Lovett or Leave It - None the Pfizer

Episode Date: December 12, 2020

Sarah Silverman is back to break down the week's news. Senator Brian Schatz joins for an update on negotiations over a relief bill in Congress and talks about his views on Biden cabinet picks. And we're joined by Margaret Keenan, the first person to receive the vaccine outside of a trial in the UK, and wouldn't you know it she left JUST before D'Arcy Carden showed up. What a week. 

Welcome to Love It or Leave It, back in the Closet Elect. Today we're gay for democracy, can't be over it Until it's over, a little over it, still moving forward Finding inspiration in a little laughter We can gather from a Saturday morning He's back, back back back in the closet get off twitter for a minute cause we gotta save the senate he's back back back in the closet the soul of the nation we voted and we saved it for now it's all hands on deck so make sure you wash them and wear a mask. He's back in the closet.

Love it or leave it. Thanks to Ashlyn Parsons for sending in that incredible song. If you want to make a back in the closet elect theme song, please send it to leaveitatcrooked.com. That's leaveitatcrooked.com. We're only a few weeks away from the runoff in Georgia on January 5th that will determine control of the Senate. Early voting starts on December 14th.

And if you're looking for ways to support groups on the ground, sign up to adopt Georgia. We'll be sending new opportunities to donate and to volunteer every week between now and January. So head over to votesaveamerica.com slash Georgia to learn more about what you can do right now. Also, this week, there is a brand new episode of With Friends Like These, and it is fantastic. Ana talks to Matthew Hongold Tetling about an unusual fight that broke out in New Hampshire between libertarians and bears.

I love this story. You will love this story. So go listen listen and don't forget to subscribe to With Friends Like These wherever you get your podcasts. Later in the show, we are joined by Senator Brian Schatz and Darcy Carden. But first, she's a comedian, actress, writer, and host of her new show, The Sarah Silverman Podcast. Please welcome back, returning champion, Sarah Silverman. You call everyone a returning champion i know that well thanks for being here thanks first of all tell us about the podcast oh i have a podcast

called the sarah silverman podcast yeah so i take uh we listen to voicemails and then um we i guess the royal way and then i that kind of steers the trajectory of the podcast. And, you know, it's one of those things where I go, how am I going to fill a podcast talking? But it's like when you go to therapy and you go like, what am I going to say? I don't have anything to say. And then 50 minutes later, you're sobbing and your therapist is like, we have to wrap up. And then you're like, this relationship isn't real. They never you know, you try to fight for an extra two minutes.

It never happens. Yeah. You know, you just want an extra two minutes. So much empathy until the time is up. And then it's all about. And it's not an hour. No, it is not. It's five zero minutes.

Exactly. That's not love. It's not love. It's never been love. They don't love you. I remember years ago thinking, my therapist is my best friend. And I had been seeing her for years. And then one day I asked her one question about herself.

Do you have kids? Yeah, I have four. Yeah, that's not a friendship. I'm not being a friend. She isn't my friend. I'm paying her. No, well, I actually think it's she is your best friend. You're her worst friend. I'm paying her. No, she, well, I actually think it's, she is your best friend. You're her worst friend.

Yeah, right. She's not asking me to be a maid of honor. I'm not even invited to the wedding. I'm not even a part of her life. I'm anonymous even when she reiterates things. If she reiterates things. She doesn't. If she even brings up things that you bring up.

That's the thing. She goddamn doesn't, does she? Her goal at the end of every day, actually, is to try to forget you exist so that she can have a night. Yeah. She doesn't want to think about you. Your work. Well, Sarah, thank you for being here. So here's what we do.

We're going to go through the week's news. I'm going to share some jokes of varying quality. And you can judge them, appreciate them, dismiss them, fix them, ignore them, say whatever you'd like. The options are almost endless. So let's get into it. What a week. A big MIT study of fake news found that false information consistently outperforms the truth on Twitter, and it's not because of bots. The study analyzed some 126,000 stories tweeted over more than 10 years and found that a false story

reaches 1,500 people six times quicker than a true story on average. The author of the study went on to say, I have a massive penis. That's a good one. I didn't expect that one. It was a twist. A little bit of it was unexpected.

And it wasn't even a like, um, that's clever. It was like a, it made me go the onomatopoeia of ha. Thank you. That's why I moved it up to the top. I thought I had a shot. I thought I had a real shot. Thought I had a real shot. Attorney General Bill Barr is reportedly considering resigning before the end of Trump's term.

The equivalent of leaving the party early after clogging the toilet just because you left doesn't mean we don't all know what you did in there. I like it. That made me smile. I like it because it isn't clever. It's not clever. I don't like a clever joke.

I like a joke that gets me. Well done. Four out of five stars. Don't want to spoil you. Don't want to spoil you. I mean, come on. No, I appreciate that. that gets me. Well done. Four out of five stars. Don't want to spoil you. Don't want to spoil you. I mean, come on. No, I appreciate that.

I appreciate that. I appreciate that. Armed protesters gathered outside of Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson's home on Saturday night, shouting obscenities, conspiracy theories, and demands to overturn the election results. Oh, great. QAnon is now offering home delivery. It's more of a... It's cute. It's cute. It's cute. It is cute. It's cute. Meanwhile, in Idaho, Ada County Commissioner Diana Lachiondo had to leave a meeting about public health guidance because anti-mask protesters had

surrounded her home and were terrifying her 12-year-old son who was home alone. But little did those protesters know her son Kevin had set up traps all around the house because Kevin, he cooks, he cleans, he kicks some butt. The tagline. That's the tagline. Is that the tagline of Home Alone? It's actually very complicated. It's like they forgot Kevin, but don't worry. He cooks, he cleans, he kicks some butt. It's a very detailed tagline. It gets a lot of information out there. That seems like a tagline that went through many filters and many lawyers because we're like, this is a child's Home Alone. We can't make light of this. You have to say he's okay. I do think that the reception for Home Alone would have been different if they show

the next scene after the wet bandits are arrested, which is Kevin being permanently removed from the home because he was abandoned and it was completely unacceptable. Yeah. Do not know anyone in the city of Chicago that could have checked on their son? Maybe a neighbor. A neighbor? Check, call a neighbor? Maybe a neighbor. That could have checked on their son. A neighbor. Check. Call a neighbor.

Call somebody. You got a kid home alone. It's in the title. It's too young to be home alone for a week. Too young. Well, you know, latchkey kids. Growing up too fast. I came home when I was seven.

I was home alone. For an hour. Right. A couple of hours. Not overnight. Not a week. But your parents are gallivanting wherever they were. Yeah.

They fly first. And those kids, the parents fly first. Kids are in coach in that movie. These kids, this is. The only way it works. It's true. These people are rich. They live in a mansion. And the Callisters are doing great.

Yeah. People don't talk about it. I don't mean to bring up the Sarah Silverman program from so many years ago. But my favorite episode was an episode where I sue the movie Home Alone. And I win. why'd you sue um because i set up a prank where a paint when the guy opens the door a paint can swings and it decapitates him and he dies that's the other thing that's the other thing some of those wounds would have been life-threatening yeah over the weekend rudy giuliani announced he has tested positive for COVID-19,

but he's doing everything he can to challenge the results. It's okay. Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis has tested positive for coronavirus after attending a White House Christmas party on Friday. It might have been unwise to attend, but she just really wanted to see all the ugly sweaters, especially Rudy Giuliani. All right, yeah.

He's sweaty. He's sweat. He's sweaty of the sweat. Yeah. A lot of sweat. Do you think Rudy Giuliani, if you searched his search history, says, like,

no drip hair color when with no drip in quotes, trying to maybe find something more apropos. He trying to maybe find something more. It's got to get something better. Yeah. Sweat proof. It's just falling apart.

Look, I've said this before. I respect anything a person does hair wise for men to want to have, you know, longer hair, comb overs, wigs, weaves, plants, whatever. Whatever a man wants to do up there to keep it going, I get it. I get it. I embrace it. I support it. But Rudy, making the ring around the back of your head beneath your glasses jet black,

that doesn't do anything for you. No. I mean, come on. What is he, 30, 35? Hey, Mr. Giuliani, when's your father going to get here? We have a press conference, you know. I want, they should remake the movie Rudy and have it be about him. No.

So apparently there was a movie about Rudy's life, the Rudy Giuliani story starring James Woods. And it's absolute garbage. However, it just speaks to how much has changed because Rudy was Times Person of the Year in 2001. And then soon after they make this movie, it's a absolute, complete travesty of a film. James Woods was nominated for an Emmy. For it? I think he may have won that Emmy. I think he may have won that Emmy. Yeah, that was a time when if any actor from movies does something on TV,

you're, that's just, you're guaranteed an Emmy nomination. It was just trying to say like, thank you for coming here. Thank you for coming to the small screen. Yeah, we appreciate it. This is a transitional window. We're sort of still kind of reconciling what happened to George Clooney. We're not yet, Big Little Lies is not even in anyone's imagination.

Right. We're still not there. Right. We're still not there. It's still a question mark. What's going to happen to the friends? We can get James Woods at the Emmys. Yeah, we're going to nominate him.

If he just like retired, he could have been America's mayor. That's how he would have been remembered. America's mayor. He wanted to make would have been remembered. America's mayor. He wanted to make some cash and now he needs a pardon. He needs that sweet, sweet pardon. You don't tweet thank you to my dear friend Donald Trump unless you need a pardon. Yeah.

He's got to get that pardon. A Dolly pardon. Sorry. Hey. No, it's good. It's good. It's good. People are crashing their cars.

Right now. Yeah. Right now. They're freaking out. Because it sounds like Dolly Parton. Right now. Yeah. Right now. They're freaking out. Because it sounds like Dolly Parton, the singer. Yeah. It does. It sounds a little bit like a Dolly Parton, huh?

Going to issue one of those Dolly Pardons, huh? Jolene on the Justice Department to get myself a pardon, huh? Oh! Huh? Oh! Stay-at-home orders have gone into effect for tens of millions of Californians after ICU capacities in Southern California dipped below 15%. My message could not be simpler. It's time to hunker down, Garcetti said Wednesday.

It's time to cancel everything, and if it isn't essential, don't do it. Of course, while the message couldn't be simpler, the order certainly could have been, as it allowed a host of confusing and seemingly contradictory exceptions. But I will say, Sarah, I've barely been able to keep up. I was really I was at this amazing seven course dinner at the French Laundry. They do this truffle foam. It's exquisite. That's a Gavin Newsom gag, right? Well, you know what?

There have been so many people issuing orders and then going on various trips and restaurant meals. I mean, it's not just the mayor of San Francisco did something similar. The mayor of Austin did something similar. Politicians across the country have been issuing these orders and then violating them. And then like, I don't know about, without naming, I won't name names, but I don't know about you, Sarah, but I have heard about one too many fancy L.A. rich people having secret events. There are so many people playing fast and loose, you know? I can't even believe it. I don't trust anybody.

I see my dad. My dad's 83, so, and I see him at least once a week, usually more. I can't take that shit home to him. No, absolutely not. He's elderly. He's elderly. I just turned 50. I kept it real low key i had a

party of not even 50 people in a really small space first of all i don't think kovitz gonna believe you're 50 oh come on kovit no way you are so bad come on yeah kovit's like you're too pretty to get kovit that's to get COVID. That's what people are saying. That's what people are saying. A lot of people are saying that. Bernie Sanders and Republican Josh Hawley have come out for another round of stimulus checks, and the White House has agreed to support $600 checks, which will go a long way to paying off everyone's rent from the first two weeks of April. Very good. That's more of a snarky thing. Snark. Little snark. Little snark. In Georgia runoff news, Senator David Perdue didn't show up for his televised debate

against opponent John Ossoff and instead was represented by an empty lectern. Sadly, the debate ended in a tie. Sorry. I'm just, vote your Ossoff just kidding i wrote a real simple jingle let's hear it johnny yasuf and rothy warnock for georgia and the usa it's that simple thanks is it genius no it's simple that's what gets into your that's the bug the earworm that's going to win. So good. So good. Is John Ops the guy that they made his nose bigger in an ad so he'd look a little more wink, wink, you know what? Yeah. A little more New York. Yeah.

A little must-see TV. Yeah. That was the code when it was Seinfeld and riser and uh jonathan silverman in one string they'd go hey she's a little must see tv wow it was like the three uh parentheses of the times oh man look that was what a block that was huh oh what a triumph for the jews i know male jews i will say this i I remember, like, because Seinfeld was on, and I remember we got to the Festivus episode,

and it was like, am I on Mars? Are we sitting here and pretending that George Costanza is Christian? Like, am I in outer space? He's Italian, right? Jerry Stiller

is his dad. We're talking, these are non-Jews. These are people that have Christmas presents. Yeah, Jews play Italians. I know, but it was a shock to me. And then Italians play tough Italians, right? Yeah, they do.

No, I feel like De Niro, there's been some, we've gone in both directions. We've gone in both directions. De Niro gets to play anything he wants. Lorraine Bracco played Jewish in Goodfellas, I believe. Yeah. I believe her character was Jewish. Yes, Karen.

And her parents were none too pleased with that situation. And that felt very true to me. In Georgia, it was announced that Joe Biden might send Pete Buttigieg to China as ambassador after Kamala Harris made the suggestion to Joe Biden in a Zoom with her camera off, sounding suspiciously like Amy Klobuchar exacting revenge. Yeah, I don't want to send Mayor Pete to China. I think it's cool. I think it's cool if Pete takes on that job. That's a job George H.W. Bush had. It's a really big ambassadorship. I just like the idea of Amy Klobuchar having carried a grudge and somehow managed to take over Kamala Harris's Zoom with Joe Biden to kind of pull the strings. And then it's like, I imagine Amy Klobuchar descending from the ceiling. In my mind,

Amy Klobuchar has become a kind of john wick figure uh uh who uh scorched earth occasionally must you call upon her powers you know it's funny everyone understands why like if john wick gets his dog killed he's gonna murder a lot of people and it will be justified but human beings getting killed it's just like hey in the film face Off, there is a moment in which Nicolas Cage in the body of John Travolta or John Travolta in the body of Nicolas Cage. I don't remember. But one of them ends up in a prison, just a prison, you know, and has to escape. And he shoots his way out of the prison. Now, he the prison just thinks it's a mastermind super criminal. shoots his way out of the prison.

Now, the prison just thinks it's a mastermind super criminal. We know, as members of the audience, that that's actually the good guy in the body. Right. So the good guy in the body of the bad guy has to escape from jail to save the city. But he shoots his way out of the prison. And I remember just sitting there in the theater being like, from the point of view of the people working at the prison,

this guy sucks. Yeah, just murdered. I always wanted to see a movie where it's like the good guy around who's like killing a bunch of people and then it just goes to one of the people he kills and you just back up and watch their whole life up until that point. Or one of those fruit stands that James Bond drives through. Yeah, what the fuck?

The Federal Trade Commission and 48 attorneys general have filed landmark antitrust lawsuits against Facebook, alleging that the company illegally crushed its competition by buying up its rivals and weaponizing its staggering troves of user data. The FTC is recommending Facebook spin off Instagram and WhatsApp, leaving Facebook to focus on its core business, promoting Dan Bongino and finding ways for high school exes to arrange disappointing marital infidelities. Just more of a thinker. You know, it's a lot to process.

Yes, it's a thinker. It was a lot. That's something that I I'll put too much in. You know what I mean? I'll put too much in. I'll over-season. But can the joke carry the weight of it? Sometimes it can. This time, it seems like maybe not. Maybe not.

Yeah. Maybe not. I would have ended at Dan, what did I say his last name? Bongino. Bongino. Yeah, that got me. I ended at Dan. That was strong.

You're right. Focus on its core business, promoting Dan Bongino. Yeah. Funny name. True, it's funny. You know, it's funny in a whole myriad ways. I think that after years of watching Letterman, when in doubt, I just punch the end like he would

when he didn't believe in what he was doing. You know? Dan Bongino. Oh, Dan! The former head of Israeli space security program Haim Eshed said that aliens are real and a galactic federation contacted Israel and the United States, but that humanity is not ready. The galactic federation said they'd return once we figured out

how to get rid of climate change, nuclear weapons, and that overused gif of a woman from Big Brother doing a spit take. Do you know that spit take? Do you know that I'm talking about? That one woman of that woman, she goes, she just does a little spit take. Have you know that spit take do you know that talking about the one woman of that woman she goes she just does a little spit take have you seen that in your twitter oh my god it's relentless but i can picture it it's just a half spit take it's not the full spray it's like a light spray it's a light spray it's a light spray now here is our final joke and you know what it's a doozy okay and finally to laugh sorry

are you ready to laugh and finally lifetime and kfc made a mini movie called a recipe for seduction and it stars mario lopez as sexy colonel. It's so graphic, you can only watch it on the 11 Herbs and Spice channel. Don't fight for it. Don't do it. I don't want that laugh. I don't want it. I don't want it. The Spice, do you remember the Spice channel?

I was permanently scarred because when I was like, I want to say eight years old. I want to say eight years old. I want to say eight years old. I went to a slumber party at a boy's home. I remember his name and I'm not going to say it. All right. Not going to say his full name. Can you say just the like if you were just going to like banana, ba ba ba.

I will say his name is Jeffrey. But and I remember that we had pizza. It was like very normal. And then the parents went to sleep and then he snuck behind they had one of those big projection tvs like the kind of big the old ones that were kind of like giant boxes that were kind of at a terrible picture but the big screen the rear projection ones yeah you know like that that like you made it you had a gigantic terrible television but he snuck somehow behind the television

and there was a key. And he turned the key. It was a key that apparently, he must have stolen the key from his father. I don't know. But he turned the key and all of a sudden there was porn. And then I was with this group of kids

watching heterosexual, hardcore pornography from like 1 a.m. to 4 a.m. And when I say that those images are seared into my memory, it was harrowing. Because I imagine for the, it must have been too much for all the boys. Yeah. But at least some of them were like, that seems cool in some fundamental way. For me, it did nothing. It was just haunting. How old were you?

I think like eight or nine, maybe 10, maybe 10. It was rough. It was rough. One of the parties, it was like there was a New Year's sex party and it was chilling to the core. And it wasn't until I was older that I was like, oh my God, that's not what a New Year's Eve party is. Oh, my God, that's not what a New Year's Eve party is. Like, that's not what adults do. That's just a creepy TV thing. I had a, I recently remembered something, like a major lie I remember telling, which is I was 15 and I went to New York and I was going to stay with some New York friends that were, I had done summer stock with that were grownups. And this guy said, you know, my day job is giving me a night at the Waldorf Astoria. You can stay there instead of, and I'll stay home, you know, my place.

So I was a 15-year-old kid in a hotel room by myself for the first time. So I meet him the next morning. He picks me up, and he's at the front desk. And he said, there seems to be a $200 charge for adult films. I spent the whole night watching every adult film available on that TV because I couldn't believe I could see naked people having sex. I didn't know it cost money or anything. And I was like, I did not do that.

Like, it was just, I just, I mean, but clearly, I'm sure he knew I was like, I did not do that. Like, it was just, I just lied. I mean, but clearly, I'm sure he knew I was lying. My face was beet red. I was probably sweating for the first time in my life. But it's such a good lie. That is a great lie. Because you know you're lying. He knows you're lying.

You know that he knows you're lying. But you still never have to have the conversation. Yeah, exactly. You both get to have the conversation. Yeah, exactly. You both get to have the lie is just a nice little plexiglass divider that keeps the truth droplets from passing between you. You know? Yeah. In a way. Yes.

To put it in our current situation. Very current. Think about it. The truth droplets. Very current. The aerosol truth droplets. That's what we're trying to stop with that lie. Yeah. Sarah Silverman. We did it. Thank you so much for being here we did it we did it everybody please subscribe

to the sarah silverman podcast it's hilarious you will love it i am so delighted to see you again thank you so much for being here when we come back senator brian shots We will not tell him what we talked about. Let's see some masturbatory stories from him. Yeah, yeah, Schatz. Take your best, Schatz. Hey, don't go anywhere. There's more of Love It or Leave It coming up. And we're back. He is the senator from Hawaii.

Please welcome returning champion Senator Brian Schatz. Thanks for being here. Thanks for being here. Thanks for having me, John. So as we speak, there are tense negotiations over a COVID relief bill, something that should have happened months ago, and that is still uncertain right now. I would like to read you the headline and part of the lead from a story in Politico that just ran describing the status of the negotiations. Stimulus debacle exposes broken Washington. It's the latest evidence

Washington is broken. At the peak of the worst public health crisis in a century, the White House and Congress are struggling to deliver another round of relief and time in the lame duck is quickly running out. How frustrating is that narrative to you? And can you just tell us what is actually going on right now in these negotiations? Yeah, this is Mitch McConnell's fault. And it is maddening. I don't want to get too much into media criticism, although I do some of that on Twitter. But this is maddening because this one really is 100% Mitch McConnell's fault. There is a bipartisan, bicameral framework for around $900 billion worth of COVID relief,

which we could put on to the government spending bill that needs to pass by the end of next week. And Mitch McConnell is the only person who's blocking it. Some Senate Republicans are for it. The president, although I'm sure he doesn't understand it, is saying that he would sign it. The obstacle is Mitch McConnell and no one else. This is not a situation where the House passed a bill that has lots of our priorities, but the Senate Republicans have a different view. This is actually the product of a bipartisan negotiation. This is actually the product of a bipartisan negotiation.

And Mitch McConnell is blowing it up. And he relies on that kind of framing to make it such that he can get away with blowing up something that is absolutely essential. And I'm quite concerned for people who have to pay rent. I'm concerned about layoffs in state and county governments. We need tens of billions of dollars to make sure this vaccine gets distributed efficiently and equitably and safely. And all of that is in the $900 billion package. So we're going to keep pushing. We are going to stay engaged on a bipartisan basis. But Mitch McConnell right now is the problem. Now, is he standing in the way of this deal

because he doesn't believe, like, obviously there'd be a big majority in the House that was bipartisan. There'd be a big majority in the Senate that's bipartisan to pass this. There's a desperation to pass something because we're in crisis, as you said. But is the reason he's holding it back is because he doesn't believe he has, that a majority of his own members in the Senate would support it? Like, what is his rationale? Oh, I don't know. I actually don't know. But I think anything that he put on the floor could actually get a majority of Republicans because Donald Trump is pushing for it. And really, as we all know, they pretty much do whatever he says. And so I don't know what his calculation is other than he wants to prove that government can't be effective

even in the most urgent of situations. Because philosophically, I think that's where he stands on issues like this. I think he regrets having passed the CARES Act because it helped so many people. And here we are. How do liability protections currently fit into the negotiations? Some of the negotiations were about trading or equating state and local aid for some form of liability protection, which is for companies to keep from being sued over the virus. Yeah. And this is such a weird thing because right now there have been 20 lawsuits in the first

part of this calendar year related to COVID in the workplace. And the reason for that is because I'm not a lawyer, but this has been explained to me by multiple people. It's really hard as a plaintiff to make the case that you caught COVID in the workplace because we're in a pandemic. You could have caught it anywhere. And so every employer has that defense, which is why lots of lawyers won't take a COVID case because you're not going to be able to win a trial. And so this is kind of a cooked up problem. Nobody from the business community in Hawaii or nationally was demanding this, but they decided to take state and county funding hostage

in exchange for essentially limiting people's access to redress in the courts. And that's all this is. This is hostage taking. And, you know, the kind of bummer about it is that the Capitol Hill Press will frame this as, you know, why don't they just trade liability reform for state and county funding? And the answer is one thing is related to covid relief and the other thing is just purely hostage taking for a long term priority that Mitch McConnell and the National Chamber of Commerce have had that has nothing to do with the current pandemic. McConnell and the National Chamber of Commerce have had that has nothing to do with the current pandemic. Yeah, it reminds me a bit of the hostage taking over the debt ceiling, where it was seen as Democrats trying to make a deal over the budget, over taxes, over financing the government, with Republicans taking the government hostage using this sort of unrelated lever. The idea that preventing localities from laying off police officers,

which Republicans claim to want to fund, and teachers and first responders and, you know, cutting back on infrastructure projects, like the only reason that's being considered a Democratic priority is because baked into our politics is the assumption that Republicans don't give a shit. Yeah, that's right. That's right. And there's a Capitol Hill press that gives Mitch credit for being clever and wily and strategic for doing things that if we did it, they would rightly call us cruel and venal and corrupt. Yeah. Well, you know, and I started with that horrible headline because it speaks to how we end up in this situation. The idea that what we're seeing is Congress is broken or Washington is broken. You know, we're in now, there's a bipartisan negotiation. Democrats had passed a much larger rescue bill months and months ago.

They have come down and come down and come down. And now we're finally at this, what, roughly $900 billion, this $1 trillion package, far less than what Democrats and most economists would say we need. And even still, it's being stymied. What do you see right be hopeful because I think that everybody understands that we can't go home from the Congress not having passed anything. Democrats and Republicans alike, right? There's a time to kind of posture and say, well, if you don't want a bill, let's see how the voters respond, right? Or whatever. But this is a situation where we're going to wrap up our work for the year in the next week or so. And we cannot wrap up our work for the next week or so, understanding that people are going to be laid off. People are going to be evicted. People are going to lose their homes. And we're not going to be able to fund vaccine distribution unless we pass a bill.

redistribution unless we pass a bill. And so I think that pressure is enormous. And I think people of goodwill on both sides of the aisle are going to be able to come together. But we're going to have to roll Mitch McConnell in the process. So I want to also ask you a bit about the Biden administration, which has been taking shape. Can you talk a little bit about the balance Biden has struck ideologically in the picks that we've learned about so far? What has made you feel confident? Are there any picks that have been of a concern for progressives in your mind? Yeah. So, I mean, I think, first of all, the progressive movement has gotten their mind around this idea that personnel is policy, right? And that it very much matters who you put into the key positions. I'm particularly thrilled that the economic team

is also a climate team and that the national security team is a team that understands how climate change and climate action and climate cooperation is part of our geopolitical strategy. And so I'm really thrilled about that. I want to see the whole list of members of the cabinet and subcabinet before I make a final judgment. I'll also just make the observation that you don't really know who's going to be a progressive champion until they start doing the work. Some folks come in with lots of good credentials and disappoint, and others you may have your reservations about but turn out to be a pleasant surprise. So, you know, part of my job in terms of being a senator and advising and consenting to these nominations is to do those interviews and those hearings and to understand how they're going to attack this job. Are you worried at all about having another secretary of defense that requires a waiver? Are you worried at all about not having

civilian control of the military? Yeah, I am. Well, so I guess there's a couple of things. First, yes, I am, generally speaking, worried about that. I voted for the Mattis waiver on the adult in the room theory. It's super difficult to imagine voting for Donald Trump's sec defs waiver and then not Joe Biden's sec defs waiver. Right. That's actually the problem. problem, right? Is that now this is a pattern where we're taking a retired general or flag officer and then waiving our own statutory requirement and then making them the secretary of defense. So, yeah, I think it's a concern, but this president needs to be able to stand up his cabinet and I'm going to vote for the waiver. Now, I haven't talked to General Austin.

I have to evaluate him on the basis of his qualifications. But because I voted for the Mattis waiver, I'm going to stay consistent and vote for the Austin waiver. Now, do you think your colleague, Senator John Cornyn, was being sincere when he said his problem with Neera Tanden was that her tweets weren't civil enough? Well, in a way, I do. I think it's silly because everyone obviously pointed out that they spent four years saying, I don't see the tweets. I'm not on Twitter. And so on that level, it exposes their hypocrisy. But I do think their feelings are hurt, and the fact that Neera Tanden is extraordinarily qualified to run OMB is not the point for them. She said mean things about Republicans, and that for them is disqualifying. So it actually doesn't surprise me. And I know I'm supposed to

say, well, that's not a sincere grievance, but I think they're, you know, a grievance. I think their feelings are hurt. Wow. It's amazing. It's amazing what, you know, it's the old saying, you know, for my friends, everything, for my enemies, the law. It's like, for my friends, Donald Trump, for my enemies, civility. That's good. I like that. It was okay. It was okay. I made it up in the fly. Thank you for humoring me. Yeah. A degree of difficulty was, yeah. Anyway, go on. It was okay. We talked about this before the election, and I wanted to revisit it because I said that we would.

We talked about the fact that, you know, Trump was threatening democracy. He's threatening the bedrock practice of just ordinary politics, that we use debates, facts, argument to wage campaigns. They're not always, you know, totally intellectually honest. There's bias, there's misleading information, but we let voters decide. We put our best case forward and we respect the results. Trump was running against that in some ways. What we had talked about is that based on polls, based on the genuine needs people had in their lives, that we should not talk about his threat to politics as much as we talk about what's happening inside of politics,

about health care, about jobs. And I saw some feisty tweets from you, from one Senator Brian Schatz, about the fact that in hindsight, you know, we're not totally sure if we can even rely on polls. We had these down ballot defeats. We now have 18 Republican attorneys general basically saying they don't want democracy. They want Republicans, not democracy. And it's all based around the fact that these Republicans believe that there's more to lose in bothering the base than having integrity and respecting democracy. How are you thinking about this challenge right now about how we make an argument for democracy itself, how we campaign for these sort of bedrock American principles that seem to have lost purchase in one of our two parties?

Yeah, I don't have an easy answer for that. But I will say that, you know, looking back, you know, not just on the election results, but thinking about this in the sort of sweep of history, you know, maybe we should have pointed out the corruption a little more aggressively and not assume that just because some pollster told us that ACA was the main thing, that it was always the main thing. Now, there is a theory of the case that when you're dealing with elected leaders with fascist tendencies, that if you freak out too aggressively about the behavior, right, and about the

anti-democratic behavior, that you can't win. You know, this arguably happened with Berlusconi, and there are other examples of if you don't focus on bread and butter issues, you sort of never get over the threshold of actually winning a working majority. But I think it's just worth pointing out that you've got 17 attorneys general, 100, I think 100 members of the U.S. House who want to overturn a Democratic election. members of the U.S. House who want to overturn a Democratic election. There are plenty of elected Republicans, maybe not quite half of them, but a really strong and alarming plurality of elected Republicans who are proudly saying that they want to overturn the election on the basis of nothing other than their guy didn't win. And if we don't make the case that that's disqualifying for them as a party, then shame on us. Now, does that mean it's the main thing we're talking about every time we open our mouth? Maybe not. But I feel a little sheepish

about the extent to which I prioritize message discipline, right? Right. Over my own instincts to say these people are actually overturning everything that we hold dear. You know, you are among many that have been sort of sounding this alarm. It's actually, I think, it's this harder problem, which is we can't solve it in one election, right? Like, okay, we talked about it more. The problem is deeper than that, right? Because it takes a very long time for these kinds of ideas. It seems that this rejection of democracy has been taking hold for a very long time. It seems like we have to just be honest that talking about it won't be the answer for a long time. We have to make a really concerted long-term

case to figure out how to convince millions of the 75 million some odd people that voted for Donald Trump who maybe are receptive to an argument that democracy is a good thing and we should try to uphold it. Well, you know, one of my great colleagues in the Senate was talking about part of the reason for the distrust in institutions, you know, there's the party problem, there's the Fox News ecosystem and Facebook and talk radio, but it is also that institutions have stopped working for people. And so it's not just a theoretical thing or a filter bubble or just question of what our messaging is. It's that the institutions that people used to rely upon, whether it was their union or their church or their

government, to make their lives better are not making their lives better to the extent that it used to. And so the difficulty for Democrats is that we have to make some of these institutions work. And so, you know, you definitely hear this on Twitter where it's like Democrats aren't playing hardball enough and all the rest of it. But all that does is create, I mean, obviously we should play as tough as we can, but as it relates to making institutions work, we're the party of making institutions work, right? We have to be, because if not, then we're just presiding over a death spiral. And maybe we'll win more elections, but we'll actually accelerate the death spiral of all these institutions. And so what we have to do

is provide COVID relief. What we have to do is take climate action. What we have to do is provide money for state and local government, because that's what we're about. And it's our reason for being. We might be able to win more elections at the expense of those institutions, but in the long run, that's not worth it. Well, Senator Brian Schatz, thank you so much for your time. It's a big conversation and I'm sure we will be having it over the next two years as we fight to, you know, win. Yeah. Thanks, John. Thank you so much to Senator Brian Shatz for being here. When we come back, I talk to Margaret Keenan, the first person to receive the COVID-19 vaccine outside of a clinical trial. Don't go anywhere. This is Love It or Leave It, and there's more on the way.

And we're back. It has been a long and difficult year. And with COVID surging again, it can be hard to see a light at the end of the tunnel. But this week, we all felt a little more hopeful. And I'm not just talking to Travis. I'm not. I'll just let everyone at home know that he put something there that supposedly gave us hope that is not appropriate. And I'm just going to leave it there. I mean, of course, that the first doses of the COVID vaccine started to be administered in the

United Kingdom. This is obviously incredibly positive news. So we would like to welcome a surprise guest. She is maybe the most exciting guest we've ever had. She is a 90 year old grandmother from Coventry, England. And earlier this week, she became the first British person to receive the COVID-19 vaccine outside of a clinical trial. Please welcome Margaret Keenan. Mrs. Keenan, how are you feeling? Oh, John, I cannot tell you how much a relief this is. I saw one nurse on the telly say that it felt like she was injecting hope. And honest to goodness, that's what it feels like. The hope I felt, well, it completely knocked me for six.

Well, that's so good to hear. What has been the biggest change you've noticed in your day-to-day life since you've received the vaccine? Well, it's mostly the confidence. I feel safe as house as John. Do you know what that means? It's vaguely. It's a British saying. Yes, it is. It's a British saying, yeah. That's right.

I've started going on walks again. I walked to a small bookshop on the high street. Oh, I love the smell of old books. Felt nice just to breathe in and breathe out in this small, confined space with my dear friend, Mr. Goddry, the bookman, and his four adult sons, who often stop in to help dear old dad. Would you believe those boys all work together at the prison? I'm not sure that's such a good idea, but I'm glad you're feeling optimistic. Oh, John! I'm glad you're feeling optimistic. A little you're feeling optimistic a little worried but a lot of people are curious walk us through the experience tell

us about getting the shot right right right right right right okay well it was quite a procedure a lovely young woman came over to me with a test tube you know know, a test tube. And this was interesting. That's right. This was interesting. It was a bright neon green color. Neon green? Mm-hmm. I didn't know that. I didn't know that it was neon green.

That's strange. That's right. And everyone was cheering. And then I realized she had test tubes all around her waist like a bandolier belt. And you could buy one for four pounds or three for ten pounds well john i'm not ashamed to admit i was so caught up in the moment i handed her 20 pounds and she pulled that shot right into my mouth wait wait wait mrs keenan mrs keenan i'm i was asking

you about the are you talking about going to a to a club are you talking about going to a club? Are you talking about a dance club? I was asking about the vaccine. You're talking about a club. Yes, yes, yes, my American Hebrew friend. I haven't felt this young and free since John Gilgud asked me to dance at the Royal Palladium in 1962. But this time, John, no one leaves with Martin Hensler but me. This time it's my turn. Mrs. Keenan. Mrs. Keenan, I'm very worried.

Mrs. Keenan is my mother's name. Call me Maggie. You know what? No. Use my new name, my immune name. Call me Margo. Okay. Okay.

Margo. There it is. I don't think this is safe. Can you at least just tell us what it was like for those who were nervous about it? Are you experiencing any side effects? Well, yes. I'm a bit short of breath and a little dizzy. Well, I'm sorry to hear that.

What do the doctors say? That it's probably from the hookah. Oh! Okay. Cha-ching! Ooh, baby, baby! Margot the Invincible hit her numbers yet again. I guess this vaccine makes me immune to losing too.

Is that what it is? Mrs. Keenan, are you in a casino? Who? You should not be in a casino. A casino doesn't do it justice. You should not be in a casino. A casino doesn't do it justice. I'm at the Cosmopolitan Resort and Spa in the beautiful Las Vegas.

The rooms here are so cheap they're practically paying me to be here, John. Little Johnny John. This is Keenan. Who? This is Keenan. Who? Margo. There we go.

Margo. Margo. I'm going to put aside just how deeply jealous I am that you're in Vegas to ask you to answer some questions just about the process of getting the vaccine. That's why you're here. I want to ask you about the process. You're one of the few people who can give us information. And currently, please, if you wouldn't mind putting down your drink and helping us with this interview for just a moment.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, moment yes yes yes of course of course i'm so sorry although i can't really put down my drink it's like a hat that i'm wearing with two beer cans on it and a curly straw but yes i'm sorry i'll answer all your questions dearie okay okay thank you okay thank you where was i all right so in your opinion having now had the vaccine who do you think should get the vaccine first oh well i think it's important to take care of those of us who are most vulnerable so senior men single senior men, single senior men who aren't afraid to whip it out of the old country buffet. Oh, come on. You can't possibly be going to. Oh, come on.

What do you expect me to not eat at buffets right now? There's hardly any line. Okay. Join me. This is enough. Margaret Keenan, everyone. And please. Margot.

Margot, please, please stay safe. You're not supposed to. It's not. And you got to get you still to get the second dose. Second dose. Oh, dear God. Go to the hospital right now. Margaret Keenan, everybody.

I'll go to hospital right now. I'll go right to hospital. I should have said it in a way that you would understand. Not to go to hospital. Otherwise, it's incoherent. It doesn't make any sense to you. Go to hospital. Bye, John. Well, Margo keenan has now gone to the hospital and here is darcy carden

my goodness you just missed you just you just missed margaret keenan now she was by margo just missed her she's one of the first people to get the vaccine i really want i had a lot of questions for her. Hi, John. Hi, Darcy. Darcy, that was so funny. Thank you so much for being here. Love you.

When we come back, we'll end on a high note. Hey, don't go anywhere. There's more of Love It or Leave It coming up. And we're back. Because we all need it this week, here it is, the high note. Hey, John, this is Brian. Calling, something that gave me hope this week is I work at a homeless shelter. We're in lockdown, and just all the food the community's making for us,

people make almost every meal at their home and bring it in to feed people, and it just gives me hope that people are stepping up and trying to take care of one another right now. Bye. Hi, John. This is Deirdre calling from Everett, Washington. This past week was my wife, Christy, and my 25th anniversary of our first date. Since it was a COVIDversary, we couldn't really go out and celebrate.

So we had takeout Thai food while my wife and son watched the Seahawks game. And my daughters and I wrote postcards to voters in Georgia about the upcoming Senate election. So maybe it wasn't really what we had counted on for our 25th anniversary, but we were all together and that's what counts. Thanks. Hi, Lovett. It's Genevieve from Need a Math. And my high point of the week is that my husband, who really, truly hates to travel, was generally indifferent to London and Paris. The only travel he likes to do is to knock doors. So like Hollis, truly hates to travel, was generally indifferent to London and Paris. The only travel he likes to do is to knock doors. So like Hollis, New Hampshire in November is his favorite place to be. And he, who hates to fly, hates to travel, got himself on a plane and is staying in Georgia for a month where he can knock doors for Raphael Warnock and John Ossoff. And I'm

so proud of him. And I'm so encouraged by that energy, and I know it's coming at Georgia from all over, and I really, really hope it makes the difference in January. Thank you so much for everything you and your team do to keep me laughing. Literally, I think the only belly laughs I had in 2020 were listening to Love to Relieve It, so thanks so much. Bye. Hey, John, this is Donald. My high note for this week was just listening to the high note from Tasha talking about all of the amazing outreach work that they've been doing as 15-year-olds protecting our future. And it's just amazing to see such vibrant community outreach and electoral outreach from the youth. I think our world is in very good hands

if we have even a handful of people like Tasha and her friends out there fighting the good fight. Keep it up. Thank you so much for everything you guys do. Love the show. Bye. Thanks to everybody who sent in their high notes this week. If you want to leave us a message about something that gave you hope, you can call us at 323-521-9455. Thank you to Senator Brian Schatz, Sarah Silverman, Darcy Carden, and everyone who called in. There are 24 days until the Georgia Senate runoff.

Go to votesaveamerica.com to help and have a great weekend. Love It or Leave It is a Crooked Media production. It is written and produced by me, John Lovett, Elisa Gutierrez, Lee Eisenberg, our head writer, and the person whose gender reveal party started the fire, Travis Helwig. Jocelyn Kaufman, Pallavi Gunalan, and Peter Miller

are the writers. Our assistant producer is Sydney Rapp. Bill Lance is our editor, and Kyle Seglin is our sound engineer. Our theme song is written and performed by Sure Sure. Thanks to our designers, Jesse McClain and Jamie Skeel, for creating and running all of our editor, and Kyle Seglin is our sound engineer. Our theme song is written and performed by Sure Sure. Thanks to our designers, Jesse McLean and Jamie Skeel, for creating and running all of our visuals, which you can't see because this is a podcast,

and to our digital producers, Nar Melkonian and Milo Kim, for filming and editing video each week so you can.