Lovett or Leave It - Rex Tillerson, Welcome to the Resistance

Episode Date: October 7, 2017

Rexy gets caught telling the truth. The country once again debates gun violence. Trump heads to Puerto Rico. The "Iron Stache" Randy Bryce talks Paul Ryan. Congressman Mark Pocan talks monopolies. Erin Gloria Ryan tests Jon on Wisconsin trivia. Plus comedians Felonious Munk and Brandon Wardell join Jon to break down the week. Recorded live in Madison, Wisconsin!

What up? Hi guys. Hi guys. It's great to be here in Madison. Without all the riff-raff I usually travel with. How's everybody doing? Excited to be here. We have an awesome show for you tonight. This is our Saturday show. If you're listening to this, we have an awesome show for you night this is our saturday show if you're listening to this we have a bonus coming out on tuesday so there's gonna be an extra episode of love it or leave it that we're recording at the los angeles podcast festival now on november 3rd

love it or leave it is going to be at the anthem in washington dc and there's still some tickets left there and there's still tickets left for our second show at the Beacon in New York City on Saturday, November 11th. Now, before we get started, I thought we'd kick it off with just sort of one spin of the rant wheel. There's a lot going on. So look, the fun of the rant wheel is we don't know where it's going to land. So here are some of the topics for this one spin of the wheel. It could land on Jared and Ivanka. Jared and Ivanka. It's Jared and Ivanka all the way around the wheel.

Let's spin the wheel. Guys, it has landed on Jared and Ivanka. Now, as you know, I don't prepare for these rants because I don't know where it's going to land. Lot going on with America's favorite power couple. So first of all, it turns out that Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr. were up to some shady fucking shit when they were at the Trump organization, no surprise. In one email, according to four people who have seen it, this is a big ProPublica story that came out, which is fantastic. The Trumps discussed how to coordinate false information

they had given to prospective buyers. This was to try to offload some apartments at the Trump Soho. Soho Trump, regardless, apparently wasn't in Soho. One of many frauds they were perpetrating. They were coordinating false information, basically trying to make it seem like the building was selling like hotcakes when it was not. This is the best. In another email, according to a person who read the emails, they worried that a reporter might be onto them. In another, Donald Trump Jr.

spoke reassuringly to a broker who was concerned about the false statement, saying that nobody would ever find out because only people on the email chain or in the Trump organization knew about the deception, according to a person who saw the email. Now, that is not per se about Ivanka and Jared, but we can just pause to note that Donald Trump Jr. is my favorite Sopranos character who only made it five episodes because he was too fucking stupid to be a criminal. But this is the part that comes back to Jared and Ivanka.

Under the settlement in November 2011, Mr. Trump and his co-defendants agreed to refund 90% of the deposits to buyers while admitting no wrongdoing. This is according to the Times. But the buyers also agreed to notify the district attorney's office that they would not help in the investigation, which is basically they bought them off. Meanwhile, this week, Jared and Ivanka, it turns out,

have been operating several private email accounts, including a private fucking server. Here's the thing, guys. I'm going to have to do something now, which I don't want to do, which is I don't believe it's appropriate to yell, lock him up or lock her up. And let me tell you why. Let me tell you why. Every time somebody says, lock him up or lock her up on stage, they are then charged with a crime like six fucking days later. It's the political, the ring. If you say, if you say sincerely in a speech, lock him up for a crime, in a matter of

weeks, a story will break that you also committed that crime. So everybody be careful. So all the audacity of these fucking people. Private email is bullshit. It was bullshit the whole fucking time. Should she have had a private server? In hindsight, not a great idea. However, what is galling about this is you just won an election on this stupid fucking issue. Is that where you got the idea? And the other part of it is, the other part of it is, they were forwarding schedules. The thing that you're not supposed to forward to a private email address becauseing schedules, the thing that you're not supposed to forward to a private email address because it's literally the thing that is the security risk. So the reason I bring it back to the settlement, which is bullshit, which is buying their way

out of a crime, is these people do not believe the rules apply to them. And we have had enough of people who believe the rules don't apply to them. And we've had enough of people who apologize for people who believe the rules don't apply to them. And we've had enough of people who apologize for people who believe the rules don't apply to them, which is why I'm very excited about our first guest. Great transition. Thank you. He's an iron worker serving as a political coordinator for the Iron Workers Local 8 Union, he's the president of the Wisconsin Veterans Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. He's the chair of the Democratic Party Wisconsin Veterans Caucus, and he could be the man who takes on Paul Ryan in Wisconsin's First District and beats him.

Please welcome the Iron Stache, Randy Bryce. Thank you for being here. Thanks for the invitation. It's great to see you. Great to see you again. They're very amped. It's the late show. It's Madison. This is early. This is early for Madison. Love Madison.

I'm in a great time. So one of the things we talked about with the Pod Save America, on Pod Save America just moments ago is how you've been reaching out to people who may have supported Paul Ryan in the past and may have supported Donald Trump in the past. I think there's a big national conversation going on

about how to reach people who may not be huge super Trump fans, but maybe people that are gettable, that are people that are trying to vote for change or trying to vote for something different. What have you found to be the most effective way to break through to people who maybe haven't voted Democrat in a while? Well, it's just talking to them and being a person that works for a living. I think that's, people are starved for attention. They want somebody that's like one of us who instead of looking at somebody who's the lesser of two evils,

who's not going to hurt us the most, it's like somebody I'm all in. I live in the neighborhoods. I work with people. And it's not just paying attention to people, but it's like we've stood together through so much, especially since Scott Walker got elected here.

And it's just doing laps around the Capitol a few blocks away from here. We know each other. And just having people that you know. It's not like I have to sell myself to people. This is where I've stood. We've stood together through all these years,

through everything that's going on. And seeing what's going on in Wisconsin being sent to the national level. So people are very aware of what happened here. You're in this primary now. Your goal is to eventually take on Paul Ryan. What, in seeing the way Paul Ryan has conducted himself since Trump became president, or even before, what to you is the most galling? What is frustrating you most? What has made you most? What has

made you most passionate about making sure we have a different person in that seat? It's him trying to take away healthcare from 23 million people. And it's not, if that wasn't bad enough, it's what he's doing. Because politics is like taking something from one pile and putting it into another. And it's not just the fact that he's trying to take away our healthcare, our access to just be healthy people, but he wants to benefit multi-billion dollar corporations and people that already have everything. And that's just completely wrong. Yeah. So it's late and we didn't want to take up too much of your time and we've had two great conversations but I didn't want to let you go without playing a game.

So today on Love It or Leave It we're introducing a new segment. It's called, imagine if Paul Ryan was replaced with someone who didn't sell out his country. Now, is there somebody in the house that would like to play this new game? Can we come down to the front? I see somebody who's in a tour shirt which is the first tour shirt I've seen so let's come to the front row Hi, what's your name?

Mike Mike Are you from Madison? No, I'm from England You're from... Aww Now I want you all to know that every person in this room is on the right side of the immigration

issue. And the second there was a gift card in your future, you turned like jackals. And so because of that, we are going to play with Mike from fucking England. Unbelievable. I don't like it any more than you do. Hi, Mike. Hi, Tom. Nice to meet you. Mike, here's how the game works.

I am going to read to you something terrible that Donald Trump did. We are going to ask Randy Bryce, the Iron Stache, what a normal, civilized, decent person might say. Then I'm going to tell you what Paul Ryan did say. And it will be your job to choose which answer you prefer. Fine, okay. You got it, Mike? Yeah, ready to go.

Iron Stache, are you ready? I'm all set. Okay. In response to Donald Trump asking FBI Director James Comey to drop an investigation into Michael Flynn, Iron Stache, what would a decent person or a person who cared about their country, what would they have said in that moment?

That's corrupt. Okay. Here's what Paul Ryan said. He said, the president's new at this. He's new to government. He's just new to this. Mike, with as little accent as possible, which do you prefer? Well, there's a straight talk in American, I'd say.

I'm going to go with the eye in touch. You're one for one in a game with no rules. In response to Donald Trump issuing a Muslim travel ban, what perhaps would a better congressperson have said? That's dangerous. would a better congressperson have said? That's dangerous. Okay. Actually, what Paul Ryan said is, President Trump is right to make sure we are doing everything possible to know exactly who is entering our country.

Mike, which do you prefer? I'm going to go with the Iron Stache. Iron Stache is two for two. Thank you. When Trump reacted to Charlottesville blaming both sides and saying that they were very fine people on both sides, what would a better representative have said? That's racist. Paul Ryan said, he's learning.

I know his heart is in the right place. And finally, on Trump's leadership generally, his leadership as president. Wait, you didn't pick. I was getting away, John. Don't worry. You picked the stash. Yeah, yeah. There's a theme.

I'm glad you played this game. Finally, on Trump's leadership generally, on Trump as a president overall, what would your take have been? What leadership? Unfortunately, Paul Ryan said, I think the president is giving us the leadership we need to get the country back on the right track. Who do you think would do a better job of answering that question? I can give you Britain's response. I don't want Britain's

response. It would be the Iron Sash, of course. And you'd be correct. You're four for four. You've won this game, and so has the Iron Sash. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you. One more thing you'd like to say to the people of Madison about why you're running. It's time to take back our country. And I know being from Wisconsin, if you're like me watching the State of the Union address, I throw my Proud to Be a Union Thug t-shirt over the corner where Paul Ryan was.

So let's get rid of all of them, and let's take back 2018. RandyBriceForCongress.com. Please, let's do this. It's not going to happen without your help. Give it up for the Iron Sash, Randy Bryce. When we come back, our panel. Hey, don't go anywhere. There's more of Love It or Leave It coming up.

Allow me to introduce our awesome panel. She is a senior editor at the Daily Beast and part of Crooked Media's new contributor network. Please welcome Erin Gloria Ryan. He is a comedian and correspondent on Comedy Central's The Nightly Show and a pretty nice guy, Felonious Monk. And he's a comedian who's been on Comedy Central and MTV. Please welcome Brandon Wardell.

I'm really excited about this pod. I googled politics right before I got on stage. That's good. That's good. We are off to a fantastic and loose start. So, what a week. Let's get into it. On Sunday night at a country music festival, a gunman fired at a crowd from the 32nd floor of the hotel, killing at least 58 people and injuring upwards of 500 people.

23 weapons, 3 cameras to monitor people and injuring upwards of 500 people, 23 weapons, three cameras to monitor. He had 50 pounds of explosives. He used bump stocks, legal gun accessories to make weapons fire, basically like an automatic rifle, turned Las Vegas into a war zone. You know, we've seen so many of these shootings now, but each one is shocking. Was there something about this? I mean, Aaron, I'll start with you. Was there something about this that felt like it was a new level or something new or was it just more of the same,

yet another mass shooting? I mean, on one hand, it was another mass shooting, but on the other, it felt like, I don't know. Do you ever feel like you're stuck inside like a computer-generated reality and like things keep getting

better at being shitty like it felt to me like whoever was playing the version of reality that i'm living in had just gotten really good at making it as shitty as possible because it keeps leveling up in in how bad it is and you know i i can i work at the daily beast and and i know how the media responds to these things and so i knew exactly how the playbook would look. It's like, okay, so we respond, thoughts and prayers and there's a way that we deal with it. And as a media consumer, there's a way that we receive it and there's a way that we have to process it. But this one felt a little bit like a broke new ground but in a way that was like

the people who are doing these things are getting better at being terrible. Right, it's sort of like a gruesome competition. Exactly. And I noticed there's a lot of talking points that just didn't work this time. Like, oh, these people in the crowd should have been armed.

And it's like, well, what do you want? You want 50 people in the crowd firing up at the Mandalay Bay? They can hit the bullets as they're coming down and stop the bullets. It doesn't make any sense whatsoever. There was no stop. There was nothing you could do.

There was nothing being tough or being armed could help you do. It was a killing field. The half-life between these horrible things has shrunken, it feels like. And people have a very short memory because things keep happening all the time but I feel like the memory that people have is short enough now that it's like no no no wait a second this is what you said last time it wasn't okay last time and you did nothing

last time so it doesn't work for you to say it this time yeah the scariest part to me was that we're firing look a mass shooting is scary. A mass shooting in a movie theater is scary. There are hundreds of people.

A mass shooting in a mall is scary. Hundreds of people. This was just in Las Vegas where there are always thousands and thousands of people in a strip. And compounded with this is a music festival. So even more thousands than there usually are. It was shooting fish in a barrel is a horrible way to say it. a music festival. So even more thousands than they usually are. Shooting fish in a barrel is a horrible way to say it. But then to hear the platitudes coming behind

it, you know, we need to get a hold on mental health from people like Wisconsin's Paul Ryan. Yeah, they don't like him here. You're right not to. But no, when you say, let's get a hold on mental health. Where are my Ryan heads at? They're not here.

There's usually one. It's one guy who's like, I'm here and I'm standing for them. They are lost. When you say, we need to get a hold on mental health so that these things don't happen, but you're trying to cut health care, which would help people with mental health issues. There's a huge difference. Not just cut health care, cutting Medicaid, which is the preponderance or maybe even the majority of the funding for mental health care in the U.S. right now. And, again, a talking point that just fails in the face of the facts of this event, which is this was a guy, the only signal that this guy was going to do this was the arsenal that he built.

He wasn't on anybody's radar screen. Nobody saw this coming. The only sign, as far as we know right now, that this was coming was the fact that he was amassing an arsenal. The arsenal was the sign of the mental health problem. It all happened in the last couple of months, right? The people that always

bring up mental health when shootings happen, that's the only time they care about mental health. Yeah. That's the only time is when they're trying to distract from gun control. Well, one of the things that's really tough about this specific situation is it's so weird. It's so weirdly outside of the realm of what you would normally expect. And I don't mean that he was like, you know, like a lone white guy,

because lone white guys do violence all the time in America. I mean, it's like there were no signals, like there were no, besides him buying all these guns, there was nothing. And I think it's hard to kind of grapple with that. It's such a weird situation. I think every time something tragic happens, you look at it and you want to think, if it were me, if I were dealing with it, I could have done something different. But sometimes you just can't, and that's kind of hard to fathom. I think what's weird about this is that we're saying the only sign, like this was not preventable because the only sign was that he

amassed this collection of weapons. But everywhere else in the civilized world, amassing a collection of weapons is a sign. And we don't have it because in America you can have guns, right? Yeah. So, you know, I don't know what's left to say about this. I wrote a little bit about this on Crooked.com to talk about it because one of the things that's hardest is kind of go through this loop of there's you know shock and horror

and tweets and everybody talking about it and people saying oh we can't politicize it and then all of a sudden we forget and we move on and we just can't keep moving on and it seems like there'll be at least some minimal amount of action but we just have to stay on this and we have to be as committed to it as the opponents and it's hard.

Yeah, I mean, I hate that statement. Like, now is not the time to politicize it. Like, I was thinking about it in terms of like, okay, if you're playing a football game and you're like a receiver and the person defending you like caught an interception and you were like, no, it's not the time to score a touchdown. Like, no, it absolutely is. You just demonstrated how I'm not good at being a receiver. You deserve just to score a touchdown right now. And not that this is like a contest,

but it's sort of like, it absolutely is. Like right now, we have an extreme example of how it can go totally wrong. Well, yeah, it's just an extraordinary number of times and places where it's inappropriate for politics they disagree with, right? It's after a mass shooting that reveals the inadequacy of our laws. It's not the time to talk about changing our laws. In the midst of a hurricane made worse by climate change, it's not the time to talk about climate change. Football game is not the time to talk about, you know, it's not, football game is not the time to talk about police brutality because this is where we let people go at one another and salute the military,

but we don't talk about politics here. You know, a host that spent a decade on Fox News doing the worst kind of racial grievance politics can go to a morning show on NBC and say, this isn't a place for politics. I was replaced. Right. I was replaced by a version of me. I was replaced by a version

of me that never did any of the things that I did. Yeah. 273 days this year and 273 mass shootings. One of these days we have to talk about it. And the idea that it's insensitive to talk about this right now. What's insensitive is 60 people being

killed, 500 people being wounded and Congress sending thoughts and prayers. Thoughts and prayers haven't stopped a bullet yet. I think that is a good place to leave this very hard topic. When we come back, a new game called Speaking Wisconsin. Don't go anywhere. This is Love It or Leave It, and there's more on the way. Now for a segment called Speaking Wisconsin, I will hand the reins over to Erin who will

run this game. Okay. So I am from Wisconsin originally, unlike all of these losers. I'm from a town called Frederick. I don't know if any of you have heard of it. It has about 1,100 people. It's like a little north of Eau Claire. But anyway, I'm here now.

So what I'm going to do is I'm going to quiz our friend John right here about words that we should know as Wisconsinites that he probably won't know. So I'm just going to say don't shout out the answer, please. Because I really want him to feel dumb.

Okay. So here are some Wisconsin phrases that since you're here you should probably familiarize yourself with. What is an FIB? I don't know. It's an acronym. Cool.

That I got. The first word starts with F. These are terrible hints. The middle word is a state. So, Iowa, Illinois. I'm going to say we're in Wisconsin, so I'm going to say Illinois. Uh-huh. Which is to the south, which tends to be the south of here.

Which is everything is your south. Okay, so I'm going to give you an either or. Is it former Illinois brothers or fucking Illinois bastard? I think it just must be fucking Illinois bastard. It is. Cool. Okay. Cool.

Second question. What is a bubbler? Oh, I know what a bubbler is. I know a bubbler is a water fountain because that has an east coast. Yes, I know that because I spend a lot of my days with a group of Boston bros. So I know that a bubbler is a water fountain. You spend a lot of days with a lot of ingrates. Okay, third thing.

What is a youper? A youper? What kind of backwards-ass folk language are you people speaking? What kind of cockney nonsense? You have your own language? Get out. Talk to people. You're in your own isolated culture?

Is this Nell? Love it. Am I in Nell? Love it. Am I in Nell? What's a youper? This is why Trump won right now. This is why Trump won. No, it's not why Trump won. Because no one talked like this because no one came to Wisconsin.

So, yes. Okay, so we heard Michigan being yelled. Oh, I got it now. That was a hint. It's somebody from the Upper Peninsula. It's the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. That's correct. Got it, got it.

A euphor. Okay, so I have a few questions left, and I'm going to ask you one that's like more of an essay question. Cool. What is a meat raffle? Well. a meat raffle. Wow. Look. Oh, no. Okay, you're coming here with your LA lifestyle.

It's a meat raffle. So, look, do I think it... I know it probably doesn't involve any kind of a gay dating app. So I'll put that aside. I actually think it's not... I don't think it's some kind of an allegory. I think there's some kind of a meat...

Sort of a beef-related auction. Sort of. Okay, so just to kind of give you the CliffsNotes version. So a meat raffle is... In a lot of towns in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and even parts of New York, what will happen is a local alliance club or a charitable organization will sponsor something called a meat raffle,

which usually takes place at around 6.30 at a bar. And you go there and you buy a ticket, and they draw numbers. And if you win, you get to go and pick a cut of meat that is available. It's a real thing. So if you'll allow me, I can only understand this as a coastal elite, and what it reminds me of, what it reminds me of, what it reminds me of is the tuna sashimi auction in Tsukiji, Japan.

You know what? I don't care. Trump is president, be who you want to be. We've all seen Jiro dreams of sushi. We all have Netflix. So the final question that I have, and this is like maybe even advanced for Wisconsin people. What is a hoedag? Sounds like a great time.

A hoedag? A hoedag. H-O-D-A-G. Hoedag. Ballpark, I'm going to guess, sandwich? I mean, you could kill it and make it into a sandwich if you're from up there. Is it a fish? No.

Because I'll tell... No, you're not going to guess. You're not going to guess at all. Can you give me a hint? It's not real. No, you're not going to guess. You're not going to guess at all. Can you give me a hint?

It's not real. So you would never at all guess. So a hoedag is there's a town in Wisconsin called Rhinelander, which is in the northeastern part of the state. A lot of FIBs have cabins nearby. And there's a legend that there's kind of an alligator-y beast but it's like alligator meets Bigfoot, sort of. And it lives in the hills around

Rhinelander and it's called a hoedag. So you have your own Loch Ness monster up here. Yeah. And it's called a hoedag. We sure do. I gotta tell you, you should take a note from those Loch Ness people that Mike knows. Personally, they all know each other over there. Which is, do a better job of the branding.

I want to know a picture. I need to know about it being spotted. Now all of a sudden people are coming here to see the hoedag. Now you're making money. Now there's tourism. Well, I'm just going to say real, because it's the high school mascot of Rhinelander, that you can get shirts that have hoedags on it.

We're going to talk about the branding of it, but it sounds awesome. And one final bonus question. What's a swampy? A swampy? You don't know a swampy? Don't do that now. Not at this point in the game. How dare you?

I'm a good sport. I'm admitting to knowing very little. So, John, my hometown is right near the border of Wisconsin and Minnesota. Oh. And people from Wisconsin love shitting on people from other states. Is a swampy a person from Minnesota? Yes. It's a person from Minnesota.

Okay. That's a swampy. So you know swampy, F-I-B, and youper. A swampy? You know, I got to tell you, I got to tell you, I was on a hunt for the hoedag. I'm not going to put it all in a sentence. That's Speaking Wisconsin. When we come back, a little more news of the week.

Hey, don't go anywhere. There's more of Love It or Leave It coming up. So let's get back into some of the news with our panel, including Monk and Brandon, who both were on their phones on stage. Very cool. So Rex Tillerson,

on Wednesday, NBC reported that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called Trump a moron in a Pentagon meeting. It is true. It was later corrected. The actual quote was fucking moron. Tillerson also reportedly expressed his fury about how Trump had undermined him publicly with regards to foreign policy.

Tillerson then did basically a hostage statement saying that they were erroneous. And no, I loved him. I'm so happy to be here. When asked, did you call him a moron? He said, we don't deal with this petty stuff. That is such a pathetic way to get out of lying. Because if you're, look, Rex Tillerson has been the CEO of ExxonMobil for a while. When you're CEO of ExxonMobil, you don't have to lie.

You can just say, yeah, we killed the polar bears. We're ExxonMobil. So he's new to this governing thing. And the thing about it is, if you're going to do a non-denial denial midway through your statement, you've got to stick to non-denial denials all the way through. Because if you say, did you say X? No. Did you say Y? No. Did you call him a moron?

I'm not going to engage in these kinds of things. It stands out. Yeah, he called him a moron. He definitely called him a moron. He called him a fucking moron. He's not wrong. He's not wrong. He's not wrong. Rex Tillerson, welcome to the resistance.

Ah! Rex... I fucking... I love alt-left icon Rex Tillerson. He's... Rex Tillerson, he's in the DSA now. He's incredibly woke.

Hashtag he's with her. Hashtag you can't buy Bernie. I think Exxon is sick. I think it's cool now. If tastemaker Brandon Wardell says it, it's a fact. Tillerson's my guy now. Yeah, he's got an ad where he's like throwing hay bales onto the back of a truck. And he's like, but I love socialized medicine.

While he's doing it. Erin. Do you think Tillerson made it out of this one alive? What do you think? No. No, I fully don't. I think what's really funny about this is, like, I don't know why all of these people

that have sort of dropped out of the Trump administration, like, bad Willy Wonka Kid style have... I never understand why they stuck with it for so long. And there's a part of me that's like... Ryan, go easy on the chocolate. Yeah, it's like... It's like, yeah, it's like... Oompa, oompa loompa, doobity doyle. You are much better at managing oil.

I mean, what else is there to say? Yeah, that's... I think that's got it covered. That's really it. That's all. I have nothing better than that. When we come back, OK Stop. Don't go anywhere.

This is Love It or Leave It, and there's more on the way. Now for a segment called OK Stop. Here's how it works. We're going to watch a clip. And when we want, we'll just say OK Stop so we can talk about it. watch a clip and when we want we'll just say okay stop so we can talk about it on tuesday uh donald trump uh the current president went to puerto rico where he fucking behaved like an absolute lunatic um and just at least when he's being racist on purpose you know he's being racist on purpose. This was someone so fucking fundamentally broken,

he could not do this even when he was trying. Let's watch a clip from Donald Trump's time in Puerto Rico. It was a great trip and a beautiful place. I've been to Puerto Rico many times, as I think most of you have known, and I've always loved it, and your weather is second to none, but every once in a while... Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop. Stop. It stopped.

Your weather is... Dude, it's a hurricane. Just a hurricane, a whole hurricane. Your weather is second to none. There's a lot of places right now. It's like... Alaska's weather right now. Alaska's weather right now. Mars's weather right now.

Second to a lot of places right now. Turn the lights on before you say stupid things. Jeez. It's like visiting L.A. after an earthquake and saying, one of my favorite parts about L.A. is how the ground is perfectly still all the time. All the time. Oh, okay. All right, we're back.

We're back. Get hit. And you really got hit. Okay, stop. Okay, stop. It wasn't anything he said, but let me point out that Melania's wearing white jeans. Like, you know, what's funny to me is like...

Like post-Labor Day? Okay, first of all, yes, Brandon, it's super gauche post-Labor Day. That's my main problem with this clip. It's like, she's right. What I think is funny, I've thought since before

the response to Hurricane Harvey, she was wearing stilettos and she got a little blowback for it and people were like, she doesn't know how to dress for a natural disaster. So this time she was wearing Timberlands and white jeans.

Which is not how you dress when you go outside because she's not a person who goes outside. She she's not a person who goes outside. She's an inside person. Yeah, Melania Trump is definitely an inside cat. Inside person. 100%. I knew I wasn't going to say that, but yeah.

But I didn't know that she was wearing Timbs. Yeah, she's wearing Timbs. That is a very New York move. That is a very New York. She was like, well, I'm going outside, and I guess they wear these boots. I don't know. But she also knew she wasn't going to get dirty. You don't wear white when you think there's a chance you're going to get dirty.

But she just doesn't understand what dirt is. What? Dirt? Yeah. Let's watch the clip. Yeah. No question about it. And Mick Mulvaney is here, right there.

And Mick is in charge of a thing called budget. Now I hate to tell you Puerto Rico but you've thrown our budget a little out of whack. Okay stop. It is so fucking despicable to go to Puerto Rico and say I hate to tell you your budgets out of whack. A place that has been... they were they were victims a lot of financial fucking bullshit long before the Maria ever showed up. And to bring that up, to put on the shoulders of ordinary American citizens in Puerto Rico the fact that they are under the yoke of a financial scheme they had no say in and no control over because they live in this crazy limbo between us, between the United States and being a territory.

And they've been basically batted around by financial companies. It's despicable. Well, it's like if you were a family member that was in the hospital for a serious disease and the doctor came in and was like, well, this is going to cost you. It's like your job right now is not to tell me this. Like I'm not going to get better by you telling me this.

Well, the level of condescension when you say he's in charge of a little thing called the budget. That's a little over your heads there, but it's a thing we haven't watched. It's not a big word. It's two syllables. We all have one. It's a budget we get it you're being weird right now the way he's like the way he's talking about him is like the way like a comic would like talk about like some dude in the front row of a show like

oh hey my man in the front uh running the budget over here huh hey shout out to my budget man in the building budget dude right there yeah because we've spent a lot of money on puerto rico and that's fine we've saved a lot of lives if you look at the uh every death is a horror okay stop uh in a natural disaster like this it's insane to me that he doesn't understand that the death toll happens in the aftermath. And him bragging about the fact that people haven't died is so stupid. It's like if you have a kitchen fire on your stove and you go out of your house and you're like, you know what's cool is my house didn't burn down. It's like you didn't put the fire out and it's going to burn your house down. Like, it doesn't make any sense that he's talking like that.

It's so, like, he has such a lack of empathy. It's just a broken brain. Let's see the rest. But if you look at a real catastrophe like Katrina, and you look at the tremendous hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people that died, and you look at what happened here with really a storm that was just totally overpowering. Nobody's ever seen anything like this. And what is your death count as of this moment? Seventeen? Sixteen, certified.

The President 16 people, certified. Sixteen people versus in the thousands. You can be very proud of all of your... Imagine going to people in the midst of a storm that has ravaged their country. Many more people are in danger. They're without power. There are many people at this point with most of the people on the island

without access to water. It's like Dr. Strangelove. Look, I'm not saying you didn't get your hair mustered a bit. You know, it's beyond narcissistic. It is sociopathic. Be like, what's the death count? 16? Not the thousands from before.

It's a crazy way to talk to people. But I think it's also telling into his psyche. He's so obsessed with superlatives that like if you could some if you need something from him and you could present it to him like oh I need you to provide me with the means to create the superlative then maybe he'd be more amenable to it. All of our people working together 16 verses literally thousands of people you can be very proud everybody around this table and everybody watching can really be very proud of what's

taken place in Puerto Rico. That's not even a stop. That's not a sentence. Oh, no, no, no, no. I just want to narrate that he is currently throwing paper towels at people like it's a fucking T-shirt cannon at a NASCAR race. It's funny. It's like his follow through is, it's not even like

a free throw sinking follow through. What's he doing? He's bricking. He's gonna brick. It's like too forward. He needs to be more like up and over. He needs to float it in. No arc on his shot. Anyway, everything about him is not

good. Everything about him is not good. everything about him well that's not even like a statement of like that's not even a contentious statement just but what i mean is there's not a part of him and this is a weird thing as a new yorker we never really liked dude and we were confused that he got votes like two we were like more than him and his mom? Like, that's... And so we're really confused, because this is a guy who's talking about the coastal elites, and he has a gold toilet in his house. Like, you are... I'm from the coast.

I'm not elite, dude. You've got a gold toilet seat in your house. It is a... You're the elitist of the elites. There is such a different relationship. It's crazy. There is such a different relationship to Trump for people that were from the New York area when Trump, 80s, 90s, he was a boy. As a wee boy, I remember him on Howard Stern.

I remember him on, you know, radio, like local radio he would be on, and he would just say outlandish things about if his daughter wasn't his daughter, he would date her. And you would hear these things. And she, at the time, is like a kid. She's younger than I am. So I'm going, this is really gross. And so when he was running, I'm going, dude, he's a charlatan.

You guys know that, right? He's the guy in your neighborhood who wore 8 gold rings and 14 gold chains and you know you looked at him and was like he's an idiot he's never going to be a mount to anything and he's our president right he's a whole person who's our president that same guy

who we used to laugh at is the president it sucks yeah it's not great when we come back it just sucks is the president. It sucks. Yeah, it's not great. When we come back... It just sucks. Yeah, this is a long... It's a huge problem. It's a national emergency.

This is a long colonoscopy. It's very bad. When we come back, I sit down with your congressman, Representative Mark Pocan. Don't go anywhere. Love it or leave it, there's more on the way.

Guys, please welcome to the stage, he represents Wisconsin's second district, which includes Madison. Please welcome Representative Mark Pocan. Congressman, thank you for being here. Glad to be here. Thanks for sticking around late for the late show. Very glad to, although watching the video was hard. It's not easy. So I was really excited to talk to you for a lot of reasons, but there's been one shift we've seen among Democrats that I think is really important that I'm really interested in, and that's a focus on corporate consolidation and monopolies. When Leader Pelosi and Senator Schumer released that better deal, one new and big plank was taking on corporate monopolies,

taking on consolidation. And you were part of something new, which is the Monopoly Caucus. And The Intercept wrote a great piece, which everybody should read, talking about some of the candidates that are on the campaign trail right now trying to make a big issue of corporate consolidation,

whether it's taking on airlines, telecom, pharmaceuticals, or what have you, and you're part of this new caucus. Why did you become one of the first people to join this caucus? Well, I serve as the co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and we've talked about these issues for a long time. But recently, we've been going around the country doing future work wages and labor hearings, meeting with people at universities, meeting with people in organized labor.

And this issue just kept coming up. We worked with the Roosevelt Institute and Economic Policy Institute, all these other organizations. And what's happened is over the years, thanks to antitrust laws, we've got consolidation in industries. Example, real estate or airlines is probably the best to use, where you only have a few players left in the industry. And because of it, they don't have to respond to consumers anymore. So United Airlines, when they pulled the passenger off the airplane, was like the most visual example

of what we've done in so many different areas. Because of antitrust laws, you have a few major players. You've lost pretty much consumer protections and any kind of real competitiveness. And what we found even is if there's four major players in some industries, the board of directors may be the same people on two or three of those companies. That's why none of the money gets reinvested in the company or its workers. It all goes to the top. And we're just trying to fight that, and I'm glad the Democrats are seeing that. Now, so one of the challenges on an issue like this is that it is a step removed, right? Like, talk about the minimum wage, people get that.

Talk about we're going to make sure you have healthcare. That's a one-to-one, that's a one step. But talking about the role of corporate consolidation, the fact that there aren't as many food companies or there aren't as many airlines, that's a step removed. How do you make this case that this force is actually central to so many of these other challenges? Yeah, I think when we can find the examples, when the big banks almost destroyed our economy because of six big banks and their bad practices, or when you watched what happened again with United Airlines, it showed people, you know, why is someone able to do that on an airplane?

Because you have no choice. You're going to fly one of four major airlines, and that's pretty much it in this country, maybe a couple regional airlines. And I think the more we can show that this is part of if your wages aren't going up and we don't have more good-paying jobs here in the United States, and then also if you can't get a break when it comes to consumer rights, that's part of why the people feel, and they're right, that the system is rigged against them. So it's one of those integral parts of explaining that if your wages aren't going up, we don't have good paying jobs here in the United States, and you can't get a deal because of antitrust law, it's working against people, the average person, every single day. And do you find that, just one-on-one conversations,

do you find that this breaks through to people, that talking about breaking up big banks or breaking up big airlines or strengthening antitrust, do you find there's a good response to that? Is it breaking through? Is it taking a minute? I mean, where is it at? I think for us, we look at, when you look at the election, when Bernie Sanders' message and some of the top lines of Donald Trump's message that were both popular was that the system is rigged, and while they came from very different perspectives, the bottom line

is people realize that. And now it's how do you then show that our way of unrigging it is better than their system of just rigging it for even fewer people. So the Democratic Party, in the wake of this loss, in the wake of losses up and down the ballot, has been in sort of the soul-searching mode, which I think is healthy. Obviously, there's been this Bernie-wing Hillary debate,

which isn't always helpful, but there is a debate about policy. There's a debate on single-payer, a few other big issues. How do you think, as a whole, the party is shifting? Do you see a change? Are you optimistic about where the party is right now? Yeah, I mean, to me, the core of the Democratic Party right now is in the progressive wing of the party. There's no question.

Just last night, we voted on budget alternatives. The Progressive Caucus always puts our own budget alternative up. Two years ago, when we last had a vote, it was the first time we got a majority of the full Democratic caucus to vote for it. Last night, we got 108 people, which is well over 50% of our caucus voting for it. And, you know, people like Tim Ryan and, you know, some other, Joe Crowley, our caucus chair, and others in leadership that you don't see as fresh as progressives, we're voting for a progressive budget. So I think, you know, because of everybody calling their representatives, because of everybody working with groups like Indivisible

around the country, that we're really finally, I think, breaking in to elected officials to understand where the people are really at, and if the people lead, eventually the leaders will follow. All right, cool. I also wanted to, I'm running through

all the issues. It's a policy, it's 11 o'clock on a Thursday, it's time for policy. Healthcare. There have been two big bills introduced on the Senate side, and I believe also on the House side. One was the Bernie Sanders single-payer bill, Kirsten Gillibrand also behind that. And then there's also the Chris Murphy Medicare bill that's about giving everybody a public option. Where do you fall in that debate? How do you feel about a public option versus single-payer? Like, how do you feel this debate's playing out? Sure. You know, right now we've got Republicans in charge of the House and the Senate and the White House, so a single-payer system's

not going to pass in this Congress. But aspirationally, to me, that's the place we've got to go. You know, it's interesting, when Bernie introduced his bill in the Senate, people were very, very excited. 17 sponsors, almost a third of the Senate. We've had a bill in the House of Representatives for years that we have 120 sponsors. Again, out of 194 members, that's over 60% of the Democratic caucus is supporting a bill, Medicare for All, which barely gets any attention. But the idea is we have a big chunk of the caucus seeing that that's the place to go. And the reason that's happening is every town hall that I do in my district, and lately I've been doing a bunch in Paul Ryan's district since he won't do his own town halls.

Every single town hall, when we get to talking about health care, inevitably the conversation gets to a single payer system, a Medicare for all system, and it's the single largest applause line of any subject we discuss at any single town hall. So the people, again, are there. We just have to figure out how to get those elected officials to be following where their constituents are at. to get those elected officials to be following where their constituents are at. Okay. One last question. You're a gay member of Congress. Now, I'm going to run for office at some point. Probably. I mean, once I'm, you know, once I'm done building the conglomerate. What do you think people don't know about what it's like to be a gay member of Congress? You know, I think, so I've served 23 years ago, Tammy Baldwin, our U.S. Senator, fantastic U.S. Senator.

You guys are so easy. See, all you got to do, you either mention Tammy Baldwin or Spotted Cow, and you're going to get a really good response. But she and I were in local government together here, the Dane County

Board of Supervisors. I spent 14 years in the legislature. You get to Congress. The thing that I really believe in is an old Ann Richards statement, which is if you don't have a seat at the table, you're likely on the menu. And for all too long, if you don't have people who are out in elected positions, it's easy to gloss over, you know, whether it was marriage equality or transgender equality or whatever issue right now. We're still trying to get an Equality Act because in a majority of places in this country, and not Wisconsin, because we were the first state in the country, by the way, to have a non-discrimination bill for gay and lesbian citizens. 1983, signed by a Republican governor. But you can still now get married on a Saturday and in a majority of states in this country,

go back to work on Monday and get fired or lose your housing because we don't have enough protections for people around the country. So it's still really important that we have a seat at the table, we're able to talk for full equality, and you know what, also connecting it with everybody else. You know, I think last week it was, I was on the of congress and after donald trump made his most recent that week stupid comments about um the whole idea around people going on their knee you know three of us during speeches went on our knee on the floor of congress to try to show solidarity and raise the issue and again i think the more we

can just connect everyone to realize that you know until you know, it says that we're all equal and we have to make sure that everyone is considered. So having a seat at that table is still important. There's still a lot of people who don't necessarily respect equality in Congress and state legislatures. What's it like when you talk to them? I mean, like, you're gay. And they don't like, they're not into it. But you know what? When you get a chance to... What's it like? Well, we haven't got quite to that conversation, but what I can tell you is, when you get to know people, it's really hard for someone to not

like people. It just, I think a lot of it is really ignorance, just because they don't know people. So I won't say, I won't out this Republican, but there's a Republican member who's been around for a couple decades, and I got to be friends with him. And we got talking, and he's one of these family research endorsed people, family research council, so very conservative, very anti-LGBT rights. We got to know each other first, and then he found out I was gay. And when I told him something about my husband, all of a sudden I watched for about a millisecond in his eyes. You could see he processed, processing went over. But the good news is the day that we, the Republicans in the House voted on their terrible health care bill. We had been there another day and he knew I had mentioned something to him the day before

about when I'd get a flight to get back home and see my husband. He came across the floor of Congress to let me know what time we were going to get done so I could get a flight so I could go home and see my husband. And this is from a guy who's endorsed by the Family Research Council, the biggest homophobes in the fucking country. So I think having a chance to go out and, you know, just talk to people, we're making progress, and that's what we try to do in Congress. Well, thank you. Guys, give it up for your congressman, Representative Mark Pocan.

Thank you so much. This is great. When we come back, the rant wheel. Yeah, you know what? You know, this is a little bit counter-cultural, but Wisconsin's good. Like, it's good. I like it here.

Yeah, it's a good place. Brandon, how are you? It's good. I'm good. I thought it was cool as hell, and, you know, I hope, hopefully we talk. Also, it is crazy that, like, I feel like that guy who was talking about, like,

he literally got his first gay friend and then, like, learned empathy, which is wild. Well, you know, it's funny because, like, Dick Cheney was a similar scenario, but it was, like, his daughter. He was like, oh, well, I don't like gay people. Oh, shit. Yeah. I like that one. Yeah.

Oh, I like that one yeah oh you know what i like yeah that my daughter proximity is such a weird thing though because you can we we do this weird thing where we still don't like the group but we'll be okay with that one and then we'll use that one to excuse us not liking the group i mean like whatever cheney cheney was different cheney made some calls yeah but i mean here's the thing if that senator continues to vote against lgbt rights it's really cool that he's got a friend, but also you're still screwing people who are like him. And so we've got to

bridge that gap, too. I also... We're back from break. Also, I also want to say, like, okay, so, you know, Rob Portman, having a gay son changed your mind on this issue because someone in your family had that experience.

Okay, you're so close. Take one more step. All these other issues we care about that we've been talking about trying to help people on healthcare and all the rest, they're someone else's. You see? You're so close. Right there.

That's actually how I feel about women. Like, oh, well. Right there. All right. Okay, so it's cool you have a wife and a daughter. Like, imagine that they're just as much as people as you. Imagine. Let's go to the rant wheel.

Today on the rant wheel, we have go-go in-flight Wi-Fi, the possibility of a Facebook ad blocker, something Munk suggested. We had Twitter and how people use it during tragedy. We have Fox and Friends expanding their time slot. We have Representative Tim Murphy, who's been in the news this week. We have Kazuo Ishiguro's been in the news this week. We have Kazuo Ishiguro, who just won the Nobel Prize. We have deep fried cheese curds. An audience suggestion. Let's spin the wheel. It has landed on Facebook ad blocker.

I'm going to have to hand it off to Monk, who suggested... As mine? No, I know that we're at this weird space where Mark Zuckerberg may be secretly running for president in the least secretive way we've ever seen, right? No, I haven't made up my mind yet. But also, you can't do this thing where you say, these ads, yes, there were ads, but first, what ads?

And then second, okay, there were ads, but they didn't have any impact on the election. Okay, well, then why are you selling ads? Because some things, how do you sell ads and say, well these ads aren't really effective. Who would buy an ad if the ad wasn't, we know this is ads. Here's like my like counter rant on your rant. I think that like, have you ever seen Fantasia? You know how like in the Sorcerer's Apprentice, how Mickey is like, I'm going to harness this broom, and then it becomes

a totally insurmountable thing? Mark Zuckerberg is Mickey. And the broom is his desire to get laid as a college student. And it just multiplied, and it became totally

something that he could not manage at all. And what we need is an enormous wizard to come in and stop it. No, I mean, I think Facebook is a really good example of something. I'm trying to put this together in my head. No, it's something, it's like he created it. He created this thing and it's totally beyond what he imagined. And he can't manage it anymore. Let's write the screenplay to the Zuckerberg screwing a broom story.

We need an enormous wizard. But it's just, to me, like the idea that America is so gullible that these bots or these ads can exist. He knows they exist. And we're monetizing it regardless of what it does to the nation. And that's what I guess. I guess he does want to get you guys. You guys see that photo of Zuckerberg holding a sandwich. He's looking real.

He was like looking very relatable. I was like, I've eaten a sandwich. Hey, if this guy runs for president, I'll hey, I'll throw him a vote. I eat sandwiches a lot. Yeah. If only voting was, like, by what sandwich you bit. If there were two big sandwiches and you're, like, Democrat. I think it is.

I mean, a lot of people voted for this guy because he makes shit sandwiches. So let's spin it again. Spin it again. Spin it again. Oh wow. Fox and Friends is expanding its time slot and I could not be more pleased to see good work being rewarded. There is no justice. And I'd also just point out that all these rumors about how, oh, the Murdoch sons, they're going to fix Fox News and it's going to be, they're going to be more gentle and they're going to get rid of the worst parts of what Ailes did. Fucking bullshit. It's as bad as ever. If you If you're running a network and you have fucking Steve Doocy and the other one

and the other one. And the other one. Wait, is Elizabeth Hasselbeck still on that show? No, she's not. There's a bunch of people who are there who are like, I'm the Fox and they're the friends. That's a collective

IQ of one. But this is shared by seven people on that show. and they're the friends. There's a collective IQ of one. But this is shared by seven people on that show. This is Fox and Friends and Sean Hannity are the two most despicable things on the most despicable and destructive network on American television. And it was bad when they were the thing influencing millions upon millions of retirees and scaring them and

and exciting their racism and their animus and their grievances but now the president is one of those retirees and there is a direct line between the bullshit on fox and friends and what the president says moments later which makes fox and Friends one of the most powerful institutions on planet Earth. Face it. Yeah, it's bad. Face what it is. That's bad. It is 2017.

The simulation is broken. We're all inside. And Fox and Friends. And everybody's name is an adverb. Everybody's name is an adverb over there. Hey, John. Doocy. I'm sad.verb over there. Hey, John. Doocy. I'm sad.

Ainsley. Ainsley. Shitberg. Shitberg. Shit sandwich. Let's spin it again. Shit. Yes!

Yes. It has landed on Representative Tim Murphy. This is my rant. Oh my God, I feel like I have not been to church for so long and I feel religious right now. So, Representative Tim Murphy, like parentheses are Pennsylvania, was, he had a 91% rating from a pro-life rating organization. I think it's 0%

rating from NARAL, which means that his long career in Congress has been characterized by his opposition to abortion. On the same day that he voted in favor of a ban on abortions beyond 20 weeks, a cruel and unnecessary ban, it was also revealed by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that he encouraged his mistress to have, wait for it, an abortion. Tim Murphy did it. Tim Murphy did it and then a day later it was announced that he had decided

to abort his legislative career I was ready for that I sensed it, thank you so much it feels like coming a little bit a little bit. Oh, you love it. I mean, there's nothing more to say.

It's just, it's, it's, okay, well, that's the end of that. Spin the wheel again? Yeah. Do you have anything more to add? No, I just, I'm just glad it happened to him. Couldn't it happen to a nicer guy? We have time for one more super fast spin of the wheel. Hell yeah.

It has landed on go-go in-flight Wi-Fi. We have so little time yet. Fuck go-go in-flight Wi-Fi. That's the whole rant. It sucks. It doesn't work. It's too goddamn expensive. We are tools of these people. We are prisons in the sky, addicted to our phones, paying these people all this money. So I will say this. Here's one thing that I've noticed is effective. When I've had a fucking shitty internet experience, thanks to our pals at GoGo, I pull up their little chatbot. And I say to the chatbot, I say, hey, chatbot,

I'm having a terrible problem. And they say, oh, we're so sorry that you're frustrated. I say, the internet's slow and it doesn't work. And they say, oh, we're so sorry. And I say, I would like a free flight of Wi-Fi. And they kind of say, sure, sure. So if you're on a flight and you buy GoGo Wi-Fi, I would suggest if it fucking blows, don't just accept it. Get a free one. We can break these people. And I'll close the show simply by saying that fried cheese curds are delicious. And Ishi Guru had no business making me cry

over a British butler's regrets. And with that, it has been great to be here in Madison, Wisconsin. Give it up for Aaron Goyer-Ryan, Brandon Wardell, Thelonious Monk, Randy Bryce the Iron Sash, and Representative Mark Hogan. Thanks for coming out.

Good night. sash and representative mark cogan thanks for coming out good night Despecto y no con sex Loving, olivien, es loving, olivien Street, street, child Loving, olivien, es loving, olivien