All language subtitles for 1 1 Real.Time.With.Bill.Maher.S24E24.480p

Start the clock.

Appreciate it. Thank you very much.

Thank you, people.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.

I welcome you.

Okay.

All right.

Thank you so much. I can see it in your
eyes.

I know why you're happy today.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are going
back to England.

I tell you, that ice doesn't fuck
around, huh?

It's not that. This was Harry's idea. He
wants to be closer to the family that's

not speaking to him.

And I think...

I may be getting out just in time. I
don't know if you saw this week's big

news. The national debt now has crossed
$40 trillion, and not in the right

direction.

This is the only thing that we do in a
bipartisan way.

You know, we just spend money we don't
have. Both parties are totally into it.

It has doubled in 10 years and
quadrupled in the last 20, like Russell

Crowe.

I love Russell Crowe.

But remember, don't freak out about the
debt because it only matters when the

Democrats are in power.

Speaking of that, we have a new attorney
general. Have you

seen this guy, Todd Blanch? He was on
Meet the Press this week. They asked him

if he would refuse to make a pledge that
he would act independently from the

White House.

And he refused.

This is sort of the main thing the
Attorney General is supposed to do.

I thought it was also very concerning
that every time he used the phrase, the

law, he used air quotes.

Is that just me?

But let me tell you, the Democratic
Party has a new attack

dog, and he's very good at it, Senator
John Ossoff of Georgia.

Okay, he's got fans here.

He really went after Trump this week,
and in the middle of it, he mentioned

Natalie Hart. That's the young lady who
works for Trump. When he got on the

catering cart, she came with him off the
plane.

So this has had all sorts of rumors
going on now about their relationship.

Okay, let me tell you, folks, I got sued
about this once.

No, not the orangutan.

No, this was just a couple of years ago.
Laura Loomer sued me.

Okay, I won, by the way, but... Okay,
but...

It's expensive and unpleasant to get
sued, so you know what? I took one for

the team on this. You handle it.

All I'm going to say... Now, Natalie is
kind of Trump's emotional

support employee. That's true.

Well, she's...

She travels with him everywhere, and she
brings a portable wireless printer so

she can print out flattering news
articles. Trump is old school. He wants

hard copies of the smoke blowing up his
ass.

But

that's

on him.

I don't know why you have to go after
her.

You know, she seems incredibly devoted
to her job, never takes a day off.

Sometimes when she works so hard, she
forgets to eat and sleep.

And now everyone in America is saying
the same thing. Why can't I get a

millennial who works like that?

You know, and there is, you know, a
little more to the story. She had

bone cancer in her 20s. She likes Trump
because he speeded up experimental

treatments, which she believes helped.

Helps her. But, you know, in America,
it's just like, oh, good, someone new to

hate.

Trump met, did the podcast of Michael
Cohen this week. Remember Michael Cohen,

his fixer, who once called Trump a
cheater, a liar, a fraud, a bully, a

racist, a predator, and a con man.

His own vice president, Vance, once said
he might be America's Hitler.

His secretary of state, Rubio, at the
debate, made fun of his dick size.

Let the man have one fucking friend,
okay?

Because,

look, the war is not going well. I mean,
we had a 60-day

ceasefire. That ended. So for all our
ships in the region, it means battle

stations for those who haven't already
jumped overboard.

Well, you know, we had some...

Some bad reports about what's going on
in those ships, but it doesn't need to

bother Pete Hegseth. Pete Hegseth, our
Secretary of War, he was at the Iowa

State Fair this week, and he said, we do
training, not traning.

Well, it went over pretty well with that
crowd, although the bearded lady did

walk out.

But, uh... Well, you know...

Our whole argument about the Strait of
Hormuz was always that it's

international waters, no country can
claim it.

Well, now Trump has claimed it.

Of course. He said, quote, he said, it's
new U.S. territory.

The Strait of Hormuz is new U.S.
territory. I don't know if this is

related, but today it turned green and
the bottom is peeling.

heard about this, they called on Trump,
and I quote, they said, accept reality

and defeat and stop indulging in
delusions.

Yeah, guys, we tried that.

That didn't work for us. I don't know if
it's going to work for you.

But no, Trump says he's not going to do
that. He has a new strategy now.

Economic strangulation.

That's where we're going now.

He's done firing missiles, because we
don't have any.

He says we're going to destroy their
economy, and I'm with the president on

this one. If there's one thing I know he
can pull off, it's driving something

into bankruptcy.

All right, we've got a great show. We
have Dana Bash and Jeremy Peters.

Wow, what a panel. But first up, he is a
contemporary American artist, best

-selling author, and recovery advocate,
Hunter Biden. Ladies and gentlemen,

Hunter.

Hello.

Thanks for doing it. Thanks for being
here.

All right.

All right. Hunter Budd.

All right. Don't be nervous.

We only have like three minutes.

We only have like 10 or 12 minutes.

I'm so sick of all the things that we
get into the weeds with, and I see you

with another. Your laptop, your
obituary, the third word will be laptop.

I know everything about the laptop, more
things than I want to know.

I've seen you with your dick out. I've
seen you with a crack pipe in your

mouth. My question, are you running for
president?

Exactly. Have you thought about that?
No, I haven't.

Here's my thing. If I announce for
president, then somebody should check

and see if I relapsed.

I don't know if everybody is aware, but
you have

been completely sober for seven years?

Yeah, June 1st, 2019.

How do you like it? I love it. You do?
Yeah, I do. I do. You know, my whole

reason for being out there as much as I
have been is, at least from my

perspective, they built this platform to
beat the hell out of me for about a

seven-year period of time.

And when the crowd went home, the
platform was still there. And, you know,

there's 50 million Americans that are
still sick and suffering every day from

addiction. And I get to go out there and
I get to speak to them. And even if it's

one person that sends me a message any
day and says, you know, I saw your

message and I didn't drink today. And
I've done something that I think is

incredibly worthy. I think

I would say to you what I said to
Charlie Sheen. You did some bad things,

but I don't think you're a bad guy.

Is that fair?

The thing that has been the most
edifying for me over the course of this

last few months is the realization that
my addiction isn't something that

disconnects me from people and the
experience that I went through.

And the fact that I had to have it all
play out on a national stage and then,

you know, I was on the cover of the New
York Post more times than I think anyone

ever in the history of the paper.

Right. And the thing about it, though,
is what I realized is that All those

things that they thought were going to
kill me were the things that people

identified with. And not necessarily,
you know, crack or, you know, but, and I

mean, that's like the shocking part,
right? When you say that word, it's kind

of like, ugh. But everybody, everybody
has a brother who's suffering from

addiction. Everybody, including
themselves, have gone through periods in

their life in which they've struggled.

Not just with addiction, but with grief
and loss.

You know, I was speaking about my dad's
health. And, you know, the thing that is

the most astonishing to me is all of the
things that we all experience, these

painful things.

are things that everybody's gone
through, but we never speak about it.

And nobody ever comes on a show like
this and openly talks about it. Well, I

don't know about that. This is America.
We talk about it a lot. Well, I don't

know. Come on, let's be real. We talk
about it a lot. We talk about addiction.

We talk about grief.

Yeah. But you know what? I think that we
talk about addiction and grief, but not

in terms of our own personal experience
in which the vivid technicolor pictures

have been released to the entire world.

And there's that piece of it. That's
what I'm talking about. Yeah, well, I

think a fair person, and there's so few
left in America, because everyone just

likes to, as I was saying about Natalie,
you know, everyone just, oh, good,

someone to hate now. Someone we can hate
now. I don't know, Bill.

Here's the thing. Can you imagine if
this 35-year-old staffer that wrote this

note that has this relationship, and we
were talking about Barack Obama, what

would be the reaction then?

Do you think that there wouldn't be a
howl from the right that this is an

inappropriate relationship? Of course,
because everybody loves to hate. That's

what I'm saying. Does that make it
right?

It doesn't make it right. It's on him.

Okay,

let's not talk about her. That's not the
point.

The point I was making is that I think a
reasonable person who's not filled with

hate would say, You both took advantage
of some of your privileges by being the

son of a president and vice president,
and you also were a target in a way that

a normal person would not have been. Is
that fair?

There's a part of that that is fair.

One of the things that people, I think,
don't understand is that when my dad was

president, I didn't do any business. I
sold paintings.

And I sold paintings to people that then
had to testify before Congress under

oath. I made an average of $225,000 a
year. Would you have been working for an

energy company out of Ukraine?

Was that really the thing you studied in
school?

No, you're right. I went to Yale Law
School.

You got that job because you went up
just a minute. Yeah, 100%. As I've said

on a million interviews is that, you
know, I'm incredibly privileged.

I mean, beyond anyone's wildest
imagination, not only because of who my

dad was, but because of the father that
he was.

And so a lot of privilege comes from
that.

And I don't deny that in any way. And
also a target on your back.

Yeah. By the way, and also a target on
your back. And also a resume, though,

that includes being, you know, I taught
at Georgetown University's master's

program in the School of Foreign
Service. I served on a dozen boards.

I went to Yale Law School.

I worked for Boy Schiller Flexner. When
I took that role, I was the chairman of

the board of the U.S.-U.N. World Food
Program at that time, which serves 70

million people in 82 different
countries. It's the largest humanitarian

organization in the world. I was
chairman of the board. vice chairman of

the board of Amtrak for over five years.
And so it wasn't about whether or not I

had experience.

My judgment, however, was absolutely,
completely, ridiculously off. I didn't

realize the snake pit, and I was naive
in that sense.

And I gave them something on a silver
platter.

And by the way, let me also say this.

I did it for the money.

And that's what other people won't say.
I absolutely 100% did do it because it

gave me a sense of freedom, particularly
when Beau was diagnosed with cancer. But

all for me.

And so 100% all happened when the last
year and a half of my father's vice

presidency. None of what happened that
they have created and spun up these

conspiracies have anything to do with
when my dad was president. And just for

perspective, I mean, whatever you made,
it's pennies compared to... Don Jr.

is making, I mean, billions.

In the last 500

days of this administration, Don Jr.'s
company has taken in over $3

.4 billion in Department of Defense
contracts. He got a $640 million loan.

put through by the White House, the
largest single loan to any private

company ever given out by the Department
of Defense.

And that's just a fraction of it. Forget
about what they've done with

cryptocurrency now, which is a bank in
which they are able to go and launder

their money. It is an abomination. And
that doesn't even include what Jared is

doing and Ivanka are doing. He gets paid
over $100 million in fees by the Saudis,

the Saudis alone.

For a $6.5 billion fund that he
controls, which is all Gulf state money,

and he is our unelected, unappointed
emissary to the Middle East for a

war that nobody asked for. It is absurd.

It is literally absurd.

Not nobody.

Well, that's true.

Bibi Netanyahu asked for it.

I mean, your father, your father, among
every other Democrat.

Excuse me. Every Democrat said Iran
can't have nuclear weapons. And every

single Democrat and every president said
Jimmy Carter refused what the Israelis

wanted. Refused what the Israelis wanted
was to bomb Iran.

Every single one of them. The only
person who fell for it was Donald Trump.

Yeah, true. Yeah. Okay. So let me ask
you this because you hit on this a

minute ago.

You created a tough situation for your
father. Yeah.

Politics is the roughest game there is.
They will look for any vulnerability,

any opening. And you kind of gave them
one, like you said, on a silver platter.

Did you ever apologize to your father?
Every day. Really? You said to him,

look, I know I gave... From the moment
it started, every day.

It's one of the greatest heartaches of
my life. I talk about this in terms of

the...

The trouble with recovery is this, is I
get to get out here and I talk about how

I've been healed, how I'm, you know, I'm
stronger than I've ever been. I've taken

all of this and I'm, you know.

The people that get the most hurt, for
those of us that survive, those of us,

the addicts that make it through, the
rare ones that make it through, the real

harm happened to all of the people
around them.

And the trauma for them goes very, very
deep. And they don't get to come out on

this show and talk about how well
they're doing and everything's all

great. And, you know, I think about my
daughters. I think about every day.

And the fact that, you know, for a
two-year period of time between 2017 and

2019, they lost the most important
person in their life and also the other

most important person, my brother.

And I was not there for them.

And I can never make up for that. And
same with my dad.

My dad is unconditional love, is not
love without consequences.

It's not a love that doesn't have a
limit.

It's a love that is limitless in this,
is that no matter what, he would always

be there for me. But it doesn't make up
for the fact that, you know, every night

he had to go to sleep when I was in that
state and wonder whether or not I was

alive just after losing Beau. And, you
know, guilt.

is an appropriate thing.

It's absolutely, as the addict, you've
got to go and you've got to make amends

as much as you can. And sometimes the
greatest amend that you can make is just

living a life by doing the next right
thing.

That's what I hope I'm doing right now.

Well, I know your father is

struggling right now.

Yeah. Would you tell him, myself and the
audience, wisdom?

a peaceful rest of his days for us. He's
watching it.

I'll see you on my podcast, I hope. All
right.

Hunter Biden, everybody.

Thank you, Hunter. Let's meet our panel.

Hey, how are you?

All right, here's the national
correspondent for the New York Times and

author of Insurgency, How Republicans
Lost Their Party and Got Everything They

Wanted, Jeremy Peters.

Season anchor and chief political
correspondent for CNN, whose forthcoming

book, The Elections That Changed the
World, is available to pre-order now.

Donna Bass.

Hey, how you doing?

Okay, so it's almost Labor Day. Wow, we
blew through another year. I can't

believe it. Merry Christmas, because
that's what's coming next.

They say that people don't pay attention
until Labor Day, right? So let's pay

attention for them, because we have been
having primaries, right?

A lot of them. A lot of primaries, and
they do tell us a lot.

I feel like people are reluctant ever to
say that, oh, Trump is toast, because

people have said it so many times
before, and it's not been true.

I think he's toast.

Because, well,

I'm just going by.

The approval rating now is 33%. That's
the floor.

Well, maybe.

No, I think it is. I think that is the
people who just absolutely hate

Democrats. So it really doesn't matter.

whatever he does.

It's just that.

I don't think it ever gets... They used
to be called birchers, then they were

birthers, their tea party.

That's the 33%. That's also the
Democratic Party's approval rating, by

the way. I mean, they're in... As a
party. As a party. And Chuck Schumer's

approval rating is actually lower than
that. So as a party, they have not

managed to move up in favorability since
Trump took the oath the second time

around. And that's pretty damning.

Okay.

Endorsement, though. Yeah.

Trump used to win all his endorsements.
Now he's winning almost none of them.

That's right. He lost Wyoming a race
there. Five governorships have not gone

his way. Two people in Florida, which he
calls his home state.

The people are kind of over the
corruption.

That message got through.

Inflation and gas prices, which is what
they hated Biden for.

He always got in front of that banner
that said promises kept.

The war.

They see that as.

A promise not kept, I won't get you into
wars. Epstein, they didn't like that.

I think this election coming up, the
midterm, is a referendum on the

president. It almost always is. So I
don't think there's any way the

Democrats can possibly blow this,
although they will try.

But I feel maybe, I feel like this
election is, no,

we have to be mad at Trump first.

And then the Democrats will lose the
2028 president.

Except I agree with you on everything
you said about the endorsements, because

I think it's up to 10 or 11 now.

House endorsements, governor's
endorsements. He did pretty well in some

races that the Republicans who want to
win are really pissed at him about, like

in Texas.

They're really not sure that Ken Paxton
is, I mean.

It's Texas, so he'll probably win, but
it's not a shoe-in like John Cornyn

would have been. He's a very hard
right-winger, Ken Paxton, right? And

he's got some ethical issues, and James
Tallarico is... A young Democrat.

Christian, and so forth.

But I will add a... Well. Well, I mean,
he wears his faith on his sleeve in a

way that he believes will help him.
Well, in the Democratic Party, as long

as that faith isn't Jewish, you're good.

Which, well, you said it, but... Yeah, I
said it because it's true.

I do want to put one more data point
into your thesis there, and that is that

if you look on the Democratic side, one
thing that happened this week is that

Alexander Bindman...

It was a huge surprise.

Let's remind the audience who isn't
political junkies. So Alexander Vindman

was in the military, and he went and
testified against...

President Trump and Trump won because he
heard the phone call between President

Trump. The perfect call. The perfect
call between President Trump and the

Ukrainian leader. He's a big hero of the
left. Exactly. He is a part. And he

lost. And he lost. But he's a part of
the Trump resistance. And another

pattern that we have seen is people who
have become prominent in the Democratic

Party as part of the Trump resistance
also losing.

So it's not just that the president is.

not doing as well with the people in his
base, he's lost his luster with the

people who hate him on the left.

And let's not forget that the
Democrats...

have a real enthusiasm problem, right? I
mean, a lot of voters are looking at the

Republicans and Trump and the Democrats
and saying, I'm not thrilled with either

choice. And so that enthusiasm problem,
even though, Bill, you're right,

Democrats would really have to screw
something up to lose in this midterm

election. It's really not clear how well
they will do even if they have a

majority because the Democrats in the
House that I talk to are really worried

that if they don't pick up a dozen
seats, they're going to be beholden to

the new squad and this handful of
Democratic socialists who will

essentially have veto power over the
entire Democratic establishment agenda.

That's a big concern.

Will they?

They will.

If it's a slim majority, just like
you're seeing on the right with the Tea

Party and a little bit less so now, if
it's a slim majority, minority rules

within the party.

And so if you have, let's say, I mean,
you had four members of the squad and

then it was growing. Let's say you have
10 people who are absolutely, I'm not

going to do anything unless you pass
Medicare for all, just for example.

Hakeem Jeffries, if he doesn't have a
majority more than 10 people, he's

screwed. Almost like a parliamentary
government where you bring in, like in

Israel. And the government only exists
because they had to bring in like four

or five members of the far, far, far
right wing party. And they do control in

a lot of ways what goes on in that
government. Yeah, they absolutely do.

And they're not running to be members of
the Democratic Party. They're running

many of them anyway, as democratic
socialists. It's a totally different

political organization.

And in fact, they want to take out the
Democratic Party. I mean, it's their

stated goal. They not only want to take
out the Democratic Party, they want to

take out the entire constitutional.

system that the Democratic Party is
allowed to participate in government.

And they like communism.

I proved it here a couple of weeks ago
just by quoting them. They use the word

a lot. They're not actually trying to
hide it, although if you ask them, they

will deny it. Yeah.

It's so interesting.

They will. But some of them, I mean,
this is why El-Said did quite well in

Michigan. This is why the woman who is
running against Karen Bass as mayor of L

.A. is doing quite well because they've
learned how to sand down the rougher

edges and they don't talk about
socialism. They don't talk about seizing

the means of production and stuff like
that.

They're getting many of them. Some of
them are not quite ready for prime time,

let's be clear. But a lot of them have
really done a good job of selling

themselves to the public as quite
reasonable mainstream politicians.

And that's how.

Angie Nixon, who beat Alexander Vindman
in Florida this week. Okay, so explain

who that is. She is a Democratic
Socialist who raised like not even a

million dollars. That's right. And he
raised about $16 million.

So I'm not a mathematician, but I think
that's like 16 to 1. And she crushed

him. In Florida. In Florida.

Which is a red state now. Yes. But this
is, of course, the Democratic primary.

It's a Democratic primary. And a lot of
people will say. But she did it by,

she's a Democratic socialist, but she
did it by really narrowing down her

message about.

about money, about trying to, you know,
live the American dream in a way that...

But again, this is a race within the
Democratic Party. Correct. So when she

runs in the general against the
Republican for governor... It's going to

be very hard. Right. Very hard. She's
going to run against Ashley Moody, who's

the sitting Republican senator, and
it...

I mean, I don't want to say impossible,
but if there is an impossible race, that

could be it. So what do you think of
this new star, John Ossoff, I mentioned

in the monologue? I mean, we've
mentioned him before. He's been there

for a couple of years in Georgia.

He's kind of Obama-esque when he speaks.
And he really lit into Trump in a way

that people seem to be certainly on the
left.

thirsting for.

And the problem is he's Jewish.

I mean, I know we don't want to talk
about that, but we need to talk about

that because that is the situation in
the Democratic Party.

They think Gaza is a genocide.

It is not. There's an actual meaning to
the word genocide. It doesn't come

close. But as long as you tag that name,
genocide, of course.

What kind of normal person would not
hate someone who's responsible for a

genocide? And they've all just signed on
to this because they're just big on

buzzwords and long signs and bumper
stickers.

That's as deep as they go. And likes on
their social media. And like.

So they... You have to say it.

There was a...

Congressman Scott Wiener, he's, I think,
going to take Nancy Pelosi's seat in San

Francisco. And he wasn't paying
genocide.

And they surrounded him, a mob, and
yelled at him and said, you're not gay.

He's gay.

They're not really gay. What the fuck
does that have to do with genocide?

Say it. And he did. Because the
Democrats are cowards. What a coward.

This is factual. Do you know the only
country in the Middle East that has gay

rights? Of course. Yes, that's why the
people with the Queers for Palestine t

-shirts are so out of their mind. Can I
say one thing about the Jews? Because I

actually, earlier this summer, I
interviewed Josh Shapiro, governor of

Pennsylvania,

running for re-election, but also very
much in the conversation about 2028.

And I asked him this question point
blank. Do you really think that a

Jewish... politician can win a
Democratic primary for president in this

environment for Jews.

And he gave an answer about how he's
been talking about his faith a lot. He

doesn't hide from it.

Pennsylvania is a purple state.

He's very popular in Pennsylvania.

And, you know, I thought a lot about it.
We'll see. But the other thing that I

thought about, Bill, is that even Or
maybe despite this climate, you have

Josh Shapiro, John Ossoff.

J.B. Pritzker, Rahm Emanuel. I don't
remember a time where there were more

Jews who were even thinking openly about
running for president in the Democratic

primary. We'll see what happens when
they get asked about Israel.

Bill has a good point that they twist
themselves into knots over it because

the activist left has done such a good
job of making this a third rail. Like,

you know, you have to buy into the
rhetoric, just like you used to have to

say, I want to defund the police or I
want. It's a litmus test. Yes, exactly.

And as often the case, and this is
something I think Democratic strategists

worry about privately, is the absolutist
nature of some of the activism rhetoric

on the left is a real problem because
they're always trying to explain it.

away, right? Well, we don't really mean
to defund the police. Well, we don't

really mean that Donald Trump is a king.

Or they're using kind of jargony
language like, let's, you know, stop the

oligarchy or, you know, whatever that
tour is. And ordinary people don't know

what that means. They don't. It just.

It doesn't resonate with them. Or care.
Or care, right?

And unless Democrats learn how to talk
to voters in a way that is more

to their hearts rather than to their
heads and to a political dictionary that

you need to translate what they're
saying, this will be a difficult year.

But I think back to what you...

What you said about John Ossoff, that is
one of the main reasons why he's taking

off. I watched that whole speech that he
gave last Sunday, and it wasn't just the

line that everybody's talking about,
about Natalie.

The whole way that he wove in the heart
and the soul of

fighting for affordability but also
fighting against Donald Trump was

incredibly unique.

Again, these issues like corruption.

I mean, the world financial, is that
Trump's crypto?

He's got his own crypto company. And I
see today, now they're letting them have

a bank.

It's very close to just backing a truck
up to Fort Knox.

And people get that.

You know, it's like we're struggling.
You said you were going to stop our

struggling. You said gas prices and
inflation were going to go down. They're

not. But you guys are making out great.

All right.

It is back to school time.

So that includes college. And for some
reason, college includes Arizona State.

I've never understood that.

They are in the news because they have a
Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and

Mass Communication.

Guess what the new curriculum is about?

You're going to be able to get a course
in influencing.

I wish I was just making this up.

You can literally get a BS in BS now.
Would you like to hear?

Would you like to hear?

a hold of the syllabus.

Would you like to hear some in the
course? I'm sure you would.

For example, there's intro to
influencing.

Duck lips, peace signs, and you.

You need that intro course.

Of course.

Strategies in making a toilet seat look
like a private jet.

Oh, yeah.

Biology 301.

Diagnosing yourself with something you
googled this morning.

Math 101, why you don't need it.

Camera phone mechanics, how to make your
tits the focus of whatever you're

yammering about.

Unboxing 101, losing your shit over new
material goods in an age of socialism.

Intro to public speaking. Tips on
shaming people in public who aren't

really even doing anything.

Career development. Explaining to your
grandparents what exactly it is you do.

And senior seminar.

When to call it quits and transition to
OnlyFans.

Let's talk about higher education, shall
we? Because this is not the only story

in the news. Quite a few.

University of Michigan?

Mm-hmm, where I went, yes. That's where
you went. I did, yeah. Okay. I wish I

wouldn't have had grades. I would have
had grades. Right.

They're going to no grades now. And the
reason given? Just as freshmen or for

the whole thing?

I'm not sure about that.

It doesn't matter.

It's ridiculous. And they're saying it
because sometimes the kid gets a bad

grade and it makes them sad.

I can't. I'm not making that up.

I mean, no grades. And what does that
school cost? It's not cheap, right? It's

not cheap. I can tell you what it was 25
years ago.

No, but look, this is part of the
coddling of the American mind effect

that we've been reading about and
scholars smarter than I am have been

writing about for 15 years.

I don't see how when you have a student
age population that is already losing

its jobs, losing what they trained for
to AI, and how they're

basically as a generation having to face
what a future looks like on a planet

that is so hot and so inhospitable that
it's rejecting human life. I mean, yeah,

it's not a great outlook.

I grew up, I'm Gen X.

So I grew up basically feral, like the
rest of our generation.

I'm a boomer. You think you're feral.

Yeah, I mean, and so, yeah. At least you
got out of the dump, yes.

I mean, literally. So the idea that we
can't, I mean, look, I understand there

are very real mental health challenges
that people, not just kids, but people

have for many, many reasons, including
their phones, and there's a cultural

issue. But, like, come on.

I mean, I know Trump University is a
scam, but when there's no grades, isn't

that a scam, too?

I mean... Well, it... I mean, what... It
goes to the question

of what college is, what a four-year
degree is really training kids for.

Well, let me answer that. Now, this
is... Nothing.

This is the second. This is even
scarier.

AI, which in the old days, like two
years ago...

Was writing the papers and sometimes
grading them.

Now it can take the course all by
itself.

This AI taking college courses, this is
from your paper, with simple commands

like log in and complete my quiz.

It can lecture, watch lecture videos,
take tests, write papers, and chat with

classmates about reading assignments.

Students may never meet with their
professors or their peers.

What's the point? What the fuck?

Let me just take a little bit of an
unorthodox approach here and defend the

kids because I don't actually think that
all of this is their fault. They've been

told by CEOs from AI companies that this
technology is going to replace them. So

to a certain degree, it seems like a lot
of them, by adapting to this technology

and having it do everything for them,
are basically saying, all right, let's

get on with it.

time what they could be doing with this
what like how dana uses ai how i try to

use ai how i'm sure you do is to make
your make yourself better at the job

that you're doing more efficient i don't
use it what they're doing i don't want

it at all nothing i don't want it in my
phone the second i the second people

started having it and telling me what it
did and and oh it It knows everything

about you. It's in your phone. It sees
every one of your pictures. It knows

every text you ever send. You think I
want that in my fucking phone?

You people are crazy if you're doing
this. You're crazy.

And it can't do my job.

That is for sure.

What people have told... I hope.

Thank you.

What the heads of these AI companies
have been all too eager to tell us is

that this technology is going to replace
us, that it will do everything that you

used to do.

Really, it's not going to do that. It's
never going to replace human beings.

It's going to make our jobs easier and
in some ways make workers more

efficient. So people should really, you
know, if you're teaching students how to

use this as a way to not do their work
instead of using it as a way to improve

their work, it's just not going to ever
be a tool that they learn how to use

appropriately. But I think one of the,
if there is a benefit from AI, I think

it is if you think about it.

it is a reminder of why human
interaction is so important. Like, I

mean, just even here, this is not, you
can't have this as an AI experience.

There are real human beings here
watching a...

I understand that there are some reasons
why students want to go online, but it

is also a reminder of how great it is to
have a human interaction with fellow

students in a classroom, with a
professor.

There are things that you just can't
learn or even pretend to learn if you're

dealing with AI without that human
interaction.

I take your point. It's not all their
fault. But it's also, I've said this

before when we talked about AI, it is
also their place to stop it.

They're the younger generation. When
they want to protest against something,

they're not shy about it. Right. Okay?
So they're using it. If AI can do the

job of going to school for you
completely, why wouldn't it be able to

do the job you were going to get trained
for in school?

So you're building your own gallows.
It's up to that generation to stand

across history and say, stop.

I don't think you can look.

to the Silicon Valley companies for any
type of moral leadership on this issue.

I mean, and that's a big, you know, when
you talk to the heads of these

companies, which you and I have both
done as part of our jobs, what's

striking is how often they liken their
work to a humanitarian cause, to saving

civilization. I'm not kidding. They
really see it this way. And if this

doesn't sound too much like Facebook as,
you know, the promoter of democracy and

free speech in the town square that was
going to be good for us all, then...

You know, I think you should take
another look at how you're reading this.

And you also talked about something I
think you and I both agree on, that this

is not just the beginning, I mean, the
end of the rot in higher education. It

started long ago when they stopped
teaching people things because they

became indoctrination centers.

Two stories from this week, I think,
will show you that this has now infected

our political discourse.

Megan Romer, she is the...

co-chair of the dsa she was on david
remnick's podcast and she talked about

taxing the hell out of them and he said
um what do you mean by that and she said

uh well you know i don't really have a
solid and then just dribbled off yeah

and he said but shouldn't you shouldn't
you be more specific about what taxing

the hell means they don't know anything
okay okay then lindsey graham's sister

was running and is now running in south
carolina

She was asked about Taiwan, and she
said, I'm not that informed on national

security. Well, you're running for the
Senate.

That's not an answer that is acceptable.
I'm not that informed.

I guess my question is, does it matter
that people don't know anything?

Yes.

I'm so glad to hear that.

I'm so glad to hear that.

One word answer, yes, it matters a lot.
It matters a lot. But I will say that...

That interview that David Remnick did
with the DSA chair is something that

everybody should watch as hopefully an
antidote to what you just said.

This is like real life. This isn't just
a string of slogans put together.

actual policy that when you get to a
place where you're running for elected

office, or if you actually are
successful in elected office, you got to

know stuff.

Yeah. And by the way, there's been a
slew of interviews just like this, where

candidates who represent the Democratic
Socialists of America have really

struggled to articulate how they don't
subscribe to communism, whether or not

they really believe in Marxism, and
basic facts about how their ideology

would help them govern the United States
out of this affordability crisis.

Look, a lot of these people are really
talented politically.

I think, you know, Mamdani is a
generational political talent. He's out

of the Democratic Socialists of America.

This is Saeed Al-Saeed in Michigan is
also very talented. He's not a

Democratic Socialist, although they do
claim him as one of their own.

But by and large, a lot of these
candidates come out of the activist wing

of the party. They're very academic.
They're very into reading Karl Marx and

left-wing theory.

And we've seen time and time again that
a lot of them just don't withstand the

scrutiny.

There was a story, I mean... If you're
going to talk about academics this week,

I just have to bring this up, this Jason
Arday story. He's a professor. Very sad.

Very sad. It was a suicide. I mean, a
week ago, it was not that story.

He was the first black professor at
Cambridge, I think? Yes. Young. And the

youngest. The youngest.

Okay, whenever I hear a story like this,
first of all, I don't believe anything.

I don't believe anything anybody says.

Right. I have to read two or three more
articles, do a deep dive. But the first

story was, okay, this guy.

was just wanted by the left to be what
they wanted him to be, which was the

first hero professor, black professor.

But really, he was guilty of plagiarism
and all sorts of incredible lies.

They're so captivated by DEI and wanting
this, they just let him pass. And I

said, well, I'm going to check this out.
No, that's exactly what happened.

It's the soft bigotry of low
expectations. And it's not just that

they let him pass.

It's that they ignored the glaring red
flags, like grammatical errors in his

thesis and things in his backstory that
just didn't add up, like running 30

marathons in 35 days.

And to me, Cambridge has a lot of
explaining to do about how they seem to

have really... cynically used this
person who was obviously struggling with

mental illness to further their own
diversity and inclusion goals.

He didn't learn to speak until he was
18, right? He said he was autistic.

He said a number of diseases, he said.

He was, where was...

Oh, I can't find it, but he was just
crazy. Oh, he's got testicular cancer,

brain tumor, epilepsy, locked-in
syndrome. I don't know what that is. He

said he ran the marathons with a broken
leg.

He said he was mute until age 11 and
illiterate until 18 and then became the

greatest professor.

I mean, it's like a prank. Like, can we
make liberals who want to believe this

actually do it? And they did.

And it's not much more complicated than
that. White people are crazy.

And to back that up, what is sad and
tragic is, as you said, perhaps

Cambridge let him down. But once this
got out and the investigation began,

then the mob went after him.

And it was, you know, in the UK, the
press are tough, to say the least.

and kind of what you were talking about
before about sort of the hate mob.

And that's what happened to him. Now, if
he had underlying, I mean, obviously he

had underlying mental health issues. He
took his own life. But it's those two

things combined that is such a
cautionary tale of where we are right

now societally and culturally.

The system played a huge role in his
death.

And if Cambridge is doing an honest
examination of this, they could address

that. All right. Thank you, guys. Time
for New Rule.

Okay.

All right.

New Rule. Everyone in the media is
having a good time mocking Kaia Gerber

for revealing that when she was a child,
she had an exorcism performed on her

with a dirigidue.

Is missing the point.

It works.

Because when some hippie starts playing
the dirigidoo, even evil spirits say,

let's get the fuck out of here.

Neuro drug companies have to make at
least one ad for prescription medication

where no one becomes a DJ.

Or at least list it as a possible side
effect.

Stop using scarizzi if you're a white
man in your 40s and you experience the

uncontrollable urge to drop sick beats.

Now that researchers have proven that
dogs can tell if people are happy or sad

by reading our faces, they must teach
dogs to do that with legs.

They always seem to read as asking for
it.

New Rule, don't be surprised that
Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris, says

he would make her finish her homework
before he'd let her go outside and play.

That was Michael's way. He was always
very hard with kids.

New Rule, now that Air France...

decided to close the sauna area in its
Paris lounge because passengers were

using it for inappropriate activity.

I have to ask, what happened to you,
France?

You gave the world inappropriate

activity.

The French kiss.

The topless beach.

Lingerie. The menage a trois.

That thing where husbands and wives
don't ask each other where they were

from five to seven.

And now you're Utah with croissants?

I'm sorry, but if two, possibly three,
consenting adults can't do it between

connecting flights in the airport, then
maybe Tucker Carlson is right. Why did

we even defeat the Nazis?

New rule, free the workplace romance.

Let's go back to letting love
connections happen at the office. It's

funny, all I hear about these days is
the loneliness epidemic and how nobody

socializes anymore and Gen Z isn't
dating, Gen Z isn't fucking.

Here's a crazy idea.

Stop being overly paranoid about power
imbalances in one of the last places

humans actually interact anymore and let
people fuck at work.

I don't mean literally have sex in the
supply closet, but flirt, acknowledge

mutual attraction, and maybe get into a
relationship.

And then have sex in the supply closet.

But that's not really where we are,
because America

always overreacts, usually on the side
of too much safety.

We did it with overprotecting our
children.

We did it with drugs.

Because some people get addicted. For
decades, no one was allowed to even

smoke pot legally.

And we do it with sex.

In Congress, they already have a rule
that says you can't date anyone in your

own office. And now, they're considering
one supported by Speaker Mike Johnson

that would ban members from dating any
staffer from any office.

Because telling people who they're
allowed to love is repulsive when the

Bible does it. But it's okay when it's a
weirdo like Mike Johnson.

Mike Johnson, who has an app on his
phone called Covenant Eyes, which scans

everything you open and reports any porn
use to a sponsor, which in this case is

his son.

Ew.

But, you know, Mike is not the only one
who supports this. It's bipartisan.

AOC agrees.

Yeah. She says no one who works on
Capitol Hill should ever date anybody

else who works on Capitol Hill.

Okay, but where else are they supposed
to meet? It's where they spend all their

time. They run home to get four hours of
sleep, eat a toaster strudel, and run

back to the office to write the actual
bills that their bosses, the elected

representatives, don't even read.

But AOC says there are a lot of fish in
the sea.

If someone is seeking a part, we don't
need to necessarily do that here.

Uh, no, you don't have to, but maybe if
you did, your eggs wouldn't be in a

freezer on 14th Street.

Please, I'm all for it.

freezing eggs, or whatever you want to
do that's consensual. And that's the

point. Stop punishing all the people who
want a consensual relationship because

offices contain some male creep, as does
everywhere in life. The question is, is

it the smart thing to throw out the
baby-making with the bathwater?

And... According to a recent article in

Inc., called Gen Zers and millennials
want workplace romance normalized even

if it breaks company rules.

No, it's not.

Because here's the thing. While there
are plenty of fish in the sea, there

aren't a lot of seas.

That is, not a lot of places to meet
fish.

The workplace is where most people have
always done it. It's where most married

couples caught their fish.

Forbes did a study and found 43% of
workplace romances ended in marriage.

The other 57% ended on the jumbotron at
a Coldplay concert.

Is the workplace the perfect place

to be? No.

But what's better?

Dating app?

Bars? which are now places where people
go out and yet somehow are still on

their phones.

Of course, no woman in an office wants
the guy in the next cubicle giving

unsolicited back rubs or making comments
about her appearance, unless he's cute,

and then it's, why is he ignoring me?

But that stuff is already, if not
outright illegal, very frowned upon.

This is 2026.

Every company has an HR department now.

When a true predator like Eric Swalwell
was finally exposed, people said, what

took so long?

Well, what took so long is nobody
reported it for a long time.

Now, does it take guts to do that? Sure,
yes. But call me a radical feminist, I

think women in 2026 are capable of guts
and of handling most clumsy overtures

without an act from Congress.

There is a congressman from North
Carolina, Chuck Edwards, Republican,

Christian, married to the same woman for
40 years. Not really my jam.

But I also don't think he should have
been forced out of his race, which he

was, for what he did, which wasn't much.

A bipartisan House Ethics Committee did
a full investigation and found zero

evidence of sexual activity.

physical contact, or lewd propositions.

No, what Chuck did was buy the women in
his office gifts.

A lot of them. He bought shoes, jewelry,
purses, cell phones, laptops, massages,

kitchen appliances, spa treatments.

You know, a real monster.

One time.

One time, after a staffer had a bad
breakup, Congressman Edwards paid for

her and a friend to go to New York and
see Hamilton.

Without him on the trip.

The only thing this guy couldn't keep in
his pants was his credit card.

There's a song in Hamilton called The
Room Where It Happens, and this tragic

castrato literally couldn't get in the
room where it happens.

A room he paid for, which explains his
campaign slogan, I still believe in a

place called the friend zone.

I tell you, thank goodness we stopped
this sick, demented fuck before he sends

another poor, defenseless woman on a
spa.

weekend.

This maniac even once arranged for a
singer at a

staffer's birthday party, and this was
so traumatic that one staffer confided

in a friend that she was low-key scared.

The congressional panel also found some
women were uncomfortable with the gift.

Yeah, but not so uncomfortable they
didn't take them.

Maybe let's all try a little more
romance and a little less hypocrisy. You

know, we hate it when people have sex in
the office, but you know what TV show we

love? The Office.

The most popular sitcom of all time,
reproduced all over the world, and the

entire show is an HR department's worst
nightmare.

Everybody is either fucking or trying to
fuck everybody else, and it doesn't make

anybody low-key scared.

Jim and Pam, Jim and Karen, Michael and
Jan, Michael and Holly, Aaron and Gabe,

Aaron and Andy, Aaron and Pete, Ryan and
Kelly, Angela and Andy, Angela and

Dwight.

There was less incestuous fucking in
Fleetwood Mac.

All right, that's our show. I want to
thank Jeremy Peters, Dan Abash, and

Hunter Biden. Club Random drops every
Monday on YouTube.

or listen where you get your podcasts,
or go watch Overtime on YouTube. Thank

you very much, ladies and gentlemen.

Thank you.