All language subtitles for 1 1 Real.Time.with.Bill.Maher.S23E34.480p

Start the clock.

Hi. Thank you, people. How you doing?

Welcome to rainy Los Angeles.

Thank you so much.

I appreciate it. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

I'm always very

grateful when anybody comes out in the
rain in this town.

It's so funny. I love rain in L .A. The
same people who never stop telling you

to hydrate, hydrate, hydrate, freak out
when water falls from the sky.

But the good news, the shutdown of the
government is over.

And all that really happened was they
canceled some flights and some poor

went hungry, although not hungry enough
to eat the leftover airline food.

But now, it's not so, but we can get
back to the important business of

government reading a dead pervert's
emails.

Oh, we're doing this again?

Again, Epstein? Have you been following
the Epstein story? I feel like I've seen

this movie four times.

Right, where they released it, and
there's always more.

So this week, Democrats released some,
of course, each party's going to try to

get the other one to say Trump is guilty
or not.

Democrats released some stuff damaging
to Trump. Then Republicans released

own stack of emails. Does everyone have
emails?

When you get elected, they give you your
security badge, the key to your office,

and here's your box of Epstein files.
They just release them endlessly.

I mean, they're like beetle tracks from
the vaults. They just keep coming out,

and out it never ends.

Apparently...

They said, according to an AI study of
this, I don't know why they had to use

for this. I can use Find on my computer
and find somebody's name.

But apparently, according to AI, Trump
in Epstein's emails has mentioned 1 ,500

times.

Trump doesn't talk about Trump that
much.

Wow.

And one of them says, now the president
denies this, let's be very clear about

that, litigation -wise, the president
denies this, but one of the emails

apparently says that Trump, quote, knew
about the girls.

See, this is why Hillary destroyed her
server with the hammer. Okay, sometimes

you've just got to go to the hammer,
people.

The hammer.

Okay, so now we have this ridiculous
back and forth. This is what we're going

spend our time at. Between the parties
to say that Trump is either guilty of

this or not guilty of this. Another one
of the emails, Trump denies.

Says that Trump spent hours with one of
the girls.

Simple explanation.

It took her that long to explain to him
that it's the consumers who pay the

price for the tax.

But, of course... Then Republicans point
out, and this is true, that that girl

that they're talking about, she herself
said she was with Trump for a long time,

and he didn't do anything. Nothing bad.

So the Democrats said, well, okay. Well,
then why is Trump so hard, working so

hard to try to get these things from not
coming out?

And he is working very hard to do that,
including, you know, they met with just

Jelaine... Ghislaine, whatever her
fucking name is.

Ghislaine Maxwell, who's in prison, you
know, she's an enabler to this, and

put her into a cushier prison, where
she's apparently getting unlimited

paper. This is what I'm reading about.

She's getting unlimited toilet paper.
Yeah, why help her? She was part of a

pedophile ring. I mean, Obama was
president for eight years. I don't

him ever saying, hey, how's Jared from
Subway doing? Is he getting enough

paper?

But then the Republicans say, this is
also valid,

if Epstein was really running this
international sex trafficking ring,

How come in 20 ,000 pages of documents,
there's not one email about running a

sex trafficking ring?

I mean, can you really keep all this in
your head?

Is today Christy with the Prince and
Candy with the Duke, or Candy with the

Prince and Christy with the Duke?

Somebody's got to write this shit down.

But I love this. This is so Trump. Now,
what he did today was that Trump is

instructing the Justice Department to
look into Clinton, Bill Clinton's

involvement with Epstein. I love this.
Using the Epstein files to distract from

the Epstein files.

Trump said, I will not rest until I get
to the middle of this.

This comes at a terrible time for the
president because he's got a lot of big

issues, you know, some of the blame for
the shutdown, and also, you know,

prices. He keeps saying prices have
never been lower. Well, he can lie to

about a lot of things, but they know how
much money they have, okay? They know

what the prices are in the stories.
Everything is up.

He's lowering taxes now on coffee
because that was out of control, but

bananas, cucumbers are so high now that
women are having sex with their

husbands.

So his approval rating has now dropped
into the 30s. You know, if it gets any

lower, I don't know what's going to
happen, but I wouldn't want to be

You know, we've now killed 80 people in
small boats

for what the military says. They're not
sure what those people were doing, and

we just murdered them.

There must be easier ways to get a Nobel
Peace Prize. That's all I have to say.

All right, we've got a great show.

Fareed Zakaria and Josh Barrow are here.
But first up, here's a professor at NYU

Stern School of Business and author of
the number one best -selling book, Notes

on Being a Man, Scott Galloway.

Scott.

Well, look at you all dressed up for me.
All right.

Scott. All right.

I noticed you didn't wear a tie when you
were on the panel.

Everything else is dirty, Bill.

But listen, I read your book, very
interesting stuff.

You've been on this case for a long
time, ahead of a lot of people. It's

a cottage industry now, talking about
men in crisis. Just tell me briefly why,

not that it's a competition, but give me
the statistics on why you think men are

more in crisis than women.

If you walk into a morgue and there's
five people who've died by suicide, four

are men.

We have an opiate and a homeless crisis,
but to be more accurate, we have a male

opiate and a male homeless crisis. Three
times as likely to be homeless or

addicted, 12 times as likely to be
incarcerated.

But I want to be clear, it's not a
competition because we can still

the immense challenges women still face.
They go to 77 cents on the dollar when

they have kids.

Non -white, black and Latino family
wealth is about $20 ,000 versus $160

for... For white families, so, you know,
empathy is not a zero -sum game. We can

recognize the immense challenges non
-whites and women still face while

recognizing that no group has fallen
further faster than young men, and the

country and women aren't going to
continue to flourish as long as young

flailing. Yeah, I think that's one of
your big points is that we are kind of,

it's true, everybody is suffering, but
we're kind of stuck in a past paradigm

where we don't say it about the men as
much. And you're kind of shining a light

on that and talking about,

I mean, just for example, the number of
men, I didn't realize this until I read

the book, the percentage who live at
home still, live with their parents.

are those numbers?

It's about 30 % of men under the age of
25, one in three are still at home.

One in five are still at home by the age
of 30.

Is that economic or emotional or both?

Yes.

I mean, effectively what you have is
they're up against this indomitable

and that is 20 % or 40 % of the S &P is
now 10 companies whose primary mission

is to get you as glued to a screen for
as long as possible. Any minute they can

keep you on a screen longer is billions
of dollars.

And a young man's brain, which
prefrontal cortex is less mature, is

susceptible to that need for DOPA.

So what we've literally done, Bill, is
unwittingly built an economy which is

dependent upon our ability to evolve a
new...

species of asocial, asexual males.

And what you have is Big Peck, who is
not our friend, is trying to sequester

people, especially young people,
especially young men, from the most

thing in their life, and that is
relationships.

Doesn't the phone make you hornier?

I mean, if I had a phone, I mean, you
know, I had Playboys that we buried in

woods.

Like, really, it showed nothing.

I mean, and we were very excited about
that.

Doesn't it soup them up even more to see
this? No?

No, it reduces their mojo. I think that
everybody needs a code, and I think

young men would really benefit from a
code that they used to get from the

military or church or school.

or their family, but I think, loosely
speaking, a code of being a provider.

In a capitalist society, you need to
have people who are economically viable.

Men are disproportionately evaluated
based on their economic viability.

They have been for a long time. They
will be for a long time, too.

The whole point of being prosperous is
such that you can move to protection.

The most masculine jobs, firemen, cop,
military, they're in the job of

protection. And then the one that gets
the most pushback is procreation.

and that is I think we have demonized
and pathologized a young man's desire to

have a relationship and sex.

And the bottom line is we need to
embrace that it's a wonderful thing.

When men are willing to take risks,
develop a

kindness practice, show resilience,
dress better for God's sake, shower,

out, these things are really important,
and they teach people, young men, the

most important thing in life, and that's
the following.

Your ability to endure rejection. If you
want to score above your weight class

economically or romantically, then get
ready to get out a big spoon and eat

shit. Your ability to endure no. The
only way you ever get to amazing yeses

with... A lot of no's. And my biggest
fear about porn, which is increasingly

becoming synthetic and more lifelike, is
it reduces men's mojo to get out of the

house. Or put another way, the less time
you spend watching porn, the more

likely you are to be the star of your
own porn.

That's true.

I'm very glad I grew up in the era I
did. Yeah, very much so.

And, you know, I was very shy.

Yeah. As a kid. I mean, I could have had
such a better adolescence if I could

have talked to a girl.

And, you know, I read books about people
who overcame their fears. You know, he

was afraid of lightning, so he tied
himself to a tree during a storm. You

stuff like that.

Really, all these things that people do
to snakes, spiders, whatever you're

afraid of, the number one thing men are
afraid of is girls.

It's not fucking lightning. It's girls.

It's just there's something about that
rejection of going up to somebody, like

you say, cold, and you just have to get
through that. And I feel like we are

further from that than ever. I mean,
kids don't even want to answer the

They find that a little too alarming,
unless you text first.

Really?

Because that's passive. Because you
answer, then nobody sees you. They don't

your reaction. They don't have to come
up with a conversation.

100%. 45 % of men, 18 to 24, have never
asked a woman out in person.

63 % of men under the age of 30 are not
even pursuing a relationship.

And if you think about the most
rewarding things in your life, I mean,

things that really matter, they are
essentially relationships.

What do they all have in common?

They're really damn hard.

And unfortunately, big tech, the most
deep -pocketed godlike technology in the

world, is trying to convince young men
that they can have a reasonable

of life online.

Why go through the pecking order of
trying to establish friendships when

got Reddit and Discord?

Why put on a tie and navigate the
corporate world when you can trade

stocks on Robinhood or Coinbase? And why
would you go through the effort, the

expense, and the potential rejection and
humiliation of establishing a romantic

relationship when you have porn?

I believe, slowly but surely, we're
going to start to see fewer and fewer

men out in the wild because they're
going to decide to sequester. And if I

say anything to young men, it's that the
anxiety and depression you will

eventually feel in your basement,
sequestered from other mammals, is far

than the fear of anything that lays
outside of that room for you. Get out of

fucking basement. Get off your phone.

I read in the paper today that 40 % of
younger women want to leave America

permanently. I thought it was because of
Trump, but apparently it's this.

I guess it's somewhat of both.

But, I mean, that's an amazing
statistic.

So if you go, I don't have data on this.
This is just anecdotal, but it is true.

When I'm out and I meet women at a
drinking or a social setting,

narrative is something like this.

I'm here. I'm single. I'm ready to
mingle.

And I look amazing.

They're saying that to you?

No,

I'm just asking.

I asked him. I'm just asking.

I asked him. Oh, I see. You want to roll
later? Oh, it's a survey. I get it.

I'm doing a survey.

But men aren't approaching them. And so
you basically have this lack of mating.

What you have is essentially...

I mean, to think about the Atlantic, the
New York Times will tell you 80 % of

women still expect the man to initiate
romantic contact. Yes, they do.

As they should.

One of the things we as men really have
to train our boys or give them the skill

around is one, to endure rejection, but
also to figure out a way to express

romantic interest while making that
person feel safe. And guess what?

If I say to someone, hey, I'd like to be
your friend, I'd like to roll, or I'd

like to grab a football game, and they
say no, or if you approach someone and

say, you know what, let's grab coffee,
and they say no, guess what? You're both

going to be fine. Take those shots.

But don't say grab a football game.

You don't want to grab a football game.
No, I meant for guys.

Establishing one out of four men can't
name a best friend. One out of seven men

doesn't have a single friend. And a
gateway to better relationships, quite

frankly, is oftentimes friendships.

And without a romantic relationship in
the garden, there's this cartoon of a

woman in her 30s who didn't find
romantic love. What a tragedy. Guess

She's just fine, Bill.

Men need relationships more than women.
Widows are happier after their husband

dies. Widowers.

Widowers are less happy after their
husband dies. If a man hasn't

married a woman by the time he's 30,
there's a one in three chance he's going

be a substance abuser. The reality is...
I

am not a... I

am not a substance abuser, okay?

Men, this is the reality.

Men need relationships more than women.
Well, okay, right, but not everyone has

to be that kind of relationship. I mean,
I know you say provide, protect, and

procreate. There's a lot of people who
don't procreate anymore, and we're not

second -class citizens.

I mean, can I not be a man because I
didn't, like, make a baby with a lady?

look, kids aren't for everybody. I lived
in New York through the majority of my

30s single.

I found it at the end to be what I call
an empty experience, but as far as empty

experiences go, it was pretty good.

But I have found purpose in having kids.
Not everyone has to have kids.

There is paternal and paternal love you
can give to all sorts of people. And

quite frankly, I've been on this show
six times.

I don't know you well, but I know you. I
think you're a little full of shit

because you talk about not having kids.

Paternal and fraternal love from a man
is one of the most rewarding things you

can do.

I don't care if it's the makeup artist
or your producers.

These people have been with you 25 or 30
years. You have kids. They're just

wearing Time Warner badges.

I agree.

No.

I've never had kids, but I'd love to
raise a girlfriend.

Anyway, the final thing I love that

you said in the book to men, drink more.

Because safetyism.

This is one of the problems I have with
certain people who make everything about

safety. Safety is important. You can't
overdo drinking. It is also, as you

out, a lubricant to get to that place
where you are talking to other people

socializing. It's not to excess, but
yes, drinking a little bit, maybe

a little too much when you're
adolescent, is probably better than

that basement.

The second worst thing to happen to
young people is remote work.

One in three relationships begin at
work. This is where you find friends,

mentors, and mates, and especially young
men need the guardrails of a workplace.

But in my view, the worst thing that's
happened to young people is the anti

-alcohol movement. I've had Huberman on,
who I'm a big fan of, and Antje on, and

my point is that the risks to your 25
-year -old liver are dwarfed by the risk

of social isolation.

In sum, think of all the amazing
relationships you've had in your life

honest. Did alcohol play a role? In
some, get out, drink more, and make a

of bad decisions that might pay off.
Yes!

Great. Great book. Great to see you,
John, as always.

John Galloway, let's meet our panel.

Hey.

That's funny.

Hey, guys. Okay, here's a contributing
opinion writer for the New York Times

host of the Central Air podcast.

Josh Barrow is with us.

Hello. How are you? Good.

And he's the host of CNN's Fareed
Zakaria's GPS and the New York Times

bestselling author of Age of
Revolutions, now out in paperback and

afterword. Fareed Zakaria.

Can I ask you a question, guys?

Do we have some wine that we can put in
this?

I mean...

I really think it would help the
conversation. I've always been on that

and yes, you can.

It was one night when Seth MacFarlane
didn't have it, and we had to go apeshit

and get it for him.

They put it in the congressman. They
mixed up the glasses, and the

wound up with the Jack Daniels.

And, of course, Seth had the water, and
we had to fix that.

Wow. All right. So I want to get to your
article that you put out today. I

thought it was great, called Why
Democrats Keep Flailing. I really can't

with the premise. But also I have to
point out, on the other side, I think

was the single worst week.

for the president and his
administration.

I mean, not only is he going to get part
of the blame, and we can discuss this

in a bit, for the shutdown, he looked
like he didn't care to a lot of people,

whether they ate or not, or whether
their insurance premiums go up.

Prices, as I said in the monologue, are
higher. You can Baghdad Bob your way out

of that just so long.

People know how much money they have and
how much they're spending. It's the one

thing you really can't lie about.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, you know, pretty
big Trump fan. She was here a couple of

weeks ago. But she used the term
gaslight.

You can't gaslight people.

I've heard the term Trump fatigue this
week. And then on top of this, the

Epstein thing, which was always...

You know, these people got it in their
heads a long time ago that there's a

pedophile ring that runs the world and
you can't get it out of their conspiracy

-minded brains.

Is it possible Trump is a lame duck at
this moment?

Well, I think it is really interesting
what's happening because for so long it

seemed as though there was nothing Trump
could do that would affect his base,

right? He famously said, I could shoot
somebody on Fifth Avenue and I wouldn't

lose a vote. And it looked like that was
the case.

It seems that there's at least not
cracks, maybe the beginnings of some

And I wonder why. I've wondered whether,
because I'd add to what you said,

immigration, right? He went on Fox and
said, you know, legal immigration is

and that caused a huge problem. So it
makes me wonder, you know, some parts of

the two pillars of the MAGA base are
basically conspiracy theories are good

foreigners are bad.

And what Trump did is he basically has
found himself caught in the middle of

this conspiracy theory thing. He had
promoted it. I mean, it promoted the

that there was a conspiracy theory about
Kennedy's assassination,

Robert Kennedy's assassination, Martin
Luther King's assassination. He

I'm going to release all the files.
Well, he did. There wasn't anything.

And this. And this one now is the right.
I mean, this was one of his big

promises. I mean, one of the big pillars
of the MAGA movement was QAnon.

They're still around, right, QAnon?

Okay.

That's the thing, that pedophiles are
running the world.

And the Epstein thing, there's enough
smoke there to think this is the fire.

But it was Trump himself who said, I'm
going to let you see all this.

They feel betrayed, even the true
believers.

I'm not a conspiracy theory guy. I still
think Epstein killed himself.

And I think, you know, the official
story actually makes a lot of sense.

the Bureau of Prisons was incompetent
and didn't care sufficiently about the

well -being of people in its custody,
and Epstein's life had been destroyed.

Why wouldn't he have killed himself?

But I have been fascinated by...

Trump's desperation to keep at least
some of this material out. Obviously,

seeing some of it.

Because we know so much derogatory
information about Donald Trump's

already, like including even the press
coverage of his dealings with Epstein in

the 90s. and the womanizing that they
were clearly doing together in Palm

and that letter that the Wall Street
Journal found with his signature as the

pubic hair on the woman for Epstein.
It's sort of like, are we going to learn

that Trump treats women terribly, that
Trump sexually assaults women? I mean,

he's on tape, on the Access Hollywood
tape, saying that he grabs them by the

pussy. I mean, I guess the one thing
could be if there was something with a

minor, but then one of the things that's
in one of these Epstein emails this

week is Trump never got a massage.

And so, you know, I don't think that's
in there. And so if it's just more like,

you know, Trump's parable with women
stuff, I mean, the electorate already

elected him twice in full knowledge of
that.

But the problem is you're exactly right.
You know, it's probably all

embarrassing stuff, but there isn't this
grand conspiracy.

But this movement has been told there's
grand conspiracy about everything,

right? So I agree with you. In general,
I think my view on conspiracy theories

is... But mostly incompetence is a
better explanation of most of this weird

stuff than conspiracy theories. People
just are stupid and they make mistakes,

and particularly in government.

And people tend to want to believe that
there's some evil machinations by the

elites, but it probably is just
incompetence.

Yes.

But people haven't followed this very
closely this week. These emails that

out now were all post their breakup.

They had a breakup.

This is kind of important to the story,
I think, because Jeffrey Epstein was

convicted. Now, the Democratic
prosecutor, he was a Democratic donor,

people say that matters, was very easy
on him. He probably should have got a

more, but this is around 2008, 2009.

He was arrested.

He got, like, probation, home
confinement.

They just charged him with prostitution.
I mean, these are underage girls.

Somebody else could have had a way worse
time of it.

Okay, nobody dropped him.

All those people, the Bill Gateses of
the world, they kept being friends with

him, except for Trump.

Now, maybe that's because he was
stealing the masseuses from the Mar -a

Trump said that himself.

Okay,

but here are some of the lines we heard
from this week. These are from Epstein.

And again, this is post -breakup, and I
don't think Epstein liked it that Trump

wasn't talking to him anymore. I'm the
one able to take him down.

The dog that hasn't barked is Trump.

I know how dirty Donald is.

I mean, it's like from a Sherlock Holmes
book, you know.

I know. The dog that has him darkened.

And when Megyn Kelly said this week,
well, Epstein wasn't technically

a pedophile. Yeah.

Because, you know, they were like 15
instead of 5.

When that's where your defenders are
going, let's be easy on the pedophiles

not to cast dispersions on people who go
out with 15 -year -olds. That's not

a... I mean, I don't know, but I feel
like this... And the people who he had

in... He brought in Lauren Boebert to
the situation room because they got a

situation.

To try to strike... Because it's her,
Nancy Mace, who's been here, and Nancy

Mace is a victim of sexual abuse, and
Marjorie Taylor Greene, three of his

biggest fans politically.

But women, they understand about this
stuff like we can never.

And they do not want to give it up.
Well, what you notice is, you know, to

conform what you're suggesting, this is
something that...

clearly Trump is nervous about. You
know, with all the other stuff, I think

thinks he has his base. He has this
extraordinary ability. He can campaign

the idea that China is the evil empire
about to take over the world, and he

comes into office and says, Xi Jinping
is my greatest friend. We're going to

on great with China.

And his base is like, yeah, whatever,
right? But on this issue, he seems very

nervous, right? He's trying to deal with
it. I really don't think it's his big

problem this week, though.

I mean, because, you know, like, I know
how dirty Donald is. We all know how

dirty Donald is. And, like, you know,
we've learned so many terrible things

about him over the years that just keep
getting forgiven. I think what's

different... Why try to squash it so
much, then? Why he gave Ghislaine...

Ghislaine. Ghislaine.

We gave her a courtier prison.

They took two months to not seat this
woman who won, this Democrat in Arizona,

because she was going to be the 218th
vote to make Mike Johnson make the

Department release.

And by the way, after all these times,
there's still more?

What the fuck is left? I don't get it.

I'm sure there's something he really
doesn't want out. What I'm skeptical

is whether it would fundamentally change
his political position, because I'm

sure he really didn't want the Access
Hollywood tape out, and everyone thought

that was going to destroy him, and it
didn't. I think what's changed in the

month, because his poll numbers really
started deteriorating about two weeks

into the shutdown.

And I think the subtext to this is the
deteriorating economy and the fact that

people are dissatisfied about prices and
they were dissatisfied about the food

stamps interruption.

And I think, you know, Donald Trump did
a full four -year term with three years

of a really good economy and then the
fourth year where the economy got turned

upside down for reasons that were
outside of his control.

We've never really seen what politics
looked like for Donald Trump at a time

where people really feel that the
economy is underperforming and he's

manage it correctly.

And I think what's going to happen,
what's starting to happen, is that all

stuff people would cut him slack for
when they were like, we elected this

business guy to be the business
president, and he's doing a good job of

it looks like he's failing to take care
of that, that's when people start to

care if he tears down the East Wing of
the White House or any of these other

scandals. I think that's his fundamental
problem, which is why he does seem to

be panicking this week about the price
stuff, finding any way that he can to

address that.

The funny thing about that is he's
saying, okay, prices are rising, so

cutting tariffs.

Because tariffs, cutting the tariffs
will lower the prices. But when he put

tariffs on, he vociferously argued it
was not going to raise prices.

So wait, if it didn't raise prices, why
are you cutting them to lower prices?

You know, it's like sometimes the math
doesn't work.

Yeah. All right. So one of the big
stories they covered last week is...

Kudos to Nancy Pelosi for stepping down.
Stepping down is one of the great

traditions in American history.

George Washington.

I see Ken Burns' big documentary on the
Revolutionary War starting Sunday. I

can't wait to watch it. I'm sure it's
going to be awesome.

George Washington.

Could have been the king.

And he, no, I'm stepping down. You got
to step down. Well, this memo has not

reached everybody in Congress. If Joe
Biden had done that, he would be

remembered as a hero.

He's number one on my list there. But
also among Democrats who, you know, the

Eleanor Holmes Norton, who is 88.

Clear signs of cognitive decline, they
say. She was recently scammed out of $4

,000.

Steny Hoyer, 86.

These are people all who are not going
to go away.

Maxine Waters, 87.

And I've always said, you know, it's a
taste by case. I hate ageism. But, you

know, this is the case.

James Clyburn, 85. Chuck Grassley.

We don't count that high. I don't know
how old I am.

It's not just Democrats, but mostly
them. So we put out

this pamphlet called Knowing When It's
Time. This is for politicians.

Knowing when it's time to get out of the
way. Would you like to hear some of the

ones? Okay, well, for example,
there's... When you were first elected,

state still a territory?

This is a way to know it's really your
time.

It's your biggest donation from the
pudding industry.

Does all this talk about woke make you
sleepy?

Do you remember where you were when
Garfield got caught?

Have you ever given a speech from the
back of a train?

Have you ever been accused of having sex
with slaves?

Going into applause.

Very rare.

When the speaker bangs the gavel, do you
yell, come in?

And do you refer to Metamucil as the
nuclear option?

All right.

So, let's get into your answers.

Because at the top of your article
today, you say that the shutdown, you

a defeat for Democrats.

I'm going to push back on that. But
before we get into that exactly, let me

quote more from your article. You talk
about the Democrats.

And again, I can't argue with any of
this. You said the fact that they didn't

get what they wanted, and they did not,
specifically.

Again, I think there's another argument
to be made. But they did not get what

they wanted. They said they wanted to
force him with the shutdown to go back

the COVID -era prices for Obamacare.
They're going to go up.

Didn't get it. They just got promised a
vote, which is meaningless.

You say the Democrats promise a lot, but
all you get is bloated bureaucracy.

I agree with that. And inept execution.

I agree with that.

Affordability.

is really worth in government.

If that's your issue, affordability,
it's worth here and in New York and in

places that are Democratic -run. These
are all true things.

They didn't solve... We spent $24
billion, you point out, here in

the homeless issue, and it didn't get
any better. I love the point you raised.

I had never even thought about this, but
I see it every time I'm in New York.

You walk down the sidewalk, it's all
this scaffolding.

And I didn't realize you said... No
other city in the world. You walk

London, you never see that, right? And
they have buildings from the 14th

century.

Somehow, somehow, I'm always walking
through this scary, this scary fucking

tunnel in New York. Always this, like,
you're in this thing.

It's like a haunted house, you know?

And I'll tell you what happened, because
it's a wonderful example of how liberal

governance works.

I think in 1980, a cornice fell on a
Columbia student, very sad situation.

She died.

So they decide, okay, we're going to put
these elaborate safety rules in. And

now, of course, there's a whole industry
of contractors, consultants, builders.

And guess what?

Everything takes five times as long as
that because it is legally required.

That's safetyism.

Exactly. So you've created a safety
industrial complex in New York.

But here's the alternative on the idea
that Trump is

not the winner here on the shutdown.

I think what the Democrats were trying
to do was make health care an issue.

which it kind of, for some reason, has
never really been. It's the one issue

where the public gives the Democrats
higher marks. And they had to get people

notice. This is who's doing this to you.
This is who is going to make your

premiums go up.

So it may not look good for the
Democrats now. I think in the future it

No, I think the Democrats won the
shutdown. I think that you can see it in

president's poll numbers, which are much
worse than they were at the start of

the shutdown. I think it was partly the
health care issue that he raised. And

it's also food stamps, which I think
Democrats didn't quite realize they were

going to make an issue through this. But
because the president made this choice

to try not to pay out food stamps.

Because, you know, if the president
wants to do things, he does them. He

down the East Wing.

He's done all of these things to move
money around within the federal budget

try to pay for programs that weren't
authorized. But on food stamps, his view

was, no, we're going to make this
painful for Democrats. We're going to

we're not sending food stamps.

They even told states that they weren't
allowed to make the food stamp payments

with their own money.

They sent memos to them and said, if you
started doing this, you have to go claw

the money back from those people.

And so people saw that, and that's been
very unpopular.

And so I think that they – to the extent
that you can win a shutdown – and what

we've seen historically – we only had
government shutdowns since the Carter

administration because Carter had this
persnickety memo saying if the

appropriations run out, you have to
close the government. They used to just

running before that.

There's been eight of them. They have
never produced a major policy concession

for the party that was demanding
something.

Neither Republicans nor Democrats have
ever made this tactic work. Then why do

they do it?

Because people are mad, and because
Democratic voters are mad, they're like,

know, well, why don't you stop him?

And the thing is, like, that's why you
have to win elections, so that you can

make public policy.

And I think that, you know, they
weren't...

There was so much demand for a shutdown,
not just from, like, the quote -unquote

base, but even from Democratic elected
officials who have been driven insane by

the way that Trump has behaved even
differently from his first term,

in ways that are mostly of importance to
people within Washington. He's done

things to do with the appropriations
process that are...

outrage Democratic senators and members
of Congress that haven't really

connected with voters.

But that's why they have no patience
whatsoever.

And so I think they needed to show,
like, this tool is available. We have to

check and see if it works. But look, I
hope you're right. And I think the point

you made is really important, which is
getting health care on the agenda would

be important because I think, you know,
behind all the tactical stuff is here's

the reality.

what the Trump budget, what this big
beautiful bill budget will do. The

Congressional Budget Office says it will
throw 11 million people off healthcare.

It is going to take people off Medicaid.

You have an extraordinary health crisis
that is coming because these people are

being pulled off. They put all kinds of
work requirements, which is all

bullshit, because only about 8 % of
people who get Medicaid actually are not

working. 92 % of the people are working.
And it is going to exacerbate a problem

that Obamacare had actually begun to
stop, which was the wide gap in America.

between health outcomes, depending on
whether you're rich or poor. So in the

United States, you're talking about men
with Scott.

Men in the top 1 % of the income
distribution have 15 years extra life

expectancy than men in the bottom 1%.
There is no other civilized country in

world where you have this kind of gap.

Obamacare had begun to close that gap
very substantially.

It's going to start widening again.

Obamacare might actually unravel because
what's going to happen is, you know,

the young and healthy people won't buy
insurance.

Well, now we're going to have Trumpcare.

He says, you know, I can't believe this.
He said, and basically, I'll just go to

the bottom line, we're going to go
around the insurance companies. We

years for this.

This is a big idea.

He's just going to give people $2 ,000
to everybody.

It sounds like it's not just... the
people who need it. Just like

going to get two grand, and then you get
to buy the health care you want.

This can't work, right?

Not if you get cancer.

What will happen is you basically will
have young healthy people will buy very

cheap health care. The things like
Obamacare and Medicaid will be stuck

the... Do the young have to in this
plan? You can get very cheap... No, but

he making the young... I mean, there is
no plan. No plan works in health care

unless you make the young buy it when
they don't need it so that later on in

life, looking ahead, kids...

then it will be there for you.

This is how a society works.

The thing, though, I'm a little bit
skeptical about the strength of this

specific issue for Democrats in this
election, is that, you know, the

are going to go up, and people are going
to get letters in the mail that'll say,

like, your UnitedHealthcare premium is
going up.

And so for them to draw the connection
that actually that was Trump who caused

this private company to charge you more
for this thing, I think that message is

hard to get through. And then also the
subsidy levels that we're going back to

that Democrats are decrying Republicans
over, these are the original levels that

were written into the law under Obama
that were supposed to be sufficient to

people to go out and buy health
insurance. And what we found was that

were actually not as interested in
buying health insurance at this price as

thought they were going to be.

People find it to be a bad value, in
significant part because we have the

highest prices in the world. like a
sixth of our economy is health care now.

And so when you show people, yeah, you
pay, you know, whatever it is, $24 ,000

year for dual coverage for a couple,
which is what you're looking at in New

for a mid -level plan, and then you have
a deductible of several thousand

dollars on top of that. I mean, of
course people think that's a terrible

And even when it's subsidized and
they're paying a fraction of that,

still find it shockingly expensive.

And so I think, you know, I think this
issue is partly less...

powerful for Democrats as they expect
because the offering they've spent so

time putting together, just even at the
subsidized price, is not that

attractive. Look, the American health
care system is crazy, and not to get too

wonky about it, but your basic point is
the right one, which is no insurance

system can work.

if the people who don't really need the
insurance opt out. Like if you say in a

car insurance, all the older middle
-aged drivers don't have to pay, only

young men have to pay. You can't have an
insurance system like that. It has to

be pooled risk.

And if you give people the money,
they'll opt out.

Yeah. And also, on the health care
front, we're all going to get, not free,

greatly reduced Ozempic. That was...

And that, it's popular.

Americans have been waiting forever for
the magic pill that let them escape the

rigors of eating right and exercising,
and they finally have it now. I wouldn't

take it. I mean, what the effects are.
Well, you don't need it.

You are quite thin.

You look quite thin.

Yes, I've been on Wagobe for two years,
and I've lost almost 40 pounds. Well,

there.

And, okay.

Should we clap?

No.

No,

no, no. It is indeed.

No, no. You clap for achievement. You
clap when people say, that's not an

achievement. I'm married 40 years.
That's an achievement. Oh, yes.

That's amazing.

But, okay, but here's the deal. Trump,
I've said this many times, he is the

master at picking out these little
issues, like tips for waitresses, you

pick out 1%, 2 % of the population
that's going to go nuts about this, and

is a great issue for that, if that's
your method of winning votes, because

people do like this stuff. It is kind of
the magic bullet. Now, maybe it'll be a

magic bullet with no side effects. I've
never seen a drug like that. There are

people like Jillian Michaels who say,
all you have to do is read the...

Side effects, thyroid tumors,
gallbladder problems, pancreatitis,

vision loss, stomach problems. It's a
class action lawsuit about stomach

paralysis. I assume you've had none of
these problems and most people probably

have not. Yeah. But it is a bit of...

I mean, you have to weigh that against
the huge health benefits that come from

not being overweight or obese. Sure,
exactly. And then they also keep finding

new additional benefits, you know, that
people are less likely to have kidney

disease and various other things. It
really seems to produce tremendously

improved outcomes for a lot of people.

Drug addiction, right? Yes, it helps
with drug addiction for some people. And

I don't think this is a small issue for
one or two percent of people.

probably more than half the country is a
good candidate for these drugs.

And they've already been coming down a
lot in price. When I went on it a little

more than two years ago, the price, the
effective cash price was about $1 ,100 a

month. It's come down already to $500.
It's supposed to go down to $350 under

this plan that Trump has announced.

And you have two drug companies that
make the drugs. They have to compete

each other on price.

And as that comes down, it's going to
come into the reach of more and more

people, and it's also going to be more
reasonable for the health insurance

companies to cover it because one of the
things they've been worrying about is

it's going to cost a fortune if we have
to put a lot of people on this drug

that's $6 ,000 or $7 ,000 a year. But
when it comes down to $2 ,000 a year or

something like that, it starts to look a
lot more cost -effective. Look, of

course you want to make sure that the
side effects are not too onerous.

As you say, the initial results are
really quite extraordinary. I mean, you

attest to that better than anyone. But
so much of America's health problem is

obesity, that if you actually, if you
have this drug that brings down obesity,

it actually could be a magic drug for
health care costs as well. Yes. Because

much of the cost is dealing with the
consequences of obesity. Oh, I made that

point and paid the price.

All right. Time for a new rule.

Okay. Now that Berkeley police have
arrested a man who hid in a sorority

watched the women in their communal
shower, and stole their underwear, they

to tell us how handsome he was.

That way, when we make the movie about
this, we'll know if it was funny or

scary.

Okay, scary it is.

No, people who say I'm listening to what
the universe is trying to tell me have

to understand something. That's called
thinking.

The far end of our observable universe
is 93 billion light years away, so it's

probably indifferent to whether you quit
your job at the coffee bean.

You know how I know this? Because I'm
standing right next to you and I don't

give a shit.

No condolences to the family of the man
who died falling into the Grand Canyon

last week, but you have to admit, it is
kind of a big hole to miss.

I mean...

I can see twisting your ankle in rough
terrain on a hike, but who goes to the

Grand Canyon and says, I didn't see it
there?

It's a Grand Canyon.

Why do you think they say the views are
breathtaking?

New rule, Taylor Swift must not wear her
highest hooker shoes when going out

with her shortest friend.

This doesn't look like two friends going
out to dinner. It looks like Animal

Planet video of Predator and Prey.

Well,

now that the Labor Department has put
out all these inspirational poster

who rouse and pep up the American worker
with taglines like Build America's

Future and Your Nation Needs You and
Blue Collar Boom, they must tell us...

which dating site for gay white men did
they steal them from?

And also, this is purely out of
curiosity, but how much is

it for the blue -collar boom?

And finally, New Rule Democrats must
recognize that Zoran Mamdani is the

of the party.

Unfortunately, it's the Republican
Party.

Get it?

And if you missed his victory speech in
last week's mayoral election in New

York, don't worry. You'll see it in
every attack ad for the next two years.

Now, Mendami seems like a nice guy, and
I congratulate him on an extraordinary

political achievement. But before the
whole left side of the country catches

socialism fever, let's listen to the
other big winner.

In last Tuesday's election, Virginia
Governor -elect Abigail Spanberger, who,

before the 24 election, said things
like, if the party didn't shift to the

center, we will get fucking corn apart.

And we need to never use the word
socialist or socialism ever again.

Well, she was right, but they didn't
listen.

Typical, am I right, ladies?

Well...

At least the party has a clear choice
here, very clear.

One wing is saying don't ever use the
word socialist again, and one is

I am a democratic socialist!

Clear, huh?

So how do we decide who's right?

Well, it turns out we don't really have
to flip a coin. We have the evidence.

In 2024, 13 Democrats won. In districts,
Trump also won.

All moderates.

This isn't rocket science.

All the left -leaning think tanks have
done autopsies on 2024, and they all

up with the same message.

Move to the center.

Even the New York Times, which did so
much to promote woke politics, now says

the partisans are wrong. Moving to the
center is the way to win.

Democrats should recognize the party
moved too far left on social issues

Obama left office.

Gosh, if only someone had been saying
that all along.

But, you

know, welcome home.

Problem is, Gen Z think socialism's
wired and capitalism's tired and

billionaires are what's for dinner.

And who can blame them?

If you're 30 and still sharing a
bathroom with roommates, capitalism

working for you.

People will reject any economic system
where there's a strange hair on the

No one wants to be approaching middle
age and still writing their name on food

before they put it in the fridge.

So they're quitting, quiet quitting
capitalism and texting socialism that

they're down to fuck.

Thing is, socialism will fuck you.
Because socialism, to put it simply,

doesn't work and has never worked. Like
Kevin Federline.

I know the kids think that stuff that
happened before their appearance on the

planet didn't really happen, but it did.

We've run this experiment many times,
and the results are always obvious.

Here's capitalist South Korea at night
from space.

Here's socialist North Korea.

Yeah. In 1990, Venezuela was wealthier
than Poland. But then Poland, finally

free of Soviet -style economics, went
all in on capitalism.

And now their economy is as big as
Japan. And people there have high wages,

inflation, cars, vacations, homes.

Meanwhile, Venezuela traded capitalism
for Hugo Chavez's...

socialism for the 21st century, which
turned out to be like socialism in the

last century, or any century, a fucking
mess.

It turned one of Latin America's richest
countries into one of its poorest.

Low wages, high inflation, shortages,
outages, 8 million people fleeing. If

think New York can somehow reinvent this
wheel, you're in for a rude awokening.

Zoran can't make your wishes come true.
You're thinking of Zoltar.

Democratic socialism is like a dating
profile.

Things look great until you meet up in
the real world.

For example, Bernie Sanders, his big
thing was always bringing single -payer

health care to our country of 340
million.

But when liberal tie -dyed Vermont tried
to do it for a population of 626 ,000.

It collapsed like that poor fuck in the
Oval Office last week.

Bernie, AOC, Mandani are not Democrats.

They'll be the first to tell you that.
They're democratic socialists, and

a very different thing, and I don't
think people know that yet. I don't

people realize.

We already have a lot of socialism.

Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid,
unemployment insurance, food stamps,

veterans benefits, Pell Grants, COVID
-era payments, farm subsidies,

payments, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac,
corporate bailouts, and the jobs program

is building weapons the Pentagon doesn't
even want.

All that is socialism.

Much of it appropriate to soften the
edges of capitalism, but...

The DSA are radical about this concept,
and radical economic policy is always

ineluctably married to radical social
policy.

Their platform, for example, calls for
completely open borders.

They're for what Biden was doing, but
more.

You think you're going to win an
election on that?

It just seems like more extremism at a
time when Americans are begging both

parties. Please, could just one of you
act normal?

It's either defund the police or
military in the streets.

Either MAGA's crypto -crony capitalism
or city -run grocery stores.

No, I don't want that. I want a Democrat
who reassures me, if you like your

whole foods, you can keep your whole
food.

Governor -elect Spanberger once said
about Biden's presidency that, quote,

nobody elected him to be FDR.

They elected him to be normal.

Normal!

You know, at this year's DSA convention,
or if it's commonly known, Comic -Con,

get this, you had to submit a photo of a
negative COVID test to

get in.

In 2025.

Yeah, no one wants to do that shit
again.

We've had enough of Trump's macho
bullshit and also enough of pussy

These, yeah.

I couldn't help himself here.

These democratic socialists at another
of their conventions, they were told to

make jazz hands instead of clapping,
lest some delegates suffer sensory

overload.

And also, And I'm not joking. They were
told not to be wearing, you know, any

aggressive scent.

Please don't go into that space with
anything that's like an aggressive

for instance, right?

Because that's going to be difficult for
people.

Oh, for fuck's sake.

Really?

This is who the Democrats are thinking
of following. You know, Chuck Schumer

ain't perfect, but at least he doesn't
crumple into a heap when confronted with

Chanel No. 5.

You may now clap in the traditional way.

Thank you very much. All right, that's
our show. I want to thank Josh Farrow,

Fareed Zakaria, and Scott Galloway. Club
Random drops every Monday on YouTube.

Or listen wherever you get your
podcasts.

Now go watch Overtime on YouTube.

Thank you very much, ladies and
gentlemen.