless you soften on Trump,
the at least half the country that knows
that he's an obnoxious criminal,
they're never gonna accept you as the guy who can unite us.
I can't accept you as that.
Take like a Christmas evening.
And I'm somebody who is in this,
I'm somebody who is like,
it's in a different place.
I'm not motivated by vengeance and grievance.
You know how much shit I get from the left?
A lot.
I know you do.
Yes.
I know you do.
That's why I'm here.
I respect you.
I thank you.
Because you can actually speak to in some ways your own tribe.
It's like my thing is, if you expect me to get on the crazy train with you.
And if I don't, then I lose my liberal card.
Fuck you. You're changing
what liberalism, not me. So, you know, I'm a guy who could be your like biggest supporter
kind of guy, right? Because I understand your critiques to the left and a lot of them are
valid, not all of them. But that is a albatross around your neck, the inability to call Trump and just the
most fundamental thing about America, once again, not to beat a dead horse, but the peaceful
transference of power.
One guy said, finally, no, I'm just not going to say it.
There is no possible scenario. You should read the transcript of what he was saying
to the person, yeah, Raphsonberger, in Georgia,
the one he's just on trial for now.
Now we know about the, I need you to find 11,000 votes line.
The one that I found so chilling at the beginning,
he says, right away, he said, you know, if you saw the lines,
I just saw the lines of the people
when he to see me, and there's no possible way
I could have lost Georgia.
This is a guy who thinks he couldn't lose the state
because the lines at his event,
there's like me saying, you know,
I'm gonna be at the MGM Grand September 16th and 17th.
And that's true.
And like, I could go outside after the show,
and I saw the lines to see my show, and there's
no way I'm not the biggest act in Las Vegas.
Bill, can I just make it crazy?
Can I make it crazy?
Stupid and crazy.
I got to make it observation.
You got to decouple from Donald Trump.
That's the path.
I am running as my own man in this race to lead us to something.
And here's the thing, and this is not specific to Trump, but Trump, anywhere, everyone in this
race running is included in this, when I say this.
The Republican Party for a long time has been a party that has been running from something.
Okay.
Here are all the evil things and we're running from them.
I think I am the only person in this race who is actually trying to lead us to something, to an actual vision
of what it means to be an American.
You are a thoughtful man.
Okay.
I am here because you are not shackled by some parties orthodox.
Plainly.
Plainly, and we can, and I'm glad that we've done it twice over the last few years and you've
read some of my books and I've read a lot of your work.
And there's so much that we could be delving into this question of, you know, is there
a role for the village elder or not?
Interesting.
Is there a common thread that unites this country or not?
I mean, I think that's the most important question of our time.
There's room for debate on it.
You could just say we're a bunch of two-legged hire mammals with different shades of
melon and walk in this geographic space and do it on our iPhones, tell us to do on a
given day.
Is that the country or is there some set of still remaining ideals that bind us together?
That is the conversation that I think we need to have in this country.
And I'm worried the same thing is going to happen next week on the Republican debate
stage that's happening right here is we are suffering a form of derangement about the recent past that at some point,
we are all going to have to say we lay down arms and ask ourselves, do we actually want
to move forward or do we actually just want national divorce?
I do want the divorce just to be done with it.
Go home and call it a ball game.
That sounds more like Obama.
That was Obama. Let's move be done with it. Go home and call it a ball game. That sounds more like Obama. That was Obama.
Let's move forward.
Yes.
I don't want to sort of take, you know, I deeply disagree with the Obama and anything,
but I know you mean that in a good way, but let us move forward as one nation.
And that's the challenge.
We live in a more challenging time than we did even in 2008.
And so let me just ask you, do you believe Bill, that there is, like,
there are, because I have friends who will give me the answer to this question, the answer
they would give us now, and that we need to get a national divorce and move on with
it. I have friends both on the right and the left. Who say this? Which is, which is saddening.
This talk has to stop. It is saddening to me. Right. No, we agree on that. And so, and so
then what is that common thread that unites us?
What is it?
We think it exists.
Let's talk about it.
Meriton.
Meritocracy.
The thing that my parents came here to pursue.
But that doesn't unite us anymore.
Because that, see this is...
I think it unites most people, but if you're viewing this country through the prism of
a TV screen or social media algorithm, then it looks like we don't.
The people who watch MSNBC,
which aren't very many, which is a good thing.
Okay, but they vote and they,
and they, and they,
but this is an important point.
That's my whole point is it's a small,
it's a sliver of the population
that creates the image of an artificial division
that I think is mostly artificial.
I really do.
But those, there is a, that is, let's, we have to admit that that is a, this is what you're already reeling against. official division that I think is mostly artificial. I really do.
But those, there is a, that is, we have to admit that that is a,
this is what you're always reeling against.
That is a powerful faction in this country.
I've done reeling against it.
And you can, I'm in a different phase than when we first met.
Okay.
Because we had to see the problem and we did.
Okay.
Now what are we running to?
Okay.
That's where I'm waiting.
Okay.
Those folks, they, you're, you're assuming, I'm making a point of this
because I think it's important,
you're assuming that this is going to unite us.
Meritocracy.
Yes, there was a time when everyone believed in meritocracy as the most important thing.
But now, the other side, those people watching that network believe in something called
equity.
I'm sure it's in your book.
And there are definitions of equity,
which of course you would understand,
yes, absolutely we should strive for that.
And then there is a form of equity that
rubs right up against meritocracy.
I mean, this is colleges getting rid of...
Affirmative action.
Well, no, exams.
Oh, exams, no, you say the other direction.
Yes, I'm saying
it's not about merits. We don't care what your score is. I think you're smoking at a good point.
Group outcome equality, group outcome equity, and meritocracy are fundamentally incompatible.
They are at odds. Yes. I would say if you take both of them seriously to their natural limit,
they're incompatible. Well, it doesn't mean you can't have a mixture of two things,
maybe not 50-50, but I mean, there do needs to be redress.
At the point I was gonna make for you,
from my perspective, is most people share one vision
of that in this country.
Enough people share, I think it's 50-50.
I think it's easily 80, 20 in the direction of people
who believe in actual free speech, believe in meritocracy,
believe in self-governance, right?
The idea that at least Congress should make the laws
and not three-letter agencies in Washington, DC.
I think most people believe that that's a good thing.
That's what our founding fathers believed.
I think, you know, we may disagree
on what the laws of Congress should make,
but we agree that Congress should be the one making it.
When you put it vaguely like that,
a poll of people would say yes, we agree with that.
Like an overwhelming majority.
But then when you got to the specifics of threatening agencies, you're shutting down an FBI.
Or something like that.
And you know what, I'll give you that one.
Not that I think we should necessarily do it.
I'm keeping it 15,000 of the 35,000.
Your FBI idea is not as crazy as I thought.
Okay, that's a good, that's a win.
Can I give you the Department of Education for you too?
And also the fact about 20,000 of them working that one building in DC, I didn't know that.
See, when I get new information, I do. I process it and I might change my mind. I don't think I'm
all the way to, let's get rid of the FBI. I would say, a streamlining is your, let me, let me just, like, if I said, let's reorganize
the FBI to put generalist agents into specialized functions in other bureaus in the federal government.
Right.
I think you would respond well, that's effectively what my proposal was.
So do you talk about something like that in Iowa?
I talk about New Hampshire.
I was at St. Anzal College.
First time this has ever happened.
You know, you, you know, the prosecutor will ever happened. The prosecutor will unveil a giant poster board
you've seen these things.
So what we did is we took giant poster boards
explaining literally boxes moving them around
for the FBI, the Department of Education,
and then the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's
one that I did as well.
I mean, this is an agency whose culture
is fundamentally hostile to the existence of
nuclear energy in the United States of America.
It used to be three to four years to build a new nuclear power plant in the United States.
You know what it is now?
25 to 40 years.
I talked about this all the time.
You do?
Okay.
Well, the fact that nothing gets done in this country because these just obscene levels
of graft bureaucracy, bureaucracy, we can't build a home housing for the homeless.
Totally right, though, because because bureaucracy stops new housing construction, it is the
chokehold in our country.
So the premise of my, I've to get through that.
You could get through that.
Anti-bureaucracy candidates, 70, but you can't be scared when I say things like
I want to fire 75% of the federal employee headcount. I just do most organizations
I mean I don't know your organization. Oh, oh government is 90% of the people 25% of the people do 90% of the work
No, no, my my operation is lean. Okay, fine. It's out of the federal government in the federal government
25% of the people, 90% of the people.
Because the federal government, of course,
does not have to answer to anybody.
And there's no meritocracy.
Right.
Because they have these social services.
Well, I mean, there is at certain levels.
And look, there is a lot.
I don't know, this number seven.
Does your anti-bureaucracy with me, though,
join me in not being scared when I say the things
that we need to fix?
No, what I'll say to is this. The figure you come up with 75% is what I would call
rectum derived, in other words, you pulled it out of your ass.
So I don't know where we're getting that number, but I will say this, the federal government,
the deep state that you're also paranoid.
Oh, the deep state exists.
It's the pure state.
Of course it does.
It is the pure state.
Right, and most of it is people processing forms and
issuing passports and doing things that make the lives of citizens and feel like they're living not in a third world country.
And this is how a nation ends not with the bang but with the really
this how a nation ends with having a passport process. So here's my here's my litmus. Yeah, that's how a nation is.
I think so. But George Washington,
and we'd end her Hamilton walking the streets of this country today.
Would they be proud or appalled of that bureaucracy?
I think they would be appalled because they never imagined.
I agree.
But that existed, right?
The Department of Homeland Security is a monster.
A disaster, right.
Total disaster.
No.
But there is also a need for a disaster.
The FDA is a disaster.
Absolutely. Right. The FDA. The FDA. The FDA is a disaster. Absolutely.
What went the FDA?
The FDA.
The FDA is a, the FDA is a,
totally.
Is it colossal?
Of course.
I mean, I'm dealt with the FDA.
I've gotten five medicines approved
that I've worked on that are now approved.
Right.
You know that one's the inside, right?
We could have developed those at a tiny fraction of the cost.
And you know what? Who likes the FD?
And you didn't because of government?
Yes, yes.
100% because of the fricking drug administration.
And the answer is that Big Pharma wants to keep it that way because that stops new
upstarts from bringing competition to market.
And so this is the, you know, this is the private public sector.
It's not a Republican, pro-democrat, pro-miss, crony capitalism in the guise of bureaucracy.
How the heck are you?
Using it to stifle competition in the market.
I couldn't agree more, but I mean, all the people with their snouts at the trough, the
reason why nothing gets done, we tried to build high-speed rail here in California.
I mean, it was seven times the cost of what it would cost to build it in France,
which is not exactly unknown to labor, right? Issues. And so finally finally they just making us look bad even nuclear power plants.
They just give up. You know what?
nuclear power plants and plants five to eight years.
Because 20 years of the money went to consultants.
Yeah.
Consult everybody needs so many consultants like nobody could even fucking know how to do
their own job.
They have to have somebody consult.
This is it.
You're on the same side.
No, we're definitely on that.
But this is the part of my...
So when you say deep-sea, don't say it so, like, kind of sending-ly.
Well, understand that this is actually the essence of the real threat to liberty as it plays
itself.
But let's say you're 70.
Okay.
So let's say you're 75%, which is a pie in this guy I wish that'll never come true anyway.
Well, it's going to come true.
I'll tell you. Not to that number.
Let's say it's maybe you're off,
but maybe your numbers in your head are just off by a little bit.
So let's say we get to 50%,
like we don't need half the government.
That could be true.
That absolutely could be true.
And I've said half by the first year.
And so if we discover that's good enough, then great.
But,
but it's where I'm at, is that the US president
is elected to run the executive branch of the government.
And what we have today is a system
where the person who we elect to run
the executive branch of the government
doesn't actually run the executive branch of the government.
That's ridiculous.
I mean, it's just the truth.
How do you know? I mean, it's, look at what they try to do. I mean, it's just the truth. How do you know?
I mean, look at what they try to do.
I mean, Trump says I want to fire people.
What do they tell them?
You can't fire them because they're civil service protections.
The law says you can't fire them.
I'm saying, in the last 50 years in this country,
the people who we elect to run the government
don't actually run the government.
That's just a fact.
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John J. so they walked around Washington DC today, they said
these are public. Well, who was running the government? A bureaucratic machine. The laws
aren't made even in the halls of Congress. The person executing the law is not the person
sitting in the White House. It is a managerial machine. Okay. And these are good. I'm not
just about the evil intentions. These are good people as machine. Okay, but these are good. I'm not. I mean, it's just about the evil intentions.
These are good people as level of individuals, but the machine,
you have a good.
Is what it was crushing the will of the people.
This is where I think we need a few more years on you.
You have a good point, but then you're just so overstated.
I'm not overstating it, Bill.
Say it again.
So the people who we elect to run the government,
yeah, okay, not the ones actually run the government. Yeah. Okay. Not the ones
actually run the government. That's such an overshadow. The laws are not made in Congress.
They are made by the Congress. They're affected by the by the bureaucratics. That's what it's
supposed to be. Oh, come on. So, so I'll tell you, so just get the details. You got to get
the details. The ridiculous thing to say. The things that the FDA does have nothing to do with
the law that Congress has passed. The things that EPA does to the coal industry have nothing to do or the fossil fuel industry
have nothing to do with laws that Congress has passed.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the reason we don't have a new nuclear power plant in
this country in 30 years has nothing to do with Congress stopping it.
So if you tell the people of this country, we don't have a new nuclear energy for 30 years,
you'd say, oh, well, the people we elect elect them out. It doesn't
matter who you elect in or out. The fact has been the same for 30 years.
Okay, but and I, because the real laws are made by the administrative state.
Okay, but you must know and I'm a with you that we need more nuclear energy. Yeah.
And the reason we don't is that kind of change because Congress passed the law.
The reason we don't is because people are, I think, look, I'm not going to say they're
ignorant about this issue because, look, I've been on the fence about this one before.
It's a complex issue, but I don't think they're paying too much attention to the idea that, yes,
until we get to real green energy being the major part of our,
where we get our energy from,
you're going to need nuclear.
It's better than the other alternatives.
Yes, we're going to get the other alternatives.
I mean, the problem is when it goes bad,
it goes very bad.
It goes like in the world bad.
Not so far, that bad, but it could.
So you know the irony is-
So don't fuck it up.
Well, you know what the irony is? So the NRC, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that's
stopping us from building new nuclear power plants, is in the name of safety.
So in the United States right now, we have Gen 1 and Gen 2 reactors.
We don't really have many Gen 3 and we have no Gen 4.
The only country with the Gen 4 reactor is China.
Gen 4 and Gen 3 are way safer than Gen one and Gen two.
And so the irony is in the name of looking after the people
and protecting them.
Yeah, no.
We actually have neither helped on innovation,
nor have looked on safety.
Right, I mean.
And then the FDA, by the way, is the same story.
And so Bill, all I would say is,
if you agree with me on this,
we got to be willing to actually got to.
Yes, and I'm telling you, I am a great focus group for you,
because I am a guy, because I am a guy who is sympathetic
to a lot of the things.
I appreciate that.
You're right, but then.
So then, so then,
so then,
you know,
even when you're on the two yard light, you're fucking
it's like, let's roll this, let's roll this one forward, Bill. Maybe, maybe right now, because we have's go. You know, even when you're on the two yard light, you're fucking it's a place.
Let's roll this one forward, Bill.
Maybe, maybe right now,
because we have no points on the board,
maybe we just kick a field goal.
And what do I mean by that?
What do I mean by that?
It means you don't have to agree with 100%
or close to 100%.
Totally.
In order to just say,
that's the job of a US president is character-o-ru.
But it's got to be more than four.
No, I'm kidding. No, I, again, I think more than four, but you knew an I. That's my point. I am a good focus group for you because I am a get a bold guy.
In this country is by the way. But there are a few. You represent, you represent
closer to and the majority of the Democrat base than the people who are elected in office.
And a lot of it is down to the actual people.
A lot of this have to know that you're an actual patriot who believes in what America has
always stood for, which is votes count.
I do.
We've transferred power peacefully.
We don't let a sore loser pretending to be some macho man cry that he cannot believe he
lost the election.
I'm going to give you one that that we and I will agree with potentially.
I know you can't say it because you want to be his vice president.
I don't want to be his vice president.
Well, okay, but maybe you'll change.
Honestly, the idea of working for somebody right now
feels like a sharp poke in the eye.
Right now, that's the sensation I'm experiencing.
I have not reported to somebody in over a decade.
I know. I just don't do well in that. But can I just say something on a personal level?
I gotta tell you one thing.
To help, again, I like you.
I want to help you.
I like you back, brother.
I know, I know, and I appreciate you making time to come in.
I know, I appreciate it.
And you are gonna go a lot further.
You're not at the, you're not at your floor.
I was just getting warmed up, yeah, I think.
No, because first of all,
floor. I would just get warmed up. Yeah, I think. No, because first of all, you're going to appeal to young men and young men tend right, right? They, I think that's the hardest
people to get in the voting booth. They see a guy who looks like you again, not rapping.
But look, you dress sharp. You look like you could be in a club. They are.
This is what do they call this club? And club random. We're at club. We were exactly
ready. So we're going to be on a club. And club. And they're going to see this guy who's
young and he's fresh. And of course, they don't know anything, the kids. So like if you say,
get rid of the IRS, they're like, sure, I'm going to pay taxes one day. That's going to suck. Let's get rid of them.
And just stuff that like, it just,
you're like a good version of Andrew Tate.
They're just going to like you.
And that, I think you could excite a group of people
that we haven't seen.
I want to bring young people along.
Right.
To care about this country.
I want to make patriotism cool again. For young people. I want to make patriotism a content. I think you can. Cool about this country. Well, yeah, I want to make patriotism cool again for young people.
Yeah, I want to make patriotism a content cool in this country. You are the way.
I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way.
I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the You just get rid of a little of the Trump stuff. And that you are a person of color is an advantage.
I think it is the right moment.
I think it's in happening in the right party.
A party that is very sort of, you know, they know that in the past, in the recent past,
including sometimes the present, they are racist.
And they have been. I mean Reagan started his campaign in Philadelphia
in Mississippi, which was a, a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a,
he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's that they like you, and I think they're gonna like you a lot more than they're just getting to know you.
The people that know me like six months ago.
Right.
So here's the thing.
I think they're better than they used to be, but there's still a lot of races.
I think that's party.
I think there's a lot of, I mean, what do you call racism when you say you want?
I'll give you a quote.
The remedy to pass discrimination is present discrimination. The remedy to pass discrimination is present discrimination.
The remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination.
That's racism too.
That's candy.
It's candy, you know, you're all over it.
So, my point is, look, if you're like a psychologist
and you got a patient that comes in with anxiety,
you don't shout them down by saying,
don't be anxious, don't be anxious, don't be anxious.
They're gonna have have about things.
I think where we are in this country with respect to racism, oh, using an analogy based
on you, you know, lighting that and watching that, you know, taper out is, it's like the
last burning embers of racism.
That's where we are actually.
I'm serious.
I'm just a visual person.
All right.
I'll vote for you.
It's the last.
You got me with that one. It really is. And so the last, what I don't want to do is,
right, is that's burning out. I don't want to come in and throw kerosene on it.
By 10, don't be racist. That's what we'd be doing. So we're almost at the promised land.
But we may not be that close, but we are way, let's trigger away from a national revival.
We can be. It's not going to happen on a matinee. You like my slogan? Let's live in the
year we're living in. Let's you. I write on that. Isn't that great to happen on a matter of life. You'd like my slogan. Let's live in the air. We're living in let's you right right
Isn't that great? I'm with you on that. Let's live in the year. Let's just that's all I asked you know what else I'm going to do in this election is
you know, I'll make I promise some people I'm going to
Meet him as you know, so I got a right role pretty soon, but this is too fun for me
But here's here's the thing I will say in this election if If I'm the nominee and whoever the Democrat nominee is, Joe Biden or anybody else, I'll
make a deal.
The deal is shun super PAC money and I will do the same thing.
And I'll make the same deal in the Republican primary, right now the Republican primary,
big part of the problem is it's a super PAC primary.
I mean, super PAC puppets, one after the other.
I'm not playing that game, I'm putting my own money
directly into the campaign.
I can't wait to see the debate.
But with you and Christy and Trump.
And we're gonna, oh, okay, well, that's not gonna be next week.
No, no, it could be in a couple of months though.
I know, but you're in for sure.
Oh, I'm in for sure, yeah.
Cause you're like number two or three.
Yeah.
So, and DeSantis.
Oh, this is like must see TV.
It's gonna be kind of fun, right?
No, because like these guys are gonna know they're in with a guy who can talk and think
on his feet.
I mean, you're, we're gonna have fun.
You know, it's, we're gonna have fun.
But the suit, what I would say is across the board, you know, laws are complicated on
this and Citizens United, this and that.
But if we do a handshake deal and say none of us
are gonna show up at fundraisers with super PACs
or anything else, we're just done playing that game.
That's another thing that will unite this country.
This used to be a left wing slogan.
I think the right is actually has a mood
for this right now.
So there's these, we're just,
You know, we tried this a million times.
You know, let's get money out of the law.
Let's get what I'm saying is let's actually do it through actually our norms in our practice
because the laws are complicated because the First Amendment and the court, etc.
But this election, that's something I will hold my promise to if the other candidates
do in the GOP primary.
Everybody just agrees as a handshake agreement.
We're just going to shun super PACs.
And then I do the same thing in the general.
And this is the stuff of uniting a country, man.
So where are you off to?
What is your next event?
Now you came from Iowa.
I mean, you flew right all over the...
I've been in like six states in the last two hours.
No, 72 hours.
But we're...
We got the debate next week.
And, you know, it's my first time...
What debate?
The Republican debate.
That's next week. First one's next Wednesday. my first time the Republican debate. That's next week.
First one's next Wednesday.
Ah, a week from today.
It's Trump in.
Trump is in, but he won't show up.
Or he's supposedly not going to show up.
But everybody else is a disanis myself.
Pan's Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, all that.
Christie.
Christie.
Yeah, he's into.
So that'd be fun.
You and he that's's gonna be the debate
because he's the one who talks like I do about Trump now.
Yeah, you know him, I've never met him before.
But Christie is a Trump attacker,
and you're a Trump defend.
That's gonna be the, it's gonna be,
we'll have a healthy dialogue.
No, no, I mean, you know you're up against the champ there.
As far as like a politician who can talk,
he also can talk and think on his feet.
So.
I'm a first-timer, he's experienced.
Take your take your 10-sing, that man.
That's a good old man, yeah.
All right, it is good seeing you as old as you.
Yeah, too.
I'm glad that we can do this,
not agree on everything,
and we're still where we were.
We love each other, and we love this country.
I think, exactly.
And that's what America's about, so I appreciate that, bro.
Good luck out there.
Good luck.
Good luck.
And we're going to a fundraiser now.
We're going to a dinner.
It's not formally a fundraiser.
Yeah, but you'll take their money if they offer it, huh?
Yeah, I'm just not going to be a circus monkey.
Jumping for it.
But, yeah, they're money.
I'd throw mine away.
Marcus Monkey, jumpin' for it.
But, yeah, I did my day.
My money, I broke mine away.