James Carville | Club Random with Bill Maher
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LinkedIn, the place to be, to be. In politics, everybody thinks the most important thing is the friends you make. Let me give you a clue, the enemies you make. I'm an independent. I've voted for every Democratic president, but I swear to God, every time I gave the Republican a chance. Club Randall.

Is this kind of a bit of a late '60s element to it or something? It's a late everything. It's definitely late. I mean, that's why we call the club Random, because it's definitely random.

and everything here is like something that didn't fit anywhere in my real house. I gather you decorated yourself. Decorating is a strong word for what is going on. Oh, you threw it together? Well, threw it is much more close to the truth. Like, it was literally thrown in here. But it definitely does not have what you would call a woman's touch. Right. You could see a woman would say, let's pull this together. This is all coming apart. My wife?

I'm telling you, if there's, I know you're a famous non-believer, but assume that there is a heaven. And the definition of heaven is you get assigned to do what you want. When Mary gets to the pearly gates, they're going to say, all right, we got some furniture to rearrange here. And for all of eternity, all you're going to do is move furniture. And let me tell you something, it should be in heaven. Every time I turn around, I'm

Something I have my chair, you know, where I watch television. And then all of a sudden it's moved. But I get the feeling that you became a much happier person when you got married.

I feel like you're the guy who, you might bitch about it and complain about it, but you, I mean, obviously you have one of the most famous marriages and certainly one of the most famous cross the political divide marriages. But it's lasted a very long time. No, so I'm a statistical freak. I got married when I was 49. I've only been married once. Right. That, you know, you know some people get married at 49, but it's very, and I never, I've

I really come from a big family and, you know, but yeah. I mean, it's been 30 years. We got married, it'll be 30 years Thanksgiving. I can't even believe, yeah, Thanksgiving. And people were saying it was a, you know, fake marriage. They said that about the Clintons. And I always said, it's not a fake marriage. It's a very real marriage. It's just one marriage.

I mean, I think she was the one who said he's a hard dog to keep on the porch. Right? Okay. And no one knows who ever thought he was a fake marriage. Lots of people say it's an arrangement. And I always said, it's not an arrangement. And he really does love her. He just also loves Strange. Or did. You know, he's an older man now. But what I do know is that to people...

I know people that said it was an arranged marriage, okay? I don't know anyone that really knows them that would say that.

I think somebody from a distance would say that. No, I thought if you I mean obviously partisans are gonna be partisans and they're gonna hate When when somebody does anything on the other team if they're that kind of person But if you're unless you're that kind of super partisan you couldn't watch him at was it that yeah her 2016 convention when he gave her the speech

I met a girl at Yale. Remember that? You know, he went into that thing about like, I've never seen her go into a situation and didn't make it better. You know, you just got the feeling that this is somebody. And I remember when they were going through their shit and they asked her what she was going to do. And she said something like, you know, yeah, I thought about leaving. But he's at the end of the day, the most interesting person I've ever met.

And the idea of not having that in my life was just not tenable. And people like the Clintons, I feel like you saw that that part of it, I mean, it was romantic in its way. He's the most interesting man I could ever talk to. How many people can you say that about?

Well, because he is. Because what? Because he is. I mean, he's the most interesting person. I have a smart... He is? He's a stunningly interesting man. He's... But kind of an egomaniac, no? Everyone that you and I know at some level is an egomaniac. Who would get into politics that's not? I guess it's levels of it. I don't know them like you know them. So one time...

I worked a lot overseas and I was doing work in Argentina. And the then finance minister, a man by the name of Domingo Carvalho, we were having a drink at the Sheraton Hotel in Puerto Madero or something. The guy comes by and he says, "Senor Rodriguez." Carvalho says, "This is James Carville, the man that elected Bill Clinton." "Okay, fine." And he said, "Tell you a story." He said, "About

A couple, three years ago, the OAS had a meeting here, and Sheraton and President Clinton came, and of course I was the manager, and I greeted them, you know, as you would do. He said a couple years later, the Sheraton people called me, and they wanted me to go to Santiago, because they were having a thing, and President Clinton was going to be standing at the Sheraton in Santiago, so I was there, and they asked me to come out and greet the President.

And he looks at him, he says, "I thought you were in Buenos Aires. Did you get transferred?" These kind of stories are-- you hear them all the time. I have heard them. About his memory? Right. And just his total recall of every detail of every person and the way he would always stay to the last person in the room.

Wanted to talk to him about something. I mean, yeah. Could never get it. Wouldn't want to leave. He genuinely. So who has that kind of political talent now? Nobody. Okay. I mean. Nobody? No. Well, there's some people. The great, the most talented group of politicians I've ever seen in my life in any political party are currently in the Democratic Party.

You just said the opposite, but none of them were as good as Clinton. Well, right now, because we don't know because they're not on the board. So who is this dream team that has... I think that Josh Shapiro...

He's about as talented a politician I've seen. Okay, he's Pennsylvania? Right. Governor? He's a governor. He's a great... I cannot picture him, but that doesn't mean anything because... It doesn't mean anything. I'm just telling you. You haven't seen him. Wes Moore, who I did... Wes and I did real time with you during the pandemic. Right. He's governor of Maryland. He's governor of Maryland. African-American governor of Maryland. The governor of Kentucky...

It could be Clint Nestow. Oh, what's his name again? Andy Beshear. Andy Beshear. Right. Kentucky, see? The Democrats need a little Kentucky again. Well, I think we've got the election coming up. I mean, they should remember that the person who elected Clinton, who had an accent, was you, who has such an accent that, you know, when they do the chyrons, there's a machine that

puts the words under podcasts and television shows, they can't do you because they don't know what the fuck you're saying. So it comes out gibberish. But you talk and think like America. That's what the Democrats need. If they do, there is this image that if you get a couple of voters from wherever,

And you ask them, when you think of the Democratic Party, what do you think? Inevitably, well, they're urban. They kind of look out after the cities, and they're old. Right? Right. Could you imagine what would happen if we put five people on the stage that had, like, a string of senators together and had original thoughts and energy? Original thoughts and politics? That's not going crazy. There's so fucking much talent out there.

At every level. Talent. So what is political talent? So you're saying these guys are talented, Bashir and any women in this group? Whitmer? Whitmer, right. Gina Romalto? Gina Romalto is the... She's really talented. She was the former governor of Rhode Island. She's now the secretary of commerce. Is Rhode Island a state? Really? Come on. I don't know, but they think they are. I have a lot of friends in that. Wouldn't it be great if we could, like...

snap our fingers and actually have another constitutional convention where you didn't have to, I mean, because nothing will ever change in this impacted colon of a country because you could never convince enough people who all hate each other now to get behind sensible things. But if you could like just be the king in a constitutional convention, like some of the things like I would definitely get rid of

Every state gets two senators, no matter how many people, so that California gets two with 40 million people and the Dakota Territory gets four. That would go, but you could never get people to agree. Actually, it's a big thing on the right to have a new constitutional convention. I want to say like 19. Yes, they've had states. What do they want to get rid of?

The 14th Amendment. They hate the 14th Amendment. Really? Oh, God. But most of the Constitution's fucked up shit is in their favor. The Second Amendment and the two-senator bullshit. Yeah, they hate the Reconstruction Amendment.

They particularly, the 14th Amendment is equal process. Right. You know, equal protection law. Is that because, I mean, they can't, they're not against black basic civil rights, are they? Really? Are they? Well, how, it's such a civil right that your vote counts and they gerrymander these fucking districts and like. Yeah, but they would, of course, I understand what you're saying. And of course they do that. But are they doing it because they're,

minorities don't vote for them. In other words, if minorities voted for them, I don't think it's a race thing. Some of it is, but it's more of a, if you don't vote for us thing, then we're going to try to make it that you can't vote.

I think they'd be happy to take it. They said in Wisconsin, some Republicans said, these college kids just roll out of bed and go vote. Well, what the fuck are you supposed to do all my life? I've rolled out of bed and I'm going to vote. What's wrong with that? But the kids in Madison were not voting for Republicans, so they don't.

They don't want college kids to vote. It literally said they just roll out of bed and go vote. Everybody that votes rolls out of bed and goes to vote. Absolutely. That's so silly. As if you needed like a month to think about it when you already knew who you were going to vote for two years before. But somebody in the race currently wants to raise the voting age to 25.

Might be Vivek. He was like everything to people. He had a Harvard degree. He was a tech bro. Yeah. And it's totally fucking crazy. Yeah.

So they're all all right. And he said, look, we're just going to I'll get in. I'll fix Ukraine. We'll just give Russia whatever they got. Ukraine will keep what they got. And then we'll say, Russia, you can't have a military alliance with China. Oh, right. I mean, Vivek sat right there and we chopped it up for quite a while. And, you know, I said to him, I find you both disarming and very alarming.

because he is unabashed. I mean, he insists that he is not running for Trump's vice president. He would never accept that. He's been the CEO of a company, and I like the guy. But, you know, and he could never go back. He'd go from CEO to vice president of the world. Yeah, I think you could. Anyway, so he...

to me, looks like he's running as, to be Trump's vice president. Because he's, or if Trump, you know, somehow can't run or, you know, has a heart attack or something, he is positioned as the Trump. They're never, they hate Ron DeSantis. Who does? The mega base, because DeSantis has done the unforgivable thing.

He's, Robson Warranty is at least smart. If something happens to Trump. Right. And Mago, you know, he never attacked him. There's no chance they're going to vote for Mike Pence. Of course not. Well, that was never in the cards. No. Well, I mean, you talk about political talent or just, I mean, he, I always say he looked like the pilot pilot.

in the film that they show before the plane takes off, you know, who goes over the safety shit. And, oh, my God. Mother. You have to have a little pizzazz, right? But you're saying it's because it's all about loyalty to the cult leader. It's all about the whole thing. Yes, I agree. So DeSantis thinks that he can go out

In in out right wing Trump, that's that doesn't that's not what motivates these people. Well, that is kind of what Vivek is doing, because, you know, he when he said, I want to get rid of 75 percent of the government. That's out trumping Trump. I mean, Trump never want to get rid of any of the government. He just wants to control it.

Yeah, of course, but I'm saying if you're going to be that kind of meat-throwing, fire-breathing, salivating, drooling Republican...

Vivek is like, you might as well go all the way because that is what I mean, he was he won. Didn't he win that debate? When I look at a Republican debate, the way that I determine the winner is the one that irritated me the most. If you're fucking irritating me, you're winning there. Right. So I've scored in reverse order. So who irritated you the most?

That's such a hard one. Get DeSantis to decide him. You know who irritated me the most? Borgum. Doug Borgum. Or as I call him, President Doug Borgum. Just the, you know, I'm sure he's a sweet guy, but like the ego of like, and what did his wife tell him after? You killed it. What?

I totally nailed it. I think there's going to be a groundswell. I mean, it's just like, come on, man. And the other guy on the end, Hutchinson. Oh, Aza? You would like, he's a perfectly nice man. The only politician in America who looks older than Biden. He's going to be the, he's going to, and he went into that thing about like. The guy that don't give a shit is Chris Christie. He's just going to bludgeon Trump.

They'll chase him around to whatever. They don't go far. Let me ask you this. I came up in conversation at the end of the night with people. Somebody was saying that Chris Christie has been to 150 Bruce Springsteen shows. A New Jersey thing. You've got your Louisiana thing from New Jersey. And Bruce Springsteen is awesome. Bruce Springsteen is a really good Democrat.

Well, that's the point. So is Jimmy Buffett, by the way. Yeah, I know Jimmy. I remember Jimmy. Yeah, he was a good Democrat. Almost everybody in show business is a Democrat. Yeah, because they know. Well, also, it's just like, you know, I'm an independent. Okay. I voted for every Democratic president, but I swear to God, every time I gave the Republican a chance. In other words...

I looked at the choices. I didn't just automatically vote Democrat, but I legitimately thought, yes, Bill Clinton will be better as a president than George Bush or Bob Dole would. And then I looked at George Bush and I looked at John Kerry and Al Gore and legitimately said, no, these guys are going to be smarter and more compassionate and more effective.

and I don't regret that. And then, you know, Obama with McCain and Romney. I looked at them. I don't hate either John McCain or Mick Romney. There's things to admire about both of them. But I still thought, no, Obama. Maybe if it was them against some lesser Democrat along the way who I didn't like. But I just think that to me is how I do it. I know that's not where you are. Well, yeah, I mean, look, when I was a kid...

It's the only people that wanted to help black people were the National Democrats. And I grew up in a very... When you grew up in another era, it was reversed. Right. It was the Democrats who were the problem for the... My great-grandfather, not great-great-grandfather, my great-grandfather was...

Immigrated from Ireland, Wisconsin. He was a soldier in the Union Army right at the end of the war. We cannot confirm if the Emperor saw any combat. He was a classic carpetbagger.

He moved to Louisiana. He ran in one, he was in the state legislature. He was a Republican. He was actually like the floor leader for Governor Pinchback, who was the first black governor. Remember Doug Wilder was the first elected black governor. Right. Yeah. And... What is his name, Pinchback? Governor Pinchback was a governor of... Sounds like a...

Sketch on the old Steve Allen show. Governor Pinchback and Senator Philip Buster. I am Senator Philip Buster. One of the best real-time routines for a political consultant is to Melanie Stansbury.

And how they did these negative ads. Oh, right. Oh, you remember that? Oh, I'll watch that piece. Oh, Young Kim is in color. I can recite the entire fucking thing. It's one of my favorite things that you ever did. That makes me feel so good. But let me ask you this Bruce Springsteen thing. Okay. Okay, so...

Chris Christie's been to 150 Bruce Springsteen concerts, obviously a big fan. There was just an article I guess in the paper that said, finally maybe Bruce is stopping from just completely freezing him out. I saw that. He wouldn't talk to him. I saw that. Just my point of view, but I feel like Bruce Springsteen shouldn't have done that.

When Chris was on the show last time, I called him and we laughed about it. I said, "You're what I call a 'as good as it gets' Republican." And this country should get the fuck over itself and realize it's a big place with lots of people who don't think like you. And you can't hate everybody who's not just completely on your page. It's not going to get a lot better than Chris Christie as Republicans go, the things we don't like about Republicans.

And to hate those kind of people where, no, I will not be your friend. I will not talk to you. Maybe it would get better by being friends with people like that. Yeah, I've done events with him. He's a personal guy. People don't realize. It's something people don't realize. But he's not a monster who he could play one in like a movie. Connecticut does not have a culture.

Okay? I'm serious. New Jersey actually has a culture. Like, they... Bruce Springsteen is too...

I mean, he's like a cultural icon. They go to the shore. They don't go to Cape Cod. They don't go to Miami. We went to the shore. This is my upbringing. And they actually have a culture. They have iconic things. And we say water. And for some reason, they think that's pronouncing it wrong. I don't understand that. I don't know either. I just wish people could...

get over themselves a little bit about who they won't fucking mingle with. Mingle. This is so... Right? Right. It's so... Mingle. But it's now become everything is a purity test.

That's what I'm saying. I don't like that. I don't either. I don't like it. I did an editorial once where you and Mary were in it. And I quoted the thing about you getting married on Thanksgiving because it was one of these pleas I've done to like, look, the people who you don't completely agree with are not the enemy. You know, the three most important words in a relationship are not I love you. They're let it go. Right? Right.

Let it go. And I think, and it was a very sweet thing we said about you and Mary. And I think we quoted her as saying, yeah, our idea of fun, like, isn't to argue about the earned income tax credit. Like, you just don't waste your time, right? You don't waste your time. Here's the key to a relationship. Kids,

Don't go there if you know that's not a place where if you do go, you're going to have a good time. Right? Isn't that a lot of it? I stuck my finger in that socket about the fifth time. I said, you know, I'm just not going to stick my finger in that. I'm a slow learner. Well, you know, I would say at our age, the key for me anyway, I'm not going to speak for you, but the key components that I really treasure are acceptance,

and comfort. Like when I was 21, I backpacked in Europe and stayed in hostels. I was okay at 21. I couldn't do it now. And acceptance, you know, just like accept. Yeah, we're not going to agree on everything. And it's okay. It's everybody just has such a fucking bad attitude.

You know, so many people think that they're defined by their politics. Right. So true. I mean, politics is part of my definition. Look, if you're like a racist, we're not going to get along very well. No. Of course. If I see you, I'll tell you hello, but I'm not interested in developing a race. But if you think differently than I do or you have a different view...

It of course living where I live I probably run into more than in a social life as many Republicans as Democrats of course if you live out here, you don't In right because you're in the DC area right right. I mean, it's it's the town industry It's like what show business here or Detroit with cars

Right? But a lot of these people get along better than you think. But they can't. I saw that the first time I did something in Washington in 1995, Politically Incorrect. Right. Remember that show? Yeah, I remember it well. I had been on for two years. Right. And I was doing whatever that dinner is where the— The White House Correspondents Dinner? I think maybe that was it. Anyway—

I said under my breath at one point, I fucked up a joke and I went, "Oh, fuck it." And the next year People magazine said, "Last year, Bill Maher delivered an obscenity-laced monologue." But anyway, I saw Newt Gingrich and Clinton backstage and they were getting along fabulously. And that's when I knew, okay, this is a big show.

I remember that so vividly, seeing them in the wings, talking, laughing. You could tell just by the eye contact. They didn't hate each other. You know, one of the things about Washington, it's a very prudish place. Yes. And, like, they believe...

that they're the upholders of some morality, sexual standard for the rest of the country. And they're full of shit. They're just like everybody else. Worse. I remember they had Imus when Clinton was president. Yeah. If you fucking invite Imus, if you invite a snake, don't be surprised if it bites you. That's what the guy does. And they were all like aghast and aghast.

I went on some show and I said everybody needs to calm down. Don't get mad at him, the people that invited him. If you invite Bill Maher, he's going to bite you. Yeah, I don't think I even bit anybody that day. I don't remember. I mean, it was so long ago. Oh, during the scandals? Oh, my God, people were like fainting in the street. Well, I mean, the problem with...

a room like that for a comedian is that there's almost nothing that isn't somehow offensive to somebody. And if you try to rise above that to the degree of their sensitivity, what you'll be saying will be so bland.

which is why they really shouldn't ever hire a political comedian in that place anyway. Nobody ever succeeds, really, very few. Stephen Colbert did awesome, I have to say, with Bush. That was a brilliant moment. I got to give him that. But usually that is just, they should have a fucking juggler or a ventriloquist or something because everybody can just enjoy together. It's all about, so this is the way the White House Correspondents Center works.

So everybody, they want someone because they take their advertisers. Because they what? They take their advertisers. So the Washington Post has a table. Oh, yeah, right. So they want to have somebody that...

Sorry, Chiron operators. Lisa, like, same thing with ABC. It became the first celebrity. Remember Fawn Hall? Oh, Fawn Hall was whose? It was during the Reagan administration. Who was she? She was somebody's mistress? Yes, somebody. Fawn Hall. Yeah. Somebody brought her to the White House Correspondents' General. Was it scandalous?

No, but it started a trend where they would have Colbert, Imus, or Bill Maher. But I feel like Fawn Hall... I'm sorry, Fawn, if this is a... Did she say something to Olly North? I don't know. Yeah. Mm-hmm.

yeah, maybe I'm just trying to make this hotter than it was, but I love that name. And somehow I feel like she was hot and was fucking somebody. But again, that just could be my mind going where it wants to go. Everybody's fucking somebody else. She was selling missiles to add Dan Kishogi. I mean, I don't know, but, uh,

It's amazing the mist of time, right? Like there was a time when Fawn Hall, we both would have known exactly who that was. Remember Donna Rice? Donna Rice, of course, was Gary Hart's mistress. Or not, I don't know. The pimp was a guy from Louisiana, Bill Broadhurst. Pimp? Well, he was the guy that brought them together on the boat with the famous picture.

Yeah, I mean, he said she asked if she could sit on my lap or something, and I chose to be a gentleman. But then when she started twerking, he started putting 20s in her G-string. I was like, come on. I mean, now we're going to get suspicious. But he was the one who famously said to the press, follow me.

Follow me. Yeah. Right. And I mean, you could not-- Paul Taylor was the reporter. First of all, you don't even have to invite the press these days to do that. But you couldn't even imagine baiting them like that. Because they were like, well, of course we're going to-- we're following you already, you moron. Paul Taylor was the reporter that broke that story to Washington Post. Do you think they really were having an affair?

You know, I assume that everybody's fucking everybody else. And if I'm wrong, I'm willing to provide my opinion. But I kind of go in. Yeah. Fucking unless proved otherwise. Right. I just assume. And then somebody says, no, actually, OK. I mean, I don't care. It's fine with me.

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Head to factormeals.com slash random50 and use code random50 to get 50% off. That's code random50 at factormeals.com slash random50 to get 50% off. It's amazing the way the sex scandal, you know... Well, Trump just blew past. He just drove... The one thing that...

We'll have to say about him is he said, I could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and my people wouldn't give a shit. He actually is an adjudicated rapist on Fifth Avenue. A court of confident jurisdiction, a judge said by any common definition of the word rape, you raped that woman. This is the dressing room one? Yeah. Yeah.

Okay, I mean that may have happened but I mean the court a jury in a court said it did that fucking means nothing to me because I know what they know which is nothing they know two people said two different things about something that happened in the 90s and web which there's no witnesses or tape, you know, we can't I can't look I hate Donald Trump as much as anybody but I can't say for sure I just know that just because nine people said they think that I can't first first of all, I

but yes and they had more up there when I was it yes so the but she told me well this happened what was the evidence other people that she told contemporaneous with it well you know I'm but whatever jurors said okay that he know what you know more about this case than apparently I do and maybe if I knew everything I would be completely I know that a jury yeah I tend to have more faith most people

In juries, I think most of them really try to weigh what's there. And I do know that a jury, but now I get too technical here, but by a preponderance of the evidence, it's a little bit of a different standard in a criminal case. It's beyond a reasonable doubt. Yeah, I'm admitting. I didn't know that there was, like, evidence. I just thought it was he said, she said. Okay, so...

But like the way he has been able to have the hush money, he's got a porn star, a rape. I grab pussies like when you're a celebrity, they let you do it. There is a genius to his madness. And I always the thing I always say about Trump, you have to remember, he's stupid and crazy. And they're two completely different things.

And this is like the crazy part is works for him because he's without a mechanism to edit or to pull back. So, you know, as my friend Jimmy always says, insanity photographs. You can't take your eyes off him. Obviously, whenever they put him on TV, the ratings go through the roof. And that's why. Insane people are charismatic people.

You can't look away. So when he does all this, I mean, not just sexual stuff, but certainly the sexual stuff, it's like, I'm going to own... No one else in the world would even think of this as a strategy, and he has no strategy. It's just what he feels. He's all it. But to own that, to own being this kind of guy, and half the country likes it. Or at least it's not a deal-breaker, because they feel like it's honest business.

At least he's honest. He says what he thinks. He tells you it's okay if you hate other people. He validates what that guy says. I like him. He says what I think. Well, he plays on the fact that his people think that your people hate them.

and look down on them and see them as deplorables. I mean, I think they take... Do you know? There's some truth to that. Oh, there's a lot of truth. And I, as good a Democrat... Yes, you are. ...as the next person. But you hear this shit. So I don't know if we ever talked about this before, but the best example I've ever seen was in early 2020, before the pandemic hit.

LSU played Clemson in the Superdome in New Orleans for the national championship. A guy, Benjamin, the New York Times editorial writer, said that the Sanders-Warren student loan thing applied to real schools or schools like LSU that they called off classes the day after the national championship game. Like, okay, so it's 80 miles away. You got...

20,000 drunk kids going to the football game. And the president universally wisely says, we're not going to have class tomorrow. And like, this is not a real school. Well, fuck you. This is a real school like any other place. The way that people look at, there is a certain coastal arrogance in this country and people feel it.

They just do. And you can't tell me that it doesn't exist because I know that it does. I feel it. I feel it all the time. Yes, there is. Yeah, it's a lot what we were just saying before about people have to be able to talk to each other even if you don't completely agree. The other person is not a deplorable. I get it. Some of them are deplorable. Of course they are. Some of them are. Yeah.

That's true. And some people on the left are deplorable. I'm sorry. I find the left to be just annoying. Exactly. They're more than just not important. It's just annoying. Exactly. And the Western far left is habitually deplorable.

the most stupid, naive people you can imagine. And they come up with these really goofy constructs, and it's all about feeling good about yourself. Yeah, well, just feeling, as opposed to free speech. If your feelings are hurt, that's more important than free speech. You know, I told my students, I said, the only reason

that I have not invited David Duke to this class is I am a fucking moral coward. I just, I don't want out of the president of the university to crap a pineapple. I don't want to, I would have no zero philosophical problem. If I'm your teacher and this son of a bitch comes and change your mind, then shame on me. I'm not worried about it. But I, I, I, I, I, I don't understand. I, I, I,

I literally don't understand it. No, and by the way, I think it would be quite interesting to see someone like you talk to him because, like, we don't really see in our normal lives, and this is a point of progress, racists. You know, people who are very overtly racist? Yeah. What do they do? Where do you see them?

You know, they'll come up. You can just tell. I mean, some people, yeah, that's graduation. What do they say? Well, no one's going to, like, say it to me. But I know people that, yeah, come on. They're everywhere. Are you kidding me? Well, they are definitely there. I don't know if they're everywhere. When somebody says, you know, I like what Trump says.

I get it. If somebody has a Confederate flag on the back of a fucking pickup truck, I know what you're saying. I see them all the time. A Confederate flag, yes. I see it all the time. Okay, I like what Trump's saying. No, that's too big a stretch. There are plenty of people who like Trump who are not racists. You think every... No, of course I'm not going to... You're not going to try to understand. Every person that likes Trump is a racist. But let me put it this way. Not all Trump people...

are racist, but all racists are Trump people. That's true. Okay. So I'm going to be so stupid. But you have a certain level of comfort. He's doing better with minorities. Because they, we, because if you're, think about it. So you're a black guy. You work at a

tire repair shop in Gulfport, Mississippi. Okay. And, you know, you like to smoke weed, convince your woman, watch a football game, scratch your ass. And you got all these preachy people

telling you what you should do. And people don't like preachy people. They don't want to be told that they're immoral, you know, the fact that you'd like to smoke dope and, you know, watch immoral football games. Yeah, there's definitely a feeling in the country that the Republicans are the daddy party.

and the and the democrats of the mommy party for you know for some good reason democrats certainly are more the party of compassion and that you very often associate more with your mother than your father and and fathers are the party of discipline we did an editorial about this once i think it was pretty funny about like the

Republicans are really the deadbeat dad party because they're supposed to like, they used to be like the ones who were like fiscally responsible in this household. We watch every penny. And that went out the window. And lots of other things where they kind of like.

Oh, the whole thing, there is nothing. So, you know, when I grew up, there were square-jawed people. They wore suits. They showed up to meetings in time. They had briefcases. Right. You know, they talked about... Yes, they were bankers, the party of business. Right. Yes. Right. They were business-oriented. Right. They were more patriotic. It was the guy at the hardware store that coached the little league team and, you know, gave money to the, you know, Christmas...

President Guy for poor. If Trump just blew that whole thing up, he was not. Right. You think Trump is anti-abortion? Come on, how many abortions do you think Trump has made? Maureen Dowd once asked him about abortion in his life, and I think his answer was, what an interesting question. Like, what's your next question? He just, you know. And again, he gets away.

Because he's insane. I'm telling you, they talk about the narcissism like it's a personality quirk. It's not. He's a nut. He's a...

He really isn't. The fact that he commits his crimes in public. And confesses to them. And confesses to them. And like, I got rid of the FBI director because there was a lot of pressure on me. Like, yes, that's your interior monologue. There's a lot of pressure on me because the FBI is looking into me for good reason. You don't. So I invited the Russians in. I mean, like, it's so beyond. It is.

This is not... He went to Russian and Bouser showing them top secret shit. He was showing the guy at Bedminster, look at these... But he does want a day, or he did when he was president, like something that only a nut would do. It's amazing to me

That we lived through those four years because when I look back on it and of course the Trump people say, oh, you know, you have Trump derangement syndrome and yeah, he blew up the world, right, Bill? I don't think, you know, you're right. He didn't blow up the world. I still think he could. Okay. Is that completely crazy that I think a crazy person could blow up the world? No. The shit that he did.

It's like stunning. I'm saying, no. The documents case, if you stop and you think about it,

Like one time, like I could read a thousand tweets that are just insane that just went by. I remember there was one that said he was mad at China. He said, I hereby, he's the king, I hereby order all American companies to immediately, you know, work on a plan to ban.

Change your it was like ordering him to get out of China. Oh, I hear by order and again That's just insane that nobody else would even think to do that, but he doesn't think that's His insanity and his attraction. Let me ask you a question

Okay, history eventually finds out. They find this asshole Pius XII. They found the letter where they told him they were gasping. The Pope during World War II? Yeah. All right, we know from history he's been outed, I guess is what you would say. Right. Do you think that all of history is known? Would you guess that the Russians have compromise on Trump or that's just liberal factors? No, I have always said

that the Russian hoax theory is a hoax. Plainly, there was something going on between Russia and Trump. It was not perhaps... First of all, I always thought Mueller blew it. He could have completely done it differently. Totally. They got a guy who was past his prime, and boy, he just... He was two by the book, and history could have been very different. But okay. But yes, I mean... But I...

I would, if you gave me three to one odds in their records and I can prove, I wouldn't be surprised. There's a P-tape. No, I'm sure. I don't think it's a, well, I don't think there's a, well, yeah, there could be. I don't know that. Absolutely, right. But it wasn't sharp. No. Of course not. But here's what we do know about Russia. There's a few things we do know. I don't think it's a giant mystery. I think we know what it was. First of all, his campaign manager was sharing information

campaign information with a GRU agent. Okay, that's a real thing, that Kalimnik dude. Okay, that's a real thing. And he said what we heard him say publicly, Russia, if you're listening, no, Eisenhower didn't offer Brazil or some country to fuck with our elections. Again, the insanity of doing it publicly. And it just

It's like the guy who is fucking around so he gets the center table at the hottest restaurant in town with the girl. If I was going to fuck her, would I be here where everyone can see me? It's hiding in plain sight. And he does it. He gets away with it. And he's going to, you know, I think he easily could be the president again. Right now. Right now.

Let's assume the election was November the 3rd of this year. And they said the candidates are Joe Biden, the Democrat, Donald Trump, the Republican, Joe Manchin and Larry Hogan, no labels, and Cornel West.

Trump would be a betting favorite. Yes. If I told you I would give you even money, you would not take that bet. All right? And so somebody better wake the fuck up. I might take even money, but you're right. I'm totally on the same page. And I think I talked to Paul Begala today. You told me. I saw him. I think we're on the same page with Biden. Did a great service.

But whereas in 2020, maybe he was the only one who could have beaten Trump, I think now he's the only one who will lose to him. He did great, not just because he beat Trump, but a lot of stuff he did. Afghanistan, Ukraine he handled right. Everybody else's economy was worse than ours after the pandemic. These are some pretty big things.

But he will lose because at some point perception becomes reality. And look, do I think he can do the job? Absolutely. Government, as you well know better than anybody, is done in small rooms like the Oval Office where people are talking quietly and decisions are made. I think he still can do that fine. He cannot run for president.

He'll look bad in the debates. It's just, it's too much. And he's, I think, going to lose. He will be Ruth Bader Biden, the Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the presidency. It's not a good look. And any 50-ish, not stupid, woke Democrat with a D by their name, people just vote D and R, that person can win. They'd win easily.

Easily. If we had somebody under 60 and ran against Trump, we'd get 55%. Right. I mean, it'd be numbers. But, by the way, if you look at the...

You know, I don't like when people take one poll and extrapolate too much room, but I've seen the last eight polls are all the same. 73 to 77 percent of the country does not want Biden to run again. I'm just around that to 75. Right. OK. That's a big fucking number. That's a big number. It's a very big number for something this crucial. It's ridiculous. So.

If you look at the last poll I looked at, and a poll has a rhythm, so they said if it's Biden versus Trump, 47 and a half to 47, you know, the same thing, 47, 47, 48, 48, Biden versus DeSantis, 48, 48, 46, 47, Biden versus Nikki Haley, 49, 43.

I have never seen an incumbent president at 43. Do people actually know Nikki Haley's position on anything? No, not really. But it's just a new name, and they might know that she can fog a mirror. Right. But you can just feel. What do you think of Nikki Haley? Because, like, again, I feel like this is—

I know they hate this term. I don't mean it to be insulting Republicans, but she's another as good as it gets Republican. It's not going to get better than these kinds of people. There is no imaginary Alan Alda from the West Wing Republican that exists. Am I right? You're right. And the reason is that.

they're they have stupid voters they're going to produce yeah you know remember less than maddox was the governor of georgia and he said the problem with georgia prisons is the quality to invade right with casing to get a hold of the end this is why they hate you because you just said stupid voters and let me just i i like to channel everybody's side

Their thing, when they hear that, stupid voters, they're like, yeah, okay, maybe we're stupid, but you think you're doing some stupid things in your own way, like pregnant men? Right? That's what they say. And I get it. I would never vote for Trump, but I get it. This is my problem. You and I. The problem is of the Democratic Party, the percent of Democrats...

And we know this over a huge number of polls. So what do you describe? About 10 or 11 percent of Democrats describe themselves as progressive liberal, whatever that means. Is that right? Yes. It's a very – and this is survey after survey. And these people are –

annoying, silly, but they come to you because you live here, you work in entertainment, the identity left is all around you. Most people don't even know what they're talking about. I know. But by the way, the number of MAGA people is 65%. So we pay a greater price for 10% of

of our party, then they pay for 65% of their party. And our people, the identity, the identity left are silly. They're not evil. They're just goofy. The original word woke, and I did some research on this. The first time that people think it came up was a black jazz musician who was born around Shreveport, died in a jail in Houston.

And the word was to denote that black people need to be woke in their interactions with the police. I've heard that also. Which seemed like a good idea. That's what they call in the military, situational awareness. Absolutely. And then what happened was overeducated coastal white people got a hold of the word, and as they do everything else, they completely fucked it up and pissed everybody in the country off. Now you're speaking my mind. And if we just could get...

The humanities faculty at Amherst to shut the fuck would be a lot better off. You know, it's so funny. My friends who are around my age, 40, they're always bitching about their, like, kids, you know, who are in their 20s because they're just, like, out of control, super woke, and they drive them crazy. And it's like, it's old-thinking mom. You don't get it. And I said to them, just tell them, get what? Like, abolish the police? No, you got me. I don't get that.

You know, things like that. Legalizing shoplifting. No, I don't get it. You know, bringing back communism. I don't get it. And so it's not that I'm old. It's that your ideas are stupid. So the day that they had the Lauren Boebert...

Incident in Denver. Politico ran a story that she'd become a Washington insider. Washington loves a story that they're civilizing effect. Man, when they send a redneck to Washington, they do not fuck around. Don't you love when they go and interview these people at a Trump rally?

I shouldn't. It's not a way that a human being should feel. But it's amusing.

Of course, they have somebody with, hey, Trump, grab my pussy, and you look at it, and ain't nobody in the world going to get within a mile of your pussy. Don't worry. Nobody's going to grab that. If they get through the fat wrinkle to get to it, they wouldn't even know. I feel like the people who go to the rallies are the worst. These are the people who, when you said before, some of them are deplorable. Yes, some of them are. I feel like those are the types of people.

If you're actually getting your ass out to go to a Trump rally, I mean, what, you don't have the grades to get into the tractor pull? I love these. When I see it on doing a like somebody goes and they interview people.

Yeah. I got to admit, it gives me, I shouldn't do it. It's not, I do, you should never do it in my business. I actually feel superior to these people. Jesus, I mean, I'm pretty fucking stupid, but this is like. Right. Whereas the obnoxious left feels superior to you. But I laugh at the obnoxious right. I find them humorous. Oh, I find them both humorous. The obnoxious left.

They believe that they actually want Trump to win re-election because they've always believed, you know, the German communists would march in the streets of Berlin and to say, the worse, the better after Hitler, us. And the left, if you read these really left wing things,

They believe that they're sleeper cells all around the country and once they're exposed to the real thing to you know real Distribution and state ownership they're going to rise up and working people are gonna seize the proletariat My favorites but in all the politics is the dictatorship of the proletariat. This is what I

There's a communist left-wing back in the 19th century called the dictatorship of the proletariat. And what they would say to you and I, free speech, the oppressor cannot have free speech. The oppressed. Now, who is the arbiter of the oppressor or the oppressed? I have no fucking idea who makes that determination. It's a very scary time as far as people who, on both sides, think that they...

that the other side is such an existential threat that anything is justified for winning. I mean, this is where the Republicans already are. To the Democrats' great credit, they are not there yet at all. The Republicans are the only ones who think these people are so nuts. And sometimes they are nuts. We've been talking about it. They're so nuts.

that we can't let them take over because, you know, it'll just be all pregnant men all the time. That kind of thing. So they're like, if it takes a right-wing coup and nullifying elections, okay, that's where they are as a party. That's why they won't, why Christie's the only one who's going against Trump and he's not going to win doing that, you're right. No.

You cannot buck that idea that the Democrats are a bigger threat. That's the philosophical underpinning of all of it. The Democrats are a bigger threat, or liberal thinkers, that whole, our whole side, okay, is a bigger threat than Russia, than Russia, than anything, than our own democracy. Like, you can fuck with elections to keep them out of power because they're nuts. And even if we are nuts,

You can't do it that way. We got to come back. It's 10 percent of the Democratic Party as opposed to 65 percent of the Republican Party. If you do you think Joe Biden, if you tried to explain to Joe Biden what woke is, do you think you could even explain it to him? No, he's like, look, he's saying, pal, let me get this straight. Now, he's like, sorry, he's like the dad who, you know, he.

he doesn't really understand what the kids are into, but he doesn't want to fight about it either. So when the wife is like, honey, the kids want to cut their dicks off and tear down his statue of Lincoln, he's like, whatever, I'm watching the game. You think Chuck Schumer is voting? It's counting votes. Be careful, we don't want to get primaried. Oh, okay. But I mean, most of these guys...

They have no, they don't even understand it. They don't even understand what they're talking about. Well, we did a thing once on the fact that the job in America that you can have that gives you the best prestige and the greatest perks is

while having zero qualifications is Congress. Like almost anything else, you need some sort of qualifications. But you can be, as Marjorie Taylor Greene was, stacking the weights at CrossFit. So you can get elected from prison,

There's no qualifications. And yet if you get it, you have a corner office. You have the good table at the restaurant. You have people asking your opinion like you know something. You go on talk shows. People blow you. Lobbyists blow you. So, okay. So how would you, if you change it, if you did a constitutional convention,

All right. And I'd say, fuck it. The people know it and they vote for them. What do you want me to do? Well, as Churchill said, it's the worst system except for all the others. Right. I mean, I'm not saying we get rid of elected government, but as long as you bring up my constitutional convention, like...

We do need to straighten out the... I mean, just because the system barely held last time and barely... We're in one shit. What? We're still in jeopardy. So much jeopardy. Yeah. And you talk about the nature of it. 18% of the people in the United States elect 52 senators. Yes. That's not going to change. No. That's not going to change. That's what I was saying about you'd never get to...

Enough people to just sensibly give up their whatever side they're on and do the right thing for the country. And I don't know what that forebodes for our future if you can't really get people to do this. And yet, you know what's amazing about this country?

The economy never stops. They don't stop. Never fucking stops. That's the one thing Americans are good at, boy. We fucking work and love fucking money and spending money and making money and money. I flew out here. I went to Delta. And if you have an American Express card or a day ticket, you can get into the club.

I could not find a seat in there.

And these motherfuckers were like, I went to the sundry shop to get a bottle of water to take on a plane. They were spending $90, $100. I'm like, put that fucking credit card back in and buy this shit here. It costs you $50. They spend, you cannot stop people from spending money. I always think the same thing when I'm out. Like, where does everyone get all this money? I don't think they have it.

I think the pandemic so traumatized people like...

Fuck it. I ain't going to wait around and be traumatized. They loved it. They sat home, most of them, and got money sent to them. It was fantastic. They stopped going to work. By the way, kids now, another one of the great repercussions of their brilliant pandemic policy. Kids now, did you see this in the paper? Don't go to school anymore. Oh, not at nearly the rates they did. And truancy levels, just people who go...

Yeah, I don't feel like going today. That's just like through the roof. I mean, how can a country continue? Already, kids come out of high school, they do not know anything. I mean, anything. Like, for a lot of kids in this country who are 18 who can vote,

Watching this would be like we were speaking in Chinese. We mentioned people they never fucking heard of or don't care about and never will. We mentioned things that were going on. They have no idea. I don't know how a country can really move forward successfully. So the provost at Tulane told me this. If you remember, there was an uproar at NYU in pre-med. There was a chemistry teacher and professor.

We have a test and like three quarters of the pre-med students at NYU fucked it. So they got rid of the teacher. You know what the interesting thing about that is? That guy had been there for 25 years and had given the same test for 25 years. Now I asked Bernie Sanders when he was on our, I think it was the overtime thing, what's the difference between equity and equality?

And I remember he had a hard time answering. I was surprised he hadn't thought about that. But I've become, honestly, I've become more liberal. Most people say that as you age, you become more conservative. I actually think I've become more liberal. On what issue are you more liberal? I'll give you one. Daycare. I never thought about daycare. Really?

Well, I didn't have kids, and I was in my 50s, and I was working for the president. No, but I mean, that's a political issue. It must have been an issue with Clinton. It was somewhat, but it's... Daycare. It's a huge issue. So I have a grandchild, and my daughter is in graduate school at LSU, and she called me. She never asked me. She says, Dad, we've got to get...

him in LSU daycare. And if you think about it, all these universities have to have daycare and they have childhood development teachers and students. Right. Okay. Sure. Faculty. And it costs very little. If you, we're talking about this on camera, the cameraman told me that he pays more for daycare than his mortgage. Right.

Every other country has free daycare. All of these people complaining we can't get enough employees. Well, do it. Elizabeth Warren had federal daycare. It's the best idea. We ought to have that. That's not the federal government getting. You can take your kid. They can get nutrition. They can get interact with other kids. They can do that. Mom can work and come back and pick up after work.

You just ask people what daycare costs for ordinary people, and if you can get it, it's stunning. And that is a block. If you want to have equality for women, you would start with free or very inexpensive, high-quality daycare. Yeah, I think you're right. I've just become fanatically liberal on that.

I don't think, see, to me, that is the definition of not fanatically liberal. That's the definition of classically liberal. That's, when I say to people, I'm mostly an old school liberal, that's the kind of stuff I mean. It's practical. It's not just catching you at something. It's actually trying to fix something. Now, it all depends on how you do it. I mean, I also am very skeptical of how we fucking spend money because the amount we waste is astronomical. I...

was just shocked at how much of COVID money was just flat out stolen or given away to fucking rich people. That kind of stuff pisses me off. And it doesn't make me lose my liberal card if I go, you know, there's a certain amount of money that if you waste, I'm going to notice. I get it. You can't transfer money except with a leaky bucket. I get it. I'm not asking for a completely unleaky bucket. But what you got there is a handle because it's all going out.

But daycare, something like daycare, I get that one. That's like a classic program that like, because it probably would fix like so many other things down the road. Would there be shady operators getting into it? Would some fucking private equity people decide that? Yes.

You know, it's like people say, well, in Ukraine there's corruption among the region. The oldest profession in the world is prostitution. The second oldest is war. And the third oldest, followed by about three seconds, is war profiteering. Yeah. You know how much war profiteering there was in the Union during the Civil War? Iraq. Iraq? Iraq?

World War II, I mean. Yeah, but World War II, that's the one they were pretty good on. They had a commission. They did. People were in line. They were scared. Some people did well, but in Civil War they really did well. There was a year or two when American car companies made no cars.

Because they were only making... It's just true, making normal ones. Yeah. Yeah, yes. The only cars they made were like that big fucking thing that... But the car companies, it's great, but they got paid for it. Oh, of course. Yeah, as they should. I mean, I don't have a... No, no, no. People that make bullets, they pay for them. But it is amazing. As shitty as it seems, everything is going...

Like, you're right. People are just out there living their best life and spending a lot of money. And it just doesn't have the feel that we're at the end of the empire. And I'm sure there are people who look at us talking this way about, oh, we're on the edge. But we kind of are. You know. Certainly politically. Like, I always kind of think I've had a kind of optimistic view of the world. I don't know if I do. I mean, first of all, this climate thing.

How? OK, we ought to respect everybody. Everybody is entitled to an opinion. We should be. We don't have to agree with people. I'd like to haul off and punch somebody's fucking people right in the mouth. OK, are you looking at what's happening in the world and telling me this is some kind of your guy, Vivek?

My guy. He said it's a hoax. Okay, you've got to learn his name. Vivek Ramaswamy. I'm terrible at names. I know. At the Republican debate, they all purposefully fucked up his name. That's the way they do a debate. His subtle dog whistle, he's foreign because I can't even say it. And the one who really, I thought...

showed me she wants it badly. Nikki Haley fucked up his name, and she's also... And she's also... Yeah, indeed. I was like, oh, too, Nikki. Really? Come on. Come on. You know, you don't get to be governor of South Carolina, but that being the number one... But, I mean, isn't that great that, like...

You know, even South Carolina, and I say even, I'm sure that's insulting to the people of South Carolina, but come on, you have a pretty southern, a lot of history of racism state. Oh, really? Yeah. So, like, for them to have a governor who's not white, it's like, you know, we... Well, you're not impressed by that at all? I'll tell you a story about South Carolina. This is, I don't know, it's been 10 years ago, maybe a little bit more. Let's get a call to the Senate of...

Lindsey Graham wants to talk to you. I said, great. So I called. James, how you doing? He said, that's a thing in Charleston called a hibernia society. And they don't ever have Democrats, but they want to know if you'd come speak to them. And I said, well, you know, Senator calls me. It's Charleston. It was like during springtime.

So I go there, and these motherfuckers are like in tuxedos, and they wind up. And so I'm sitting on the podium, and the guy that ordered Sanford, Mark Sanford. Yeah, I remember. And it was during the whole thing in Argentina. Appalachian Trail. Right. Right.

So I look under my chair, and there's a fifth of Maker's Mark. And I said, well, what is this for? He said, well, we put it there so you could drink before. I said, well, man, I can't sit here in front of 1,500 fucking people. He said, well, Governor Barber drank the whole thing last year. I said, well, Governor Barber is a better man than I am.

And so I went to Samford, and I said, look, I got to tag you, okay? I just can't sit up here and, like, crack jokes for 10 minutes and act like this. He said, fine, I understand. Yeah, okay. And he wrote me a nice note out. So we're sitting there, and all of a sudden, everybody starts standing up and singing Dixie. And I'm like, fuck, what am I going to do? Really? And so the moral coward that I am,

I decided that I would stand up, but I wouldn't sing. And when I tell you... And it was... Senator Hollins was still alive. He was there. Joe Riley was mayor of Charleston, was a Democrat, was mayor of Charleston. Do they still sing Dixie today? I don't know. I'd be interested. See, that's what I mean. Like, I'm always just trying to... I just want the truth, you know? I just want the truth about what's going on in this country. It's like...

Little things like that can help you know, okay, we made this more a little bit of progress. They don't fucking sing Dixie at this point. I would love to know, and maybe somebody will see this, and determine, do they still sing Dixie at the Habana Society? Yeah, right. And if they do, that tells us something. And if they do, that tells us something.

But, you know, as generations age out, you know, I mean, it's the people our age who are the problem, I'm sure, mostly. You know, people of a certain age, white people, who just grew up in a different time, and their lives have been perhaps not perfect and frustrating, and so they kind of take it out by having that racist strain in them. But these people...

You know, that's not the future. It's not even the present. It's not even the people. They're retired. I mean, when I think of that kind of guy, remember there was that guy who, like, shot somebody who came to his door? Oh, yeah, that happened more than in Kansas City. Yeah. Yeah, that's happened more than once. And, you know, I think the most consequential event may be

of my lifetime and i'm serious i thought about this a long time was bush v gore do you understand if they would not stop that vote count we would have an entirely different country today different world an entirely different world okay i'm sorry and you see you know people forget this from 1994 to 2004 you could not buy an assault weapon you could not it was against the law

How many people have I had Senator Murphy's Chris Murphy on my podcast? There's another guy. Jesus Christ. This guy was the Democratic nominee for president. We'll get 55 percent. Chris Murphy. Yes.

Remind me? He's a senator from Connecticut. That's OK. He's a senator from Connecticut. He's very big on gun issues. He's a junior senator. Blumenthal is the other. I think Chris is an Irish, but I don't know. But I think Chris Murphy sounds pretty Irish. Well, Murphy. Yeah. Christopher is the kind of ultimate Christian. So how old is he?

50-ish. Yes. It looks like he's done. But I'm just saying anything. Sold. Anything. Anything. Take it. Stop selling. I'll take it right now. Fucking Chris Murphy. I fucking love it. Right. People would come out of the woodwork. Absolutely. I don't even know who the fucking guy is. Done. It's okay. Other people...

That would be... And you know what's great? And I told this to Chris Christie once about timing is everything. And you've got to go early. Like when Obama ran, they were like, oh, he's barely been a senator. And Obama was like, exactly the point. Now you don't have like a whole lifetime of bullshit to like

you know, comb through to try to get me on something. You're right. I'm new. And that's what works in America. I'm new. You don't have much on my past. And I'm new. America likes new. It's like strange. So Chris Murphy, whoever you are, come on down. Because we don't know anything about you. And let's keep it that way. I'm sitting there interviewing this guy saying, Jesus, get out there and fucking run. Right.

You know... Well, he's a white man. From Connecticut. So people are going to say, well, we can't nominate somebody from Connecticut. We can't nominate a white. We can't nominate a male. Is he straight? I think so. I'm not asking that. But I'm not. If you ever saw him, fuck him. Yeah, he looks...

I don't know how you look. Well, like if I have a wife and kids. I think he does. But, you know, I didn't get around to asking him. All right. Well, as long as we know nothing about him, can we make him gay? It would help so much in the primary. It really would. Well, maybe he's ambitious enough. You can ask him. You can turn. Bye.

I think it's a hard thing to pull off and be my guest. Chris, you want to be president? It's just one little thing. Maybe it could be a-- you know what?

It is humor, it is exaggerated, and there is an element of truth to it. To what? If he was gay, he would be bad. Oh, there's a big... That's the bad thing about Democrats being so locked into identity politics. I've talked about this on our show, is that, like, the box-checking, it's almost the way they, you know, write certain scripts these days. Like, the box-checking comes first.

And then we write the show or go for the candidate. I mean, you cannot imagine a Democratic ticket that was two white men. Now, maybe that's the way it should be. I'm not saying it shouldn't be that way, but...

the fact that it's not debatable or the fact that if there were two great white men, it just wouldn't like, oh, we know this ticket of Clinton Gore. You know, they were like neighboring states even. Like that could never happen. And the fact that it could never happen, that bothers me. You know, I'm all for diversity. I guess I'd say it probably wouldn't be wise to

And I mean, look, we're the first party. But it's limiting. We nominated and elected a black president. We nominated a female. I mean, I think that makes me proud to be a Democrat. Honestly, it's fine. Right. Yeah, well, I'm all for the... Don't make me the diversity villain. I'm all for it. I'm just saying I don't like things that are limiting like that. I don't know if the, you know, like our governor,

I think would be a very good candidate. He's talented. He's talented. Look, California's a little too woke for me and everybody, quite frankly, out here. Beverly Hills is too woke for you. If you go to fucking San Bernardino or Riverside, they wouldn't know what you're talking about.

It is just way in this... Okay, but I'm not going to move to Riverside. I know, I know. Just so you can win the point. You just got to deal with these things. We live in fucking paradise. It's not about where I live. 70 degrees and... No, you know what? If you lived in this state and you ever tried to cut down a tree in your backyard, you know, or my solar took three years to hook up, this state is maddening. Please, I live here. Okay. Even still...

I think Gavin Newsom would be an awesome candidate. I've been trying to get him to run since he was lieutenant governor. Sean Penn and I were at his house. I love Sean. Or not his house, I guess Sean's house for a fundraiser some years ago, not that long ago. And I remember we said to him, run for president while you still look like a movie star.

And I don't think that's a bad thing in America. And he's got a pair of balls. He does. He's shown that. He kicked the shit out of Sean Hannity. I mean, he certainly has the credentials to win the primary easily. And then hopefully he's a good politician. He can tack to the center a little more as you do. And I think he would win big. But Newsom is a very good communicator.

And if I'm sorry, I wish he did a debate with Ron DeSantis. You wouldn't even. I would love to take a book on that. This is America. It's politics is show business. You know, he just has a leading man kind of thing going on that. And California is kind of a big state. I mean, I know it's in the bag, no matter who the Democrat is. But this. Yeah, there's just a lot to.

thinking about the candidate. I'm sorry, I know it's wrong, but it is kind of like reality TV. I mean, the primary process, I mean, that Republican debate, what was the point of it? The guy who's going to get the nomination wasn't even there. So it was just theater. It was just to see them land. It had 12 and a half, it broke 12 and a half million viewers. I know, but because it was, because again, it's theater. It's just watching them, you know, hit their,

points with each other and try to score. It was, it's a game. So, you know, you want on your side, like something that's like, yeah, has some show business appeal. I'm not saying some of the other candidates don't, but I'm going to go for, you know, charisma over dull,

If all things are other sort of equal and I think the Democrats they all are kind of on the same page I mean is there a lot of light between what Gavin Newsom thinks about stuff and what Gretchen Whitmer does no that's that you know, honestly most of the stuff that the Identity left wants probably stuff about pretty pretty in agreement what you know for the most I don't wait but but take I

But they'll fight amongst themselves. Say the ticket is Gavin Newsom, Gretchen Whitmer. They'll be like, why is she the vice president? Why not? And that's a good point.

Because she ran and got more delegates. What can I say? Yeah, right. Leave it to the voters. People know that he's a white male. They know that she's a female. Let me tell you, I've seen Glushton with me. You're not going to confuse her with a dude. Okay? Hey, Governor, how you doing? It's good. She's a female. So what do you think

It's going to be the next two years now. Let's say the election is, like you were saying before, like imagine it this November. So we have a little more than a year. A little more than a year. And the candidates will be decided by the summer, right? That's when the conventions are and the primaries are over. So it'll be Trump for the Republicans for sure, right? No. No? How do you, first of all,

The guy is overweight and he's 17. If he's alive, then he'll be alive. If some jury comes back, I don't know. Certainly he would, he is the probable nominee. Why are you so careful about this? I mean, it's Trump. It's going to be Trump. By some chance, he could not do that well in Iowa. And if he ever gets people...

Like, I don't think it's a big chance. But I don't think he's definitely the nominee. No, he's Hitler, and I don't mean that in the wrong way. He's not the guy who wanted to kill all the Jews. But he is the guy with a messianic hold over a certain kind of person who feels cheated and wronged. Yeah. Look. He's not going to lose this nomination. He wants this...

Ali Frazier rematch badly. So people say you should never compare, talk about Hitler. No, you should. So we just went through this terrible thing in the world and we're not going to talk about it. We're not going to act like it ever happened, that there wasn't this sort of, you know, extreme... And you should be able to compare someone to Hitler in a certain way. Like...

No, Trump is not Hitler. Hitler was evil in what he wanted to do. So anybody that doesn't want to do that, do me a favor. Go on your computer, Triumph of the Will, and just watch the first 10 minutes. I've seen it. And tell me that we shouldn't be talking about this. It's literally the airplane through the clouds, descending to the masses. Yes.

All right? Yes. When Germany was a great country, we're going to bring back what... It's all nostalgia for... James, this is not the same country we grew up in. Yeah, and it's not going to be the same country 20 years from now. Right. I mean, there's nothing I can do about it. It's changing. But that was the whole appeal.

was he was swooping down to the masses. And I just found it, and I always used to show it to my classes. There's not much new here, people. There really isn't. Well, there's certainly nothing new in human nature. That's what, you know, I mean, I know we're all like completely...

In the modern era now where we're fluid and we're all trans and on the spectrum and nothing. But really I think people are basic. I don't think people evolve as quickly as the younger generation thinks they can, like two completely different kinds of humans. We're still the same kind of lizard brain people. We haven't advanced in 100 years. Maybe in 1,000 a little bit we will, but evolution doesn't work that quickly.

And we're just going to make the same kind of lizard brain decisions we always have. So the Foreign Affairs, which is a kind of Tony Journal, it's got like a gray cover. And they do. So they call me and they asked me to do it. Cicero's brother wrote a memo. Cicero. And Cicero.

My conclusion was we haven't thought of a fucking new thing since... They were talking about filing fake lawsuits against people and how you go negative early and shit. This is like... Right. Yeah, well, oh, my God. It's the Clinton 92 campaign. It's the economy, stupid. It's the war room. It's the same shit they had back in Cicero's brother. I mean, the Greeks knew it. Well, that's what's so frustrating about, you know,

People who want to, like, bring back communism and stuff and think that might be worth another try. Because, like, you know what? I know we're old and that makes us stupid because we know stuff. But, like, we've seen people try this, this communism thing. Trust us. Trust people.

I know you don't want to read about it. Maybe that's too complicated. And Che Guevara makes a great T-shirt. I don't want to upset you, but it was a giant disaster, this communism thing. And so, like, let's just put that one off the table because we, like, did try it, and it wasn't that fucking long ago because we were alive for it. So the most effective anti-communists were actually the liberals. The ADA, which is, like, the oldest, because they thought...

hey, this looks kind of like not a bad idea. Right. And then they went and actually saw it and came back and said, it's a really bad idea. Most of them, yes. Yes. Stalin had a lot of fans on the left in the 1930s. He did. You know, when they told Stalin about the Night of the Long Lives? Sure. You know what he said? What a guy. Yeah.

How do we know that? I think that's pretty accurate. It just doesn't sound like the Stalin I know. What a guy. He wasn't that good. Everything to these people was about Stalin's

And this is a lot of history. Stalin was a dominant figure in World War I. Stalin, well, first of all, Stalin killed so many more people than Hitler. Oh. And does not get the credit. Right. And Hitler, like, needed a reason to kill you.

a terrible reason but a reason you're right no man no problem that was stalin yeah and you know who adopted that saddam hussein i'm sure he did he did that was his he couldn't he didn't know no person no problem right enough people to kill i mean you can't argue with it i i can't

You know, I can't get enough of Stalin. God damn, man, this guy is... Well, again, if people think that Hitler was the biggest mass murderer of the 20th century, he was not. What about the Chinese guy? Yes, Mao. Yes, he also starved... What about the Japanese in World War II?

So brutal. Well, especially before World War II when they invaded China. What was their view in 1931? You what? Yeah, you asked an American when World War II started, we'll say December 7th, 1941. Well, again, I promise you the vast majority of the kids in this country couldn't tell you that if you had a thousand guns to their head.

They don't know what century it was in. Some of them, you know, there's still some people being educated. But, I mean, when you look at, like, the statistics just on reading, it's like we're below, like, 30%. Remember that piece you did on real time where you'd go out and ask people, where's Queen Elizabeth running from? They'd say, Egypt. Yeah.

I showed a video. I know what you're talking about. You know what I'm talking about? Yeah, it was like a jaywalking thing where they ask people on the street questions. I mean, these are real. I mean, you can tell that they're real. And the level of ignorance is like way beyond what I thought. The first one was, who was the first person to land on the sun? Right, right. And the answer, of course, was Lance Armstrong.

They look, and the problem is they didn't look like stupid people. Okay? They look like regular people. That's what's scary. Right. It's not like, you know, every time a tornado hits, it hits a trailer park and they got... James, somewhere along the way, the educational system in this country really fell apart for all kinds of reasons in all kinds of districts.

And I think the Democrats are going to have to own a little bit of that because they are the part of it. I mean, what is the Democratic Convention? It's all teachers, and my sister's a teacher. I love the teachers. I always defended them. But our schools are turning out idiots. But the Republicans...

I never met a book burner that I liked. Well, bully for you. Quit bragging. Well, I know, but you have these people at the schools have become such a cultural... Yeah, battleground. You know, some... This is new on the left. He used children...

sometimes as cannon fodder in your culture wars, that seems... Well, go to right there. I mean, you're way too... I have a lot of problems, the same problems you do with the extreme left, but I keep coming back to the same thing. It's not the majority of our political party. I know, but just because they're not the majority doesn't mean they don't have the...

bullwhip, if that's the... No, what am I trying to say? They don't have the, whatever, the riding crop. They don't have a thing that makes the horse go. Yeah. So 11% can be unfortunately dominant. They're strategically located. Yeah. Okay. Because they're in academia. They're in the media. Academia, media, yes. And attainment. This place is overrun with them. And they're mean girls.

They know how to bully people. They hate bullying, but that's what they do. And so it doesn't really matter the 90% or whatever they are. What they do is if you're...

adjunct art history teacher at some under-attended overpriced college, they'll get rid of your ass. They're not going to fuck with you and me. They actually pick and target vulnerable people, which is the opposite of what a liberal should be willing to stand up to power. But boy, let me tell you, if you're the

Civics teach at Harvard-Westlake. Right. You say, you know, you need a job, you got a family, they'll run your ass right out of town. I mean, this is like a frustrating thing for me that I read so many stories about insanity that's going on at some college, like you're citing.

And I realized that like, but the Democrats, the liberals, they don't see this shit because like the media does not give them stories that would upset them. And they don't want to think that the problem is academia, but it is. And there's just every week there's a story about some professor at some college who had to quit or was fired for at

These are liberal colleges with liberal professors making war on other liberals because they're not quite liberal enough. And the statement, their anti-racist statement wasn't, did you read that story in the Times about the DEI statements? And if you just say, I think all people should be treated equally, you're considered a right winger.

Now that's a migration of thought that is not healthy. It's not helpful. So right now, DeSantis is trying to dismantle the system of higher education in Florida. The University of Florida

Most people don't realize it's like a top. Come on. Nobody ever got educated in Florida anywhere. The University of Florida is a top-ranked public university. It's a party state. It's not. Okay. All right. There are more people that go to the University of South Florida than go to Ohio State.

Woo! I'm just saying. You're right. We go after some humanity. They go after the whole fucking system. All right. It's Harvard. That's what I meant to say. Florida. But Sanders is going after a real treasure. Howard and Florida, it's good. They're like trying to dismantle the whole fucking thing. Yeah, he turned out to be a puss. And I tell you, I hadn't seen him before.

before I saw the debate. Right. And wow, was I underwhelmed. Like, I thought just like following him in print or on the computer, but terrible. Like, you're talking about political talent. He seemed to have none. I like the way he handled the pandemic. And they've been very disingenuous about the way they characterized his success.

Times did a big story front page like, you know, he fucked up the pandemic. And then like buried in the story, you read the line that should have led, which was Florida deaths better than the national average. And I remember being there and it did not feel oppressive like it does here. It did here. This was like, you know, I don't know.

So, but it doesn't matter. He's not going to be president. He's terrible. He's terrible. Oh, my God. I was shocked. I thought he was going to, at the debate, I was like, oh, my God, this guy. You know what he reminded me of? Scott Walker.

Do you remember Scott Walker? Scott Walker's actually a more personable guy. Well, that's saying a lot about what a drip dissent is. I've actually had a couple of social encounters with Scott Walker. He was going to be like the next thing for a minute. But he was very much of a political guy. If you talk to Scott Walker just about politics...

I remember when he was governor, I think it was Tammy Baldwin was in a general election. I said, well, how are we going to do it in the Senate? He said, y'all are going to win it. I mean, DeSantis... So you're saying there was a human there? Yeah. I mean, Scott Walker was a total...

political animal, but if you met him, you could see how he was successful. Whereas DeSantis is an automaton? Well, DeSantis made... The person that... This is acknowledged. There's a woman named Susie Wiles. She's actually Pat Summerall's daughter who was a big sports broadcaster. I remember Pat Summerall. And she was DeSantis' operative. She's a Republican operative. And she was his...

made him in the congressional race, ran his government thing, and Mrs. DeSantis knocked her off. Big error. All these stories that are coming out. So she went to Moralago. She was working with Trump. All these stories you're hearing about him eating pudding with his fingers and all the use of private airplanes, that's all Susie Wiles. Wow. In politics, everybody thinks the most important thing is the friends you make.

Let me give you a clue, the enemies you make. Don't make any enemies that you don't have to. Some people are by nature, my guy wants their Senate seat, your guy wants his Senate seat, we're enemies. But that's it. That's an enemy of necessity. Make very few enemies of choice in your life. And they knock that woman off.

And she's sitting there sticking pins in that freaking doll every night. And they show these pictures of her with Trump. And all of these, every reporter I know has her on speed dial. And she's got every reporter on speed dial. This is the way that American politics works among political people. And you just see...

The knives in the sandals, you go, holy shit. And one thing about these Republicans, Democrats, what you think, Wes, when they go after each other, shit. They don't hold back. They don't make a civil attack. And I agree with you. My opponent made a good point, but I cannot amplify all that. No. No.

My body's a piece of shit. Piece of shit, let me tell you. They slam bodies, dude. They really do. Do you miss being in the trenches like that? I could see it where you're getting... And you know what? You haven't lost one fucking step as far as like... You're the exact same guy. I don't know how old you are, but thank God it's older than me, somebody. Yeah.

Yeah, you know, you could do, I feel like you could do it tomorrow and you could do it better. It is a shame that we're such an ageist country that we really don't look to like, you know, it's like, no, that's AOC's view. He's old. Like, yeah, but maybe he knows something. Maybe he's good at this. Do something just to walk back in a campaign headquarters, like just running the campaign

the high that I would get working in campaigns. And I'm, yeah, presidential race, of course. But, you know, I've worked in 22 different countries. Wow. And I used to love... I'd go to Israel a bit, but if they'd pick up the airport, you had to go to work. I used to do, in Argentina, what they call a turn and burn. I would fly down one night, work all day, and fly back the next night and sleep on an airplane. Oh, my God. But I love...

The smell of a headquarters. I actually like politicians. As a group of people, if you tell me you've got to spend two hours with a bunch of bankers, a bunch of baseball players, a bunch of welders, a bunch of politicians. I actually like. Of course. By and large, I actually like politicians. People like us, we like politics.

You know, we're a little bit like out of favor in culture because people used to more broadly, I think, follow politics closely. And now, you know, they do. They argue about it a lot. But, you know, there's a million other distractions. But we're like that generation and some people, we just like, it's just, there's nothing quite as interesting as people vying for the most

You know powerful job in the world. It's like, you know tribes watching the two dudes fight for who's gonna be the leader of the tribe it's our version and I don't know. I don't know why any Fresh me traced me when I know people who are really smart, but they don't follow politics, you know They think it's kind of what makes it it's like it's impure, you know, like I

Yeah. Yeah. Really? I know, but it would be less impure if you would follow it. You know, that's what I want to say. It's like, if you would follow it, then, you know, you'd be a good voter next time. You know, you'd understand what the issues, but, you know. I never, the first time I encountered these, these pure people, actually, they were raised in Texas in 1984. Yeah.

And I ran into like real, understand, we talked about this earlier, the real liberals, the real leftists, they like the idea of losing. It makes them feel better. These stupid fucking people. I'm serious. And they don't like politics. They think it's a, and I loved it. I literally had,

It's much fun. Well, you know, this is me too. I mean, this is like such a holiday for me. Not that I haven't loved every guest I've had on Club Random, but I never really had one. But the whole point of this podcast was kind of to get away from politics.

But, you know, I miss it. Why do you want to get away from it? Because I have real time on HBO. That's about politics, that show. This is something different. I think you know times about culture, but I already know. It's your show, so why not tell you what your fucking show is about? I'm just saying, to have somebody who is a fellow political junkie who I could just talk to for two hours...

about politics was a big treat for me. - That was a big treat for you? - Yeah, all right. - I love talking about politics. - I know you do. I could do it all night, but I've had you here for two fucking hours. - I know, that's why I like it. - Thank you, thank you. - You're the best. - I love politics. - Oh, me too. - And I actually like politicians for the most part. I mean, some, I don't like.