Club Random with Bill Maher - Jillian Michaels | Club Random

Episode Date: May 18, 2025

On this episode, Bill sits down with fitness icon, wellness entrepreneur and straight-talking firebrand Jillian Michaels. Bill and Jillian settle in for a free-wheeling chat that drifts from lighthearted ribbing to debates about public health, politics, and pop culture. One minute they’re laughing about early-morning phone alerts or swapping travel stories; the next, they’re chewing over whether either political party still speaks to the middle. Big personalities and bigger opinions collide, but beneath the jokes they keep circling the same question: how do we stay sane—and a little healthier. Go to https://www.ffrf.us/freedom or text "CLUB" to 511511 and become a member today Get your summer savings and shop premium wireless plans at https://www.mintmobile.com/random Connect with quality therapists and mental health experts who specialize in you at https://www.rula.com/random #rulapod #ad Get 20% off your first pair of Skechers Hands Free Slip-ins at https://www.skechers.com/clubrandom or use code Club Random Go to https://www.OmahaSteaks.com to get 50% off sitewide during their Memorial Day Sale. And use Promo Code BILL at checkout for an extra $35 off. Minimum purchase may apply. See site for details. A big thanks to our advertiser, Omaha Steaks! Follow Club Random on IG: @ClubRandomPodcast Follow Bill on IG: @BillMaher Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast for free wherever you're listening or by using this link: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/ClubRandom⁠⁠⁠⁠ Watch Club Random on YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/ClubRandomYouTube Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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five gigabyte plan required, equivalent to $15 per month. New customer offer for first three months only. Then full price plan options available. Taxes and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details. The way the world is going, everybody could use therapy, but cost of fortune, it's time consuming Mint Mobile for details. Licensed mental health professionals that are suited for you Thousands have already trusted ruler to support them on their journey toward improved mental health and over all well-being Head on over to ruler.com slash random to get started today He's watching it up these days

Here, and I don't mean the old kind of I mean an actual beard. He doesn't need a beard. He's out At one point I think he said he doesn't believe in any vaccines. But if he did, I would fundamentally disagree with him. Personally. Right. Hi, boss. Bitch.

How are you? I'm good. I'm in my chair with him. He gave me a booster seat. Really? Yeah. How are you? I think good. I'm in my chair with a... They gave me a booster seat. Really? Yeah. How are you? I'm all right.

What's going on? You look good. I tried. Yeah? Yeah. Thanks for jumping in here. What do you think? I got like a double...

I'm so... Why? You're not that short. I'm not short. Well, how tall are you? Five two. I lie and say 5'3", but the license says 5'3", but... Okay, but you're not in the WNBA. Although I bet

you'd be very welcome. You think? Well, I mean, an attractive lesbian in the WNBA? I don't know. I think they'd forgive your height. They'd be like, hey, she moves the ball off court good. Yeah, I don't know that I'd be able forgive your height. They'd be like, hey, she moves the ball off court good. Yeah, I don't know that I'd be able to do that either, I'm afraid. But you're kind of sad. What's the latest? Can I pour you something? Can I?

You're a health nut, right? You don't ever drink? I do sometimes. But to try to keep up with you? No, it's treacherous. I have nicotine gum in, I've got sparkling water, I already had a coffee. Okay, well, keep up with me, you're telling me I'm a drunk.

I don't drink that much. No, no, I think mentally. It's like the only time of the week. Oh, oh, oh, oh. I mean, your verbal fluidity. Oh, I don't know, you know what? Like, I can't actually keep up conversation-wise, so I took every nootropic on the market.

I... Don't worry about it, because take every new Tropic on the market. Don't worry about it, because today, I have to tell you something. I rarely wake up on the wrong side of the bed because I make sure I get enough sleep. You know what happened today? And I'm either gonna do something on the show about it, sue somebody, or like, I don't know,

go mental on the highway. I got woken up out of a sound sleep early in the morning on my phone. You know, like really it gets, you know those alert, they're like, eh, eh. I thought, oh my God, the nuclear attack has started in India and Pakistan. They did it and that would spread. It was like missing adult. Oh good, let me jump out of bed and go look for it. Has that ever happened to you? It happens all the time in California in particular. Remember when the fires were going on and you were getting fake alerts?

Okay, but fires is one, there was a giant- There were fake alerts though. There was a giant disaster. This was just some person who wandered off and what am I going to do about it? I would be, I would sue. Okay, there's nobody to sue, but I am... In case you knew something? What I am not gonna do anymore is ever leave my phone even on. It was, it was, it wasn't on like the sound. The sound was off. But they don't care. Those alerts

come through. So I'm gonna like put my phone off in another room. I definitely think this is real-time material, personally. I think it's psychiatry material. I'm telling you, it has ruined my whole day. First of all, I've been tired all day. If you don't get enough sleep at our, not your age, my age. My age? Well, your age is not my age, sweetheart.

So you're just, eh. What is this concoction you've made, by the way? That's a drink. Oh, like what went in there? You know, Jing. Jing, I drink it. I say this every week. People are like, why are you roofing yourself?

It's a way to make sparkling water into a chemical-free diet soda. Look, I finally said it right. I like it, with a little tequila in there. There you go, nice. Oh yeah, definitely, yeah. That's beautiful. Mm. All right.

And now a little pot, because suddenly, because you know, I'm coming home to you, dear, my fantasy wife, telling you about my terrible day. Here honey, have your martini, let me light your joint for you and tell me about your problems. I would happily. What else you got for me? I'm here to listen. Oh, I mean, you know, we could talk about the state of the world. I know you do. You're killing it, by the way.

You know, I always see, not thanks to me. Yeah, boss, you gave me the button. You did. You, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, Yeah, boss, you gave me the... Oh, please. You did. You did. Yeah, yeah, yeah. People are, if the talent goes where it's gonna go, all you can do is you can like wave at it as it goes by and say, oh, you have my blessing and I love that, but you know, the talent, and you're the talent and you did it.

And people are, you know, obviously you have a lot of haters, but you know what, so do I, so does anybody good. You know, the old, a lot of haters, but you know what, so do I. So does anybody good. You know the old, well I guess it's kind of an old rap song now. If you ain't got no haters, you ain't poppin'. I did not know there was an old, which, who, now which rap? I think it's Rico Richie. Poppin'?

You ain't poppin'? If you ain't got no haters, you ain't poppin'. You ain't poppin'. And, yeah, and you know. As long as I'm pop popping? You are definitely popping. I mean just just because you speak kindly of RFK you know that will always. Oh my god Bill I almost got into a fistfight at dinner last night with a dear friend over fluoride and this has never been like a hill that I've wanted to die on. And it was just, it was such a limited attitude.

And she was telling me she had a thyroid issue and I was saying, hey, you know, do you filter your water? Because there's some potential evidence to suggest that fluoride in the water could have a negative impact and has to do with how your thyroid utilizes iodine. And she looked at me like I had 10 heads. This has been a friend of mine for a very long time. And she's like, oh, okay. Because RFK has started working to remove

fluoride from water. And I was like, do you even know what you're talking about? Tell me what you know about it. Like, how do teeth remineralize? Tell me. Tell me the work you've done. What experts have you listened to? And then I was explaining that drinking fluoride

is not really how it's meant to remineralize teeth and there's significant concerns and there's robust data to show that it lowers the IQ in kids and she was robust. And Bill, all because, and I'm this is coming from numerous doctors that I've interviewed over the years. And this woman is an interior designer. Mocking me all because she doesn't think Kennedy. And this is the woman with the th- and it got so bad I finally, I never lose my shit. I'm usually really good at having these conversations. And by the time it was over I was like, I swear to God, I don't care if you put fluoride in a fucking drip then.

It's just, it's insane. It's funny because I talked about that maybe like a month ago on the show. And I certainly have done a million jokes on RFK. I like him. He's sat here. I know him for years. I certainly don't go along with everything and we can get it. Who's not? It's eccentric.

To say the least. But on the fluoride thing, I remember when I talked about it on Real Time, again, this was about a month ago, what I was saying was it was the week they were going after fluoride. Yep. And the New York Times had an op-ed piece, how terrible fluoride is. It was either the day before or maybe the same day within the paper, within the same paper where you're shitting on it on the editorial page, there was an article saying,

I think it was the Journal of American Medicine, but it was some very respectable group saying, yeah, we've done these studies and it may not be healthy for you. Yep. And I don't want anything in my water. How about that? If you want fluoride, you do fluoride. I don't think I need fluoride. First of all, I'm not 10 with a mouth full of cavities, okay? I'm not eating chocolate bunnies all day.

Well, that's the key issue. You nailed it. This diet. But is this even the best solution symptomatically? The answer is no. Right. I mean, so I don't know. Probably it's mostly benign, but you know, there's a lot of stuff that goes into it. Maybe not. Right. I don't know. You've studied it more than I have. Doesn't matter. I don't want it. There's concern. I mean, I had a doctor once try to sell me on the idea, not that I could do anything about it, I guess he thought I had some influence, of advocating for putting statins in the water. Whoa.

A cardiologist, yeah. That's crazy. And like, I'm sure there are people Wow. who benefit from statins, as I always say, medicine is always playing the odds and making sometimes the least worst decision. There are people, just like with the COVID vaccine,

many people would have died without the vaccine and many people probably would have heart attacks without statins. I'm not one of them. I agree with you on statins. I definitely would say that there's a group of people that need statins and there are great cardiologists that will tell you that. But there's way more to that conversation.

And as you mentioned, there's a cost benefit analysis with each and every one of these things. Well, statins, I know, have deleterious effects on the... I mean, I certainly have talked to enough people who know about this subject and I can't even... Again, I'm not the guy who can go through the details like you can. But, you know, but generally, anything that has a blocking effect,

and that's what statins are doing, they're blocking something that's bad for you, right? Is it basically in layman's terms? Well, not necessarily. Is high cholesterol correlated to heart disease? Yeah, but is it causal? They're not sure yet. Yes, right. I agree. And when you speak to guys, like I spent four hours interviewing a gentleman who I happen

to think is one of the best cardiologists on the planet, Dr. Arthur Agustin. He invented the calcium score. And I was saying, like, I don't even get it. Am I supposed to be eating saturated fat now? Is sugar the devil? There's no question. Sugar is the devil. And I was saying, like, I don't even get it. Am I supposed to be eating saturated fat now? Is sugar the devil? There's no question, sugar is the devil. But he was explaining to me that there are some individuals who have a genetic predisposition to hyper absorbing dietary cholesterol.

It can happen. And there are some individuals that have trouble clearing, that lack an enzyme to clear too much cholesterol. In which case case those are individuals that would benefit from statins. And you know this by going to the appropriate cardiologist and having them do the blood work, ultrasound your carotids, taking a calcium score,

putting a genetics test, putting all those pieces together, and then allowing you to make the right decision for your body with a qualified medical professional. But putting it in the water is one of the craziest things I've heard in a while. No, I mean, things have to get really bad for me to be on a statin. But if I thought I would be dead without it, yes, of course. But I don't think so. But I agree.

And LDL, now, my understanding is that LDL, that's the bad cholesterol, but I just read something which said, there's actually lots of people who have really shitty LDL scores and no heart problems. So it's just, it's so rarely as simple as black or white. It's all these, the body is so complicated. I've been trying to make this case for so many years

to people, and it comes up in different issues. Don't compare it to other sciences. I remember when the big thing on MSNBC was, well, if you're not for vaccines, it's like denying global warming. No, it's not. Global warming is about climate science, which is infinitely more simple than the body. It really is.

I know. Not that I could do it, but I actually could learn enough, I think, to, you know, it's geology, it's chemistry. And the reason why almost all climate scientists agree that global warming is happening and it's man-made, what we should do about it, that's a different debate, is because it's not that complicated. That's not the case with medicine. They just don't know enough.

Well, and vaccines are so nuanced. That's something that's also like just, okay. I interviewed a PhD on this subject matter very recently, and she was explaining to me the different, just the different technologies, let alone the different pathogens and their levels of danger and what's dangerous for a baby versus what's dangerous for a person who's 90 and one is a dead pathogen and one is a live pathogen. But the dead pathogen vaccine has something called adjuvants in it,

which were previously thimerazole. So this is the old type of vaccine you're talking about, the old dead pathogen. Well, so there's still. Dead form of the virus. There's still the dead form, and they still add adjuvants, but back in the day they would add thimerazole,

which is 50% mercury by weight. Now there's aluminum and things of that nature that are specifically put in the vaccine, she was explaining to me, to wake up your immune system, to become alarmed in the event that your body is like, oh, this thing's dead, I'm not gonna worry about it. So there's that whole concern. That's interesting.

And then there's the concern of, okay, COVID is something different entirely. It's gene therapy. It's not dead pathogen, live pathogen, adjuvant. No, it's right. It's a whole different animal. It's a very, it's a whole different animal. Yeah, it's a completely different beast.

And you know, even did you see this? That doesn't necessarily mean it's worse or harmful, although... This one, based on things I've heard... No, I'm saying just based... More adverse events with this kind of... No, I'm just saying, just because it's a whole different animal doesn't logically conclude that it's worse. But it's the same thing with statins as with vaccines.

Are there ones that I would take? Absolutely. Yes. Where I would think it would kill me if I didn't. Completely. I get it. I think they're an amazing tool. But COVID was, that one never scared me and I never wanted it.

And I never thought it was what they, and it wasn't. I mean, man, there's this new book out, I think the author is David Zweig, and it's about the, mostly about the school closures and what a disaster that was and how unnecessary. And it reminded me of, or maybe it's in the book somewhere about like the insanity that went on at colleges. Now we're talking about 20 year olds, the people least likely to be felled by COVID. I mean, you'd have to really try.

And the things they were doing at the elite university, the same morons who were protesting in favor of terrorist organizations. I agree with you on that. The same morons were like, I mean, isolating, like never seeing another student for months, meals left outside the door. Like this was fucking bubonic plague in 1350.

It went, I mean... My kids still don't read as well as they should because of it. Literally, my son is going into the eighth grade and he's still two years behind in his reading. And I would argue without question it's COVID. And I think that you saw different states follow different protocols. I've often wondered if California was the last

to reopen the schools. And you gotta ask yourself, or at least I have, and maybe you'll correct me here, but how much did the teachers union play a role with regard to- Tremendously. Right. Are you kidding? And they donate to-

The Democrats- I mean, I've said it for years. Democrats, they absolutely have to own education. Because that is that portfolio, their portfolio in the government. If this was a parliamentary government where you get portfolios. They want it, they own it. If you go to the Democratic convention, like half the delegates are teachers. I don't know, don't quote me on that.

Oh yes, look, my sister's a teacher, spent her whole life doing that. So I'm very supportive of teachers, and of course I've said many supportive things and meant them, and most teachers in this country are very sincere people who wanna to educate kids and look, you're not doing it for the money. But yes, the Democratic Party is way too beholden

to the teachers union and the teachers union has to answer for the fact that kids don't know anything. Forget the reading, which you shouldn't, because that's super important to be able to read, which has gone down. I didn't think I'd ever see that. The actual ability to read. But even if you could, say we get them back

where they can read, what are they reading? What are you making them read? I always say this. If you gave the average high school kid an exit exam, I would like to design it. It wouldn't be ridiculously hard. Just basic shit. Like name the seven continents, how many branches of government and what are they? Just really, what's the population of the earth, roughly? You know, they don't, when was the Civil War?

What century was the American Revolution? I mean, I just have talked to too many young people who don't seem to know anything. Knowing things. It used to be big. You know, I was talking to Vivek Ramaswamy about his plans for education. Well, I thought his plans for education in Ohio were... Great. I hope he sticks to that because this guy is a dangerous nut.

Do you think he sticks to his nut? I like him. He's this charming guy, but as I said, he's both disarming and alarming. Well, what do you think about the idea of paying teachers based on how their students perform? A meritocracy with the teachers. So I don't think you should pay. You really think we should get into paying kids?

No, teachers. Oh, teachers. So the teachers who get the best results get a lot more money. Yeah, sure. I'd be more motivated as a teacher. But if you're paying them crap and you're treating them like crap, then obviously you're going to get crappy outcomes out of the majority. Yes, I wouldn't be against that, I don't think. But it's more like reestablishing standards.

I mean, I did a bit on the show a couple years ago called Bill Maher's Catholic School, which I thought was very funny because I'm such a famous atheist. So, but the idea of it was not wrong, which is that the only place a lot of people think and rightly so that their kids can get like a traditional education is Catholic school. So, you know, just so the Catholic schools have many kids in them who are not Catholic.

The parents just wanted them to go there because it's the one place where they don't take any shit. You can't talk back to the teacher. You're not just goofing off all day. And they actually remember that kids should know grammar and they should know- We did that pre-COVID with a school in Malibu. It was a Catholic school. And it was great. And then, of course, COVID happened, and we moved out of California. And the kids ended up going to a different school

in Florida for a while. And they did really well there. But in California, the public schools are struggling. Poor outcomes. And the weird part about California is that- But you're moving, right? So now, so unfortunately, family stuff has made me come back to California more than I would like to so

we bought a little place in Jackson Hole so this way I can get back and forth wherever I need you Wyoming Jackson oh yeah oh yeah it's beautiful I know you're not only going to go east of La Brea. It's beautiful. I know you love it. You're like, oh, you're so bright. It's a place around here called Beverly Hole, but I'm, it's opening. Club Random is brought to you by Skechers' hand-free slip-ins. I took them right off my feet. Skechers has the greatest invention ever. They're hands-free Skechers slip-ins.

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Upfront payment of $45 for 3-month, 5-gigabyte plan required, equivalent to $15 per month. New customer offer for first 3 months only. Then full price plan options available. Taxes and fees extra. See MintM Mobile for details. No, I know Jackson Hole is very famous because it's like where the rich and famous and the... There's some rich people there.

It's where the swells go. That's Aspen, more Aspen. Well, Aspen is skiing. Billionaires in boots, you'll see it. Jackson Hole, there's some big conclave there every year, isn't there? Isn't that where the... But I'm not invited to that shit. Okay, you'll see it. Jackson Hole, what kind, there's some big conclave there every year, isn't there? Isn't that where the... But I'm not invited to that shit.

Okay, but what is it that... I just like my insurance agency. But what is the thing that's there? I'm a real estate broker. No, no, no. Wait. Those are good people. No?

What's there? There's a big, I think it's the, it's some media summit every year. I do think Trump was there for something pre-campaign. It's like all the Google guys and Bezos and Zuckerberg, and the heads of the studio, they all go to a conclave every year. Everybody's flying in on their private jets. I'm pretty sure it's in Jackson Hole. I wouldn't be surprised, but I imagine they do events. It's that kind of place.

They service a lot of private jets at the Jackson Hole Airport. They do, because the tax laws are also exceptionally favorable. But I can tell you that the locals are some of the kindest people I've ever come across. It's almost unsettling. It's just- Oh, yeah. You get stuck in the snow, they'll pull you out, you get stuck again, same guy pulls you out. I love middle America.

Those kinds of people. Yeah, for that reason. That, everyone, you go to the DMV, they answer the phone. Oh hey doll, yeah just come on by. I'm like what? It's the way that you imagine your dream little 1950s town where everybody got along and the world seemed like a safer place.

Everyone's still so sweet and kind. I'm not invited to the conclave yet. Of course, on MSNBC right now, they're saying, yes, but in the 1950s town, there were no black people. This is true. Which is also true. Which is true. But you can't stay mad at the past forever.

Oh, I got a question for you. I mean, we can acknowledge that and then say, okay, but you know, there were also 1950s towns that had good people in it. It's just where we were. And by the way, the liberals were racists in 1952, in 1950 also. So you don't like... Joe Biden is the 94 crime bill. I mean, he is...

Come on. That was not racist. Black people were asking for that. Yeah, the black congressional plaque, the Congressional Black Caucus asked for it and voted for it. People of color in jail than any other legislation. OK, but what it was supposed to do was to make black neighborhoods safer and put more cops on the street.

And I'm sure it went awry like every government program does. But Joe Biden, Joe Biden is not a racist. This is a guy who said he didn't want his kids to go to school in a racial jungle. This is a guy who was anti-gay marriage. Why the liberals hung their hat on that guy is the great white hope is bizarre because he was the OG. He eulogized Strom Thurmond. But he also won one election. He won one in blue one. Come on. Who's perfect? So what? So the country's a dictatorship now.

Nobody is perfect, Joe. Oh, he's coming in for his trip to the woodshed these days. I mean, now that, like, it's been a year since, to be coming up to the year when he did the horrible debate, it's like Democrats have to the year when he did the horrible debate. It's like Democrats, they need to park their fury someplace. And it's not like he doesn't deserve it. It's just that he was spared it for a long time. But now the book by Jake Tapper is coming out about-

Bill, Jake Tapper is the guy that told everybody he was perfectly fine. There's a clip of him attacking Laura Trump. He's like, Oh, you don't know. Are you a doctor? And this bastard turned around and wrote a book when he was the one berating everybody pointing out concerns. Well, first of all, he's a friend of mine and not a bastard. But that is a legitimate question, which I have locked and loaded already in my mind. He's on the show this month, of course, to plug the book.

And I'm definitely going to ask him that very question. Show him the clip of him attacking Trump. Well, it's just that the book, I mean, they announced the book like the day after the election and it was out in February. It was like, wow, like for four years, we were not too interested in this subject. And then suddenly in three months, we have a whole book about it. Crazy.

And look, I bet you it actually was pretty easy to research because I bet you a lot of Democrats had kept this inside of them. So all they had to do was like, hi, can I get the question out? I was going to ask about the tax bill, but okay. I think everybody just had a Joe Biden poops in his pants story, and they wanted to say it. But, you know, we were talking today about Trump and he did a great job. He was a great guy. He was a great guy.

He was a great guy. He was a great guy. He was a great guy. poops in his pants story and they wanted to say it. But you know, we were talking today about Trump and he did this and he did that and I was like, first of all, I'm not a Trumper, despite the fact that we had that lovely dinner. That made people. I was gonna say, I never got the actual details. Were you surprised?

I said it on my show. I know, but I wanted to ask you. I gave every detail and that's why they fucking hated me, but I don't want to talk about that because it's already been done to death and it's going to, people are going to think, oh you're obsessed, I'm not obsessed with it. And people did never, nobody ever gave a shit really. It was only like this, the same few chattering classes always want to find something to argue about. I mean, to me, it's a no-brainer. Of course you go to the dinner, how could you not?

And then for me, everything is always a no-brainer if the question is, do you lie about it? No. And then I went right back to being exactly who I was and tearing him a new asshole every week. So it was, there's no there there. I disagree, I think there's a lot of there there in a great way. Yeah, maybe. There's no there there. I disagree. I think there's a lot of there there in a great way.

Yeah, maybe. Because people need to talk. And this goes back to what I'm seeing with people on the left, where I thought there would be this kind of like, all right, these 80-20 issues are killing us. Let's be more moderate. Let's move more to the middle. Let's look at where we went wrong. Let's look at all the disenfranchised Dems or the quote 90s liberals that have now

voted for the Republicans. And instead it's I resisted all counts. I will put a friggin fluoride drip in my arm because Kennedy says so and Tulsi is a Russian asset. I was on the phone with an MIT engineer the other day who was making a case, I can't even believe this, for petroleum-based food diets. And she was like, well, you know, I hope you know that you would need to eat a truckload of red number three or whatever the hell it is

for it to be a real concern. And I was like, hold on, are you listening to yourself? Like, first of all, let's say that was true when you were just consuming red number three, not the other 10,000 chemicals in your food and the shit in your water and the shit in your air and the shit in your beauty products and the stuff in your home cleaning supplies. Let's say that was true, right? Beetroot batter, an option that exists in Canada, the EU, why are you making a case for petroleum-based food days? Because-

That's why I drink Jing. No, but I'm, this is not the, you know- But seeing you going and sitting down and talking is exactly what we need. Your role modeling what we need. We need to work across the aisle. We need to talk to each other. That was actually incredible.

And I love that you did that. And, you know, fuck these haters. As long as you keep your integrity, which I did. That's why they have no argument. It's so funny the way when they come at me, it's just like, well, you know, the line I think that was triggering, and I'm like, you're already lost with me.

What you're just saying is you're emotional you fucking woman you were triggered and I mean woman like in the old 50s that's not women. In that 1950s out, no black people. Not women of today. No. You were triggered okay like I this this argument has no purchase with me because you're just saying and and I get it, Trump drives people crazy, but he didn't drive me crazy, and he's not going to drive me crazy.

They did go crazy. Here's how crazy people went, as long as we are talking about this now. When I first, I mean, my boy Kid Rock, I love him, when he asked me, I said, I'll go, and I thought, oh, now we'll keep it quiet. And of course, he talked about it immediately, then I had to like answer questions about it and When first got out there before I went People said to me Don't go

Because they were afraid like he was like it was that scene in Braveheart where they lure you and then Lock you in and kill you or the end of the end of the girl with the dragon tattoo, where the guy knows he shouldn't go down in the basement and this guy seems normal, and then I got the bag over my head and I need her to come and save me. And like, really, you think he's going to kidnap me? It's actually literally dangerous.

I mean, this guy really gets into people's minds and I certainly understand why he's gotten into mine In the past, but you're not gonna get there now I Am NOT on the page with a lot of what is going on in this country. I get it I understand it's dangerous and it's unprecedented and it's un-American and it is moving toward autocracy and it ain't cool. It ain't cool. Can you give the top issues?

Are you talking about like the Supreme Court saying- It ain't cool to ignore judges. It ain't cool to disappear people. It ain't cool to not know the Constitution and not care what's in it. So I'm not on any of this page, but I never have patience with people who have this complete cognitive dissonance between how great their life actually is in the moment and how much they're freaking out. I just can't take that.

I just can't take the people who come up to me in very fancy restaurants, Bill, what are we going to do? Go back and finish your $800 dinner, you fuck. You're fine. What are we gonna do? What are you gonna do? Well, here's what I find interesting. Fuck your secretary like you did last week.

That's what you're gonna do, you asshole. I love it. Okay, so here's my question about that. So listen, this Kilmar Obrego Garcia guy,. Alright, this is a guy who did cross the border illegally, who did beat the shit out of his wife, who was suspected of trafficking, and there's video of the police pulling him over and then ICE not showing up.

This guy's a piece of shit scumbag, and there was a deportation order on this guy. He then turns around and says, hold on, I need asylum from other gangs that are going to kill me. And it's like, well, hold on. You're claiming you're not a gang member, but you're worried competitive gangs are going to kill you.

Fair. I get it. The Supreme Court says, no, no. This guy needs his asylum case adjudicated. And I get it. And I get the alarm. And it's like, let's just play by the rules here. Even though we all want, or I think the vast majority of us

would want a person like that, gone. That said, here's my question. If Clinton deported 12 million and Obama deported 3 million, did each one of those guys really get due process or are we just alarmed now because it's Trump? The issue is not bad. The issue is that he did not get any sort of hearing. They just disappeared him out of the country into a foreign prison. Well, he had a deportation order.

Doesn't matter. He was about to go on trial for something. Kilmer? You mean the asylum, to adjudicate his asylum case? Yeah. OK, I get it. And I know that's why they want him back. And I see the concern, and I am with you on that concern.

But here's the common man's view, and I understand it. And in some ways, I am the common man on this, but at the end of the day, not, is that if someone isn't in this country legally to begin with, why did they get a trial? The answer is because it says that in the Constitution. They could have chosen the word citizen. And in the Fifth Amendment and in the Fourteenth Amendment,

they chose to say person. They knew the difference. They could have said citizen. They said, any person here, you can't do that without giving them their day in court. So, you know, that's it. You're right about that, and I get it. I'm just simply saying for all the what are we going to do, Bill, one of the things that

I've pointed out to friends is realize this has been going on forever and you're just now paying attention because if you think Clinton gave 12 million illegals due process, I don't think so. And that would be my real question is how much of this is new news? Well, and the bigger thing is that every action has a reaction. So if your action is what the Biden administration did to have a policy of come one, come all, kids stay free, of course the reaction when you lose the election, that's that thing, like everyone's always like, Bill, what are we going to do?

Did you see what Trump did? I'm like, you know what? I have about 100 fucks a year to give. So I just can't give every day on this. Okay, I just got the 100. So you know what? You shouldn't have lost the election. So don't, this is who he is.

You knew this is who he was. You said it was an existential problem if he won again, and yet you went with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. So I'm going to go back and finish my dinner. Exactly. Can I ask you, this is the part that I'm befuddled by. When you look at the polls, or at least what I've been seeing out there in the social media zeitgeist is that she is the front-runner followed closely I guess not a close

second but then that's just name recognition okay fair fair and one would hope honestly it's because I've been underwhelmed by her for quite some time whether you like her or not oh I oh so my Kamala yeah oh totally underwhelming and then but then the next one in line is AOC. I mean, I voted for her, but totally underwhelming. I even said in the editorial I did the Friday before the election, I was trying to get her elected. But I did say, do I love everything about her?

No, not close. But who told you you have to love everything? That's American politics. Okay, here's my question. Okay, so you're totally right. You have to love everything about her. No, there are obviously many that that's true. But yes, or underwhelming.

Okay. So why is it that the Democrats didn't look at the reasons they lost and then try to come more to the middle? Instead, they're doing it finally. Not AOC, not funny. Matt Taibbi, it could be so funny. I think he had, I think it was in the way, the funniest line he said,

AOC is practically a police sketch drawing of what Americans don't want from a president. She's leading. But it's 2025. The election isn't for three years. This means nothing. You know what it is? This means nothing.

It's the fact that I thought this. You're not going to do it. I would bet my house on that. They are not going to go that route. They get it. Do they? Yes. The Democratic Party wants to survive.

Every party does. Actually, say in Jurassic Park, life finds a way. I see it out here with the ground dogs in my lawn. I see it with the ducks. I have ducks and they go in the pool and I yell at them and they get out. I think I've trained them now. I praise them when they stay out.

I yell at them when they get in. I see it all around. Life finds a way. You know, the way the world is going, everybody could use therapy, but a lot of people I know who really need it complain that it costs a fortune, it's time consuming because of the back and forth,

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by the Freedom From Religion Foundation. You ever notice how more and more people are stepping away from organized religion? It's like we all collectively realized, hey wait, I don't actually have to go to synagogue on Friday or church on Sunday. And boom, sleeping in one. But here's the thing, not everyone's cool with this shift. Christian nationalism is on the rise and they're working overtime to shove their beliefs into our laws, our schools, even our personal lives. It's like, hey I respect your right to believe whatever you want, just don't make me live

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or text club to 511-511 and become a member today. Text club to 511-511 or go to ffrf.us slash freedom. Because the only thing worse than someone forcing religion on you is when they do it by law. For membership information, text club to 511-511. Text fees may apply. And the Democratic Party, I do think, understands that they are at an existential moment. Parties don't have to survive. The Whigs came and went and others. And they understand they're not going to win with the AOC wing.

And it's going to be a bitter pill for the Latinx gluten-free, non-binary, Hamas lovers in the party. But they're just going to have to swallow hard at the end of the day. And I think they will. I think, again, because entities want to survive. I actually hope that you're right. Because I think we need... Oh, yeah. Me too. I think we need two healthy parties.

It would be nice to have some alternatives. Of course we want to see common sense reign supreme on both sides. But can I ask you this one? Is there anything Trump's doing that you think is good? And I'm asking genuinely. The terror thing. Is this a disaster? Do we not know yet? Or is it genius? I swear to you, I'm asking genuinely. Yes. Like the terror thing. Is this a disaster? Do we not know yet? Or is it genius?

I swear to you, I'm asking honestly. I really, I can't understand it. I understand why he's doing it. And I feel like if it works, it'll be, no. It's a terrible, well, there's no doubt, even the people on the other side of this debate would concede, I think. There's no doubt that to some degree, some countries have been playing unfairly in the trade war. And China was the biggest offender. And it's bugged a lot of people for a long time and Trump the most. Still, we were killing it with the rest of the world. I mean, right before the election,

the economist had a cover story, the American economy, the envy of the world. I mean, right before the election, the economist had a cover story, the American economy, the envy of the world, and for good reason. When you look at the numbers, I mean, our worst states, GDP, is higher than France and Germany's and England's. I mean, we're just, I attribute this to just America. We love money. We're fucking greedy and nothing can stop us like all the pandemic, whatever the fuck we are,

we still just wanna make money and have the good life and be on the yacht with the Kardashians. And so we just have this drive and nothing stops us and we just make, and we just- The Kardashians. We do. At the Jackson Conclave. We do, we just wanna have a leopard skin something and we just keep, so we kill it economically.

So there was certainly no need for Trump to like blow the whole thing up. I mean, I said, I think on my show, if you had a building and you wanted to demo it, wouldn't you take out the valuable stuff first? Yeah, I have to admit I've wondered that. Like, why do you have to piecemeal it out maybe or give people a little warning? China and of course a lot of people already lost money because the people have businesses where stuff has to come in and I mean the reason why he finally pulled back and made a deal with

China is because his people Started to really complain So are you happy do we ever know what are you happy with that deal? I don't understand yet I mean he lowered the tariff on China from $145 to $30. I mean, that's... They dropped our tariffs, though, didn't they? In which case, that's my question is, what if it works? If it works, will he be a genius? You've got improved national security, more manufacturing jobs, better trade deals. If it works, I'll be the only person on the left who acknowledges it.

Exactly. Because they just won't ever do that, and that's why I think I have standing with a lot of people in this country on both sides, because I just don't play that game. You don't. And it's possible. You don't know how things will work out. Look, in 50 years, people might be saying, you know, when George Bush went into Iraq, it was at

the time criticized, but now blah, blah, blah. I don't think that's going to happen, but you just don't. I've lived long enough to know you predict the future, you're a fool, you know, especially that far in the future. So I don't know, you know, but I'll say this, the idea, and I've done a couple of bits about this on the show, the idea of bringing manufacturing back here is stupid. It's just, first of all, Gen Z's not gonna do it. They are just not the crowd to be going to a factory.

But they're like Nvidia chips and all that, though. Like, you're still bringing it here, you've got C. Well, we already have that. We're already killing them with that. I thought we were, well, again, Nvidia brought some of the chip manufacturing over from Taiwan, and you've got, like, a national security issue where China's. Well, we better, well again, NVIDIA brought some of the chip manufacturing over from Taiwan and you've got like a national security issue where China's... Well we better because we we still get most of them from Taiwan I think, you know. I mean if China takes Taiwan... We're

screwed. You know. But then you get the case for his argument so to speak because there's a national security problem if China's making all of our shit, our drugs, our tech. Right. Like, I mean so then I kind of see what he's doing. I'm just like, do we have to do it like this? Antibiotics. I mean, look. That's what I'm saying. Do you? You and I both don't like antibiotics.

But sometimes you need them. But sometimes you need them. Yeah. And you damn well want them in the world. Yep. And we already have them under attack because they don't work as well as they used to because people have overused them. Yeah.

Oh, yeah. I mean, I've been hearing that for years. Oh, it's a huge problem. And in the animal feed is a big problem. Of course, that's part of it is that they put it in the animal feed, which is horrible, and then we eat the animals. Yeah, I know. You get these resistant strains of bugs.

Right. And it's going to be, or it could potentially be catastrophic, but recently I was unfortunate enough to come down with whooping cough and I had to do intrabel. Oh my God, I've never been so sick. And I- How do you get that?

What is it? On a plane to Jackson Hole, I'll have you know. Really, you got it on a plane? Oh my God, and it was February, I'll never forget, it was February, we were flying out there and there was a family behind me coughing and I was like, that's not good. And sure enough, within three days, I had a feather in my chest and by, I don't know, week three, I had a friggin needle in my arm at the doctor's office for antibiotics. I had done two rounds of Z-packs.

My doctor hit me with a prednisone pack, something called Budesonol, inhaled steroids, Allegra allergy medication, allergy nose spray because of all the... Oh my God, I didn't want to tell you. It was so disgusting. Snots. A snot. Double round of a Z-Pak, didn't work. Intravenous Cipro in her office, and it took 100 days for me to get better.

100, it's called the 100 Day Cough. And by the way, it's not because I'm an anti-vaxxer, I'm just outdated on my friggin' vaccination, I guess. I don't remember the last time I got the booster, it's like a Tdap booster for tetanus, whooping cough, and for goodness sake, I can't remember the last one. But this, by the way, is where you look at vaccines and more and more of these vaccines.

But man, I haven't taken antibiotics in 10 years. I took so much antibiotics. I think I emptied out China of their antibiotics. There's a time and a place, and when you need them, you need them, and it's generally, in those cases, for me, it's like it better be life or death when I take that stuff. Yeah, because now you have to repair your body from it. Oh my God.

It's been, luckily I know how to do it and I'm healthy and I know a huge amount of incredible doctors and gastroenterologists that- Yeah, but a lot of times Western medicine, you know, those doctors are not gonna say after you finish antibiotic rounds, you know what, now you're body's sick because you just killed a lot of it with those antibiotics.

You killed the bad stuff. So now what's really imperative is you do this, this, and this. You're not gonna get that from 90% of the doctors in this country. The ones I know. Once you're over the whooping cough, you're over it and they're done. They're done with you.

Mine, I had three doctors helping me with this actually. My friend runs a wellness clinic. I think you and me, I made an interview. Brigham Bueller has a company called Ways to Well, and there's a doctor there named Dr. Rexford who- Dr. expert? Dr. Rexford. Is that what you said? Dr. Rexpert. And she made me like all the- Doctor, her name is expert? Dr. Dinesh Rexpert.

Oh. But yes, she's an expert. And then my doctor in Los Angeles got involved, Dr. Baker. That takes a while. And then my gastroenterologist, Dr. Sabina Hazing got involved, and all three of them rebuilt Humpty from the ground up. But holy shit. But is whooping cough always this bad?

Yeah, I guess it's the same. It's the same. It's the same. It's the same. It's the same. It's the same. It's the same. It's the same.

It's the same. It's the same. It's the same. It's whooping cough always this bad? Yeah, it kills people. And that's why when you're going to have a baby, they make you get the whooping cough vaccine because if babies get it, they will die. And this is kind of the conversation of does a baby need a vaccine for hepatitis B? Like How do you get it? Sex and needles. Probably not if mom doesn't have it. But whooping cough, I mean, from my family,

it's a big hell yeah. They're different. It's a nuanced conversation. Right, this sounds like one I might go for. Oh, Bill, you do not want whooping cough. If you're outdated on a whooping, and it's going around, for sure. Really? Oh yeah, yeah. I mean, they'll tell you like, oh,'s going around, for sure. Really? Oh, yeah.

Yeah, I mean, they'll tell you like, oh, there's 23,000 cases, and you're going to think it's nothing until it's not. Until it's not nothing. Until you get it, obviously. Yeah, it's no joke. And you are so sick. This is so not pleasant for your show, and I apologize. But you're so sick that you cough to the point of actually it's so disgusting. I'm sorry.

I'm actually, of actually throwing up. My wife was freaking out. She's like, we need to like, we gotta go to the hospital. And for the first couple of weeks, I was like, am I going to the fucking hospital? I'm like, I'm going to the hospital. And by the time I called, when I was back in Los Angeles and I called Dr. Baker, like she's incredible, Dr. Susan Baker, big shout out for you. I called her at six in the morning on Sunday and I was Dr. Baker, like she's incredible, Dr. Susan Baker, big shout out for you. I called her at six in the morning on Sunday and I was like, Doc, I need you to go to the hospital.

And she knew right away, she was like, oh my God, you have weapon cough. And she, man, she hit me with the horns. And then everybody else tried to piece me back together along with her, but it's like, you can't F with these things. That's why when people get so tribal about I love my fluoride or I'm never getting a vaccine, you're just an asshole. You're

an idiot. There's nuance to the conversation. And this is why health should never be a political football ever. But somehow I took you off peace with China. No, no. I'd rather talk about this because I care mostly about my own personal health. Fuck the audience. Fuck whatever. I mean, no, I mean, this is what- It's no joke, that one. Really, I'm not kidding. No, I forgot about that one.

Yeah, it's like, because it was almost gone. My brother had to come get me at one point and he's like- So where's RFK? Here's the great question. On the whooping cough vaccine. Because if, is he, Here's the great question, on the whooping cough vaccine. Because if, is he, I don't trust him to be reasonable. That's, I love him, but I don't trust him to be reasonable.

When I think of RFK, I am BPO, big picture only. Big picture, I'm glad he has this view that we're being poisoned slowly by, you know, the... Everything. Everything. Exactly. Everything. And that's the big picture, and I'm down with that.

And then certain specific things, like, yes, let's get rid of the red dye number two. You know, you were talking about that before. You need a truckload. I was never on the page of this theory that they have in Western medicine. A small amount of poison is fine. Like, I would prefer no poison. Yeah. I couldn't agree with you more. But even conversely, why argue for it? Right. Especially when an alternative currently exists and the food companies are using those alternatives

in other countries to ban these ingredients that are in our food and get in... And does it even affect the taste if they make the... No, it's about attracting children. So it's just making the thing... Okay. That's what it is. And a lot of adults who act like children. Bingo.

Yeah. A lot of it, it's not like only children are like, no, I want red ones. I don't care. I don't care if it kills me. I want the red ones. The glow in the dark. That is why they do it. So there's 10,000 chemicals that get into our food supply through something called the generally recognized as safe

rule, which is the corporate capture that RFK speaks so eloquently about where the food companies can vouch for the safety of these ingredients, despite the fact that in pretty much every other part of the developed world, 9,500 of those 10,000 are banned. So he's got a pretty solid point there. If you look at the conversations that he's having around vaccines, if we looked at something like measles, mumps, rubella, he's not taking away the vaccines. And I think we've seen that already. So we can all calm down. You want your M mumps, rubella. He's not taking away the vaccines, and I think we've seen that already,

so we can all calm down. You want your MMR vaccine, go get it. You can have it. Right. What he is advocating for. You like your vaccine, you can keep your vaccine. Go get it. Go get it.

What he's advocating for is greater transparency and better safety testing. So, for example, when he was talking about the MMR vaccine, so measles, mumps, rubella, they'll tell you robustly tested, robustly tested. Now individually they were, but not as a trifecta. And so there have been some concerns that are valid over the ways in which these vaccines interact when combined. What he's asking for is the ability to test that and when they tell you, oh no, no, no, we've got this great system in place

to monitor for long-term dangers, no, they actually don't. That's theirs, which is the vaccine adverse event reporting the system I'm getting. Vaccine adverse event. No, no, I've made the same argument myself. And so he's simply saying, let's have gold standard testing here,

and I'll tell you, I got no idea. I mean, he has said much more radical things. He has, but name one, and let me see if I can try to rationalize it for you. He said, at one point, I think he said he doesn't believe in any vaccines. I haven't heard him say that, personally. I think, I mean.

But if he did, I would fundamentally disagree with him, personally. Right, or wrote it. There's things he's written in his books that are, I think, way out there. But okay, but it doesn't matter, he is where he is now. And if the idea is that my idea about vaccines, even before COVID, why they called me an anti-vaxxer,

was I was just saying, unless it's, I feel it's necessary and you know, like whooping cough sounds like a good candidate. That's a good one for, I would recommend it. That sounds like a good candidate. Personally. I am going to err on the side of, do I think vaccines are probably harmful? No, but I don't know what causes cancer. Do I think vaccines do?

No. I don't know what causes cancer. Do I think vaccines do? No. I don't know personally. What I'm saying is no, but is there some combination of influences in the body that we didn't have 50 years ago of all these different things? That vaccines could play a part or some combination of vaccines or how many you get? I mean, there's a lot of nuance. It can't just be vaccines are our hero.

Let's always get as much in you as to, as young as we can. It's just always good. That I don't know. Well, Memorial Day is a day of remembrance to honor and mourn those members of the U.S. military who sacrificed so much for our country. It's a moment to be grateful.

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Visit omahastakes.com for 50% off site-wide during the Memorial Day sale. And for an extra $35 off, use promo code BILL at checkout. That's omahastakes.com. See site for details. Okay. So in 1986, the pharmaceutical companies lobbied Reagan, the Reagan administration, to give them blanket immunity on vaccines. Now, why would they do that? Because vaccine

injuries do happen. They happen. As every drug does have side effects. Exactly. Now, upon receiving this immunity, they put, oh my gosh, I'm going to get this number wrong and please forgive me, I can't recall, but there were like 30 something more doses added to the schedule within the next 10 years or so. And this becomes the question, it's like there's 72 doses, not 72 vaccines for all the haters out there, but there's 72 doses of vaccines now under the age of 18. And there was a fraction of those when you and I were kids. And the question becomes like, well, hold on, does a six month old need a COVID shot? Like, do they need hepatitis B?

Do they need it in this timeframe? To ask these questions, what's wrong with asking the questions? And it, okay. And what's wrong with the common sense scientific answer? No, babies don't need COVID shots or like sexual disease shots. I know that- Unless mom has had B, you can test her for that. You know, it's, there's always, I always say

there's always an actual easy, not easy, but certainly easy to understand, centrist position on almost every issue you can name. It's just that we're just not the people anymore who can get to it. We're too tribal and too hateful. When you hate, you don't hear the argument. If I had one theme, that's what it is lately. It's like, and again, that comes back to like the Trump dinner and shit. Like, these people who just want to hate and...

Resist at all costs. Just resist. I call them the haters and the clickbaiters. But see, you think the Democrats are making progress. I don't see it. Their party voices are, I could name, Gavin Newsom, certainly in the last... Bill. Yeah, but...

I do see what you're saying, but he's just... Yeah, you could hate him. I struggle on every level with him. I don't buy it. Yeah, people strike... I don't buy it. He is doing what I wish the Democrats would do, but with him, I just don't buy it. Yeah, you know what? People have that right to just, it's like with the same thing we do with movie stars. There are movie stars who like, I have no reason why I don't like them. I just don't. I have reason.

I just don't like look at you. I got a lot of reasons why I don't like them. I do not like him, but he's doing what I want the Democrats to do. He's talking to the other side. Now all of a sudden he's like, we got to clean up these homeless encampments. But for me, I'm like, well, what'd you do with the 24 billion you spent on it for the problem to get worse? And now all this information is coming in about fraud. Now you care?

Because like, come on. He's got a lot to own. Most politicians do. I love him. So that's it. You know what? I don't give a shit what anybody thinks and I don't give a shit what you think. I know. And by the way, I would never judge you for sitting down with Gavin. That's what makes me love you. Whereas the other side attacked you for sitting down with Gavin, that's what makes me love you. Whereas the other side attacked you for sitting down with Trump. I sat down with Trump. I like Gavin. Trump is, as I said, very likable too in person. You know, I mean, I know that blows people's minds,

but as long as it doesn't affect my judgment. Do you like the job Gavin's done? Do you like the job he's done? Well, up until- We spend the most here and get the least. Up until like literally the week before he started on this path back toward the middle, I remember having a conversation with someone who knows him and knows California politics and I said, is Gavin ever going to go back to the middle?

Because I really liked this guy for the longest time. But he's, and he knows it, I've been very critical of the, shh, let me finish. Is he, I said he's, I've been very critical of his moving, of his being way too far left the way he's governed this state. And then lots of, I mean, I remember doing 10 years ago more California booster editorials like because we had lots of brag about. And then we went crazy too far left. He was the governor for a lot of it. And I was like, you know, I always thought this guy was such a great, always in command of the facts, obviously great looking.

He just, you know, looks to me like presidential timber. And, you know, he's a great debater. I mean, he can be mean, which is great, like that debate with DeSantis. And I just think if he was just, if he could just make that move to the center, and she said, yeah, I don't think it's going to happen, and he did it a week later. And like, he's rolled out one after another, like girls and, you know, biological women.

But he didn't change a law. He just said, yeah, I can see why that's unfair. And they did nothing, and he supported the law that facilitated it. Okay, okay, you know what? When you don't like somebody, all you see is like it didn't happen tomorrow and it's imperfect and this and that's not how I see politicians. They're all so imperfect. And again, it's like I said with the movie stars, it's just some people you just don't like. There's that really, you think it's much more logical than it is. Trust me, lots of people on your team, sweetheart, have done so much worse things than Gavin Newsom ever did.

Totally agree with you. But you just like that, and that's okay. You can- I don't though, Bill. To be honest with you, I still consider myself a purple person. I think I'm playing a game of lesser evils. And I think that the way DeSantis ran Florida is superior to the way Gavin Newsom has run California. I might agree with that. But that's the argument that I'm making. That's what I'm saying.

Okay, but DeSantis is not a Democrat. And there are lots of things DeSantis did that are gross. Thanks, Ben. But if you look at the way he runs the state, like I could give you another example. No, especially with COVID. COVID, the homelessness has improved, crime has improved, the state has a surplus, not a deficit. I remember doing a whole editorial about how DeSantis was better on this than California. And I remember seeing, I think part of it was

that I personally saw it firsthand, the first place I went when they let us travel again. I think it was June of 21. The first gig I did in a year and a half was in Sarasota, Florida, somewhere in Florida. And I mean, it was just so different than California, which felt like, I mean, it was just so different in California, which was felt like, I mean, you would drive around at night and you feel like you're in a behind the iron curtain country.

You know, oh, this is what Prague looks like in 1965. You know, just, just dour, you know, Like communists, they eat dower. And it's like it was so unnecessary to be sliding the meals to the Yale students through the transit. Completely. I mean, just the way they lost their shit, a certain part of it, and to this day, I don't think they realized the kind of credibility they lost when they did that. I mean, that's why RFK, for all his nutty sides, still has like a very loyal following

of a lot of Maha people, right? Well, yes, but I would also put this to you. And I don't think that RFK is perfect, obviously. And if he did say like, I don't like all vaccines, well, I haven't seen that, but, and he he hasn't said that now and he's not taking away vaccines but I would agree if he said anything like that that would be alarming with that or did something like that that would alarm me however when you look at where we've been and the abject failure of the people that have held his role

previously if we looked at the guy before him, Xavier Bracchara, this guy's not a doctor, not a PhD, he's a lobbyist, and I believe he was a lawyer. And this is a guy that moved to remove all age restrictions on gender-affirming care. And my answer is, where is everyone's outrage? Where was the outrage?

In a transition, a nine-year-old? That's frin' nuts. And anything, there's nothing RFK could say that would scare me more than that, to be dead honest, Bill. This is where- Oh, I was all over that issue. You were. Yeah, I mean, of course. And you're like a lone soldier out there on this issue.

On the left, yeah. Yes, that's what I mean. this issue on that on the left. Yeah, because because but again, good to see that it's not just new. So let's get off him. But Ro Khanna, there's a whole Pete Buttigieg is butching it up these days. He's got a beard and I don't mean the old kind of I mean an actual beard. He doesn't need a beard. He's out. But yeah, I mean, and the things they are saying are the very things I've been saying for the last like five years. I like that. That makes me very hopeful.

Oh yeah, no, again, they want to survive. They want to survive. And this is, they get, so I think Pete Buttigieg is going to be very much in the race. I think he checks a box that a certain part of the sentimental side of the Democrats needs. He's not a straight white man. He's not much of a... He's a Marine though, isn't he? They don't care about that. Speaks multiple languages.

No, what they... See, I actually care about that to me. What they care about... I'm like, Marine speaks multiple languages. I think it was a roadster or am I wrong about that? No, what they care about is that he represents a marginalized community. But Bill, that's what's gross. That's what people reject. Of course it's gross.

That's what nobody cares about anymore. I'm telling you, this is what matters to them. So if he can, so he can, just just the way Obama being an African American Could be much more to the center because he like already sort of look. I'm I'm not a white Straight man. So right away I have more credibility and Pete, you know No, it's not as good as being black, but it's like look. I'm not a white straight man as good as being black, but it's like, look, I'm not a white straight man. Crazy conversation that we were having though. So he can, and he's a great debater.

I mean, he's a, I mean, I don't think the Democrats are actually in bad shape if they get on this page. They have some, some really good people. Where is Josh Shapiro? Where is this guy? Pennsylvania. But why is he not making more noise? Why is he not like this Phoenix from the ashes?

His house burned, yeah, his house burned down. Well, but I mean, I'm saying- Somebody fucking burned his house down. No, I guess for me, I'm like, okay, he's liked. He's done a good job there. He's relatively moderate. Like, I thought this was gonna be the guy. It's 2025.

The race is not on yet. We haven't had the midterms, for fuck's sake. Okay, the guy. It's 2025. The race is not on yet. We haven't had the midterms, for fuck's sake. Okay, all right. That's fair. No, this is just, the Democrats are turning a battleship around in the river. Oh, they definitely are.

Okay. And they'll get it, hopefully mostly turned around by the midterms and then we'll see. And then we'll see. What happens with the Ilhan Omar's and the AOC's and I cannot remember this woman's name, I'm so sorry, the woman who like cut the guy off on the wheelchair at the airport and I only. Oh yeah.

Like these are the people, the loudest, most obnoxious, offensive, like far left. The far left that seems to get the most attention. The squad. They do. They always get the fringes always get the most attention. Yeah. They get the most attention on the other side too. But we shall see, you know, how they do it, but how good they are at doing it, but they are definitely moving in that direction. I mean, that's definitely hopeful. So AOC and Bernie, I saw a great headline about them, the old man and AOC.

You Hemingway fans will appreciate that one. They will be out there getting their crowds. There is certain amount of the energy of the party is with the far left, you know, they're Democrat socialists. They're not even Democrats. They're, you know, for more socialism. And that's it.

But from the private jet that they're flying around the country on though? I mean, that is not lost on me for God's sake. Really? Are they on a private jet? Yes, on the fight God's sake really are they on a private jet Yes on the fight the oligarchy targeting on their private jet and off their private jet and they I mean I just Can't I mean that to me is the least of the issues I mean it's sure a typical critical in a way, but the the deeper issue is do we need more socialism in America? I mean

We can have that debate. Just, I would want people to understand, which I don't think they do, the people who go to those rallies, we already do have a lot. So the debate, we can have it, maybe we should have it, but it has to start at the realistic point of, we're not at zero here.

We already have a lot of socialism in America. We are a quasi socialist country as all Western democracies are and should be. There are things that we privatize now that I think should be the government run. I don't think prisons should be privately run. Incentive is not good. It's not. Yeah. I mean, you know, the guards have a union and their product is prisoners. They want more prisons.

Horrible. Yeah, it's horrible. And why do prisons have to be just these hellholes? I mean, can you, couldn't we just keep people behind bars without making it a torture chamber? Yeah. I wouldn't care, by the way, if they were despicable human beings. Like, that's the part that's kind of... If a guy steals a car, you know,

if he commits, like, if he's a thief, fraud, I totally agree. If the guy is a pedophile, I don't care where he goes. You lose me. And I know that you... I love that you, I love that you are so good at kind of like, but that's not the humane way to handle it, that's not what the law says,

that's not how we do things here, but just me to you, if a guy kills a kid, I would friggin', I take, I would like, I would, don't even wanna, I don't care where he goes. Yeah, I mean, having never had kids, I don't have that to, I don't care where he goes. Yeah, I mean, having never had kids, I don't have that same feeling for kids. When people say that, we're like, the worst thing you'd probably do as a kid, I always

just think of Nikki Glaser's great bit where she goes, kids, I mean, we get so sentimental about it, but in 10 years, it's just going to be some guy named Doug. I'm like, exactly. It's just going gonna be some guy named Doug. Like exactly, it's just gonna be some guy named Doug. So like, is it really? Well, let's take, let's take the, okay, without naming names, I know there's an individual that you're very close to and you care very much about. And let's say somebody did something hideous to her.

Would you give a shit what their prison look like? Well, she's not a child. I mean, young, yes. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm saying take the kid part out of it. Right. If somebody did something hideous to another human being that involved violence.

I'm not against the death penalty. I think the death penalty is more humane than keeping someone housed in solitary. Solitary, that's really kind of like cruel and unusual punishment. So, you know, of course we all, you're probably too young to remember this, but Michael Dukakis,

who was man for president in 1988, blew it when some, one of the debates somebody asked, if someone raped and killed your wife, Kitty Dacoccas, raped her violently at knife point, what would you do? And he said, well, I would check the amendments. And he just should have said what you said. I would have fucking killed the motherfucker.

And he just went into politician mode, and America went, no, and that's when Donald Trump said, I'm going to be president someday by just being balls out with everything and never giving a fuck what I say. And that's one pledge he's kept. Yes, this is true. He certainly never gives a shit what anybody thinks. He just says it. That is one of the secrets to his political success. We've never seen that before.

No. And I think also he sees the people in the middle of the country. And I think they felt demonized and attacked for such a long time. They they bond on a level of, you know, he was from Queens, which is in New York, you know, could be Mars. You're not in Manhattan. I mean, this is what Saturday Night Fever was about. Tony Manero, he just wanted to get from Brooklyn, the Bulls, into Manhattan.

If we could make it in Manhattan. And that's Trump. Like, he's an outsider deplorable. I mean, it's the same mentality. They're still doing it though. Again. Who's doing what? For example, the whole deplorable thing.

Oh, sure. They're still doing it. Even when you, listen, I've met Tom Hanks a couple of times. And he was very kind and very lovely. And his wife was exceptionally lovely. But when he was on Saturday Night Live... I hated it too when I said it on my show. I know. I hated it. Wearing the MAGA hat, not shaking hands with a black person.

And that's when I thought, you people don't know MAGA people. I mean they have their issues and I certainly have my issues with them. But they're general, I mean, of course there's some racists everywhere who are that bad, but generally, all the MAGA people I know have no problem shaking hands with the black person. You're just hysterical and you're not helping. Nope. Not at all.

That was not- Deplorable squared. Not helping. Nope. Not at all. That was not. Deplorable squared. Not helping. Nope. I don't get it. This is the part where I'm like, is this Titanic? But mostly what I hate is, it's what I call a zombie lie. Don't lie to me.

It's a lie that MAGA people won't shake hands with. I get it. It's part of a skit and it's an exaggeration and that's comedy. It's a little too delicate a subject to just make, to go there for that one. So, you know, look, we all in comedy step over the line sometimes or do one that they want to take back. I doubt if they want to take that one back. I think they probably think it's great. But I'm telling as a liberal, I don't like it. Again, because lying offends me.

I'm a comedian. When the premise isn't real, I can't get the joke. It's not going to work. The premise has to ring true. That premise doesn't ring true. It might have rang true, I don't know, X years ago. It doesn't ring true. It might have rang true, I don't know, X years ago, it doesn't now. So, you know, but that's where we are. Everybody has to just play the hate card because that's

what gets clicks, that's what gets you loved by your side. Right, your side, and there's safety there. They just want to feel that that. Oh, yeah, that's right that He's Hitler Let's go right to your devil Yeah, and and you lose people No one's listening on the other side and then even people on your own side are like, well, are we not really like what does that? Even mean nowadays. I'm not totally sure Well, I gotta go.

OK. I gotta, I'm one of them. Gonna go get your whooping cough vaccine? You know, I have to tell you something. It kind of was on my mind the whole time we were talking. When you said that, I was like, Jesus Christ. Oh, we get it.

Does Gillian still have the womb? No. No. No, I know. No, we got it in February. No, no. Club it. Does Jillian still have the womb? No. No, no, we got it in February. No, no. Club. Random.

Thank you. Thanks for everything. Oh, it's great to see you. This was fun. Are we gonna? Yeah. It's all for everything? Yeah, it's all for everything.

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