Lovett or Leave It - Moscow Mules and Piña Colludas

Episode Date: July 14, 2017

Rainn Wilson, Max Silvestri, Milana Vayntrub, and Laurie Kilmartin join Jon to discuss Junior's meetings, health care, humanitarian work, and Dwight Schrute. Plus a new game ends in a little collusion you won't want to miss.

Hey everybody! How you guys doing? I see some friends of the pod I see somebody eating a turkey burger on the stage Like it's a fucking table That's very cool No, leave it there I'm not, I'm not on the stage like it's a fucking table. That's very cool. No, leave it there.

I'm shaming you, but I don't want you to change what you're doing. Are we interrupting your dinner? Thank you guys for coming out. What a week. Obviously, we have a lot to get to. Really, we have one thing to get to. Really, we have one thing to get to. One big fucking crazy thing. But before we do, I want to get into, obviously, Donald Trump Jr. and his master plan.

We obviously are going to talk about health care, because if we don't, we'll get in trouble. But my first guest is a fantastic actor. He's best known for playing Dwight on NBC's The Office. He can currently be seen in Shimmer Lake on Netflix. But he also co-founded Soul Pancake, a media company that seeks to tackle life's biggest questions. And he co-founded an educational initiative in rural Haiti, a place that's been through a lot in recent years that empowers young, at-risk women through the arts.

So I'm really excited to talk to him about that work and sort of what he's learned from it at a time in which we've seen refugee crises and famines and other things causing a huge amount of migration and a huge amount of dislocation all over the world. So please put your hands together for Rainn Wilson. Hi.

Rainn, thank you for being here. Thanks, Lovett. Thanks for having me. It's very exciting. Very exciting, and it's in a rock club. I've seen, like, live sweaty bands on this stage. I want to thank you for reminding me to say how exciting it is that we are live at the Troubadour. Troubadour!

We have so much to cover, I forgot to take a moment and appreciate how cool it is that we're here. This is the first place the Rolling Stones played in the United States. Did you know that? I didn't know that. That's not true. Trickery.

Yeah. On my own show. Yes. I usually do the lying. The whole vibe is, I lie to them. You were not kidding about that fucking turkey burger. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Hold on one second. It smells. I can smell it. Hold on a second.

What's your name? I don't want any. What's your name? I'm Kate. Kate, did you not have lunch? You are going to town on this turkey burger. I'm really hungry. You're really hungry. And you thought, I'm going to come to a show. I'm going to knock out dinner, two birds, one stone, that kind of a thing. You don't have a drink. Nope. Let's get serious. So can you tell us a little bit about this initiative and what led you to be part of it?

I know we have a clip about your time in Haiti, but what sort of led you to go there and what is the mission here? Yeah, so... And what's it called? It's... L'idée. My wife and I had been to Haiti and really fallen in love with the country. It's just a magnificent country, an amazing culture, great people, arts, humor, music, you name it. And two months later, the earthquake happened. And 250,000 people died in about two minutes. The hotel that we had stayed at, which put it in perspective for us, slid down the hill. Everyone inside of it was killed. And as devastatingly poor as we found Haiti when we first visited it, and then after the destruction of the earthquake, we knew we had to do something. So we started teaching these arts workshops, and we realized that doing these arts workshops for adolescent girls was incredibly effective on a number of different levels. And we fell

in love with the work and we committed to it. That was, oh boy, that was seven years ago that we started it. Our organization's been going for four years. We currently educate over 600 girls in about 13 locations in rural Haiti. That's amazing. That's amazing. You know, we talked yesterday about this and about some of the things that you've learned just from the response to the work you've been doing

and I think the response has been very positive. Let's start with because I think you've done this work We had a phone call. We did. But, and what, but no, what you, you, you've taught, you talked to me about how the fact that, that this work has been incredibly well received, but at the same time, even when you talk about doing relief work in Haiti, you talk about the plight of refugees. You have found that there are these two responses and incredibly positive outpouring people who want to support the work of the organization, but at the same time, people

have a kind of, what are you doing for people here, a kind of nationalist response. Yeah, you know, and we've all probably experienced this on social media, but every time I tweet about Haiti or recently, some friends and I, we went down to Tijuana because there's a Haitian refugee crisis in Mexico, which is crazy. And so we went down with Jimmy Jean-Louis, who's a great Haitian actor, to interview the Haitians and hear about their story. But to hear

these searing stories from these Haitians kind of stuck in Mexico was really a revelation. Let's watch the clip. Okay. Like a restaurant. I know, but trust me, the food is good.

Hola, senora. Dos comidas recién, por favor. When, when, when. What? Let me handle that. Okay. Let me handle that. Okay.

So you don't have to see them as a slave. Oh, there's a lot. I was really bad for my Rubin. I want to pay them a good bit. Ah, because sometimes they abuse them. Sometimes they don't pay them. You know, and they use them as semi-slaves, you know. All of these people are feeling the pressure of supporting their families back in home in Haiti.

Every single Haitian outside of Haiti feels the pressure of supporting their family from out. It's fascinating. Sorry. I wanted to go back to your first question because I realized I didn't answer it. The response, so I was tweeting

about this situation and the vitriol that I get when I talk about Haiti or refugees or girls' education in Haiti or helping girls in Haiti or educating girls in Haiti is amazing. And there's a very common thing that is, why don't you help people at home? Why are you so busy helping the Haitians? Why don't you work at home? And it's such an interesting, I always think about that. I'm like, that is so close-minded and so limited. Like, we're world citizens.

You know, we're human beings on this ball of mud, and we're trying to help each other. And my brothers and sisters are just as much in Haiti as they are in Thousand Oaks, California. Yeah, but at the same time, there's been a huge outpouring of support, right? There's, I think, two sides of that coin, which are people who want to help and see suffering anywhere and view it as some suffering that they have to address. I mean,

that's part of what you're trying to do. I think that there's a lot of people that have stepped up even in this time and seen whether it's a Muslim ban or what have you to try to step up and be a part of it and say that we believe in helping these people. We believe that our values demand that we help. Absolutely. Absolutely. And we're seeing that more and more, especially with young people. I find that millennials and kind of pre-millennials are really wanting to make a difference. And it is a super high priority. In fact, there was an interesting study they found at Soul Pancake, this media company that I helped found.

And I think it was the New York Times every year would ask college grads what's their most important priorities. And year after year after year, it was always the same thing. It was like money, you know, status, where's the job that I'm going to get, how close is it to home, how's the commute, you know, all of these different things that have the viability for promotion or whatever. And then all of a sudden, out of the blue, out of nowhere, like three or four years ago, number one with a bullet was, is the work that I'm going to be doing making a difference to help the world? So millennials get a lot of shit, but I just want to say that that's pretty fantastic.

And that's great. And I have a very specific position on this issue, which is baby boomers are the worst. Yeah. And they have no right to criticize. And millennials are going to carry those people all the way till they're gone. And I'm frankly sick of their shit. We just went through that. Donald Trump is the baby boomer supernova. And he's everything wrong with that generation in human form

and I'm sick of them telling us that there's something wrong with young people because they can go fuck themselves. A chunk of Antarctica the size of Delaware fell off today. They can go fuck themselves. But where can people see this work, this video, and where can people find out more? It's being edited right now. There's going to be, some of it is going to show on SoulPancake, and

some of it is going to show on our amazing parent company, Participant Media. They're doing an amazing... We love Participant. They're great. Great films and documentaries, and they're doing a documentary called Human Flow that you have got to see an early screening of. It's coming out later this week,

later this year, that Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, am I saying it right? He, did I do, I said it wrong, didn't I? But he's documenting the refugee crisis around the world, and it's an incredible powerful documentary. So that will be

up there, and you there and Lide Haiti we continue to grow, take volunteers. We do arts education literacy, scholarships. We have a computer lab. We have a mobile library. We have tutoring programs.

And now we're starting job training and placement for the girls that just won't fit back into school. And it's a real honor to be working to empower girls through education in a place as hurting as Haiti. Girls' education has really been found to be the number one way to relieve poverty and to really help change the world. That's amazing. Thank you, Rainn. Before we let you go, I did

want to give you one opportunity to spin the rant wheel. Obviously, we don't know where it's going to land. We don't know what the topics are going to be. That's part of it. Maybe I'll take it. Maybe you'll take it. So, Jesse, let's see what the wheel... This is fun. I love when you do games on this thing. Let's see what the wheel... This is fun. I love when you do games on this thing. Let's see what the wheel has in store.

So some of the topics on this week's rant wheel. Again, we don't know where it'll land. Topics are, I'm not Dwight. Yes, I was on The Office. Actors play characters. Ha, that is what Dwight says. Rain, my name is Rain. No, I won't do Dwight.

Still not Dwight. And that was a funny scene. Great, so this is the rant wheel. Let's spin it and why don't you go ahead and take it. Yeah, maybe I'll take it. Maybe you'll take it. We'll see what it lands on. It seems to have landed on I'm not Dwight.

I'm not Dwight. Who should take this one? Fuck it, I'm going for it. I am not Dwight Schrute, okay? I played a character for 200 episodes, and it was an awesome character, and he was a beet farmer. That doesn't mean that you should hand me beets and make beet jokes every time I go into a Starbucks and ask if they have like a beet latte or something like that. And don't hand me reams of paper and don't say fact

to me. And don't ask me which bear is best because I am a human being of service to the women and girls of Haiti and to others in this planet and I am not a beet farmer so fuck you and thank you for watching the show The Office thank you for watching the show, The Office. Thank you for watching the Emmy-winning show, The Office. Guys, put your hands together for Rainn Wilson. Hey, thank you. When we come back, our fantastic panel.

Don't go anywhere. This is Love It or Leave It, and there's more on the way. And we're back. Very excited to welcome our panel to help break down the week. She's a comedian who, after a visit to Greece with her father, created a short documentary on refugees from Syria called Can't Do Nothing, which is also the name of her organization. She's a wonderful actress.

She's going to be playing Squirrel Girl in Marvel's new show, Warrior. Milana Ventrip. She's a comedian, a writer for Conan, her CISO comedy special, 45 Jokes About My Dead Dad. You can see that now. Laurie Kilmartin.

He's a comedian, writer, and host of many failed food TV shows. And he could be seen this year opening for John Mulaney on tour all across North America. One of my favorite comics, Max Silvestri. I would just like to start by saying I'm so happy you finished that burger.

I just finished watching Okja and I I couldn't handle it, you know? It just hasn't un-brainwashed yet, like Cowspiracy. So thank you. After Okja, I decided to stop eating Super Pig. I won't do it anymore. Glad you're able to finish watching it. I couldn't. Yeah, well, I'm a little dead inside, so it helps.

All right, let's get into it. What a week, guys. So here's where we're at. In November of 2016, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei something is quoted as telling the Interfax news agency that, quote, there were contacts with influential people connected to Mr. Trump. The Trump campaign vehemently denied any conversations between themselves and Russia. And then all of a sudden, this week, in response to the fact that the New York Times was actively investigating a specific meeting that Donald Trump Jr. had at Trump Tower, Donald Trump Jr. tweeted his emails that documented exactly

what people said he did. So this guy Rob Goldstone, and if you have not Googled Rob Goldstone, if you have not given yourself that little treat in a dark time, that ice cream sandwich after a terrible meal.

He's got a good face and good scarf. He's a great looking guy. Yeah, he looks like a turkey burger. He's got a good face and good scarf. He's a great looking guy. Yeah, he looks like a turkey burger. He said, as he said the following, the crown prosecutor of Russia offered to provide the Trump campaign with some official documents and information

that would incriminate Hillary Clinton and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father. This is obviously very high level and sensitive, but it is part of Russia and its government support for Mr. Trump. So... I have a question. Please. And an offering.

The question is, why did he tweet these himself? Just because he was afraid they were going to leak somehow? So, it's unclear. I think that the tweeting of somehow? So, it's unclear. I think that the tweeting of the... Well, it's because he's a high-quality

person. That's something that a high-quality person would do. He's transparent and open as well. We all wish we could be that HQ. I just didn't think of that because of, you know, all of the things he's said and done. Didn't Pamela Anderson's boyfriend tell him to tweet that shit?

That sounds about right. It's very difficult. You know, I feel as though stupid people playing chess and smart people playing checkers ends up looking the same. So it's really hard to figure out what's going on. So this guy, Rob Goldstone, says... I didn't get to my

offering. Oh, I'm sorry. Wow. No, I was just going to say I speak Russian, so if you need any of the Russian last names pronounced, I'm your girl. You know what? We're going to go back. He might even need Russia pronounced.

Russia. Is this collusion? This is collusion. Ryabkov. Ryabkov. If you yell it and you kind of spit while you say it, it's how you say it in Russian. Like if you have a real milky mouth while you say it. Ryabkov.

Bark it. I don't know that I can pull that off. You have a kind of way about you that you can get away with it. For me, I think it would be off-putting. Thank you so much. That's a nice thing. I never said it about me. So Rob Goldstone, he sets the table. I think it would be off-putting. Thank you so much. That's a nice thing. Anyone's ever heard of Amy? So Rob Goldstone, he sets the table.

He puts the batters on deck. He also does it on Facebook. Did you see that? Yes, he's very active on Facebook. It is also worth noting that Rob Goldstone did check into Trump Tower, which is fucking amazing. Preparing for a meeting.

I can't believe a British music publicist isn't discreet. That's ridiculous to me. Man. Again, if you haven't Googled Rob Goldstone, set aside a good 20 to 30 minutes between things. Give yourself that treat. His Facebook, as of this moment, is still open. Yeah.

Again, bananas. He's one of Steve Coogan's best characters, I think. So, he says, Rob Goldstone, a sensitive, a man with a kind of world-famous tact. Obviously, people that work with Russian pop stars, very famous for their tact. He says, this is obviously very high level and sensitive information, but it's part of Russia and its government support for Mr. Trump. So now, Donald Trump Jr., who's obviously a sophisticated and savvy person, he responds, please do not send me emails like this. Unfortunately, I obviously couldn't have such a meeting. This would likely be illegal, at the very least would be immoral.

Unfortunately, I do have to let our council know, and they'll probably be contacting the FBI. This is a presidential campaign in the United States of America. And we take that very seriously. And obviously, while we welcome information from all kinds of people, it's actually important to us that politics stops at the water's edge. And as much as we would love this kind of information, we couldn't accept it from a foreign power, especially one that's been so adversarial to America's interests. Because, you know, we put America first. And as much as we disagree with Hillary Clinton,

at the end of the day, we're all Americans. That's not... Oh, no, no, I'm sorry. disagree with Hillary Clinton, at the end of the day, we're all Americans. That's not... Woo! Oh, no, no, I'm sorry. Guys, I misread it. He said, he said, I love it. He said, I love...

I'm going to do it in my Donald Trump Jr. I love it, especially later in the summer. That brilliant mind. Now, there's been an internal debate at Crooked Media as to whether later in the summer it made more sense to him because he was thinking strategically as the campaign heats up after Labor Day,

or whether he did have a vacation planned in Cabo. And we don't know the answer to that. So this all comes out... There's no collusion after Labor Day. It's like kind of a classic style thing. First week of September, you can't really do collusion after that. Like Kanye, you can collude after that. Yeah, well, look, you know, some people say that colluding after Labor Day is like an old-fashioned thing

and that it's sort of passe. It's sort of like from a different time, like when people wore hats. And now you can collude all year long, especially if you're in like a warmer climate. Like you're in Miami and you can't collude after Labor Day? It's 85 degrees out. What are you talking about? Have a piña coluda. So that pun's okay.

Whatever. New t-shirt. So the president, who is Donald Trump, sort of, he fired off a series of tweets. He said, my son Donald did a good job last night on Sean Hannity. We're going to get to that. He was open, transparent, and innocent. This is the greatest witch hunt in political history. Sad.

I love open, transparent, and innocent. It's such a funny way to describe your kid as his high quality. Yeah. Open, transparent, and innocent. Now what I like about that is it's almost

like it confuses means and ends, right? It's like if he's innocent, the open and transparent are almost beside the point right like he's he's actually he's actually transparent and quite guilty which is i think the trick also the like the way he described him as high quality reminds me of like how don cheadle and boogieights describes the stereos as high fidelity. Like, this sun right here is the highest possible quality you can get, just like so hopped up on rails of cocaine trying to sell $1,000 stereos to people in the Valley. You know what's odd is he often projects his own qualities on other people,

and this is not him at all. That's what I don't understand about this Donald Trump quote. Yeah, so again, deeply strange. That's what I don't understand about this Donald Trump quote. Yeah, so again, deeply strange. It's interesting. We can spend a second on this because I do think it's a part of Donald Trump's psyche, and it is beside the point, but man, does he heap praise upon Ivanka, but the best he can do

for his son, the son that's most like him. Well, he doesn't want to fuck his son. Well, that's part of it, but clearly he sees his son. Allegedly. He sees of it, but clearly he sees his son. Allegedly. He sees a lot of himself there, and so the best that he can muster is open, transparent, innocent, and high quality.

It's like he can't fully embrace his kid because he sees him on television. He's like, he's just okay. So the right-wing media has not been very sure about what to do with this. So they're all kind of attacking the mainstream kind of attacking the mainstream media uh there's been so rush limbaugh said after a year they are going bananas over this and again that's i don't like him saying bananas he's not a gay person and that is our word um so ari ari fleischer uh noted just absolute hack said that by accepting

and i think this is sort of the smart man's hackery on this issue. Smart person's hackery on this issue. We're not going to be patriarchal here today. Thank you. That by accepting the meeting it appears to be bad judgment rather than a crime or evidence of collusion. It certainly

seems to me to be opposition research. So basically their view is it was deeply immoral, very stupid, and quite un-American. But that's no crime. So guys, what do we think these people would be saying if a Democrat was doing this?

The same thing. Come on, guys. These people have so gone beyond the pale. I think it's worth remembering what these people would do if Chelsea Clinton met with a Russian agent, someone who might be a Russian agent with damaging information at Donald Trump, what these people would be doing right now.

I mean, here's what's kind of, like, upset, and this is, like, not the funny answer, I guess, to this, but, like, I do feel if everything was, like, about the Donald Trump Jr. specific thing, if everything was like about the donald trump jr specific thing if everything was flipped everything would be the exact same in the sense that like i i do feel that like with this one it was just some dude it's not like it was uh he's like a publicist from a company introducing like some pop star and i know that oligarchs and blah blah he was a music manager a music manager i just music manager. I just feel

like it wasn't actually like the government saying we're going to change things. It was just like, we have intel. And I do think it's a crime and it's bad, but I do think the flip side would be the exact same. I disagree. Democrats would find a way to be like, what? Of course, someone not officially connected with the campaign would be like, I'll take the meeting. You know, that's like a

very L.A. vibe. I'll take the meeting. I don't want to. I don't want this job, but I'll take the meeting. I want a free water. I'll take the meeting. You know, that's like a very L.A. vibe. I'll take the meeting. I don't want this job, but I'll take the meeting. I want a free water. I'll take the meeting. Wait a second. This is in the fucking valley? No. It's a lunch or it's nothing.

And I'll tell you one other thing. I'm not crossing the fucking 405 to meet with some Russian lawyer. And they allegedly didn't know it was a Russian lawyer. They just had nothing else to do. The campaign manager and the brother-in-law were like, that sounds cool. Let's do it. So first of all, also one thing to note that I saw being debated

today, both Chris Geidner, who's a great reporter at BuzzFeed, and Chris Hayes seem to have kind of discovered this little interesting twist separately and we're both reporting on it today, which is if you read the emails, you get the sense that there was a phone call that's not been reported. So that

they were, that before the meeting was actually set, the reason it was set is because this guy, Goldstone, talked to Donald Trump Jr. on the phone and let him know what the meeting was going to be about. A call that, as of now, we don't know the content of, we don't know what was mentioned,

but it seems very clear to set up this meeting. And after that phone call, Don Jr. doesn't say, eh, she's some Russian lawyer, maybe it's interesting, I'll see what she has to say. He has heard from him in email that it's connected to the Russian government. He has talked to Goldstone about it. And so not only does he set the meeting for himself, he sets it for himself, Jared Kushner,

the son Donald Trump always wanted, and Paul Manafort, the sleaziest campaign manager any person could ever wish for. And the three of them have a meeting. And this is something we said on Pod Save America the other day. Imagine in the days after clinching the nomination that David Axelrod, David Plouffe, and Malia Obama got together, and Valerie Jarrett, for good measure, got together with a Russian, a foreign agent, or someone who is associated with a foreign government, particularly an adversary, to find out dirt on John McCain. It's inconceivable.

They also, the Russian lawyer changed the meeting, was like, actually, I can't do three o'clock now. Like, can you do four? And all these meeting was like, actually, I can't do three o'clock now. Can you do four? And all these people were like, sure. That, I feel like, tells you everything about the content of the phone call, that they weren't like, fuck you, power, no, you gotta do three. They were just like, whatever works, whatever works.

We'll be there. We are psyched about this. We are losing, obviously. We're really screwed. Hillary chose Tim Kaine and if she wins Virginia, she can't lose. Didn't expect that. Everyone's a gut punch. Remember what happened? Remember how we were supposed

to win? Remember how it was too close and all this ended up mattering? What the fuck? Remember the cake you bought for the Hillary party you threw on election night? Remember stuffing it into the trash? Remember eating the leftover pizza two days later and just feeling dirty about it because people left earlier than you expected? Remember a lot of friends offering you champagne for a month after because nobody drank it at their parties?

I do. No, we drank it at the party. It was the saddest party I've ever been to. So let's move on to health care because, look, as much as this Russia story is fascinating, it is really, really important. And it's also important that we hold members of Congress like Paul Ryan and others who have been so squeamish on this, and we'll get to them, hold them accountable for their failure to hold Donald Trump accountable. There is something that we can actually make a difference on right now, which is healthcare. And one of the saddest parts of this moment

is just by dint of the fact that this Russia story has commanded so much attention, it is a little bit easier for Mitch McConnell to pass a bill. The more attention on something else, the less on healthcare, the more room he has to maneuver, the less pressure his members are over. So let's talk about healthcare. I want to give you guys so much credit for continuing to engage your audience and for you guys for continuing to act on it.

I thank you so much. And I thank you so much. That's very nice of you guys to say. We are working with Indivisible on this, and you can go to trumpcare10.org slash crooked and find out how to call your members of Congress and your senators, especially people listening if you are in one of the states where you have somebody who's on the fence, these moderates, and some conservatives who have not come out in favor of the bill. I will also say that Marco Rubio has said once again today that he's undecided. But he is such a known political coward that nobody cares, nobody takes it seriously, nobody believes he would vote no if it counted.

Nobody fucking believes you. There's a whole debate in this country about all these undecided senators. Capito, Portman, Murkowski, Collins. Rubio's like, but I'm undecided too. And everyone's like, no you're not. You'll do what you're fucking told. Back to where the debate is actually unfolding.

Mitch McConnell announced on Tuesday that he was delaying the August recess and keeping senators in Washington so that they could focus on health care. He said, in order to provide more time to complete action on important legislative items that have been stalled by a lack of cooperation from Democrats.

Yeah, it's our fucking fault. Our fault. Nobody likes your garbage bill. The Senate will delay the start of the August recess until the third week of August, and he says that a revised version of the bill will be released on Thursday, and they're going to once again get a CBO score. Now, what this debate is

about right now is the Cruz Amendment. This is an amendment to remove minimum coverage requirements imposed by the Affordable Care Act, like pre-existing conditions and others. The idea here is that there has to be an option like that. On its face, it sounds okay. Okay, some of them cover things, some of them don't. But what happens if you have one set of plans that covers everything and one set of plans that don't? That doesn't. The people that need more care end up shunted into the more expensive plans, and people that are healthier and younger and have less use for health care right away end up in the cheaper plans, and you end up with this divide, and it basically just sends people's costs skyrocketing.

Kaiser Family Foundation, which has been so good about this and one of the best sources for data on health care today, they said that much higher premiums for some 1.5 million people with pre-existing conditions and again all of this is about math they can claim all they want that they're gonna help people with pre-existing conditions that they're gonna take care of it they're gonna take care of it but it doesn't matter if they can be charged more charge huge sums of money depending on on what their pre-existing condition is they're also being kind of just to get into the details here they're playing fast and loose they want to get a CBO score but they want to do it without the Cruz amendment because they know it'll damage the score but they need a score to details here, they're playing fast and loose. They want to get a CBO score, but they want to do it without the Cruz amendment

because they know it will damage the score, but they need a score to move forward. So they're being very shifty. I have a question. I'm sorry. I don't quite understand. No, get in there. So this amendment would allow two different plans, and one of them would allow you to pick a cheaper one because you don't have a pre-existing condition? No. So the way it would work,

and again, this is all changing all the time. Even Ted Cruz isn't exactly sure. He's been adjusting this all the way through. Famous wonk, Ted Cruz, is not... It's called the Ted Cruz Amendment? Ted Cruz, he is smart. But I think that he, like... This amendment is pretty dumb.

So, and I think he's kind of, like, he keeps talking about how he's going to change it, and they're making all these, basically they keep making all these adjustments because they know this same problem exists, that basically you'll end up people with two different kinds of plans. But just to get into the details of it, so there are these requirements of what health insurance has to cover. This is sort of the gist of it. That plans have to cover these 10 things, either things like ambulance rides

and basic preventative medicine. And Republicans don't like that because it does mean that insurance has to be more robust and that does mean that your out-of-pocket costs, your premiums may be a bit higher, even though your insurance is better in there when you need it. I take constant optional ambulance rides. If you just call 311, they will just...

Yeah, you use it like Uber. Yeah, exactly. I'm like, my hospital's at my house. It's weird. My girlfriend's a doctor. Anyway, take me home. They're like, I'm going to give you five stars if you give me five stars.

And they're like, sir, this is a fucking ambulance. I'm Blue Cross. Take me home. So there are these essential health benefits that Obamacare required insurance to cover, and basically Ted Cruz's, the gist of it is some of the plans will have to cover this stuff and some of the plans won't.

And basically this is the problem that if you're somebody with preexisting condition, if you're somebody that needs better health care, you're going to end up buying the more expensive plans that cover more things, and people that want more catastrophic coverage or people that want health care that's a bit skimpier, because they're healthy and young, and they'll end up in the cheaper plans. The thing is, if this is the problem, we all end up paying for our health care. It's all just yet another. It's

interesting. These guys complained for so long that Obamacare was technocratic. It's government bureaucrats making all these decisions, and the second they got the chance to write a bill, they wrote, they took Obamacare. They used the same system. And then they just, they're like, we just want a different set of technocrats. We just want a different set of rules. Like Ted Cruz's amendment is a complicated jury rigged bit of nonsense to buy off some votes, but it's not going to make healthcare better for anybody. It's just going to make it more expensive for the people that need it.

So won't it just fail again? So that's the question. And we don't like, you know, we don't want to be overly optimistic here. I think we should be, we should be hopeful, but we have to fight because Mitch McConnell's crafty and he can buy off some votes. And now there are some moderates who seem like they are hard-nosed people like Dean Heller in Nevada. I didn't mean... I just want to leave that in there because I am sick of people telling me to say Nevada when I usually say Nevada.

And once in a while a Nevada slips in and these Nevada people, they go crazy. Where did it come from? These Nevada people are going crazy. Where did it come from? Why do you start saying it randomly? It just pops up? Well, I just forget.

I remember that it's Nevada. But you were raising Nevada. No, but it's like if you have a friend that's like K-A-R-A and you're like, I know it's Kara and she gets so mad if I didn't say Kara but then in your head you just start going, Kara! You know, like you get real nervous because you're working so hard on it

and people really correct you. Hannah's and Hannah's and Megan's and Megan's. It's a minefield. Everyone's a Megan. Gillian and Jillian, go fuck yourself both of you. Can I ask why However, if you call me Melania, I will chop your dick off.

Dude, I want you to know that I have been worried about that all day. I know. You know, I did a show the other day, and I could tell that the host was so nervous that they were going to say Melania Weintraub, and they went, Melania Weintraub, and then had a Melania Trump joke

and said Melania Trump. He got all screwed up in his head. It was a woman. How dare you? I thought patriarchy was dead here. Cutting this too. I have a question about, this is maybe a dumb question or a depressing one, but I feel like all the rules we thought we had of how decorum works in Washington

keep feeling like they're being violated or thrown aside. Where if you wait long enough, every actual illegality goes away. Like, oh, remember when Sessions lied? Just the idea that any of these rules matter doesn't, seems to be changing every day. Why does the CBO score, like, why is that not something that nobody cares about? And they're just like, all we have to do is get votes,

go fuck yourself. It feels like that's where we're living, so that they're still aiming for it, I'm confused by. Does Fox not talk about a CBO score? Oh, they don't talk about any of it. This is a laugh in the face. How dare you assume? So that's interesting.

So there is this divide. Their laws, they're trying to avoid breaking still. So that's the good news. But norms, anything that is decorum, norms, values-based, anything that was rooted in tradition, that is going by the wayside. On the CBO score, so we don't have to get into the n nitty-gritty of it but basically the reason they need a CBO score is is that in order to pass health care with only 51 votes as opposed to uh the 60 vote threshold they normally need they have to demonstrate that the bill wouldn't add to the deficit uh according to this reconciliation

reconciliation process that being said though you're not wrong they have been attacking the CBO as an institution like crazy. Like a politicized, like they're going to make it a thing that they delete. Even though the person in charge of it is a Republican, and he is somebody that Republicans liked and believed and trusted until, of course, they came up with a CBO score that didn't fit with their goals here. So you're right. And that's an interesting thing, too, because McConnell, you know, Donald Trump,

he's, listen, he's a brash and charming fellow. I don't know if you're right. And that's an interesting thing, too, because McConnell, you know, Donald Trump, he's listen, he's a brash and charming fellow. I don't know if you've noticed, but he's sort of like clownish circus violation of norms is what gets all the attention. But Mitch McConnell has done more to damage norms and institutions than anybody in Washington from holding that seat open to Neil Gorsuch to what he's done with this process, this secretive health care process. to what he's done with this process, this secretive health care process. And so, yes, I mean, you're absolutely right. Like, one of the things we need to reckon with is the fact that we just don't have these institutions and norms to protect us, including a lot of democratic norms around believing that everybody should have the right to vote, which is why we see so much vote suppression,

believing that districts should be fair and not politicized to the point where people are choosing their, where representatives are choosing their voters instead of the other way around. So yes, there is just an assault on our values and that's what makes it so difficult. And as Democrats, it doesn't seem like we have much to do except just fight like hell to win elections and take some power back because up and down the line, we've lost so much that we're struggling to fight against these sort of anti-democratic forces. Why is Mitch McConnell, why is he not as disgusting to Republicans as he is to us? You know, like they seem like they'll do whatever he wants and he's very compelling to them. I don't understand why they just don't hate him like we do. That's interesting. He's really good at his job. And I think about this in terms of Harry Reid, because Democrats, I think, like Harry Reid, we think Harry Reid did a good job.

He was a tough, he was a fighter. But on the Republican side, Harry Reid is despised. Harry Reid is thought of as a liar and a political hack, that he lied about Mitt Romney and made stuff up on his taxes, that he was – I think that there really is, on the other side, a mirror image in terms of how they view Harry Reid. Now, I don't necessarily think that's fair I don't think that's fair but it is interesting to see the way that we have we have some blinders on to you know when Harry right Harry Reid goes too far on Romney's taxes and says he probably pay any taxes and I've heard it it's fact you know I and he report says it on

the Senate floor we think that that's an exaggeration that's helpful and maybe we turn the blood turn a blind eye because we understand why he's doing it but from the other side it was a lie on the Senate floor that heard Mitt Romney and set the tone for his defeat so yeah, I mean I think it's tribal it's as simple as that

when we come back a game called Let's Collude. Hey, don't go anywhere. There's more of Love It or Leave It coming up. And we're back. Now for a game called Let's Collude. This is going to involve a member of the audience. So, Elisa has a mic in the house. I obviously would like to go to...

I see some friends of the pod up front. Let's get those hands up. Hello. What's your name? Rachel. Would you mind coming up, Rachel? You can go around and write up the thing just because guys were in the Troubadour. We're in a new space.

We're going to come up on stage. Guys. Give it up for Rachel. Rachel, come join me at the center of the stage. Alright. Hi, Rachel. Hi. How are you? Great. This is awesome. Are you from LA?

No, I'm from Seattle. You're from Seattle? So you're visiting? Yes. Oh, what do you think so far? It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. It's a little warm.

So let me tell you how the game works, okay? There have been a lot of deeply strange defenses and also incomplete defenses of Donald Trump Jr., okay? So I'm going to read them to you, and your goal is going to be to fill in the blank with the word that was used. Do you keep up with the news? Yeah. All right, what's your news diet? You know, New York Times, Washington Post,

occasionally Politico, your Twitter feed, you know. Honestly, that's like a pretty good list. You're going to get a good sense of things. Here's hoping. So Dana Rohrabacher, the Kremlin's man in D.C., that's like a pretty good list. You're going to get a good sense of things. So, Dana Rohrabacher, the Kremlin's man in D.C., he offered this, okay? And your job is going to be to fill in the blank.

He said, we should listen to everybody, no matter who they are. Especially if they say we've got information that's very volatile. Yeah, you want to hear what that is. So the idea that somebody's trying to make a big deal out of it, again, unfortunately, fake news is making a lot of a big deal out of this. This is not a big deal. It's a, now, it's a dumb phrase, okay, that people use too often.

Oh, nothing burger. Yes. Wow. Rachel, you are one for one. By the way, who are you here with today? My boyfriend, Robert. Oh, Robert. Hey, Robert. Hey there. I see you're both friends of the pod shirts. You guys look great.

Yeah, coordinated. Coordinated, that's right. Alright, are you ready for question number two? You are one for one and on your way to some parachute sheets. Paul Ryan was asked today about Donald Trump Jr.'s meeting, and he said, I think it's very important that these professionals and these committees do their jobs so that we can get to the bottom of all of this. When he was asked if he would have ever taken such a meeting,

he said, I'm not going to go into what? Probably the specifics or the details. Very, very close. Very, very close. But what he said, would you have met with somebody like this? He was saying hypotheticals. But I feel as though you were close. And you know what, Rachel?

I'm giving it to you now Rachel there is one more statement for you to evaluate and I believe Robert is going to come up on stage to help us guys give it up for Robert Robert he grabbed Max's Robert, the floor is yours. Rachel, you are the most amazing person. You are smart. You're politically engaged.

You are gorgeous. You are the straightest shooter that I know. And I think you know how this statement ends. Applause for applause. Will you marry me? Yes. Guys.

Give it up for Robert and Rachel. Rachel. Thank you. Robert, come here. I am so glad you said yes. There is some champagne and some nice things up there for you guys.

So go hang out at the Green Room. If you want to watch the rest of the show, you can see it through the curtain, but don't feel obligated. Don't feel obligated. So that champagne wasn't for us. Nope. Oh, it's empty.

Guys, there was an engagement at Love It or Leave It. That is awesome. That was in the works for a while. There was an open question. We thought either this is going to be a sweet and wonderful moment or this person, Robert, who we do not know, is a lunatic. Yeah, when he told me that, I was like, you guys have any Trump supporters coming to your show? That's what I thought.

This is going to be a protest. The real proposal. It was great. It was beautiful. When we come back, the rant wheel. Hey, don't go anywhere. There's more of Love It or Leave It coming up. And we're back.

Now for a segment called the rant wheel. It's pretty self-explanatory. We read what's on the wheel, we spin it, and then we rant about it. On today's wheel we have whataboutism, something we saw Sean Hannity practice earlier. We have Amazon Prime Day. We have public proposals.

Let's get into it. We have Mike Pence's statements on this whole Russia thing, which I think is worth considering. High quality sons. David Brooks. Game of Thrones. An audience choice. Let's spin the wheel.

Oh, it's Dear Evan Hansen. It has landed on Amazon Prime Day. I always want to take advantage of it. Now, do you guys know what Amazon Prime Day is? No. Everybody knows. I don't. So Amazon Prime Day is? No. Everybody knows. I don't. So Amazon Prime Day is this day where they do sales, lots of prime sales for prime members,

sales across Amazon.com. And I always feel like it's almost like it feels like Black Friday after Thanksgiving. And I always feel the same thing, which is I'm screwing this up. I should be making the most of this, and I can't. And I go to Amazon.com, as I do often, and I can't make sense of it. Prime day. Are these things going to be more expensive tomorrow?

Do I need a Swiffer? Do I need a vacuum? Maybe. Maybe in six months, I'll have wished I bought this vacuum. Let's spin it again. I bought an Amazon Echo yesterday because of that pressure, because I was like, if you don't get this deal, you're a piece of shit.

That was the pressure I internalized. It's only $90. I didn't even want to buy it, but I was like, if you don't get this deal, you're a piece of shit. That was the pressure I internalized. It's only $90. I didn't even want to buy it, but I was like, that's so much less than regular price. That's a lot of negative self-talk. I hope Alexa's nicer to you. I want to talk about this Amazon Echo thing. There's a Google version and there's Alexa

and all of these things. That's the same thing. Are we really all together on board with the five biggest companies in the world having microphones in all of these things. That's the same thing. Are we really all together on board with the five biggest companies in the world having microphones in all of our houses? Is that where we're at? We're not, right? We have questions.

Get used to it. Especially at a time in which it seems like half of our news is about the revealed secrets via emails and other recordings and about the other half of the people. So basically the future is people asking Alexa to hear stories about what was recorded on Alexa.

Well, it's also confusing because I feel like in spy movies and mob movies, when they're worried about being listened to, they put music on real loud, but now Alexa is how you do that, so you have to be like, Alexa, put on classical music crazy loud, and then you say secrets, but they can hear all of them. So it's sort of a circular thing.

You guys should all just get used to tweeting your emails. It's just going to be a norm. Just DJT Junior it, yeah. I'm tweeting all my emails. Oh, I forgot we spun it. It's landed on David Brooks. Let's talk about this David Brooks column because everybody was going it's a funny thing, David Brooks caught a break

because, I don't know if you guys saw this but he basically wrote a column about how a lot of inequality is driven by culture and it turned on this paragraph and the paragraph was about going with a friend from high school to a deli a friend with only a high school education

a friend with only a high school education went to a deli and there, a friend with only a high school education. A friend with only a high school education went to a deli and there were words like soppressata and I guess gefilte fish. Not clear that that was on the menu. I skimmed it. I only have a high school education.

It was the fancy cured meats. And basically he says that his friend was in a panic, could barely, was almost beside herself or himself, and that they left and went to Mexican, where she felt more comfortable. And he used this as a jumping off point for a conversation about the language and culture

of the upper middle class and how it creates distance from other people. So first of all, maybe she just didn't feel like having a lot of nitrates. It's a commitment to have an Italian sub. I mean, like, there's not a lot of low-carb options. No. No. And

the thing about it is so frustrating. First of all, man, he... I bet Paul Krugman, mark my words, Paul Krugman is going to do that thing where he responds to David Brooks, but because of internal times policy, he's not allowed to say David Brooks by name. And so he's going to say,

recently there have been a lot of arguments around the effects of not just economic inequality, but cultural inequality. But here's where David Brooks went wrong. But he's not going to say David Brooks. So all of his columns are sub-tweets, basically. And then Thomas Friedman can do a thing where he's like, I had a cab driver that was

reading me the opinion page the other day and then you just have him read it all out loud. Yeah, yeah. Thomas Friedman does all of his best work through means of conveyance. But anyway, this David Brooks thing is really frustrating for a number of reasons. And the obvious reasons about how patronizing and silly that is

and the fact that his friend is probably going to read that column, and she's like, hey, fuck you, man. I know what soppressata is. I wanted a burrito, you douche. But she only has a high school education, so she probably doesn't read the New York Times, right? Yeah. I mean, I took AP Mexican food in high school, but I didn't...

Because I was working a part-time job, I didn't have time to take AP Italian cured meats, so I... That's why things didn't have time to take AP Italian cured meats. So I... That's why things didn't work out for me. I mean, that's what made me so mad about it, is because Italian food especially, I get the gourmet sandwich I buy, but soppressata and stuff,

that is like a blue-collar food from 80 years ago that immigrants brought to this country to make meat last longer. I feel like his weird connection between, well, Mexican is normal, but Italians are fancy. It's like its own weird... Its own fucking weird problem.

Well, Mexican food just does have the five ingredients, right? Bean, cheese, avocado, tortilla, and something else. I think more to his point of like, and I just really wanted to bring this up, of like, more what actually is destroying, what is the upper middle class' fault for destroying is the way the New Yorker has been writing Donald Trump Jr.'s name. Did you see the article they wrote about?

What did they say? Donald Trump comma J-R period comma apostrophe S because you set off a junior with a comma but then you have to close that clause with another comma after a period, which is their own weird fucking thing, and then an apostrophe outside the comma. And it is like, I feel like if I lived

in middle America and saw that once, I'd be like I'm gonna go kill people in New York. If you want to know the uneven battle we have as a country, there was a debate inside the headquarters of the New Yorker about the style guide for having the word Donald Trump Jr. would appear, and Sean and he's like, Hillary killed Roger Ailes. When we come back, Hillary killed Roger Ailes. Ailes come back, Hillary killed Roger Ailes. Ailes apostrophe.

Let's spin it again. Audience choice. Oh, Game of Thrones. You want to just do Game of Thrones? Where do these HBO people get off? No, I love Game of Thrones. I love Game of Thrones. You want to just do Game of Thrones? Where do these HBO people get off? No, I love Game of Thrones. I love Game of Thrones. I think that the one thing I'd say about Game of Thrones

is that I feel like there's this feeling you have when Game of Thrones is coming, which is like, first, Game of Thrones will never be here. Then, oh my God, we have so much Game of Thrones. And it feels like that for like four episodes, and then there's no more Game of Thrones I mean I just it feels I love the show so fucking much but I like have been doing homework

to prep for the premiere which feels insane that this is the relationship we have with like the entertainment media that we want to consume where I thought the premiere was this last Sunday so like I started catching up on like various this is the history of the Iron Islands you need to read before you even enjoy this television show. I totally forgot in the last three episodes of the last season.

I was like, no, it's cool to do a good six hours of bricklaying before my Sunday night TV or whatever. I stopped myself from re-watching the most recent season because I felt like, I was like, I needed a fix, you know? Like, I could I'd be lying if I said I think I could get through it. I don't need to watch it again, but I want to. But I want to. That long battle was super cool.

And I don't even remember what the characters' names are because I never knew them. Daenerys Stormborn, Miguel of the Antelopes. I don't think that's right. The more names, the more they're going to die. The Sandpipers. The guy who plays Miguel of the Antelopes is such a hunk.

Man, Miguel of the Antelopes. The Sandpipers of Ferezni. Ferenzo. Sandpipers from, that's from Better Call Saul. I'm all over the fucking place. I haven't watched it, so now it's a 60-hour commitment. Yes, and you should get started. It really heats up after the first 27 hours,

so just step into the pool. You had so much great stuff. I don't know that I'll go back. You won't go back. I don't know. I feel like I had a really hard time grieving the end of last season, and I've gone through this multiple times now

that every time it just creates so much heartache for me, and I'm already dealing with a lot. Because you missed that priest? You really liked that priest? I mean, he was so dreamy. Yeah, yeah, with his robes, they were so ill-fitting. It was so long ago, I don't even get the reference. I don't remember the characters.

There have been so many characters. It was Jonathan Pryce. He wore a lot of shifts, and then he burned to death. I saw the first episode, the pilot, where a boy my son's age crawls up a mountain and peers into a cave, and they push him off the mountain. And then as a mom, I was like, oh, this is the greatest show I've ever seen.

I hope this happens every episode, but I haven't I don't have the other 59 hours to go to it. Honestly, based on our conversation so far, I think you'll love it. Kids that don't follow rules are constantly being punished in very big ways.

Honestly, as are the kids who follow the rules. I want to thank this awesome panel. Milana, Lori, Max. Thank you guys for coming out. I want to thank Rain for coming out as well. Thank you for being here. Alright, let's do the Q&A.

Anybody got a couple questions for us? Got a question over there. I see a friend of the pod. And a straight shooter. Brought two shirts. You better get a question. This would be great. Oh, yeah.

I'm Quint. And I was wondering, I know John talked about it on his Twitter a little bit, but if you think that that rounds tweak to the Cruz amendment is actually going to get Cruz amendment is actually gonna get traction and can actually potentially become a huge hindrance to us no so what he's asking is we talked about this Cruz amendment in the bill there is another

Republican senator who's saying okay we're trying to do some tweaks to it so that the Conservatives still like it but then the moderates get on board. And so I was a little worried about this because that's the kind of shit that happens at the end. It suddenly makes everyone vote for a bill. But I asked Andy Slavitt, who ran Medicare and Medicaid for us, he's a healthcare expert, and he said he asked a bunch of healthcare experts,

and he was, like, forwarding me some of their emails, and they all thought it was, like, the most absurd thing they ever heard. And they just think there's no way to do that because what these people are realizing is to fix that you would have to have one insurance pool like we currently have

in Obamacare. So all of these Republicans are realizing that to fix the unpopular parts of the bill, they have to go back to what Obamacare originally was. It's like they're dragging their dumb bill through a forest of facts and knowledge,

and every time they drag it out on the other side, enough stuff has been attached to it that it's Obamacare. And they're like, fuck, we made Obamacare again. Back to the other side. Back to the other side. Run faster this time. Take a different route. Maybe Rand Paul takes it for a second, and they pop out the other side, and it's like, ah, we did it again.

It's shitty Obamacare again. Fuck. End of analogy. One last question. Hey, guys. Hopefully I'm not the only one to admit this, but there are days I can't watch the news. It's like crippling with anxiety. I just can't do it. What sort of social responsibility do you feel for providing a lot of us news in such a wonderful educational yet funny way what a softball question

for someone who hasn't watched the news you've learned a lot from sean hannity uh thank you first of all it means a lot look i think the three of us we started this company because we ourselves felt compelled and angry and worried and a desire to be involved that we hadn't felt since I think our time in politics and it's been so gratifying that people have come along with us and that they're listening and and and finding us useful and liking this conversation and wanting to be a part of it and coming to shows like this and buying the shirts and and being a part of it and We had a theory, and the theory was that there was room for a different kind of conversation, the kind of conversation we had when the mics were off

that was more honest and authentic, that was serious without being self-serious. And I think a lot of people felt the same way because we weren't just frustrated as people that had been in politics. We were frustrated as people who watched the news and didn't feel like we were getting enough out of it that sort of treated it all like a game,

that treated the people watching not as citizens but as like weird observers who have no stake in it when we all have such a big stake in it and i i totally understand the feeling of frustration of turning on the news and being horrified and i think that's okay you know what we i joke about it but like i'm amazed by how much people keep up uh like something will happen at five o'clock on a friday and we'll be doing the live show and everybody's already seen it. And I think that's a cool thing, that so many people are engaged. But the important thing is not keeping up on every development to your own detriment, to the point where you're feeling overwhelmed.

This is going to be a long fight. We're in the middle of something really serious. We're in the middle of a long-running national emergency. And I think the good news is that there are people who recognize that that can commiserate with each other. But I think the most important thing is doing your part. And when you have to step out and click out for a bit, you come back in and you're still calling your senator, you're still doing your part, you're still knocking on doors, you're still participating. I think that's great because, you know, Pete Buttigieg, who was one of the candidates for

DNC, who's like kind of a great young leader. The thing he said to us was that we need happy warriors. And I think that's part of why we do this. And part of why we try to stay light and we try to make fun and try to joke around even when we're talking about really serious things because we have to be happy warriors. We can't just become embittered. It would be too easy. So you don't want to read the news every day? I think that's totally cool. Download the podcast. Click play. Listen. Get us those numbers. All right. Thank you for your question. I think that's a great place to leave it. Thank you guys for coming out. Thank you to the Troubadour for having us. We're going to go crush some hamburgers with Rachel and Robert upstairs, the new couple. Have a great night.

Thank you.