What I want to do is not to be a student.
The master of the club's laptop is soft-handed.
It's a master's real-time.
“I'm saying, you can say that you're a hero.”
You're a master of the club, right? But you don't understand. egal! It's a challenge for you. Do you just do it with this story?
And if you then do it, you'll be able to do it. -That's right? -Safe! This story is... Hold it, your money is back. Now, you're going to try it.
In the HBO late night series, real-time with Bill Ma. . -Thank you. -Thank you.
-Thank you so much, people.
Look at that, please. -Thank you so much. I appreciate that. -Thank you so much. -Thank you so much, people.
Look at that, please. -Thank you so much. I appreciate that. Look at that. Look at all these people.
We sold the place out again. Every week, we sell out here.
“But so, listen to it, I'm glad you're in a good mood”
because the little scary stuff here, again, with the war going on. They say Iran may be sending war drones to attack California. California? Why California?
Well, they say maybe because this so many Iranian dissidents here
or it may be a last-age effort to get on Trump's good side. (laughter) You don't know. Look again, Bill. Look, you know what it is.
Here we are, week free of the war, and Americans want to know two things. What is these strategic objective, and two, the should I get from Amazon? Does that go through the straight or her move? (laughter)
Yes, it is. If you haven't been following this closely, you know Iran. One of the greatest oil producers in the world. A lot of them. Oil comes from Iran, and it all goes to this bottleneck.
Called the straight of her moves. And the administration seems to be caught off guard if you attack a country. They might use their best asset for leverage. This way is all in the sequel to the art of war called The No Shit of Sherlock.
(laughter) So, it kind of fucked down the straight of her moves. And of course, this is driven up the price of oil a lot. But Trump, yesterday, said, "You know, United States is the biggest oil producer in the world." He said, "When oil prices go up, we make a lot of money."
Who's we? (laughter) He was my question.
“I think Exxon Mobile makes a lot of money.”
We dig for change in the cup holder. (laughter) But Trump said that the Iranians have no navy, no communications, and no air force. And they shot back of the city.
And you have no affordable housing, no functioning congress, and no attention span game on. (laughter) But don't take that the wrong way. I'm on our side.
(laughter) Okay, I'm for us winning. All right. I'm not on that page of Trump did it. So I'm with the eye at all and out now.
(laughter) But I gotta say, they are looking a little nervous in our war room. The Pentagon banned photographers this week for the briefings, because Pete Hegseth said some of the pictures of him looked unflattering. (laughter)
Pete wants you to know two things about our military. This is the new alpha male, very masculine, non-woke military. Also, don't get my bed side. (laughter) And that's all you.
(laughter) So that's the most mature administration we've ever had. Also the gayest. (laughter) I gotta say, I don't mean, I'm just a lot of redecorating.
(laughter) I'm just saying, I also, Trump has a new thing. I'm not making this up. He, guessing other men's shoe size. (laughter)
Do you see it? Am I making this shit up? I'm not. He has been-- (laughter)
(laughter)
He looks at other men, and guesses the shoe size, and then they sends them a pair.
The entire cabinet is wearing shoes. He got them, including Marco Rubio, where they didn't fit, so he's in clown shoes. (laughter) I'm just saying-- (laughter)
It's a little weird for a man to look at other men and go. What's he got down there, not in the hand? (laughter) I don't know. Of course, it's also today Friday the 13th.
(laughter) We're uploading that. (laughter) I'm not super-stitious, but if you're in terrain, I wouldn't walk under a leader. (laughter)
(laughter) Yeah, well, they have a new Supreme Leader over there. Oh, good, we didn't applaud that. (laughter) Yes, it's the late Iotola community son.
He goes by the name Neppo Kablui. (laughter) (laughter) And he's a very holy man, like his father, holy man. Very holy man, but it's a thing to admit, four times.
He has traveled to a clinic in England to treat impotence. Yes, I love the Iotola. Iotola is the hate the infidel West until their dick doesn't work. (laughter)
“And then it's definitely on the 2 p.m. to Heathrow, okay?”
Yeah, four trips, four trips to this clinic. This guy's got a real problem. (laughter) I mean, when he gets to paradise, he's going to stay to the 72 versions. Can we just talk?
(laughter) And we're not even sure if he's still alive. Trump said yesterday he's alive in some form. (laughter) Like Mitch McConnell, I assume.
(laughter) But yeah, it's a tough time for the new Iotola. But he is trying to stay positive. He said, "If I live, I'm the leader of Iran."
And if I die, I'll finally be hard.
(laughter) We've got a great shoot. We've got Anthony, he's got a moody, Roy's blank fine. But first up, he is the Democratic Governor of Pennsylvania, who's no book that's called Where We Keep The Light Stories of the Life of Service.
Governor Josh Shapiro, back with us. (laughter) And there he is. (laughter) (laughter)
Alright, you're back with us. You must have done good the first time. I guess, yeah, exactly. Thank you. That's what we do here.
My popular demand, and you have a book. I do. What is the title? Where We Keep The Light.
What is the story with always writing a book
when you're running for president? I wrote a book. I wrote a book to try and highlight the people that bring light. In my state, the people I see every day do in good things. Because our politics don't match the goodness of what I see on the ground every day.
The goodness of the people.
“And I think hopefully this book will inspire our politicians”
to start taking the cues from the people who are doing good every day. Politicians are, if they're elected by the people, or they're representative of the people, doesn't have to go back on the people. If we were in some country when they just top down like Iran,
force the people of the leaders on the people. But they are reflection of us. Are they not? I think for a long time, it was a righteous cycle. Right?
Where the people would elevate folks who reflected the goodness of the community. That has changed, particularly over the last decade. And I think what we need to do is figure out a way to get back to that. We've got all kinds of incentive structures in our media and campaign fundraising in the way we conduct our politics to go to the extremes
and to go to the lowest common denominator. I think people are frustrated with that rightfully so. We've got to figure out a way to turn that around. Yeah. What is that way?
I think that way is to be a GSD Democrat, which is what I am. I get shit done Democrat. I think what the reason. Can I say it here? You can say it anywhere now.
I get shit done Democrat. You're nobody in politics. If you don't use bad words, is there? Yeah.
“No, but look, I think it speaks to part of the frustration people have.”
They don't see many of their elected leaders. Put points on the board for them. Salving a problem. And when you don't solve a problem, when you don't fix a system, when you don't deliver the thing they need for their kid or for their household
or a job in their community or a safe community,
They get more frustrated, more cynical.
And our politics gets more broken.
“I think there's a number of people doing a great job of that across the country.”
Unfortunately, the people who tend to make their headlines, the people who tend to dominate on social media, are not the ones who are delivering real results for the people in my case, the people of Pennsylvania. But I think the people of this country deserve it.
I think in cities people would say it's dominated by one party. Certainly, that's the problem I think here in California. You know, you had a bridge collapse. And you got it back up in 12 days. It's right.
Unfortunately, that is not the story we usually hear. What we usually hear is nothing can get built. And nothing can. We see it all the time. We couldn't build a railroad here in California.
We tried to connect to, to enter this state. It just didn't happen to many environmental reviews, to many consultants, too many too many, too much lawyering, too much bureaucracy, too much red tape. It just doesn't get done.
I feel like this is something your party really needs to take on. Yet you're the guy to do that.
“Well, we've tried to do that in Pennsylvania.”
In '95, it was a great example of that. The expert said it was going to take four to six months to get that rotary open. We did it in 12 days. By getting rid of the sort of bureaucratic red tape, the dominates thing, by putting the Philadelphia building trades in charge
and empowering them to be innovative. And by getting out of their way, breaking away all the things that hold people down and slow things down, and instead make it work. We didn't stop there, though. We reformed our permitting system in Pennsylvania.
Went from the bottom of the pack to the top of the heap. A business license that used to take eight weeks in Pennsylvania, the day I got sworn in, you get that the same day. Buildings that would take three years to get their permits. They're now getting it in three to six.
Can you move here? Can you move here? [ Laughter ] Can I move here? That is not our experience, sir.
I know it sounds nerdy and wonky. But if you want to give-- No, it sounds wonderful.
“If you want to give people a hope and less cynicism in the process,”
you've got to show them government can work. We can still protect public health, public safety, and the environment, and move quickly. I mean, it was a rough winter back east. And I read, I can't remember what the number now is,
but it was approaching like 30 people homeless people who died in New York freezing on the sidewalk. And it just made me think, why can't the Democrats just have the balls to say, "Well, one, the sidewalk is not for you, for anybody." It's public.
It's public. And just for compassion sake, we're going to make you get off the street and into a shelter. Why can't we even build shelters? And that's what I think people look at.
They say Democratic run cities. They can't even-- I know that. And people died for it. I know you're-- you're giving me an example from another stand.
I'm less familiar with that. I can just tell you in our cities in Philly and Pittsburgh, run, by the way, by Democratic mayors. We've addressed homelessness. We built a shelter in Pittsburgh.
We're treating people humanely and getting them to help they need, but also making it so businesses can thrive in those communities. So that there are clean streets and safe communities. Look, to me, foundational everything is a safe community. You don't want to live in that area.
You don't want to work in that area if it's not safe. I made a commitment when I was running for governor to hire 2000 police officers.
Invest a half a billion dollars in violence prevention initiatives.
Crime is down 13% in Pennsylvania. Fatal gun violence is down 43% in Pennsylvania. We're delivering safe communities. And part of that is having compassion. But also helping people who are living on the street,
get off the street and get in a place that's safer for them. And better for them. [applause] So sounds like you're well on your way to the nomination. [laughter]
It's what refuse to take any of your bait here. [laughter] Good for you. [laughter] But I don't know if you're clapping for me or you, but I don't think it doesn't matter.
We're both on the same show. I get the credit either way. But here's the question I have to ask you,
which is something I would have never guessed.
I would be asking a Democrat in this year, which is that you're a Democrat running possibly for the nomination. For real action is Governor Pennsylvania. And you're Jewish. And this is somehow maybe a complete deal breaker in the Democratic Party.
I mean, the speed at which anti-Semitism has gone to a place where I never imagined it would go. I mean, just this past week, bombings at Synagogue's in Toronto, Belgium, Michigan, the guy drove a truck with explosive,
into the largest synagogue in West Bloomfield, Norway, the arrested someone, suspicious behavior outside of Synagogue, Rotterdam, and the Netherlands Synagogue.
I see a pattern here.
And somehow it got to an amount of young people. Anti-Semitism got to be kind of cool. You think you could, if you did run for President, you could fight this and convince the Democratic Party
“that being Jewish isn't like the worst thing a person could be now.”
Let me address both pieces. The anti-Semitism and sort of the politics of being Jewish as you ask. When I ran for Governor,
the first ad that I put on TV was something
to search show who I am, what motivates me to serve, which is family and faith. And the first ad was my family and I doing what we do nearly every Friday night, which was sitting around the Sabbath dinner table,
having a meal together. We ran that ad despite a whole bunch of political consultants saying, "Hey, don't run that. They're going to know you're Jewish." I'm like, "I think they know I'm Jewish." But Bill, I share that with you because after we ran that,
I'd show up in North Philly and folks would tell me about their iftar after Ramadan. They were excited to share that with me. I'd show up in rural communities where I might increase the Jewish population by 100%.
When I get there and they tell me about what lunch is like after church on Sundays.
The point I'm making is that I believe people are good
and they are decent and they want to know who you are at a deep level and when you are open with them, they're more apt to be open with you. I want that election got more vote-same by the history of Pennsylvania running for governance.
Because I'm proud of who I am. I'm proud of what motivates me to serve and I'm proud of my faith. I will tell you at the same time, antisemitism is a real problem in this country. Unfortunately, one of the things that has seemingly united
the extremes of both parties is a pervasive sense of antisemitism, and bigotry and hatred toward Jews. And I think all leaders, Democrat and Republican, have a responsibility to call it out to speak and act with moral clarity.
I'll give you an example of that moral clarity. Governor Gretchen Whitmer, in Michigan today, spoke out with more clarity about what happened in Michigan pardon me yesterday.
“But I think it is also important that it not only be words”
after a violent incident. Thank God, no one was killed in Michigan. There are seeds of antisemitism being planted all over this country. People are being platformed. Folks are looking the other way and nodding toward it,
and allowing it to happen in their businesses, on their screens and in their politics. And we have to speak up about it. And I don't care if it's coming from people in your own party. People you agree with.
People you need to vote for you. You've got to call it out. We cannot let this people are clunky 15 to the right of this. Okay. So our final question.
Your fellow Pennsylvania and John Fetterman. He's one of the few people in the party who has come out and said, look, I don't understand that everybody in my party said, we can't allow Iran to have nuclear weapons. And yet when we do something about it, they're against it.
Now, our negotiator said, they were talking Iran up until the war started. And he said, they're opening salvo was at the negotiations. We're a couple of weeks away from having 11 bombs. They were bragging about it.
If you were the president and you got that information, you'd still do nothing? I never said I'm asking. No, what I would do, and what the president in the United States failed to do, was be clear with the American people about what the hell we were doing here.
Was the plan to go after the nuclear weapons? The weapons, by the way, he said were destroyed seven years ago. There are seven months ago, pardon me. Was the plan to go and do regime change, in which case, who the hell is going to take over?
I don't think the sun's any better than the father. Was the plan to go in there later?
“But then you got forced because Nitsanyah, who forced your hand?”
Remember they said that in the matter of clarity? So it's a matter of clarity. I think if you don't have clarity on why you're going in, you have no way of knowing how the hell to get out. And so we are in a situation now where we have a commander and she,
and his sidekick, Pete Hegsef, who were acting like a bunch of eight-year-olds playing with toy soldiers. We've lost 13 American soldiers in a war that the American people, and by the way, most of the global community,
has no idea why the hell we went there in the first place.
And the prison in the United States are commander. I think they have a nightmare. I think people have an idea. What was the reason we went in? Well, everything you said, the dukes, regime change,
and just to reshuffle the deck in the Middle East, nothing was ever really going to get better there until that regime went away. But we'll see how it, we'll see what happens. No, but by the way. Understand, understand.
I want to be clear because I've heard your commentary on this.
I'm not saying that, it's always a good person.
These are people who blew up and killed Americans.
These are not good people, and I am not. Okay, shedding a tear for them being killed. What I am saying to you, though, is if you're the commander and chief, you have a responsibility to the people you send in harm's way. You're responsible to the American people to explain why it is you're doing what you're doing,
and how the hell you get out of it once the mission is accomplished. The president has yet to look the American people in the eye and explain that. And that is a failure of leader. Thank you, Governor. I appreciate you coming by for the beauty of you. Let's see you later, right? Okay.
Governor, judge the panel of everybody. All right, let's read our final. Okay. Hey, guys. All right, here's the front of White House Communications Director, Under Donald Trump, who's no book, all the wrong moves. How three catastrophic decisions led to the rise of Trump comes out this fall, Anthony Scaramucci.
And he is the former CEO of Goldman Sachs, an author of the new book, Street Wise, getting two and through Goldman Sachs. Lloyd Blankfin, what are you welcome to the show? All right, so we're going to talk about the war,
but first, because I've never had two Wall Street guys on the show at the same time.
So let's talk about money, because you both have a lot of it, and you like it. Who doesn't like money?
“Because I think this is much more actually on people's minds.”
I mean, Forbes came out this week with their richest list. I guess you guys have been on it under nowhere, close to it. $840 billion. We are approaching the first trillion there. I looked it up, you know, John D. Rockefeller at the early part of the last century was worth 2.5% of GDP, but they did something about it.
They broke up standard oil. There was anti-trust laws that were passed. I mean, they were just saying, you can't one person have 2.5% of our gross net. No, it's just not. Musk has now 2.7%. There's a lot of talk about a wealth tax, what we should do when people have this much money, but when they want it, they provoked it here in California,
and also in Washington State, they leave. Zuckerberg has left to camp to Miami. Shouts, the Starbucks dude, he's out of town. Musk did it, Sergei Bryn, Steven Spielberg moving. I'm the farthest from a socialist or a communist, because unlike the kids today,
I don't get my information from TikTok, I know the history, I know communism and doesn't work, I need the dissident, socialism. But what we have now, I can't make the case that's working either.
“What is the answer to this income and equality problem that we do have?”
Next question, all right, all right, all right. [applause] I was going to get the right to my old boss, but that's the question. Good, good. Well, listen, there's a lot to unpack there, I think you're right,
but I think going through our history, Teddy Roosevelt, who was actually a Republican and the founder of progressivism, he went and broke up the trust. There's something called Citizens United, where since January of 2010, Bill, you're allowed to give unlimited money to the politicians. It's up eight times to campaign donations.
And 36% of the donations are coming from the top zero point one percent of the people. And guess what they're doing, they're talking the politicians at the not breaking them up, giving them corporate tax cuts, et cetera. And so there's a lot of things we have to do to reform it, but you are right. This is not only busting, it's something that was done in the beginning
in the Renaissance era, and we're not doing it anymore because of the undoing influence of these people. So again, I hear no answer. By the way, busting up and citizen-genited, got to break up some of these big businesses,
and you got to have some type of tax to equalize the situation. So taxing more.
So say we say many taxed Mr. Musk, he's got 840 billion dollars.
Say we took away 500 billion and left him with the more mere $340 billion dollars.
“Do you have confidence that would solve the problem?”
What would we do with that 500 billion? Like actually just pass it out to poorer people? I'm not mad. I'm not mad at Elon Musk. Elon Musk makes those.
He put in all those satellites that are going to make everybody's telephones work better. He has those rocket ships landing in tandem. Unlike the people of Rockefeller's era,
The Carnegie's, these guys who generated all that wealth today
are still in the game, still competitive,
“still, I think, creating wealth in the country and advancing our”
economic interests. They have a lot of money. That money gets reinvested. I think the answer to solve the problem has to be for to progress a more progressive tax system than we have today.
And to give more people for free than the necessities of life, like childcare, healthcare, other things that cost that rich people can afford, that poor people have to scream to, to give those things have the higher minimum and to pay for it with a progressive system.
And hopefully, and I know this is everybody who says this, knock out some of the waste and maybe you don't have to raise too much the absolute level of tax, but we certainly have to have a much more progressive tax system.
And that's the way to do it.
The economic system that we have has done a great job creating wealth. Now, it's created wealth by increasing the value of assets. And so people with assets have gotten a lot richer.
“But the people without assets have been participated.”
They don't have assets, so they're assets aren't going up and down. And I don't know what the billionaires don't get about. Those people are going to get mad. I mean, the CEO of the video and the CEO, I'm Thoropic.
They're both said tax mean more. Because they're going to come after us with pitchforks. Read the room. Louie G is a hero. The guy who shot the health care executive at tragedy.
Yeah, tragedy for that guy.
It could be a tragedy for everybody.
James Telereco on earlier, he said something. People should really think of it. He said, you know, we have policies that can help and satisfy the poor. But we have no policies that can satisfy the rich. In applying that when you make suggestions like Lloyd is making,
you get tremendous amount of resistance bill. And you get unlimited money and politicians that will stop that type of progressive tax movement or would stop those changes that need to be made to make the system fair. I don't know. If I had that kind of money, I sure wouldn't act like the way these guys do and flaunt it.
Well, you're right. You know, I wouldn't buy a yacht. You know, a piece of mind. Much more valuable, I think. I think all the guys you're naming are working like dogs.
They're killed. They're competitive. Again, the people that you named earlier from a different from a different century. They retired at 40. And they did the world tour and they bought pieces and they donated to museums.
They didn't stay active in their businesses. These guys are killing themselves. You know, they're going crazy because one guy's model. One guy's model is working better than his. And they were doubling their efforts.
This is why they have this. I'm glad they're working and incentivized. I mean, I think these, I think a lot of these people are national assets.
“Now, if you want to put on, I think it's really the political sector that's failing here.”
I'm not mad at these people that are creating wealth and are creating jobs and advancing the interest of it. We're mad at them. We're just saying, but they're not doing it. It's the political sector. Well, they're not going to voluntarily give it back. But the politicians, I think the political sector has to deal.
Again, that we're doing very good job at creating wealth. We have to distribute according to our values. But the distribution part is not the burden of the generators. It's a political sector. I think Bill's saying something different.
Lloyd, I read your book. It was phenomenal. You grew up in public housing more or less in Brooklyn. And you had this aspirational life as did I. And when you have a funnel at the top like this, it's so concentrated. People that grew up the way you and I grew up, they feel economically desperation, all as opposed to aspirational.
So there's a sense of unfairness going on. No problem with the almost have added. I'm all for unlimited upside. But we really do need a platform of equal opportunity to get people to the starting gate to make them feel that they too can make it.
And I'm telling you right now, the reason why we have so much populism bill is people don't feel they can make it anymore. People that grew up like you and me, Lloyd, they feel left out of the system in their angry. [Applause] I don't feel they're hearing this. I'm thinking that's helping.
Maybe it is. I don't know. I don't know. I'm not quite sure what we're saying here. All I know is like these people who think that you can, you said they keep working. They keep working. They also need a lot of security now. Because is it worth it? Is it worth it to have to have body guards around you all the time that when you go out,
knowing that people hate you so much, because you're so rich, and to give you live so ostentatiously, that you can't just freely walk about. To me, there's no greater freedom than that. There's no greater asset than that.
I don't know the ostentatiously.
What? I don't--
Were you at Basel's wedding?
[Laughter] No. That's not her. [Applause] I hang out with it. I hang out in a different crowd.
Yeah, I do, too. But, you know, come on. There's a lot of--
“I think living the Bob Wired Make Manchin in a security compound”
while your fellow neighbors are suffering is really bad for the economic business society. We've got to fix it. [Applause] Interesting story in the news, this week. Donald Trump had an executive order.
You worked for him for a while, remember? Yeah, 954,000 seconds, actually. [Applause] Yeah, I had to do it less than longer than you. [Laughter]
He put an executive-- it is the policy of the administration to restore federal sites dedicated to history, including parks and museums. To solve an uplifting problem, to remind Americans of our extraordinary heritage. Okay, this is my issue with so many things.
The pendulum never stops in the middle.
Have we watched history somewhat? Yes, we have. But, Trump comes in. He wants to, you know, because the left, very often, let's be honest, they don't appreciate America enough. They don't have it in perspective. It's all we did terrible things.
“Well, we didn't just do terrible things.”
But, Trump wants to whitewash all that. So, he has said that the moved to scrub national park sites of signs at Cast American and I get a light and leaked an interior department. A leaked interior department database reveals US plans to revise historical information. So, this must already be happening.
We went to this Smithsonian and got some pictures. Would you like to see what's going on? [Applause] There have this. George Washington famously said, "I can tell a lot." [Applause]
And every future president should be able to as well. [Applause] When George Wallace stood in the doorway of an Alabama schoolhouse, he did it because he thought he felt an earthquake. [Laughter]
He's definitely known. [Applause] On December 7, 1941, Greenland attack Pearl Harbor. [Applause] I don't remember exactly.
[Applause] The first thing the alarm strong did after he set foot on the moon was dance like he was jerking off two guys at one step. [Applause] Most of the US soldiers who landed on Normandy Beach during the day
were killed by windmills. [Applause] Well, I don't reckon, Senator Gorbachev, Mr. Gorbachev, build this beautiful wall. [Applause]
Thomas Tevers had sex with his slaves because when you're a star, they let you do it. [Applause] [Applause] The man who assassinated Kennedy was really named Lee Harvey Ortega.
[Applause] That's not true.
And in the 1850s, over a million Irish immigrants
came to America escaping starvation because Rosio Donald had eaten all the food. Oh, that's not true. [Applause] Let's talk about...
Let's talk about the war for a minute. [Laughter] Good segue. Trump says no air force. Iran has no air force, no missiles and no navy.
He says there's nothing left to bomb. We have nothing left to bomb. Apparently, they have something left to bomb. Which is the straight of her moves. I don't understand this.
We have complete military superiority. We're bragging about that. Except for the one place where we apparently need complete military superiority. Do you understand this?
Why we can't control the straight of her moves? The one place we need to control in Iran? I don't think it takes much effort to create an obstacle on a very narrow bottleneck there.
“So I think they don't have to have much firepower.”
They're going to need... If they're going to accomplish something, it's going to be by bringing the regime down and getting some sort of compromise on that. It doesn't take much to fire cheap drones
and many ships that they don't go through. But we took four of our minesweepers in September and we redeployed them to other parts of the world. And so that was bad war planning because if we were going to make that attack
and anticipate that they were going to close the straight bill,
We would have had those minesweepers in place.
That's been one of the things that's preventing us
from getting our navy in there to take on the convoy. Do you worry that the oil was headed to China? That's 90% of Iranian oil went to China. Then as well as which we took over. A lot of that oil went to China.
“You remember what caused Japan to attack Pearl Harbor?”
It was that we caught off the oil. That's why they said they had to preemptibly attack Pearl Harbor. Do you think China is going to see this as that kind of a threat? If things go on a long time, the way it's going to happen is that the Iranians
will let the Chinese ships go through. That ships going through China go through. They know where the mines are. The Iranian ships are getting through. The Iranian tankers have been getting through.
And we're letting them through. We don't want to escalate the situation with China. So what is your estimation as how this ends? How quickly and what's the upshot? Because everyone seems to be taking a bet on this.
Well, I'm pretty sure that nobody knows. At this point. That I would say is a safe bet. That's not what we do. We do know that.
I'm not running for governor.
And for president and I didn't fire the first shot.
So I'd say, I don't know how long this will last. But I know I think the strategies.
“And I think the question that you pose to the governor more sharply is they are big burden on the safety and health of the world.”
And we decided to do something about it. I wish that we had done something similar to North Korea when we still had the opportunity to do that because they'll probably be the source of a lot of mischief to come in. There's nothing we can do about it because they have nuclear warms. Nothing we can do about it. And here there's something we could do about it.
And they don't call you up until you win the last minute is. And also in my algorithm of whether to decide to do it or not is how close are we to them getting lit. And also is this an opportunity that's fleeting. And we had a moment of time where there's civil, you know, there's practically a civil war inside Iran. There are capacity to deflect missiles has been removed.
And generally it may be, and we have all these machines in the area. This was an opportunity that we could do something that needed to be done. And you don't know when the last minute is.
I think the the outcome's bill or, you know, I think with the president wanted was like a Delci Rodriguez to a secularist to take over that he could negotiate with and make a friendly.
I think that's less likely now based on what has gone on over the last couple of weeks. And so I think that the next move would be to completely degrade the system and the infrastructure. And then it'll either end up as a failed state or it'll end up as a different form of Iran. And then the question is will the Koreans North Koreans come in and give them nuclear weapons, which he has said publicly he's interested in doing. The North Koreans are going to get the Iranians who came out.
Young said that yesterday you made a statement. Well, that's not going to happen because we're going to make sure that there's not that kind of a reason. I understand that so it's either a failed state or a very severely degraded. Well, also public. Civil image in civil war.
I'll show you two pictures. There's the picture of people dancing. And this is right after the attack.
“And I mean, this is what I think of as Iran because I talked to the Iranians who live here in Los Angeles.”
They love this. We have that picture of people dancing or. Okay. That's that's one Iran. Then there's this picture.
This was a few days ago. Look at that crowd. That's for the regime. Those are the people. So it's not one work to me.
I look at these two pictures and I see that is a civil war and maybe it needs a civil war. Maybe know what, maybe this doesn't happen in the other way. I just don't want us to be involved in their civil war. Might be good for these really so. [Applause]
It wasn't said. We weren't such a great position. I know people are worried that because of what we're doing. The Iranians are going to get mad at us now. But I think they were pretty mad at us before.
And I think they were. They were trying to accomplish as much mischief as they can. We've not. We've not convinced them to lose that motivation. But we have done is we've certain we can.
They're capacity to do as much mischief as they were doing in the past. So I think I think we're better off now. Now, can. Is it a risky proposition doing it? Do we know how it's going to be resolved?
No. It could. It could work out. And it could go. It could get worse from here.
But I would say. From a bet to make. Given where we were and where we were headed with them. Being motivated and having the capacity. I'd rather have them slightly more motivated.
But infinitely let with less of a capacity. [Applause] Going to get a straight open one.
[Applause]
I mean, I'm not going to hit the big picture.
I think Islam needs a reform.
“A lot of people have been saying that since 9/11 and even what?”
Is that funny? No, I'm thinking. I'm thinking that we would probably not be appointed to the committee to reform it. [Applause] That is true.
Yes. Although people could do a pretty good job. Somebody needs to do a pretty good job. And maybe this is the place where it starts. I mean, this is not an unsophisticated society.
And a lot of the people there do want to live. I mean, obviously, we're not asking you not to be Muslim. We're just asking you not to be a theocratic state. I mean, my question is, if we did take, if the best part of it happened. And Iran is now a democratic state.
And they can have free and fair elections. What if the wrong people win? Because that has happened before. Egypt. Remember the Arab Spring?
And then Egypt had free and fair elections. And they elected the Muslim Brotherhood.
That's that second picture of that crowd who likes the regime.
Algeria in the 90s. Same thing happened. Free and fair elections. They elected the wrong people. And by the wrong people, I mean, the religious fanatics.
You know, it's very easy to pretend like the ruling class likes to do in the west. That is just a few bad apples. But actually, a lot of people in those societies want a theocracy. Then what do you do?
“I think that's the biggest issue bill because you've degraded the place.”
And maybe you've pushed more people towards the regime as a result of all the things that are going on economically inside the country. I'm not pro. I'm not pro democratic. I don't think they have any history going back thousands of years of being democratic. I just want them not to have the capacity to blow us up.
So whatever government they end up with. I hope a George Washington figure on a white horse emerges there. But I put a low likelihood at that. I just don't want them to. I just don't want them to wreck havoc.
In the world. And I don't want them to have the capacity to reach the United States with its ballistic missiles. That is a good idea. You guys. Better on our markets for a living.
What is the long term prognosis? What are you telling people who say, oh, you're a financial master? What do I do now with you? I'll go first. I think the war is going on.
What should I do with first of all?
I think we have to support the president in the action because we're all Americans. We want to wish our troops safely. And I think the ultimate outcome will be that straight. It's opened no later than mid-April. But my money.
What do I do with my money? Stay. Sit tight. Because there's going to be a lot of volatility between now and April. But I do think that the mission is ultimately going to be successful.
The straight is going to get open and the choices are crypto. Yeah, I do. You know what I'm going to pick on you. I know you don't like it. I know.
I know. You know, I should set that very quietly. I mean, I watch you show. I mean, I watch you show. I listen to your fucking good.
I don't even want to make it. I hate it. I hate it too. I like, I mean, we just don't have a position. I don't have a position to speak on the power.
It's like, it's like I'm short. Because every time it goes down, it makes me happy. Even though I don't have anything involved in it. Tell me that before we go on the gas. I don't know that.
For my feelings. But you don't see it as a big slash front for every criminal in the world. You know, I tell you what. If you gave me two hours with you alone and I laid it out for you. His buddies like Stan Drock and Miller, Ray Dallio.
You picked the guys who've done the homework. Paul Tudor Jones, Mike Novigratz. If you do the homework, I would just say nine out of ten people and up owning some of it. And, you know, but if you've made the money in fiat currency
and you're of a certain age, you don't-- people aren't necessarily inclined to do that homework. I guess I'm too old to like it. [laughter] You said that.
I can figure out-- I can't figure out what it does. It's a medium of exchange. It's a medium of exchange. You can't buy anything with it. It's a store of values.
That's very volatile.
“And I think-- and it's not a hedge of anything”
because when the bullet start to fly, gold went up and crypto went down, I think it's highest purpose is, you know, to pay ransoms and to extortionists. And I don't know why the-- I don't know why the US government--
[laughter] I don't know why the US government or any official sector, which supports something where you couldn't tell whether or not somebody was paying the North Koreans.
[applause] [applause] You have a form of CIA to write a white paper on that. Saying how easy it is to track these things because of the blockchain.
So that is an early statement about crypto
That's no longer the case.
But I hear you. You don't like it.
“But your team at Goldman Sach never really”
did 100% research on it.
And they still don't like it.
And they've missed a $2 plus trillion mark it and our friend Larry Fank who didn't like it. Now has the largest Bitcoin ETF in the world. So all I'm saying is it a lot of smart people that like it.
And somebody like you, Bill, if you really sat down and learned about it, I think you'd be less skeptical. You're saying you wouldn't be able to believe you would be. Well, I learned about it.
I know. [laughter] I have to be a chicken to know what an egg is. [laughter] I know exactly what it looks.
All right. Well, thank you guys for writing this on the economy. It's time for New Orleans. [applause] Okay, New Orleans.
“Now that a new study reveals that young people”
want male characters and movies to move away from masculine stereotypes and toward vulnerability and connection. The next James Bond must be Ed Sheeran. [laughter]
Say hello to the next gen 007. He likes his soy milk shaken and not stirred. He has a license to kill but prefers to listen. [laughter] And pussy galore isn't his girlfriend.
It's his nickname. [laughter] [applause] I know nothing Michael Jackson's brother Marlon claims that Michael was taught the backward dance move we call moonwalking.
By an eight-year-old boy, someone must ask him, "Are you sure the kid wasn't just trying to get away?" [laughter] [applause] No, the San Diego bishop who resigned this week
for allegedly embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars
“has to try and get Trump to give him a pardon.”
[laughter] Here's what you do. Change your twittle handle to Macabeship Dude. [laughter] With lots of American flags, post daily
that you've been treated unfairly by the radical anti-Trump Pope.
And then, well, you'll need to move 50 million
into untraceable Trump family crypto via a bank and coutard. [laughter] So, maybe try and bezzling more money? [laughter] New rural stock photo companies have to come up
with a different way to depict male impotence than the guy sitting on the edge of the bed in shame. [laughter] Maybe it's not even his fault, not to point fingers, but isn't it the same woman in every picture?
[laughter] [applause] Maybe he should be the one shooting daggers of disappointment at her. Well, she sits on the side of the bed asking, "Why can't I get a dick heart?"
[laughter] [applause] The new call of boomer, pay phone, that connects students at Boston University to a senior living complex in Reno, Nevada.
Might not wind up getting the cross-generational communication they were looking for. You think we will want to listen to a bunch of TikTok educated New Dicks talk our ears off about Palestine and your gender identity?
[laughter] You want to hear something from my generation? [laughter] [applause]
And finally, rural, as this Sunday's Academy Award show
is the 10th anniversary of the Oscar So White campaign, someone must wear a ribbon that says, "We won." [laughter] Just as a way to remind progressives, hey, your progressive progress is what you're selling.
Take the win. The Oscars are no longer a long, boring show full of white people. It's a long, boring show full of all people. [laughter] [applause]
In the last decade, best picture has gone to everything everywhere all at once. Green book, Parasite, Coda, Shape of Water, Moonlight, not to mention Nomad Land, which might be about tomorrow, but no one has seen it, so it's impossible to know.
[laughter] [applause] Acting Oscars have gone to Will Smith, Michelle Yosel. We saw Donna, Davey and Joy Randolph. You, you young, young.
[laughter] I apologize already for some of these names. Juna King, Viola Davis, Keith U. Juan, Daniel King, [laughter] and Marisha Oli, twice.
Eight of the last ten best director prizes
have been won by underrepresented groups,
not to mention 60% of the honorary awards. You can't argue with a straight face, or even a gay face. [laughter] That the academy in 2026 still overlooks minority achievement, or that Hollywood is biased in favor of all white people.
Just Australians. [applause] Come on, man, can we live in the present? No academy member this year filled out their ballot thinking, well, I didn't think Shalame was very good,
but I'll vote for him because he's white.
“Hollywood isn't a secret cabal of racists.”
It's a secret cabal of people terrified of looking like racists. [laughter] And I'm just tired of no matter how much progress is made, social justice warriors, feeling the need to gaslight us,
as if none of it had happened.
A couple of years ago, the Academy established a very complex rule book that said you couldn't even be considered for best picture, unless you met certain criteria, like 30% of the crew or two department heads had to be from underrepresented groups, and a main story line had to be as well.
Well, there goes my idea about a poker band in a ski town. [laughter] I mean, please don't get us wrong. We're not saying you can't hire who you want, or make a movie about whatever you want.
Okay, that's exactly what we're saying. [laughter] I'm surprised Trump hasn't sued them over it. [laughter] [applause]
But seriously, by this standard,
“you couldn't make Titanic today and hope to get nominated,”
or Braveheart, or I'm a dayist. Apollo 13 was about a bunch of white people, because white people have done some stuff, but somehow, without a production code, hidden figures got made and completed the historical record
about how we got to the moon. Centers this year is up for more Oscars than any movie ever. Centers is good. It doesn't need affirmative action. Neither did Parasite or Shape of Water,
where she fucks a fish. [laughter] How much more diverse can you get? [laughter] [applause]
A few years ago, Denzel Washington said, "We ought to be at a place where diversity shouldn't even be mentioned, like it's something special." Exactly. Sometimes I'm the equalizer.
Sometimes it's an old English dude. [laughter] Sometimes it's Queen Latifa. [laughter] I mean, the whole thing...
[applause] The whole thing is so Hollywood,
“a room full of no-nothings who call themselves the Academy,”
making everyone tremble before their judgment. Even though their judgment is often terrible and fails the test of time, maybe the hashtag should be Oscar so wrong. [applause]
Citizen Kane, it's a wonderful life. Twelve-angry men singing in the rain, Dr. Strangelove, raging bull pulp fiction, goes on and on. Not a single best picture among them. Brilliant, brave, groundbreaking, intellectually honest films,
constantly lose to much more forgettable, trifling, sentimental stuff, saving private Ryan lost to Shakespearean love, since at Boulevard lost all about Eve, glory to driving Miss Daisy,
Gangs in New York to Chicago, Munich lost to crash. Citizen Kane lost to how green was my valley, whatever the fuck that was. [applause]
Reds lost to chariots of fire, Shawshank redemption lost to far as gum, some of the most iconic directors of all time. Hitchcock, Kubrick, Tarantino, Kurosawa, Bergman, Fellini, Rob Reiner,
have zero wins for best director. The Oscars should give out a new award, the Kanye West, I'm gonna let you finish your award. [applause] Yeah, just put Kanye in the audience,
every year to jump up and say, I'm gonna let you finish, but Shawshank is one of the greatest movies of all time. [applause] And the acting awards, no better.
They're constantly giving out the makeup for a snub Oscar, when an actor gets one,
because the Academy stepped on its dick the first 10 times.
The guy should have won Al Pacino in the Godfather.
Godfather too, Serpico, Scarface, dog day after noon,
I could go on crickets.
“Then he plays a blind guy, you screamed,”
"Ooh-ha, and welcome to the winner, Serpico." [applause] Psych honoring Michael Jordan for when he played baseball. [laughter] But you know why he won that one, blind guy.
[laughter] I mean, afflictions win. Oscar has been given to so many people with diseases, it should wear a hospital gown. [laughter]
Blind deaf, ALS, Serpico, Palzi, Alzheimer's, amputee, there's nothing more automatic.
“Well, except if you're mentally challenged in some way.”
[laughter]
In Hollywood, never say the R word,
but if you play it in a movie, they will give you a trophy. [laughter] And the Academy is also constantly giving it to an actor when they're really giving it to the character the actor played. Not that these weren't all fine performances,
but if you, as a nominee, are up against someone who played Gandhi, or Lincoln, or Aaron Brockovich, or Norma Ray, or Ray Charles, or Harvey Milk, or the guy in Philadelphia, or the dude at the Dallas Buyers Club, just stay home. [laughter]
It was never going to happen.
[applause] Also, stay home if you're up against someone who, you know, we suspect might not be up for an award again, or just up again. [laughter]
Art Cunney, in Harry and Tonto, be Jack Nicholson, in Chinatown. John Wayne, in True Grid, Henry Fonda, Jack Palanz. I call this the Grandpa's Last Christmas Award. [laughter]
And it's always a lot.
“The only thing the Academy Prize is more than this”
is if an actor makes the ultimate sacrifice, gaining weight. [laughter] Or losing weight, or even dare I say it, making themselves unbeautiful. [laughter]
Fake ugly nose, please. Do you even have to ask? [laughter] Askers, you'd have another new category this year. Best glue.
All right. It's our show. I want to thank my guests. At that, he's got a new three-light, blindfold, and definitely just a great all-for-end.
And drop something Monday on YouTube. I'll listen to everybody get your podcasts. There's no much over time on YouTube. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you, darling.
[applause] At your new episodes of Real Time with Bill Mar every Friday night at 10, or watch a many-time on HBO on demand. For more information, log on to HBO.com.
