The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Paul Manafort's Sentencing, Beto O'Rourke's 2020 Tease & Trump's "Tim Apple" Gaffe | Rutger Bregman
Episode Date: March 12, 2019Beto O'Rourke teases a possible 2020 presidential run, President Trump tries to defend his "Tim Apple" gaffe, and historian Rutger Bregman discusses "Utopia for Realists." Learn more about your ad-ch...oices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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You're listening to Comedy Central.
Hey, everybody, John Stewart here.
I am here to tell you about my new podcast,
the weekly show coming out every Thursday.
We're going to be talking about the election, earnings calls.
What are they talking about on these earnings calls?
We're going to be talking about ingredient-to-bread ratio on sandwiches.
I know you have a lot of options as far as podcasts go, but
how many of them come out on Thursday. Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart wherever
you get your podcast. March 11, 2019. From Comedy Central's World News headquarters in New York.
This is the Daily Show with Trevor Noah. Ears Edition. Oh yes, welcome to the Daily Show everybody.
We're back.
Thank you so much for tuning in.
I'm Tremonoa.
Our guest tonight is the Dutch historian.
Take a seat, take a seat.
Take a seat.
Take a seat.
I woo you.
Our guest tonight is the Dutch historian and author,
who went viral when Tucker Carlson told him to fuck off.
Rutger Bregman is joining us everybody!
Also, on tonight's show, President Trump has three new scandals.
Michael Jackson gets cancelled and why Joe Biden would be a terrible R&B singer.
So it's going to be a fun show.
But before that, how are you guys doing?
I've missed you. You guys all. Yeah, I hope hope th. I hope th. I hope th. I hope th. I hope th. I hope th. I hope th. I hope th. I hope th. I hope th. I hope th. I hope th. I hope th. I hope th. I hope th. I hope th. I hope th. I hope th. I hope th. I hope th. I th. I th. to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to to-a. to. to. to-a. to-s. toda. to-s. to-a. to-a. to-a. to-a I hope you're good because I am not this daylight savings thing is trash
I feel like I'm hung over and I didn't even drink like no because like not only
did we lose an hour it was a good hour two to three a am on the weekend like
we're on the club having a good time and then it just closed out of no way
like they schedule daylight savings for like four p. to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to the th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the the the. the. the. th. I'm th. I'm th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I the the the the. I the. I the. the. to the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. having a good time, and then it just closed, out of nowhere. Like, why don't they schedule daylight savings for like 4 p.m. on a Friday?
Yeah? It should be like, oh, it's five. Yay!
Daylight savings. That's my proposal. I'm running for president.
But enough about how much I hate daylight savings time. Let's catch up on today's headlines.
to t Ethiopian Airlines crash.
This is the second time in six months that this particular model of airplane has gone
down.
And many countries have decided, hey, let's not take any chances.
Take a look at the list of countries that have now grounded the Boeing 737 Maxis.
They include Indonesia, Mongolia, Ethiopia, Ethiopia, Ethiopia, just had the crash, Morocco and China.
That's right. You know shit is serious when China is stopping something for safety reasons.
Yeah, I mean they're in-flight meals with lead paint chips and they were like, yeah, this is fine.
This is totally fine. And you may be wondering now, uh, what is America doing about this?
Nothing. That's what, yeah. The FAA came up today saying they're not going to ground these planes.
Americans can decide for themselves whether or not they want to fly on these planes that have
now crashed twice.
Yes.
And I know what you're thinking, that's crazy.
Know my friends, that's freedom. That's what that is, okay. that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's crazy. that's that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's thi. thi. thi. thi. thr. thr. thr. thr. thr. thr. thr. thr. thr. thr. thr. thr. thr. thrue. thr-aa. thr-a. thr-a. thr. that is, okay? I'm sorry, but America's wild.
Like the rest of the world is worried about this plane,
but the cowboy of the planet is like,
well, looks like we got a bird that don't want to be flown.
Yaha!
Buckle up, Bessley, it's going to be a rough one.
You know what I think happened deal? If anything goes wrong, I'll just land on the Hudson.
Like, but we're in Hidaho.
Okay, sharp left.
Moving on to some other news.
Paul Manifort is in the headlines again.
Paul Manifort is going to prison amid a barrage of criticism from people
who say President Trump's former campaign chairman got off easy. A judge sentenced Manifort to 47 months yesterday for fraud and tax evasion, not related
to the Trump campaign.
That sentence is far less than the nearly 25 years prosecutors wanted.
Paul Manifort, sitting in a wheelchair because of complications from Gout,
said before his sentencing that he feels pain and shame, adding, my life, professionally
and financially is in shambles.
That's right, Paul Manifort basically stole millions of dollars from the bank
and cheats of the government out of millions in taxes,
and he's only going to serve 47 months,
46 with daylight savings.
And I've got to admit, it was really slick of him to suddenly show up in court in a wheelchair for gout. Yeah.
Have you noticed how people always get older and more pathetic when they go before a judge?
Like Bill Cosby was out there doing his thing and then they arrest him and all of a sudden,
he's like, I'm old in my eyes blind, can't see, the bee, bee, boo. Like showing up in court is like the opposite of a dating priiii opposite look as old and as sad as possible. So
Manifort, Manifort is facing 20 years in prison and then he just rolls in and
he's like I'm a broken old man. And then the judge gives him just 47 months.
And we actually have exclusive footage of Paul Manifort in the courtroom
immediately after hearing his sentence. Moving on, the one, number one, number one.
I shouldn't have seen it coming.
Moving on, while Paul Manifort got a fake sentence for a real crime,
there's someone else who's looking at a real sentence for a fake crime.
Jussie Smollett.
A month and a half after the Empire actor reported a hate crime
that police say never happened, prosecutors are throwing the book at him.
Actor Jesse Smollett is in more trouble this morning after a grand jury indicted him on
16 felony counts, including lying to police after he said he was the victim of a racist attack.
Now each one of the 16 counts carries a maximum penalty of four years in prison.
Four years in prison?
Wow. Look, I don't condone what Jesse might have done, but that's out of line.
Like, I mean, first of all, you can't charge him separately for each lie.
All right, it's all the same lie. Yeah, he lied to all of the police.
That's one lie. When I was a kid, if I stole something, and I lied to my mom, and I lied to my grandmother about it,
I get one whooping, okay?
You can't get a separate whipping from each person.
It's the same lie.
And if they're gonna start putting people in jail for lying to the police,
they should lock us all up, okay? Yeah, every time a cop pulls you over and asks, do you know how fast you were going? Oh, the limit minus one?
You know how fast you are going.
The only good thing for Jesse right now
is that if he does go to jail,
he's gonna be the toughest guy in prison.
Because when people ask him what he's in for,
he's gonna be like, I got four years for beating myself up.
God damn! And finally, in some entertainment news, Michael Jackson, a new HBO documentary accusing
him of child molestation has everybody shook.
And some people have had enough.
A new online petition is demanding Circusolé cancel its Michael Jackson's one show.
The demands are in response to the new HBO documentary Leaving Neverland, which details accusations
of sexual abuse
against the iconic singer. Nearly 7,000 people have signed that petition.
It is the latest backlash following the release of the new documentary.
Some radio stations are pulling Michael Jackson's music and the Simpsons removed an
episode in which he voiced a character. I was thinking between M.J. and R. Kelly
This is a tough week for wedding
DJs. Like, what do they play? It's like, no, no, no, no. I bet you they're probably calling
up Bruno Mars, like, you better behave, Bruno. Right now, all I can play is you and the black-eyed
peas. And you know, the tough thing about Michael Jackson is,
even if this documentary changes your opinion of him,
there's nothing you can do about it.
He's already dead.
You can't get any more canceled than dead.
Although it would be funny if Michael is in heaven
and God calls him over, like, hey Michael,
so I saw the HBO Doc, and I'm afraid I'm not comfortable not right here right now. It's 2019, this is not a good luck, so I'm going to need you to go to hell, okay?
And Michael's like, but God, you impregnated the Virgin Mary without her permission.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
Bye.
Bye.
Bye.
So look, I won't lie, I'm a huge fan of Michael Jackson.
It's like a painful story, you know?
You have to stop listening to the music, and now I have to picture him in hell,
which is sad and hilarious at the same time, because I'm picturing him in hell,
and he's the perfect person to be in hell, because he's like for today's headlines.
Let's move on to our main story.
We are now just 602 days away from the 2020 presidential election, which means it's time
to check in on the Democratic primary race in our ongoing segment, World War D.
The Democrats are still over a year away from picking who they will send into
the ring
with President Trump.
So we don't know who it will be, but now we at least know where it will be.
Well, here it is.
Democrats have picked officially Milwaukee for the site of their 2020 presidential nominating
center, DNC Chair Tom Perez selecting the city over Houston and Miami.
Yes, the Democrats have officially picked Wisconsin
to host their 2020 convention.
And it makes sense.
They couldn't have gone to the other options,
Houston or Miami in the summer,
because Bernie does not do well in humidity.
Now, the speculation is that the Democrats picked Wisconsin
to make up for the fact that in 2016, Hillary Clinton never campaigned, to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to thaa.. to to to tha. thiiiiii. thi. thi. thi. thi. thoe of the the thoea of the the wi. the the the the thoicici. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the ws ws ws...... thefii. thefi. thefi. thefefefefefefefefefficefficefficient. thefficient. theauc. theauc. theauc. tho theau picked Wisconsin to make up for the fact that
in 2016, Hillary Clinton never campaigned there.
Yeah, she just totally took it for granted.
You know, she basically treated Wisconsin the same way I treated my English exams in high
school.
I was like, I speak English, I don't need to study it.
And then I got convention city has been picked,
the question is, who will be accepting the nomination there?
And it seems like every day more candidates are joining the race.
Among the latest to jump in is Washington Governor Jay Inslee,
who has made climate change the centerpiece of his campaign.
And he's going to have an uphill battle,
because half the country doesn't believe climate change exists.
And 100% of the country doesn't believe Jay Inslee exists.
Yeah. Even his wife is like, I've never heard of this guy.
Also joining in the race is John Hickon Lupa. Yes.
He's the former governor of Colorado with the name that sounds like a disease you got on the Oregon trail. It's either that or the name of a local restaurant where where the way the way the way the way the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the like a disease you got on the Oregon Trail. It's either that, it's either that or the name of a local restaurant where all the waiters
have those vests with buttons on them.
You know, it's just like, welcome to Hick and Lupers.
Our special day is the Hick and Loper chicken to looper.
It tastes like dirt but Democratic field up to 14 potential candidates.
Yeah, just look at all those faces.
Look at all those faces!
There are too many candidates, people!
The Democrats are like the Marvel Universe.
It just keeps getting bigger and bigger.
We need Thanos to come in and just snap a few of these guys away.
He can looper. Go!
But what's strange is that all the buzz right now isn't about the Democrats who have entered the race.
All the news is about the big names still sitting on the sidelines.
Names like Beirok, who is quickly becoming a Texas-sized tease.
Beto O'Rourke says he has made a decision after months of deliberation about his political future.
There's been speculating on whether a big announcement is in his near future.
I'm going to be making an announcement soon. I'm going to be making the same announcement
to everyone at the same time.
Well, it's been 10 days now since the Rorke announced he plans to announce a decision
about his political future. Are you being serious? First Bellows said he's he said he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi, to to, to to to to to to thi, thi, to to to to to to to to to to to th. to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, is, is, is, is, is, is, is to, is to, is to, is th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi, thi, thi, thi, thi. thin, th th th thin, th th th th th th thin. th th th th thin. th th th thi. thi. thi. th about announcing, and now he's announced that he'll make an announcement about his running?
If this is how he runs his campaign, what is he going to be like as president, huh?
My fellow Americans, I've decided which country we're going to declare war on, and I'll tell you who it is, right after this.
And also, Bellow, you don't need to build up the suspense, okay? We know you're going to run for president. This is like grout building up a big announcement. We know what you're going to say. You are
grout. We know. While Betta was leading America on, there's another big-name
Democrat who's giving America red, white, and blue balls. Joe Biden.
Sources close to Biden tell NBC News that he may decide possibly as early as this week whether he will officially get in the race.
His advisors are preparing for potential April launch if they get the green light.
I have not made the final decision, but don't be surprised.
Former Vice President Joe Biden leads the pack, even though he's technically not part
of it yet.
That is insane.
Joe Biden is winning a race that he's not even in.
That is such a boost for his ego and also super insulting for all the people who are running.
Yeah.
It's like people nobody cares about, like poor John Hyperloop or whatever I said his name is.
Because this whole thing must feel like the middle school dance all over again, right?
All the girls are waiting on Joe who said he's thinking about maybe coming to the dance.
Because I can't wait to dance with Joe because he's my favorite.
And it's like, oh, hi, ladies.
I'm actually here right now.
It's like, oh, good, Hick and Lupor.
Can you text Joe and askbed is now leading the race.
If you ask me, it's probably because he's been standing next to Obama for eight years,
and now he has that good president smell.
Yeah?
Yeah.
It's that good B.O.
That's what that is.
In fact, I bet Joe Biden could win an election just based on this idea.
He'll be at campaign rallies holding up his phone, like, vote for me because I've got Obama's number on this phone.
I can call him right now.
But we don't know if he'll run.
We don't know.
So with just 602 days until the presidential election,
Joe Biden and Beto Orrock are taking their sweet time deciding.
And here's the thing, I wouldn't mind so much
if they were being quiet about it,
because right now you guys are just being a teeth, right?
America, these are the things that I would do for you
if I were running, if I were running.
Like, can you imagine if R&B singers were as non-committal as Beto and Biden?
Well, you don't have to imagine to imagine to imagine to imagine to imagine to imagine to imagine to imagine to imagine to imagine to imagine to imagine to imagine to imagine to imagine to imagine to imagine to imagine to imagine to imagine to imagine to imagine to imagine to imagine to imagine to imagine to imagine to imagine to imagine to imagine for you. Presenting from Beto and Biden Productions, the sounds of Maybe.
This album has all your favorite R&B songs, including 50% chance of love.
Let's consider getting it all. And the hit, I Might Love You all night long.
I might love you all night long. But I'm still weighing my options, baby.
So act now and order this CD today.
It just adds up, we might not make it.
We'll be right back. Hey everybody, John Stewart here.
I am here to tell you about my new podcast, The Weekly Show, coming out every Thursday.
We're going to be talking about the election earnings calls.
What are they talking about on these earnings calls?
We're going to be talking about ingredient to bread ratio on sandwiches.
I know you have a lot of options as far as podcasts go,
but how many of them come out on Thursday?
Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart,
wherever you get your podcast.
Welcome back to the Daily Show.
So, as you know, we didn't have shows last week,
which in the era of Donald Trump is always risky.
Because the news moves so fast.
At the end of five days off, we couldn't be back and being like, well, we're back,
President Trump and Vice President Flavor Flavav just announced that they will steal Seattle back from Mexico.
Thankfully though, we didn't miss too much last week.
But we did want to catch up with some fun Trump highlights, starting with this one. Last Wednesday at a moment during an advisory board meeting at the White House that was caught on camera,
President Trump called Apple CEO Tim Cook, Tim Apple.
I used to say Tim, Tim, you've got to start doing it over here and you really have, I mean, you've really put a big investment in our country.
We appreciate it very much, Tim Apple. Tim Apple. You know what I like about this one?
It's just dumb, all right?
Yeah, it's just a fun dumb mistake that Trump made.
Or maybe, maybe this is just how he says names.
He calls you by what you do and your first name.
It's Tim Apple, it's Jeff Amazon, it's Jassy unemployed, you know.
And this should have been just a fun slip of the tongue. We laugh, we move on. But because
Donald, compulsive liar can't let anything go, this morning he tweeted this. I referred to
Tim and Apple as Tim Apple as an easy way to save time and words.
Really, Donald, really? That's what you were doing.
Well, allow me to save time and words. Get f-fee out here!
Like you're saving time by saying a confusing sentence and then days later tweeting a long
explanation about it.
And also since when does Donald Trump care about saving time, right?
No one wastes more time than Donald Trump.
He spends as much time on the golf course as Tiger Woods and as much time on porn stars
as Tiger Woods, okay?
So Trump wants us to believe that Tim Apple is fake news.
But there's actually some fake news that is plaguing the president right now.
It's about Melania.
The fake Melania conspiracy is back after the First Ladies' visit to Alabama and Georgia this week.
The theory that Melania Trump had a body double for public appearances began in 2017,
but that was denied by fact-checkers.
Now though, again, Twitter users are comparing this to other images, arguing it's not the same
woman, but many also commenting lighting and makeup are likely causes for the mistaken identity.
How is this on the news?
How is this even a thing?
Of course, Melania looks a little different on some days, all right?
She's a person. Every person looks different day to day. This was me like two months ago,
okay? This was me three years ago, all right? This was me yesterday, when I found out
Jalo is engaged, okay? I look different. I look different because clearly I'm so happy
for her and like the 20th best Yankee. I'm very happy.
I'll be fine. I'll be fine. I'll be fine. I just, I wanted A-Rod for myself.
So please guys, let's stop with this whole fake Melania business, all right?
Because it's not true.
Although I will say this, if you do zoom in on that picture, there is something a little suspicious,
and that is that they're holding hands.
So on second thought maybe fake millennia.
But conspiracy theories aside, there's another story that Trump wishes was fake news.
Remember a few weeks ago when Robert Kraft, Patriots' owner and guy you always see naked on
a nude beach got caught up in a Florida prostitution sting?
Well it turns out Kraft's happy ending may lead to a sad one for Donald Trump.
There is a new twist in the prostitution scandal involving Robert Kraft, the woman who once owned the Florida Massage Pauleur tied to that case appears in a selfie with President
Trump. There's the picture.
This is a picture of 45-year-old Lee Yang at a Super Bowl party was hosted by the
president and his Marlago resort in West Palm Beach and it was taken the day of the president, as you know, are longtime friends, and they have socialized that the golf resort before.
This woman was at Marilago with Trump.
All right, that's just dangerous for both of them.
Especially for her, because you never know when Trump is going to pull another Tim Apple.
You know, might just be like, this is my friend, Cindy Hand Job Spa.
And it's not just that she's taking photos with the president.
It's that she might be pimping him out too.
Her name is Lee Yang.
She goes by Cindy.
She's been spotted with the who's who of the GOP, including the president's sons at
Marilago.
45-year-old Lee Yang runs a consulting business that has offered to sell Chinese clients
access to the president and his family at Marlago.
The company boasts that it has arranged taking photos with the president and suggest it
can set up a White House and Capitol Hill dinner.
God damn, and how does every scandal somehow lead back to Donald Trump?
Like this dude is like the Kevin Bacon of Corruption.
I'm serious, like you could probably link Donald Trump to Kevin Bacon just through scandals.
You go, Kevin Bacon had money stolen in a Ponzi scheme by Bernie Madoff.
Madoff also stole money from Governor Elliot Spitzer and Spitzer was busted in a prostitution
ring after a tip or from Roger Stone who was just indicted by Mullah and the investigation of Donald Trump.
Boom, four moves baby.
Four moves.
Everywhere you go.
And basically that's our world now.
A rich guy can't get jerked off without it somehow leading to a possible Trump campaign
violation.
So even though President Trump never went to that massage parlor,
somehow they still f-hipped him.
We'll be right back.
Welcome back to the Daily Show.
My guest tonight is a historian who writes for the correspondence and an author
whose latest book is called Utopia for Realists.
Please welcome Rutger Brighman.
Welcome to the show. It's great to be here. A few months ago for many people your name did not exist in their minds at all in any way and now you are a superstar.
Especially for many young people, for many people, for many people, for many young people, because of your views in and around tax
and the super wealthy around the world.
How did you come to this from what you do?
Because you're a historian.
Yeah, yeah.
In fact, you are a Dutch historian.
I'm a Dutch historian.
That's how everyone refers to you, the Dutch historian.
I think, you know, I'm really part of a much of of, you know, a whole new generation, things
that we need to move on to new ideas.
And basically that realized that we need a massive transformation of our economy, sir.
And I was just in a place at the World Economic Forum where usually not many people
get to go there. And it was just one of the few people there, maybe talking common sense.
We actually have a clip that went viral. If we can play that right now.
Almost no one raises the real issue of tax avoidance, right? And of the rich, just not paying their
fair share. I mean, it feels like I'm at a firefighter's conference and no one's allowed to speak
about water. This is not rocket science. I mean, we can talk for a very long time about all these stupid philanthropy schemes. We can invite Bono once. But, to. to. to. to be. to be. to be. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. the the the thi. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the thi. the thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. trea. true. true. true. true. true. true. true. true. taxe. the the the the the the the the th schemes. We can invite Bono once more. Come on, it's, we gotta be talking about taxes.
That's it, Texas, Texas, Texas, Texas,
all the rest is bullshit in my opinion.
So this was, to give people context,
this was you sitting with the richest people in the world.
Yeah.
And you were, you were actually supposed to be there to talk about just like the other aspects of your book, like Universal Basic Income, etc.
And you surprised everyone with that.
They were not happy.
They didn't really like that, no.
I was, I mean, I was supposed to go there and promote my book, talk about universal
basic income, which has become a really popular idea.
But you know, during the conference I became more and more uncomfortable because you can talk about all sorts of issues there, right? Feminism, participation, equality, but then no one raises the tea word, right?
You're not, people don't really talk about taxes and tried disappointed.
So I just went to my hotel room and prepared this short speech and I got the question
from, from the moderator and basically ignored his question and then went ahead. Since that little moment in Davos, have you noticed a few private jets following
you now?
Have you, because it seems like something that would push a lot of really, really wealthy
people off, that idea of them paying more tax and them avoiding it.
Why do you think that's more important or should be like one of the main
conversations apart from transparency and equality and philanthropy? Well you know I'm
historian right so if I see someone like say President Trump talk about we
should make America great again he wants to go back to the 50s or something
like that I'm like yeah well maybe that's a good idea because in the
50s we have much higher tax rates for the rich. In fact a billionaire like Trump would pay like 90% top marginal tax rate.
Right.
The estate tax was over 70% for people like Trump. So yeah I mean make America
great again bring back those higher tax rates. That would be my slogan.
Do you?
Do you... There are many people who would argue against you and say to you, yeah, I mean, you say
you want to raise taxes on the wealthy, but the wealthy are already paying their fair share
of taxes. People are paying almost 50% of what they earn. Isn't that fair? How do you respond
to them? You know, this is a From my perspective, it sounds a bit ridiculous.
We're talking about ideas, like Medicare for All,
70% of all Americans is in favor of that,
higher taxes on their 75% is in favor of that.
So it's utterly mainstream.
And I know that sort of the standard response here is always,
ooh, that sounds like communism, that sounds like Venezuela.
But it's not communism, it's common sense. It's what most people support.
Let me ask you this. One of the things I know that gets thrown at me all the time is people
go, oh, you raise the taxes and everyone's going to leave. Because I mean, you know, if you raise
the taxes for the rich, then the rich are going to go live in countries where they don't have to pay as much tax, and you've lost all of those incomes, and you've lost all of those people in your country. Well, America is the most powerful country in the world.
You know, it can easily crack down on tax paradises, like Holland, where I'm from, right?
Right.
We're one of the main taxed thanks for their corporations. So, you know, that's really a matter of, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, is their, is their, is their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their, is, is, is, is, is the, is the, is the, is the, is the, is the, is the, is the. their, is. their, is. their, is. their, is. t. t. t. t. t. ta, is. ta, is. ta, is. ta, ta. ta. ta. ta. ta. ta. ta. ta. ta.a. ta.a. ta.a. ta.a. ta., no matter what you do. It's interesting that you fight for these ideas when you come from Europe. People
would say to you, but Rodk, you come from a country where things are great. You do have
all of these services. People are not struggling as much as they are in other parts of the world. Why is this so important to you then? Well, I mean, the American, the American, the American, the American, the American, thruuuan, thiiii, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, people thi, people thi, people thi, people tho, people tho, people tho, people tho, people tho, people tho, people tho, people tho, people tho, people tho, people tho, people th, people th, people th, people th. People th. People th. People th. People thi, people thi, people thi, people thi, people thi, people thi, people thi, people thi, people thi, people thi, people thi, thi. People the the the to to to to to to the the to to the the the the the the the the the th got rising inequality in Europe as well, and the welfare state that is under
pressure. But I mean it's also true that if I look at a debate right around
Medicare for all, for example, America is the only country in the rich
world that doesn't have it and still it has the most expensive
health care system and life expectancy is going down.
So yeah, that seems pretty ridiculous.
You have a bunch of ideas that many people would consider ridiculous depending on their age
and I find a lot of young people genuinely love as genius.
Utopia for Realists is the book that you wrote and it's come back into prominence
again because you you, it's just like a fun read. You talk about all of these ideas and how they could actually be implemented, which is interesting, it's not just the ideas.
Universal Basic Income, open borders, 15-hour work week.
Really, just I mean, this is like a book.
This is like Freddy Krueger for a GOP person.
This is like nightmare stories.
Indeed. Did you see the picture of Rupert Murdoch. I, I, I, I, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thu, thu, thu, thu, thu, thu, thu, thu, thu, thu, thu, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thus, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi., thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, the, the, of Rupert Mordok reading? I actually did, I just see that we have that picture, Rupert Murdoch.
Like, how do you feel about that?
There is, there is one of the people you're speaking about.
I framed it obviously, it's a, it's a picture.
Like, when you talk about these issues, like universal basic income, for instance,
seems like a crazy idea. You're just going to pay people people people people people people people people people people people people people to pay to pay to pay to pay to pay the to pay the to pay their to pay their to pay their to pay their their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, th.. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. theeat, thiiiia. their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their going to pay people to not work, then why would anyone work?
Well, not many people know, actually,
is that if you go back to the 60s,
almost everyone believed, all the experts
believed that some form of basic income was going
to be implemented in the United States.
And it was actually Richard Nixon,
theate, thrown to be a modest basic income, that that that that thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi. thi, thi............. thi... thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. t t thaeeean. thauuui. thaui. thaui. thauoooooooooo in the Senate by Democrats, not because they didn't like the idea
of completely eradicating poverty,
but because they wanted a higher basic income.
So it's a pretty bizarre history that I described in the book.
Another bizarre thing is that actually there were major trials with basic income,
in the US back then, you know,
thousands of families received a basic income just to test what would happen. Turns out it was really effective, you know, health care costs went
down, crime went down, kids did much better in school. But then there was one problematic
finding is that they also found that the divorce rates went up, you know, quite a lot because
a lot of women were like, okay, I'm going to leave that, that asshole. And then, but then all the conservatives obviously said, okay, we don't want basic income
anymore.
This is going to make women much too independent, right?
It was only 10 years later that they found out that they had made a statistical mistake,
so in reality the divorce rate did not go up.
It's a pretty bizarre history full of that.
Let me let me ask you this then.
As a historian who is basing your arguments on things that have actually happened,
does it frustrate you when you see politicians like Trump,
I guess misstating their plans based on a history that they don't seem to understand themselves?
Because like you said, Trump says, we're going to do it the way it was, but then when you propose the way it was, he's like, no, I don't like that. Do you think that as people in general, we just don't know enough
about our histories? Well, what frustrates me the most are these people, the so-called moderates, the centrist who say, oh, that's never going to happen. That is too radical. Right. If you zoom out, as a th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi th th thi thi, as thi, as thi, as thi, as thi, as thi. As thi. As thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. Do, th. Do, th. Do. Do, th. Do. Do. Do. Do thi. Do thi. Do the. the. th. thi. th. the. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi., utopian fantasies have become reality.
I think that's important to keep in mind.
You know, democracy was once a crazy idea, right?
The end of slavery was once a total fantasy.
It all happened, but it never starts in the center.
It always happens, starts on the fringes with people who are first dismissed as
radical, as crazy as lunatics, right? So I guess we've got to be a bit unreasonable sometimes.
You have to be unreasonable to move the conversation forward.
The 15-hour work week is probably my favorite part of your book.
How does that even begin to work?
Yeah, well, it goes back to a very old idea, actually,
of the economist John Maynard Keynes.
He wrote this essay in 1930 that, know sort of make two predictions. The first prediction was we're going to be a lot richer in the future right if we
don't make stupid mistakes like start another World War or have a surety during
times of crisis well we did that but anyway we'll be a lot richer and then we'll
use that wealth to work a little bit less each year and then he just extrapolated in a set we'll have a 15-hour work week in 2030.
The fascinating thing again, from the historical perspective, is that up until the 70s,
you know, we were on track to make it.
You know, the work week was shrinking and shrinking and shrinking.
And the experts were predicting that the biggest challenge of the future was going
to be boredom. It's only around 1980 that, you know, throughout, the development, the development, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the world, th and, the, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is. And, is. And, is. And, is. And, is. And, is. And, is. And, is. And, is thi, is thi. And, is thi. And, is thin. And, is thin. And, is thin. And, is a thin. And, is a thin. their, their, their, their. their. their. the. the. thea. th thea. th th th th th th that, you know, throughout the developed, well, we've been starting to working more and more, and we've been keeping on inventing these jobs that don't really
need to exist.
Right.
Right?
Right.
Right.
So, people sitting all day to people they don't really like, to their people they don't really
like, no one's ever like to whom it may concern, reply all as per my last email
etc. That's half of my day. But then the fascinating thing is is that most of
these jobs you know are people who have wonderful resumes you know who
went to great universities and have wonderful job titles but then still at the end of the day they're like you know well I could go on strike on the the the the their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their. their. to go their. to to to their. their. their. their their. their. their. their. to to to to to to to to to to to their. their. to their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the.titles, but then still at the end of the day they're like, you know, well I
could go on strike and no one would notice. So in the book I've got this story of
two strikes that happened in the 60s. The first strike was of garbage collectors,
New York, 1968, lost it for six days. the state of emergency had to be declared. It turns out we can't we we we we we we th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th out that that that that that that that that to that that that to that, that, that, that, that, tho--a tho-a th. th. So, th. So, th. So, th. So, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th. So, th. So, th. So, th. So, th. So, th. So, tho that that that that that that that that that that thr-a thrown thrown thrown to to to to to to to to to to thrown to to thrown thrown that thrown thrown thrown the the to be declared. It turns out we can't do without garbage collectors. Right. So at that point, I wondered, has it ever happened in history that the bankers went on strike?
So I started looking, you know, looked at the past 5,000 years basically since the invention
of money.
And I found only one example.
And this was in Ireland 1970.
The bankers were angry that their wages were not keeping up with inflation. So they said, you know what, you'll have it.
We're going to go on strike and then you'll see just how important we are.
And all the experts were like, oh, this is going to be a disaster.
It's going to be a heart attack for the economy.
And then from one day, so to the other day, 85% of the money supply was not the money thiiii lasted for six months in the end.
And after six months, the bankers came back and said, all right, all right, all right,
we'll get back to work.
And I think this is another example where history just makes you rethink, right?
Who are the real wealth creators in this country?
Does wealth really, you know, is it really created at the top and then does it trickle down? Or maybe it's the other way around.
And are the teachers and the garbage collectors and the nurses?
Are they the real wealth creators?
Wow, that's powerful, man.
Let me ask you this as a historian.
If we don't take these concepts seriously, if we don't think about how to get people paying their fair share of taxes,
how we stop people avoiding tax, which is a huge issue,
what do you then worry would happen based on history?
Well, what I worry about the most is that about the moments when people just don't
have hope anymore for a better future, right? So my frustration frustration a couple of years ago when I started writing this book was
that I saw so many people, you know young people or people who call themselves
progressives who only knew what they were against. Right.
Against austerity, against racism, against homophobia, against all these things.
And yes I'm against them as well, but you also have to know what you're you actually for. Right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. to to to, right. to, right. to, right. to, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, to, to, to, to, to, to, th. And, to, to, th. And, th. And, their, their, their, their, their, you also have to know what you're actually for. Right.
And that's why I'm so excited that you see this whole movement now of indeed younger people
who come up with all these fascinating new ideas.
Sometimes old ideas, sometimes new ideas, like the Green New Deal.
That's what excites me the most, because we need hope.
Wow. Thank you for being on.
Thank you for being on the show, man. Really great having you on. Utopia for Realist is a really fascinating read. It's available now.
Thank you so much.
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