Ep. #738: Ryan Holiday, Andrew Cuomo, Kristen Soltis Anderson

[ Music ] Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

Oh, thank you. Welcome to our show.

Thank you. I appreciate that. And what can I say? It's the dog days of summer. I'm kind of glad, LeBois. Finally, a slow news week. I could use a little break. I'd got it. Like the biggest story this week is the guy won the Power Ball lottery

for a billion dollars. You just see that in Quincy, Illinois. At a gas station, which is perfect because he plans to spend it on gas. [ Laughter ] And, you know, a billion sounds like a lot of money, but you know, right away, the IRS takes a quarter of it.

And then what state you live in, like it could live in this state, between federal and state, another half. That's, you know, terrible. How can you live? [ Laughter ]

This guy said he never realized how much he hated socialism.

[ Laughter ] But, speaking of that, [ Cheers and applause ] Good news for the Democrats. The crazy lady in Wisconsin who hates Thanksgiving lost.

[ Laughter ] My listener.

“Yeah, remember, I just got hung out there. Yeah, I see.”

She was ahead by 20 points, but then we found out about Thanksgiving. Doesn't like Thanksgiving. Also, hates Halloween. [ Laughter ] Christmas, Valentine's Day, the Fourth of July. It's actually a good thing she lost for everybody.

Considering how much she enjoys celebrating. [ Laughter and applause ] She took it well. She said she just wants to spend more time with her husband, the Grinch. [ Laughter ]

It's silly story. But, you know what? Oh. Another progressive woman is in the news. A.O.C. Making an answer this week. You saw, yes. We love it already. Look at this. [ Laughter ]

I don't know why we love it or don't love it. I don't know. I don't know what you're about it. But, what it is is she's free. She announced.

“She's, wow. I remember when she was in the 20s.”

The new one in the 90s. She's 36. She's freezing her eggs. Something career-women-do I get it? You got shit to do. Put the kid on lay-away. [ Laughter and applause ] I get it.

[ Cheers and applause ] I mean, I'm all for it. But, you know, I must say, trying to teach kids these days about sex between the, you might be in the wrong body and your brothers in the freezer.

[ Laughter and applause ] I say it. Explaining the birds and the bees is a lot more complicated than just, mmm, kids. [ Laughter ]

Now, I don't know if this has anything to do with her decision, but she was engaged for quite a while, and the reports are this week that, that's over. That the fiance, yeah, they colded quits. Although she says she hopes she, they can still remain comrades.

[ Laughter and applause ] I get it. Oh. Speaking of the eat the rich people, Luigi. Luigi. We have Luigi fans here. Luigi, you men's own.

The guy who was getting the run around from the health care system about his bad back. So he murdered a health care executive random. Ah, that guy. He pleaded guilty, in court.

He said, "I shot Mr. Thompson, and I knew what I was doing, and the men journey nieces."

“That's what they call the groupies outside the courthouse.”

They took it hard. One of them said, "I don't think this is a concession or admission of guilt." [ Laughter ] But she just said he did it, okay?

[ Laughter and applause ]

On the bright side, you always know where he is when you call.

[ Laughter and applause ] Now, how about the exciting news of the week? Trump escaped. Did you see that? The secret.

The secret service got a credible threat

“that Iran was about to assassinate the president.”

They had a plan in place as he was coming out of Turkey. So they did that thing with Trump. The Beatles used to do when they go in one car and come out the next car. Except they did it with planes.

There were three planes involved. And they put him in the catering cart. [ Laughter and applause ] And they pulled it all. He can pull this off. But he can't clean a pool.

[ Laughter and applause ] Right. [ Laughter and applause ] Now, the controversy with this is that Trump put all his friends on the decoy plane.

[ Laughter and applause ] Well, not all. You know, he took with him Pete Hegseff. I'm not making that up. That is the fact he took Pete Hegseff in the catering cart. And Pete was the perfect roommate in the catering cart.

Because Trump was in with the snacks and Pete was in with the complimentary beer and wine. [ Laughter and applause ] It looked out perfectly. [ Cheers and applause ]

But yeah, ooh. [ Cheers and applause ] Those Iranians, they ain't playing Iran. They're a philin themselves lately. [ Laughter and applause ]

You know, they said they -- well, look, they got the whip pan. Now, they said they wouldn't open the straight of her moves without compensation, without lifting the blockade, without ending sanctions, without releasing frozen assets. Or the right to charge ships.

Or as Trump put it, they surrendered like dollars. [ Laughter and applause ] Well, I tell you -- [ Cheers and applause ] Our military situation -- I read this today. We have a carrier over there.

Been there for nine months.

Finally, getting a break. Thank God.

The U.S. has Abraham Lincoln, the conditions on board this ship, like the -- like the -- like a cruise ship. The toilets don't work. [ Laughter and applause ] They ran out of hot water, the food.

We're running out of food. A guy jumped overboard. [ Laughter and applause ] And many others, they said, we're thinking about it. I don't know about destroying Iran's Navy,

but it looks like we're doing a hell of a job with ours. [ Cheers and applause ] All right. [ Cheers and applause ] And our situation in general,

I'm thinking about the homeland too here, having used up so many of our munitions, stockpiles, is getting really desperate.

“The only thing that's left here that's explosive is diarrhea.”

[ Laughter and applause ] [ Cheers and applause ] And then lastly -- but -- [ Cheers and applause ] Last week we learned about those assorted, ballistic missiles we have now.

This week we found out we only have a -- We used up already a quarter of our drone fleet. The Army has a new slogan, "War, while supplies last." [ Laughter and applause ] Okay.

You're great. We got a great show. We got governor Andrew Cuomo, former governor, and Christian Sopas Anderson.

First up, interesting guy, glad he's on.

He's the host of the Daily Stoic podcast in the number one bestselling author of the Stoic Virtues series. Now, Vell was a box set. Ryan Holiday. [ Cheers and applause ]

Ryan? [ Cheers and applause ] All right, sir. All right. All right. All right. Have a seat here. [ Cheers and applause ] This is the first time I've ever recognized it to have a moment,

can we say, right in the modern world, you're having a moment? I guess? Like Timothy. But more ancient. Yes. What? Things have a moment. And you seem to have learned how to monetize this and sell it to the common man.

It's like a lifestyle, would you say? I mean, what? The Daily Stoic? We don't have time. You do it on a daily basis. If you only had 10 minutes, because you do only have 10 minutes. [ Laughter ]

What do you know? What your elevator pitch for Stoicism? It's certainly not what the word Stoic means to people, right? Stoic means has no emotions, has no feeling, has no joy. Stoicism as a philosophy, which is endured for thousands of years, is there to help us through the adversity and the difficulties of life.

“Because life is difficult, life is painful, things do go wrong.”

The Stoic do this, they live through the time of neuro, they live through plagues, they live through wars, they live through political unrest, they live through the decline of an empire. Some of this might sound familiar to you. [ Laughter ]

Always ongoing, yeah. And way less now, let's not kid ourselves, that those things that you described in the modern world are an infinitesimally small percentage of what they were back then. Plagues, you know, the black plague wiped out

like a third of Europe that population didn't recover from 500 years.

Yes, this is the greatest time to be alive in human history.

[ Laughter ] You know what I mean? Because we have to start from reality. There we go, reality. But so much of the fundamental elements of the human experience haven't changed. People are annoying, people are obnoxious.

There's traffic, there's travel delays. You get sick, you get tired, you get hunger, you have urges, you have desires. All of the foibles of existence remain unchanged. And the Stoics were writing 2,500 years ago about how we deal with these things,

how we persist in doing the things we should do, and resist doing the things we should stop.

That was the first Stoic, and by was he so pissed off.

[ Laughter ]

“Stoicism, I think, fittingly comes from a disaster.”

His a man named Zeno, he's a merchant, traveling through the Mediterranean, he suffers this shipwreck, and he washes up penniless and Athens, rebuilding his life, he comes to discover this philosophy on the Stoic-Ele Nationathens.

So Stoicism comes from Stoic, just means porch. It's guy sitting around on a porch talking about life and how to deal with it. And for him, the core virtues of Stoicism, it basically is saying that the key ingredients to a good life

are courage, self-mastery, justice, or ethics, and wisdom. And that these are the virtues we have to cultivate if we want to thrive as human beings. So, do I have it wrong that there's this idea that the external can't hurt us?

It's just how we react to it. Yes, so you can define Stoicism as we don't control what happens. We control how we respond to what happens. We control the story we tell ourselves about it. We control what we do in response to it.

We control our emotions in response to it. That it's about the part of it that you do control. That's what Stoicism is. But some things we do control, and we should. Yes.

I mean, you know, the AA prayer. The one that drunk says. Yes. But the story we prove. No.

I think it's originally started with St. Francis. Lord grant me the power to change what I can. The wisdom to the courage to change it. No, the serenity to accept what I can't. And the wisdom's in other difference.

If I know that, what more are you adding? I'm just asking. It seems like the whole thing could be said in that sense. Well, the serenity prayer sounds like it's thousands of years old. It was written by Reinhold Mybar on a train in like the 1950s.

It's a summary of Stoicism. It is a summary. Epictetus, a slave in the Roman Empire, says that, you know,

“the chief task in life is knowing what is in our control and what's not in our control.”

And the problem is, most of the things people spend most of their time on are not in their control.

And they neglect the things that are in their control. We spend all this time trying to fix other people, change other people, complaining about things. We spend a lot of time regretting what's happened in the past. A lot of time worrying about what might happen in the future.

And all the while we're neglecting the things that are up. It sounds like more of an Eastern philosophy. And of course, Greece was not that far. Not that far. And when the Roman Empire divided it went east.

And half of it has many Eastern ideas, which is more about fatalism. Western man is much more about thinking you control. I feel like that's who I am. I feel like, yes, you're right. Of course, I can't control all my faith.

But I always think life is not just about what you get. That isn't really what makes you happy a lot. It's what you avoid. [ Laughter ] Maybe I should have a podcast about this.

But really, I mean, when you think about just the things you're getting involved in the criminal justice system, I mean, I know this. Or I mean, just a DUI wants. It's a nightmare. You know, debt, feuds, getting people pissed off, making women angry.

I could go on. [ Laughter ] Just taxes. You know, just what you avoid.

And I feel like, you know, I never like go across the street.

If there's any chance a car is anywhere near me. Because just the plan is that I could get hit by the car, then I would be having pain. So, Epictetus said one of the signs you're making progress as a philosopher is, you might not like this.

He says proof is that you're getting in fewer arguments. That's great. [ Laughter ] Because it doesn't matter what other people think it matters, what you think.

And we spend a lot of time trying to change people's minds, trying to reason people out of positions they didn't reason themselves into. And so, I do think it's important, because there are a lot of overlap between Eastern Western philosophy.

“But I think the critical difference between stoicism and, say,”

Buddhism and why stoicism is having this moment, is that the stoics weren't retreating to a monastery. They didn't go on these long silent retreats. They were in the arena, literally and figuratively. Mark Schwillis is the emperor of Rome.

and builders and doers.

If you live in the west, we live in the world that the Romans made.

“And so, as a philosophy, I think you need, of course,”

serenity and peace and tranquility in all these things. But you also have to, like, the system doesn't work. If people aren't involved, doing things and contributing and trying to fix and grow and change. And so, the stoics were philosophers, but only part-time philosophers.

They were full-time citizens and professionals and leaders. They were involved in public life. So, what do you think now here? Why are you having so much success with this? Why do you think this is the moment where, according to me,

you know, it does kind of make sense that people who, especially the younger generations who think they're in so much pain. Yeah. [laughter] We both laughed at that.

Totally. But it fits.

Yes, look, I think one of the reasons stoicism is working

is because it has been tried and tested over 25 centuries. It's a merciless process of the crucible of human experience testing these ideas and refining them.

“But I think the reason it's, it's having a moment, particularly today,”

is we are seeing a collapse in the other institutions and ideologies that used to shape and direct people. Aren't going to church as much. They see that there is a birth of great leaders and moral examples. And so we're looking backwards to people who,

from a previous time, seem to have figured it out, wrote something down, have something to share and teach us. And it would be wonderful if these ideas were taught in school, but they're not. And so people wake up and they go,

especially, I think, young men, they wake up and they go, "Why know what I don't want to be? But who should I be? What should I do?" And they're desperate for advice.

And that is a void that if we don't fill, Andrew Tate fills.

(applause) Come on, they can't be our only two choices. (laughter) You ought to be something else on the menu. What about overseas?

Is this as big overseas as a big overseas, or is this more of an American phenomenon? No, no, it's all over the world. Obviously, in Greece and Rome, there's really this in the Stokes, or there's heroes.

“But I think there are some cultures that are a little bit more naturally”

Stoke than the Americans. There's a, I think, a natural stoicism in the brits, in the Australians. You know, but it resonates all over the world. The books are in 40 languages. You have a band book library, don't you?

I do. I think that's an awesome idea. Because they've band books on both sides. I mentioned it at my Mark Twain's Beach, the Huckleberry Finn. I don't want that in the schools, even though it's anti-racies.

1984 has been banned because by the communist and by people who thought it was communist. Right? So when people talk about band books, they tend to think that it's like it's explicit or erotic or inappropriate. And most of the books that are on these lists,

most often are the books that you read in high school, and you didn't think there was anything wrong. Right. And people are trying to pull the ladder up behind them, I guess. And say, no more generations can read these classes.

All right. Well, I hope that bookstore expands. Thank you very much for being here. I'm fascinating stuff. Appreciate your explaining it to you. All right. Right in Holidays.

Let's take our time. Oh, right. There they are. Here's the former Democratic governor of New York. My old job Andrew Cuomo, is here. Andrew Cuomo, and she's a senior in contributor in a founding partner

and holstered echelon inside Christen's office. Anderson, our Republican champion. [applause] Okay. You know, I say this often on this show. I don't understand the American economy,

but I thought this would be a good week to talk about. It's because something's shed a little light on this week. Have you heard about Burrito Gate? [laughter] So I'm going to read about the Burrito thing.

This is a big thing. If you haven't heard what happened, somebody from Turning Point, USA is that Charlie Kirk felt it? Okay. Okay. [laughter]

It's not really that important to the thing. [laughter] He tweeted out because the students had commented on their platform. Burrito shouldn't cost $20. And this guy challenged that.

And it turned out we did some research on this. It shouldn't cost $20 because it doesn't. [laughter] It cost $20 because this kid factored in. Somebody bringing it to him in an Uber.

[laughter] Yeah. [laughter] So this is what I understand about the kind of... Yes, people are struggling,

but they're also expectations are too high. Is that too much of a generalization about the economy?

exploded on the Republican side. And Kirsten knows about that more. But sometimes the Burrito is just a burrito. Not this time. This is a fundamental problem for the Republicans.

They know they have a problem with young people. They know that the young people have a... Believe they have a real affordability problem. And the debate is, well, are these young people just too entitled? They're taking Uber's.

They're buying $7 call fees and they're doing it to themselves, which is sort of one side of the Burrito Gate argument. The other side is, no, there is a real affordability crisis. And the Republicans better step up and address it. And I think that's going to be fascinating to watch, Bill,

because it's going to be an internal debate for the Republican Party. Are they the traditional conservative Ronald Reagan, the private market is God, and whatever it does is right. Or are you going to see more like a JD Vance come in with

an affirmative government to do something about the economy, housing subsidies, et cetera?

“I think that's what this is really getting at.”

Okay, but just to be clear about the numbers here, you can get one for $2. And you could buy it in the supermarket. And somebody said they feed a family of eight on $20, by buying ingredients like we used to do.

You know, make you own the reader. That's what I'm saying. That makes people upset though. It's not even necessarily just the raw price of what you're paying, but it's how you feel you used to be able to live relative to now.

And I think inherent people's idea of the American dream, which lots of people define many different ways,

is the idea that you can always get ahead,

that you can always advance. You can always improve your quality of life. And if you rightly or wrongly think, things used to be better. And now when I'm growing up, I'm getting screwed. I understand why folks in Gen Z feel like they say they don't

believe that the American dream is real. They say they don't believe the system works. I think it is true that there has probably never been a better time or place to be alive than the United States of American 2026.

“Regardless of, I understand there's plenty of things wrong,”

but I also get for somebody who's Gen Z when they look at maybe their parents generation, and they go, you know, it feels like they were able to buy a house when they were 24. Doesn't feel like I'm able to buy a house. You can see why for many of them, they go, you know,

they came of age in the COVID era. That's what the stats say. You guys are talking about feelings. I'm just going to stick to the numbers. Here are the numbers.

Can I? Okay. This is from the Fed. Okay. Two thirds of Americans consider grossers to be unaffordable.

Maybe they are. But wages rose in the last decade, including the pandemic, 46%. Food prices rose 34%. So wages outpaste them by the numbers.

What we spend on food at the beginning of the last century, it was 42% of the budget.

“And then you go through the years, you know,”

1965 that was down to 15%. Now it's under 10%. But including eating out more.

Also, Gen Z, I never realized this until people started writing about it.

As they reached their late 20s now, they're getting much richer than Gen X was. Millennials in Gen Z at age 30. Their net worth is around $118,000. Gen X was 53,000, like half of that.

Gen X never complains. You got to love those Gen X. They are the quietest. It is fucking church mice. Gen Z is our living.

[applause] It is so true. The Gen Z is our living. I would argue alarmingly high levels of people in Gen Z, who are living with their parents well into their 20s.

That's absolutely. That's another big issue. This is another status. So this week that blew my mind. The great wealth transfer.

I've been reading about this. That's, I guess, our generation. That's the boomers. Our set to transfer 104 trillion. Now, this is the high end.

They, they, we don't know. This is over 20 years. But up to $124 trillion. Down through the younger generations. It's interesting.

A lot of the kids want it now. Yeah. They don't want it. It's like, look, why way to you die, Grandpa? Yeah.

I, I, yeah. You're going to push back again this.

Okay. Well, first of all, you're right.

Waiting for the baby boomers to die is not an economic strategy. No. But I don't think it's that I don't, I would, I totally disagree. That Gen Z and Millennials are just waiting for the baby boomers to hand things over to them.

is not a deal that is available to them today.

Yeah. Yeah. That's the deal. I'm sure it is. Yeah.

You can, you can make the case on the numbers. But it is not what they feel, right? And that's part of what we're seeing on the Democratic side also. I think the Republicans are going to have a bigger problem because they start with a problem with younger people. But look at what we're going through right now.

We have these young people who believe they have been screwed by life, right? And they are acting out, and they're upset about Trump's election, and they're upset about Israel, and they're upset about affordability, and they are acting out. By the way, they're doing the exact opposite of what Ryan just talked about with stoicism. Right?

Right.

“You should be smart, be control, show wisdom.”

It's just total rage and emotion by doing everything they can that is stupid and counterproductive. But that is the feeling.

Well, I gotta say the first thing I thought of when I saw this stat about transferring $124 trillion,

I thought, "Why not how much of that is white money?" Because I bet it's most of it, and I turned out I was right. Because of all the racial issues we face. The big, I mean, so many of the things these days, it's just performative. I mean, we've made a lot of progress.

I know the far left hates to hear that it's just true. The one place that's stuck is money, which makes sense, because one race had a 300-year head start. I'm making it. And that's what money gets transferred down through the generations. That's why the white people have 84% of total household wealth.

That's what it is. So I would just say to the young people who think of those progressives, you know, when you believe in our relationship and reparations, and that's where the money is kids. Well, I don't think that you want to get into the money.

Well, to transfer is a good strategy.

“I think finding ways to help get created is good.”

I agree. This is a regardless of what you think about Donald Trump. This is a you got to hand it to him. These Trump accounts for young kids. The ability to have money set aside for you when you are very young.

It's been called a couple different things, baby bonds. But essentially, if you are born in the United States during Trump's presidency, you get, I believe it's $1,000 that can just go straight into an account. I think that the belief Dell is also funding some of this, that there's essentially just means that you have money that's going to set aside

and can grow over the course of your life. And compound interest is insane.

This is an incredible way to help kids get the next generation.

Sorry for millennials in Gen Z, but for Gen Alpha, whoever comes after them, being able to have that money start early, is enormous. No, I remember. [Applause]

Well, they will say they'll say that pays one tenth of the interest on their college debt, you know, which many of these kids really are struggling with. And that is a problem. I remember George Bush wanted to put the money that we, when you started paying into social security,

when you're 20 or 18 or whatever it is, into the stock market. And he would, what a terrible idea. Not a terrible idea. You're not going to be able to touch it to your 65 anyway. Look at the chart of where the money in the stock market.

It outpaces just putting in the bank by an exponential number. So why didn't we do that? Well, because politics, I guess it didn't seem like it. This seems like it's the same thing.

“Well, this is, I think, a little different because people don't,”

I think people are, I actually don't know what the investment rules are around. But the idea that you're starting so early just gives it, I mean, time is just such an accelerant when it comes to being able to grow wealth and being able to start so young. I'm hoping that that will help these younger generations,

especially kids who are not coming from white families, or families where they're going to be able to inherit that wealth. I think it's going to be hugely helpful. There's somebody who ran against Mandame and New York for the mayor ship. What do you think of his plan to help us with affordability?

I mean, he's opening these city run stores, grocery stores. I don't think they have one yet, but that's the plan. That was held meet and bread and other items I assume. For 30% below market rate, his quote was the mayor, said, "I look forward to the competition.

May the most affordable grocery store win." Well, it's not competition. If you're undercutting legitimate businessmen by 30%, I wonder who's going to win. But who's subsidizing that?

Who's paying for that? I guess richer people and that's the plan. But do you think it's workable? It never has before. Of course not.

It's emblematic of this entire approach. It's all symbolic. They take a really serious issue and food insecurity is a serious issue.

bumpers think a solution that's not going to make it the embedded difference. His plan is first five grocery stores in New York City, okay? For the entire city. Jesus Christ, five loaves of bread to fish could only feed 5,000.

And I'm not going to do 8 million people with five grocery stores.

The grocery stores are subsidized $100 million.

“That's how the 30% discount comes because he's subsidizing them with tax dollars.”

All it's going to do is put the surrounding mom and pop stores out of business. And then it's anyone can go to the store. So it's not for poor people or income people. It's anyone. You can go shop and get the 30% discount.

But I wouldn't. And neither would you. I know, but the rich people aren't going to go to that store. They don't make the point of socialism. This is socialism.

This is socialism.

They make socialism more than trying to go to a government run grocery store.

In 1989 Boris Hilton comes over to the US. This is when the US and the US are starting to become was falling. He comes over to visit Texas. He goes to NASA.

He sees our technology there.

“And then he goes to a Texas grocery store.”

And Boris Hilton walked away. The Houston Chronicle said he was dazzled by the jello putting pops. And things that I've seen recently in the store. And he went back to the Soviet Union. And it was like guys, we've got it all wrong.

And that was it.

That was the end of the Cold War.

We just had all the soccer tourists do the same thing. They lost their shit in the grocery aisles of the American supermarket. And they solved problem. And it looked like it had so the affordability of groceries. Right problem to attack wrong solution.

We actually have solutions. And that you have grocery stores like all the like little that are aimed at sort of getting discount food in people's hands. Create the economic conditions where an all-day or a little wants to open up shop in your town. Rather than government deciding it's going to get into the grocery store running business. Thank you.

(applause) Well, we get on the state side as exactly what you said number one. Providing incentive for private stores to go into these communities because they don't want too many of them. And number two, for low-income people who can't afford food, subsidize their food bill. And in New York, 40,000, 50,000 up to 60,000 depending on your family condition.

You can get a thousand dollar credit per month for food. That's a smart way to do it. You know, but this is not about smart. This is about performative, as you said. Okay.

Performative politics and performative government. This is how we make up the embedded difference. Speaking of money and who has it? There's a story I wanted to cover. Now, this show we take our responsibility very seriously here to alert the audience to important new trends that are coming up.

And there is an important one. It was in the Wall Street Journal this week. The headline was, this summer's hottest accessory is a private equity boyfriend. This is what you're laughing, but for successful woman like yourself. I'm sure you're taken, but for successful women, you got to have a private equity boyfriend.

Reese, where there's Boone has one Nicole. Cadminal of your Rutte Rigo, Andy Cohen. It's the biggest thing. So, we were curious. We were curious.

“What are the pickup lines that the private equity boyfriend are using?”

So, we googled it. Would you like to hear something? Okay. This is from the private equity types. Are you from midwest because I'd like to ruin your downtown?

I guess I'll have to offer your ass a buyout because I see it just won't quit. I'm not into ANO, but I have had the security to make change commission up my ass. I don't know if you're running a Ponzi scheme, but you've already made off with my heart. I see us growing old together. Well, you've growing old.

I have access to Peter Teele's blood gun. You look like a younger Charlize Theron, which is good because the real one put out a restraining order on me. Your place or mine actually yours because mine has been docks by men don't. And come on my boat.

Okay. So now you're a prize on that screen. Okay. So you're a favorite polster. You run this show.

You've got all the pols. You have all the facts. It really likes them anymore.

“Nobody have a like them, but we need them.”

We need to get, and we need sometimes to like maybe get better stats because I don't know if people are answering the landline anymore. We'll have to go get them there info, but I have to ask this question because I keep reading these statistics about how much the American public has gone independent. Like 45% of people now say they're independent. Yeah, this never happened when I when we were young. They were either Republican or Democrat.

There was a few independence. The numbers that say they're dissatisfied with both parties.

And yet why never the third party.

And then I read last week Tucker Carlson. He's going to be the third party guy. Now look, Republicans. I love him, but you know what? They always go lower.

Like just when you just when you think you hit the bottom of the barrel. There's more under the barrel.

“There's the levels of they that it's true.”

They just find new levels of crazy. I mean, Tucker Carlson, he's the third party. Why do they say that American public that they want this sensible middle? But then when it comes time to actually do it, they run right to the extremes. All right.

Where do we start? So there are an awful lot of Americans who feel very politically homeless. They look at the Republican party. They look at the Democratic party. And maybe they agree with the little of Colomay.

They're not in on all of one or the other.

The problem is all of those people who are politically homeless do not agree on a whole lot.

There are some who like Tucker Carlson. There are some who like Mike Bloomberg. But those people do not actually agree on much besides I don't really like the two political parties.

“And that's what makes it so hard for a third party to take off.”

There are structural things built into our system about single member districts. And what's it, you know, the constitution is rigged. They're both the need that need their party like wants to get the third party on the ballot, right? That's the truth. Well, that's the truth.

That is. And look, we've had good rocks per O back in 92 get almost 20%. But it's hard to get more than that because it's hard to get a group of people who are independent. But also agree on enough stuff all together to come together to form like a coherent political movement that is so distinct from one of the two parties. And that's what usually it's like a Ralph Nader on the left or a Tucker on wherever he is.

Isn't it more that we're all in bubbles and in our own media echo chambers. And so they got us cockfighting. And so easy at the end of the day to get people just to go, oh fuck them. Not thing and go right back to the team, my team.

I mean, I find my frustration in life is always trying to get people to a sensible middle.

They just don't seem to want to do it at the end of the day. No, I, yeah, I think it's both things. First of all, there is a real structural problem. The democrats don't want it to happen and the Republicans don't want it to happen because it would diminish both parties. So it doesn't happen.

Many contests, most contests, you can't vote as an independent. If you could vote as an independent in party primaries, that would make a dramatic difference in this country. Because they would, they would be a moderating influence. But neither party really wants to do it. And then push comes the shove, as Pearson said, people will say, yes, I'm not happy with either party.

But at the end of the day, they go democratic or republican because they don't think the independent candidacy is really viable. But Tucker Carlson, I mean, he used to do this show and my old show with the bow tied normal sort of republican conservative. And then he just went to crazy land. And there's 100 million dollars. There are.

Here's the huge amount. If I was constructing the third party candidate who would have the best chance of succeeding, it would be somebody who says, I'm anti-establishment. I'm skeptical of us getting involved in foreign wars. I'm a little more socially conservative and pretty law and order, but I'm more economically populist. I think the capitalist system sucks.

But that kind of, that's like the pieces you could assemble to make a reasonably successful candidate. The problem is that Tucker Carlson's doing that plus a lot of other stuff that makes him not even remotely palatable to the vast vast vast majority of Americans. And when I look at my polls and I see, you know, right now Republicans kind of split on whether they like Tucker Carlson or not.

both I'd guy who would come on real time or dancing with the stars.

And the very dark place is that he has gone down. It does speak to the vulnerability of Trump. I mean, the fact that they smell blood in the water. The fact that the poll numbers are down, they don't like the war. They don't like what they could see as inflation, which is the tariffs.

The things that made people's lives more difficult. And so Tucker Carlson, I mean, he put out a, like a 10 point plan. That's what people who were going to run for office do. It was bullshit, but he put it out.

“I think, yeah, well, you have to have a 10 point plan for anything, right?”

I think it's going to get worse after the midterms. I think they are sensing that the Republicans are going to have trouble in the midterms in November.

And then you're going to really start to see the vulnerability of Trump.

You must then they will all come. You must be happy that the crazy lady, it was constant loss for the Democratic Party. The Ukraine, it is so shocking to me how the Democratic Party has gotten itself into the situation, where it is so counterproductive, right? We hate Magra, we hate Trump. So we go out and nominate people who make it harder to win in November.

You know, none of it makes any sense. I get the anger, I get the frustration, but it is all counterproductive. They made it Trump, they made it Israel, they made it the establishment, they made it the Democratic Party. So they do emotionally the exact opposite, right?

And it's just not going to work. They are electing people who are going to make it harder to win. Yes, thank you. [Applause]

You already see the round of this.

Speaking of polls, there was a poll that came out this week that showed the Republican candidate up byably four points against Abdul al-Sayed in Michigan. Now, the polls in Michigan and the Democratic primary weren't particularly good, but that's a race that was not necessarily the one that Republicans initially thought was going to be their best chance, but are now looking at it as a real opportunity that even in a very bad,

what is likely to be a very bad election year for Republicans could be a pickup. But Democrats have also been saved by their own base a couple of times this year so far. And I have long believed that Democrats are on a slow path toward having their own Tea Party movement kind of situation. I do think that if Democrats take the house, you are going to have a situation where a, let's say,

“Speaker Hakeen Jeffries has to figure out how am I going to fund the government?”

I'm going to pass a funding bill that Donald Trump signs. And that's when the real bloodbath begins with the Democratic Party. I couldn't agree more. Look, you have these moderates who are just afraid of the extreme left. They're just afraid. They are. And when they start with this, well, we're a big pent party.

No, that is a lot of crap. Big tent party meant all races, color creeds were open-minded, but a tent is a finite object. It didn't mean Nazi sympathizers, you're welcome. If I semi-its, you're welcome abolish the police. Close prisons, open borders, do a way with the Constitution.

That's not the Democratic tent. It's just not, but they are afraid bill of the extremists. And they are placating them. And that is going to make the Tea Party of the Democratic Party. And that will make us a fringe party.

We will defeat ourselves on this path. Okay, so like lightning rounds. So presidents, Trump foiled the assassins again this week. He jumped on the plane that wasn't the plane. But he left everybody else on the other plane.

If the Iranians were going to shoot down that plane. Goodbye, Marco. Robio and a lot of other people. No, I'm not judging him.

“I'm sure that's what the Secret Service told him.”

My question is, because I've heard it is the President's discretion. If he could do that or not. You think any other President would have done it differently. Like, say, Jimmy Carter. He was like Mr. Christian guy.

Would he have left his friends on that other plane? But about Obama, but about Reagan. I think like when your Donald Trump has had a number of credible threats on his life. Traced back to the Iranian government. Yeah.

He got his ears shot. I mean, like blame him. So I kind of think if you're Donald Trump, you do with the Secret Service. Yeah, I would. I think they all would.

I think they all would. I think they would do with the Secret Service said to do.

But you rarely go against what the Secret Service is advising. Right. All right. Thank you, panel. Time for news.

[APPLAUSE] [MUSIC PLAYING] All right, new rule. Now that AOC is decided to share with the world that she's freezing her eggs, Mitch McConnell's wife has to tell us if Mitch has passed away.

[LAUGHTER] All right. I need no disrespect. But we do need to set a bipartisan baseline for too much information. [LAUGHTER]

I don't want to invade anybody's privacy. I just need to know what's in the freezer. [LAUGHTER] New rule, women hoping to put a little more lead in their man's pencil might want to consider getting him the herbal supplement, horny goat weed.

It's known as Nature's Viagra. And even if it doesn't work, ladies, remember goats. They'll eat anything. [LAUGHTER] [APPLAUSE]

New rule, the airport duty free store has to come right out and say it. You think we smell. [LAUGHTER] What other explanation is there? Your store carries two things.

Colone and liquor. [LAUGHTER] Who buys Colone at the airport?

“Why not just come home wearing a sign that says, honey, I'm having an affair?”

[LAUGHTER] And if I'm going to spend $50 on a bottle of something at the airport, it's going to be water. [LAUGHTER] [APPLAUSE]

New rule, if you're a South Korean company looking to do business in America,

run your brand name by an English speaker first.

I'm talking to you, come hot tires. [LAUGHTER] [APPLAUSE] No, I'm just trying to help because I see big problems. Like some guy telling his girl, honey, we can't go out to dinner tonight.

I just dropped 500 bucks on a couple of come-holds. [LAUGHTER] [APPLAUSE] Now that George's Jesse Davis is accused of trying to run over a woman in a parking lot, just for saying good morning.

Someone asked him two questions.

“Why would you do that to a nice lady just out for a jog?”

And could you look any more like a truckie dog? [LAUGHTER] [APPLAUSE] I know where all this pent up animosity towards women is coming from, but have you tried horny goat weed?

[LAUGHTER]

And finally, if you want the American dream,

you have to take the American values. There's no bigger issue in electoral politics these days than immigration, and there's no doubt, at least in my mind, that both sides went to extremes. Biden's policy of open doors, and then Trump's policy of broken windows. [LAUGHTER]

Now I'm on the page of America doing what it used to do so well. Stealing hard, working talented immigrants around the world, and making them Americans. [APPLAUSE] But something has changed in the equation.

Now, most immigrants still want to assimilate. But some now have this other attitude of melting pot. Fuck you, you melt. Look, you don't have to love everything about America. We don't.

That's why Yelp was invented. [LAUGHTER] [APPLAUSE] But, you know, if you do get past ice, America's actually pretty cool.

We say you do you eat the food your grandma cooked. Speak another language at home. Celebrate religious holidays.

We welcome your food, your art, your fashion, your first ladies.

[LAUGHTER] But you have to answer one question. Do you like Western civilization?

“Because that's what we are, and that's not negotiable.”

Let me ask our audience. Do you think gay rights is one of our values that's non-negotiable?

Great, I'm going to hold you to it.

[LAUGHTER] A few weeks ago, a liberal Democrat named Melissa tried re-running for Congress in Seattle's ass why, among the many progressive causes listed on her website, LGBT rights was conspicuously absent.

Because, she said, a lot of Muslims do not feel that way, unfortunately. Now, here's where a liberal sphincter is just tightened. [LAUGHTER] Because they heard the word Muslim, and had been brainwashed

into thinking, oh, some Islamic bullshit is coming now. No, just facts and a little honesty to the people. You see everything as a presser versus a press, but can't see who actually does a lot of oppressing. So let me ask.

Is this the progressive policy now?

“Is Mr. Audrey Wright, we throw gay people under the bus?”

Any time it clashes with what makes Muslims uncomfortable? [LAUGHTER] Last month, a gay cruise ship with 2,000 passengers that was sailing the Mediterranean had to turn around and change course, because Muslim countries wouldn't let it dock.

They tried to get into Turkey, and Turkey was like, no homo. [LAUGHTER] They tried Egypt, nope, just straight denial. [LAUGHTER] Now, this poor gay cruise ship couldn't find a home.

It was like the grinder version of the Odyssey. [LAUGHTER] But happy ending they eventually sailed on to Greece, where the Greek said, you kidding? We invented that ship.

[LAUGHTER] But I got to say, you know, Egypt and Turkey,

“they have no problem saying, our culture, we just don't do that here.”

We need a little of that attitude here. How about homophobia? We just don't do that here. [APPLAUSE] We will make you bake a wedding cake.

[LAUGHTER] But not everybody sees it this way. Linda Sarsore is a big progressive hero, and she says, our number one priority is our community. It is not to assimilate.

Okay, but that's not really how immigration works. If I move to Japan, I don't get to say, okay, everybody, a couple of changes. First of all, shoes stay on in the house now. [LAUGHTER]

Also, no more tentacle poor, and that's gone. [LAUGHTER] Look, lots of people, not just Muslims, of course. Do lots of fucked up shit. We don't have to go along with it.

A number of cultures still practice marriage by capture. Where if you fancy a gal, you simply abduct her and claim her as your fiance. You may recall Borat tried it on Pamela Anderson. [LAUGHTER]

[LAUGHTER] It's a real thing.

And it's always a touching scene when the groom gets down on one knee

and to propose, and the bride still has the bag over her head. [LAUGHTER] Okay, but we don't do that here. Linda Sarsore was forced into an arranged marriage at 17, but defends the practice, saying it made her, quote,

"become mature much earlier in life." All bet. [LAUGHTER] But here, we think that's a little too close to Epstein's stuff. [LAUGHTER]

Honor killings, not letting women show their faces, polygamy, cousin fucking female. [LAUGHTER] Female genital mutilation. There's lots of stuff we don't do here,

and it's not negotiable, and it's not white values. These are liberal values. People thought and died to establish them,

“and it's not racist to say, if you want to come here”

to help form a more perfect union, great. But some things are too fundamental to change. This separation of religion and state, for example, and I would say the same thing to Christian nationalists. Democracy, not theocracy, free speech, even about religion.

Equal rights for women, LGBT, that's America. And none of it, none of this is available in Sharia law,

which a third of British Muslims want to see be the law in England.

You can't have England and Sharia law.

“And the left's reaction to Islamification is,”

the worst that could happen from it is it will get right wingers elected. Maybe, or maybe the worst that could come from it, is in 20 years the UK is turning away gay cruise ships. (applause) Now, you can, and I'm sure some of you are,

screaming Islamophobia, but that's just a bullshit word to cow people and to not talking about this. This has nothing to do with non-wites becoming the majority. I don't give a shit about that. I don't give a shit about colors.

“White people, they're white, they're not pandas.”

(laughter) I care about liberal values being replaced by liberal ones. Last month, more than 70,000 Moroccan migrants breached the border and poured into a part of Spain called Soeta. I feel for them.

But I also understand why a lot of Europe freaked out about it. I sympathize with refugees.

But when I see them interviewed, it's always,

there's nothing here for me, the economy sucks. I don't see a future.

“I sympathize, but what you need is not asylum.”

What you need is LinkedIn. (applause) Build something in the country you live in. You've got a bad economy? You know that cruise ship that couldn't dock?

Do you have any idea how much money 2000 drunk gay money would have spent in the beach town? That's right, show up. I want to fetch my guests from a governor Andy Cuomo.

First himself is Anderson and Ryan Howard.

Clap her in them, drops every Monday on YouTube. Or listen, we're happy you get your podcast. No, go watch over time on YouTube. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Thank you. (applause) (music playing) Watch all new episodes of Real Time with Bill Mar every Friday night at 10. Or watch a many time on HBO on the moon.

For more information, log on to HBO.com. Larry David is back in the new HBO original limited series. What a pleasure to be a part of such a historic occasion. Life Larry and the pursuit of unhavenous and almost history of America. This is a declaration of comments and those who don't know history.

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