Ep. #740: Byron Donalds, Molly Jong-Fast, Michael S. Roth

[ Music ] [ Applause ] >> Thank you, please go. [ Applause ] >> Thank you, everyone.

[ Applause ]

>> Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.

It's very kind. [ Applause ] >> Thank you. [ Applause ] >> Thank you.

[ Applause ] >> Thank you for -- [ Applause ] >> Thank you so much. [ Applause ] >> Thank you for being in a good mood.

We did have a tough week. Dolly part and die.

“There was this horrible flooding in Nepal.”

And I found out today Canada has been treating me very badly. [ Laughter ] Have you seen this run a trade war with Canada? You know, we've been tariffing them in.

And they were tariffing us back.

And you know, look like we were heading for some sort of a deal. But then no, no deal. Why? Because they've been taking advantage of us. Yeah.

Fuck you, man. Every time -- [ Laughter ] Every time I see a Canadian, I'm like, this is the guy who's been fucking with me all these. [ Laughter ]

But I just want to -- [ Applause ] We have a lot of viewers in Canada. I just want to say to our viewers and kind of -- We're still cool, right? [ Laughter ]

It's not all of us. It's not all of us. We like you. It's run -- Trump is so mad at Canada.

He renamed Lake Ontario Lake America. [ Laughter ] Now I got to buy a new globe again. [ Laughter ] It's like the fifth time it's happened.

[ Applause ] And -- [ Applause ] Liberals are very pissed at this.

“They say you can't just go around renaming things”

to suit your political agenda. Just ask any Latinx birthing person. [ Laughter ] But -- [ Applause ] But -- you know, thing is, we already kind of have a war.

We have one more going with a rat. And it's not going -- well, we just can't seem to finish. Just like fucking uncooked this war. [ Laughter ] It's -- what it is.

[ Laughter ] It's -- it's going -- [ Applause ] It's going so badly today. Pete Higgson said it looks like I picked the wrong week

to never stop drinking. [ Laughter ] But -- I don't get it. You know, we can't seem to negotiate with a ran. Can't negotiate with Canada.

I went into a book story today.

“The art of the deal was in the humor section.”

[ Laughter ] So -- let's -- you know what? [ Applause ] We have an election coming up. And the people in this country will express their opinion on this kind of stuff.

And all stuff that's going on. We also have coming up a lot of anniversary. You know, today is the 63rd anniversary of Martin Luther King's. I have a dream speech on the mall. [ Applause ]

It's -- all right, we're off next week. The week after that, we're on 9/11 on the day itself. That's the 25th anniversary of 9/11. Also, this week, the anniversary of when during the War of 1812, the British burned the White House.

That was back when if you attacked a federal building, you were the bad guys. [ Applause ] But you know what? All this is going on in all America.

Could really talk about this week was how sad it is. We lost Dolly part. And you see everybody around the -- even around the world, London, they're doing things. The Santa Monica of Ferris Wheel is lit up with hearts.

The Empire State Building was put up in pink. The sphere in Las Vegas added a nipple. [ Applause ] You know, did have a good week this week parents. Parents, you know why?

Because Meta, that's Facebook and Instagram.

They're at a point of up $18 billion,

because you know, this is big. This is the first time a court has ruled and people have ruled.

So something that's this harmful, likely did the cigarettes. They did the same thing. [ Applause ] So there are new rules. If you're under 18, no Facebook and no Instagram

between midnight and 6am and the kids will be exclusively on Pornhub. [ Laughter ] So progress comes in small steps. [ Applause ]

But also, how about this? The Miss USA page. You all watched it, right? [ Laughter ]

We had a first, our first mom.

[ Laughter ] You know what? I mean, the fact that we're still having beauty pageants, I don't know if that is going to look that good in the future that whole thing about egg.

Get out here in a bikini and answer a question about world peace. You know what? [ Laughter ] And they asked this new mom, Mr. USA, about peace.

And she said, "Yeah, could I get 10 minutes "fucking alone, please?" All right. You got a great show. We have represented the fire in Donald's

and Molly Johnson. But first up, he is the president of Wesleyan University and author of the student of Troy History. Michael S. Roth. Michael?

[ Cheers and applause ] Are you sure? [ Cheers and applause ] How are you? [ Cheers and applause ]

[ Cheers and applause ] Okay. All right.

So you are the president of the university.

I am the president of the university. I am the president of the university. I am the president of the university. And like, let's be honest. You are a defender of the university.

I have been a critic of them. I have been a critic too. Okay. Let's maybe we'll meet in the middle. Maybe you're the guy who convinced me. It's not as bad as I think it is.

But when I see the things, and it happens over and over again, that the criticism comes from indoctrination instead of education is one of them. A lack of perspective, especially on world history,

America's place in the world, Western civilization. I think that's true. Intolerant of other ideas, not being afraid to hear other conservative voices. Is that all wrong?

“That's why so many of them want to become”

investment bankers.

They've been convinced by the faculty

that socialism is the answer. And I was told not to try to make a joke, and that proves they were right. [laughter] No, I mean, the most assigned books in America

remain Plato and Machivelli and Mary Shelley. There is definitely a leftist. Those ones aren't that controversial. No, they're not. But those are the books that most classes teach.

Also Karl Marx. And Karl Marx. A lot of Karl Marx. And the guy to style. That's another one.

That's another joke. Nope. No, no. [laughter] I'll leave in those two minutes.

I've been talking for the last 10 years about the need to diversify the faculty, a college of university. We have too much of a political monoculture. And we have to work really hard

to bring other ideas into the campus. I do think most teachers are not trying to indoctrinate their students. They're trying to get them to think for themselves. But we have a lot of work to do in that regard

to make it a more open environment. And what's the thing we've tried very hard

“to bring lots more conservative voices on to campus?”

We have lectures from the editors of Christianity today, or from former members of Republican administrations. And we have the Veterans Program. But I think we have to be very intentional. I wrote a piece in the Welsh Journal of Decay

to go calling for affirmative action, program for conservatives on college campus. And everybody hated this op-ed. They thought that the conservatives thought we just need a meritocracy and a liberal style.

We don't like affirmative action connected to conservatism. I think we have real problem of bias. And we have to correct that. But it'll only get worse if the government tries to correct that for us. I agree with that also.

But I mean, statistics when you've done surveys on this. And again, I'm not pushing for the Republicans. I'm just saying when one place matters what it is. We know of this here in the state of California. When one party, when one point of view controls everything,

they are not checked. And that's what's happened on campus. Something like 77 out of 80 professors vote democratic. Yeah. That's a ridiculous note.

That is. How did we get there?

“Well, I think one of the reasons you have to understand,”

you're in graduate school for eight to ten years. And you're taking a job with the starting salary of $70,000. Who would a Democrat would accept that proposition? Yeah. I think what has happened is that, you know, I started this when I was in graduate school.

And I went to graduate school. We asked the professors why don't you hire more women? And he said, oh, we would hire women if we could find any good ones. And it was ridiculous because they were biased. Sure.

And today people say to me, oh, we would hire conservatives. But we really think this guy is the best guy. And that guy happens to believe the same things they do. But I believe that when we convince the faculty, we show the faculty, there is this bias. They will correct.

Right now we have students and faculty all over the country trying to get students to participate in the elections in the fall. I think the greatest cure for political bias or monoculture is to get out in the streets and talk to our fellow citizens. And you really think the professors are just saying to the kids, vote.

“We're not going to put my thumb on the scale of who you should vote for.”

I think that's ridiculous. When I went to Cornell, I could not tell you. I was trying to think of it, knowing you were coming on say. I was trying to think of any professor who I could tell you that I had. Who I knew what their politics was.

I can't think of one. They didn't get into that. Do you really think that's what's going on today? I think it's a mixed bag.

I know that like you I had professors who they were just always surprising me by making me think about something

I didn't want to think about. But I couldn't tell what they really believe themselves. There was just no politics at all. I feel like now it's the opposite. Like you couldn't even get a job.

If you didn't demonstrate what your politics were. And it's very much in the classroom. We saw it after October 7th. It was the professors who were out there cheering it on. Now of course most people in most colleges and universities are studying sciences

and economics business communications. I don't think any of this stuff is happening in those fields. I do think that after October 7th we saw a shameful display of political partisanship but also moral obtuseness. But we also saw push back against that.

And I think that there was in many schools a healthy debate about what's the best way forward.

“And I think that that's what I'm trying to encourage is more debate about the best way forward”

and less government intervention. But since I have been covering news and especially the Middle East even before that, Israel was known as a outpost of Western civilization. Yes, it was. And that's what it was called.

That was always a good thing.

Now I don't think it is. I did an editorial here when I talking about that. The Western civilization they talk about it. Like it's a bad thing. Instead of saying Western civilization is what gave everyone who is progressive.

The things they should be most proud of. And I think that a lot of our students are just that in class that we do. The professors are teaching that message. I think they're learning it from my show. I don't think the professors are teaching that message.

I really don't. I think it's in fiction. You're learning it from your show. Of course. But the professors who watch your show too.

Maybe even more often than a teacher. I could come on campus and speak and be welcomed. Welcome, maybe not, but certainly. It's really. Well, but certainly given a hearing.

Okay, give it a hand. But I shouldn't be welcome. I had someone who twice gave the Democrats a million dollars. That's not enough credentials to come on the hearing. Well, you came to Western with a million dollars.

I would welcome you with. Oh, okay. Well, I'm not going to be doing it. So we had just. We had just this video.

I've come to campus. Justice Scalia come to campus. And there were certainly many people. Oh my gosh. How could he really bring him here?

He gave a really good talk. He spent the day on campus talking to the students. They argued with him. They welcomed him. He's probably the wrong word.

But they enjoyed the debate. Okay. And that's what we want. We want people to enjoy the debate. I would hope so.

Because I worry about your field in general. It looks like it's becoming obsolete. For some of the reason we've been talking about. Because it's lost a lot of its credibility. Because people don't think it educates.

They think it indoctrinates and and also I'm sorry. But kids come out and they don't know anything. I mentioned the war of 1812 here in the monologue.

“How many of the kids probably could tell you what happened in the war?”

I think there's we have to do a better job of giving fact-based education. But Bill, you were in college when I was in college. The old folks complained about us. You don't know anything that you're studying nonsense. I don't want to be that old guy who's saying kids today.

They don't know as much as we knew. I don't remember anybody saying that. When I was at Cornell. I was not studying. The Nixon Spuro Agnew and the people right and Ronald Reagan.

After they all said that. They all said that. And I worry when I when I complain about the students. I worry that I'm one of those old guys. I'm like when I should be doing.

It's just teaching them about not just the war of 1812. But all kinds of things. And what I do find is that they're eager to learn.

We should never indoctrination.

But they are eager to learn and we need good teachers to teach them.

“Okay, but okay, so the that issue is also.”

The debt. People get into debt. And then they find, well, the job isn't there. That I went and all this debt for perhaps. Or I'm in debt for so long trying to get out of it.

But maybe it would have been better if instead of spending $400,000 on Wesleyan. They just gave me $400,000 when I got out of high school. And I'd be better off and no less uneducated. And AI. AI is now we've talked about it on the show last week.

And only like doing the kids test. They're taking the courses for the kids. How was you going to survive in a world where you don't actually have to know anything. I think people said the similar thing about like how sports going to survive when you can watch an on TV. People love to go to a game.

I don't think so. I don't think so. Okay. Why would anybody play football if you could play mad and football? People want to learn in their classes.

They want to do experiments. What should happen to college campuses not to transfer of information. They can get more information on your show or from their phones and they have to get in a college campus. What should happen if they develop the habits of learning and thinking for themselves in good comfort. And then they will carry those habits with them after they graduate.

“And I think that's really still important.”

College is all over the country are welcoming students back. They're eager to be there. Not so they can assign their projects to AI. But so they can learn to think. Exactly when they do surveys of employers what they complain about is that the kids coming out of college.

They think have not learned how to think. They were told what to think, not how to think. And they complain about that when they get to the workplace. But let me ask one friend of course. Please.

Because I used to play colleges in the 90s. It was fun. You do? You were there? I would remember reading about your show.

Okay. Right. I don't know any comic who plays colleges anymore. Because they just don't think the kids. No, I'm sure there are many who do.

Probably of the much younger generation who know how to be a lot more sensitive. But think about it. They just don't think the kids have a sense of humor that can stand up to political correct. Correct. Which is what comedy is.

I hear that a lot. And I do think that the students I see a lesson. They're anything but politically correct. They're outlandish. They're unconventional.

They're critical of everything.

But if Rodney Dangerfield came to Cornell or Don Rickles, they probably wouldn't have been welcome with open arms. That's what happens. Young people don't find older people as funny. It's older people find one another.

[ Laughter ] But what I -- I don't think we can fight intolerance. But what -- on college campuses and in our government. And what we have to do over the next three months,

especially is not tell people who to vote for. But to get students to be less cynical, more open-minded, and more engaged in public sphere. All right. Well, you're -- you've made me feel a little more optimistic. Thank you.

Thank you for coming on and sharing this. Thank you, doctor. Thank you. All right. Let's meet our panel. [ Cheers and applause ]

Hey. Hey, guys. All right. Here's the Republican Congressman from Florida who recently became the party's nominee for Governor Congratulations, Byron. Donald's.

[ Cheers and applause ] And she is the host of "Fast Politics" by Castleton Hurt. How to lose your mother. A daughter's memoir available now in paperback. Molly Shung, "Fast, Great to see you."

[ Cheers and applause ] Okay. [ Cheers and applause ] Going to be a busy night for you, Byron. [ Laughter ]

Well, biggest -- look, you're running for Governor. You won the primary congratulations. [ Cheers and applause ] You'll be the -- [ Cheers and applause ]

You'll be the first lack Republican Governor in this country.

Hmm. You -- that's the first you've heard that. [ Laughter ] You look very surprised. You must have been aware of that.

It's a high honor, but -- right.

“In this campaign and quite frankly, I think in politics today,”

it's much more about the vision and for your state, the ideas you have, how you improve people's lives, how we lower costs. It's much more about that. It wasn't even a question.

[ Laughter ] I'm just -- here's my question. [ Cheers and applause ] Your slogan is "Accountable Achievable Affordable." For Florida.

Not a slogan, but true. And that's what I read. [ Laughter ] You don't know a lot about your own campaign. [ Laughter ]

You know, you're running in Florida, right? Okay. [ Laughter ] Anyway, I don't feel like the president's policies are making that affordable part easy for you,

Calls this trade war with Canada.

The dumbest trade war. That's the title. It says Republicans are already getting pounded on the campaign trail over his tariffs and inflation, mostly because of the war.

“Byron, are you getting pounded on the campaign trail?”

No. I think that people in Florida are thinking about their pocketbooks. Well, that's what the worst. But it's what it's against it. I mean, tariff policy, let's be very clear,

is about renegotiating certain trade policies and trade deals that have not worked in the interest of the United States for a long, long time. If you're looking at USMCA, obviously the president negotiated that one and what he's doing is he's looking

at some of the outcomes and saying, you know what? We need to go back into this. And I think this were this latest spat with Canada's coming from. But I would rather have a chief executive that looks at these deals and engages these other countries

and fights for Americans than just let's them roll knowing that they're not going to be in the interest of small business. How pissed are you? What's your answer, Marla? Are you, uh...

Are you as mad as I am? Have they been fucking asked as much as Byron suggests? I also would like to add that I thought tariffs were on shoring manufacturing. I thought the job.

I thought the goal was to bring jobs back to America. And I'm telling you, we've seen the research and it hasn't worked. So, like, what is Donald Trump doing? Because I was told that factories were going to come back.

Jobs were going to come back and what's happened is that everything is just more expensive. Well, somehow that the only work's both ways. It does work. But in general, it doesn't look like a winner.

It doesn't look like a winner at the polls. It doesn't look like a winner for the economy. I'm just, I mean, they asked him when he changed the name to Lake America the other day. They said, what message was he trying to send Canada?

And he said, no message Canada has been ripping us off for a long time on trade. Okay, well, that is a message. First of all. But they're not ripping us off.

Are you not frustrated that you can't, I mean, I know you speak to them. Well, I know you're very friendly. They're not ripping us off. I mean, there's eight times as many of us as them. Of course, we're going to trade deficit with them.

We'd have to buy eight times. They would have to buy eight times as much products from us. So, the person could do that in Canada. Don't you wish you could say this to the president?

Well, first of all, I actually thought the Lake America thing was actually funny.

I really did. I thought it was funny. First of all, in politics, everybody is so uptight about so many of these things.

“What I think is far more important is looking at some of the outcomes of USMCA,”

like I said earlier, and then going back to the drawing board and finding out ways to make them better deals in favor of the United States. When we have, when we set up these deals to be honest, it's not really about making sure that these other nations are getting a better deal when that actually deals with what we're having to manage economically over the long term in the United States.

And to your point, if you look at what we've done on trade in the last 40 years in this country, that has definitely not brought manufacturing jobs to the United States, they've actually left the United States. So it's about time somebody said enough of that policy. Let's try a new way to get a better deal for the Americans and for our small business owners. I mean Biden did tariffs.

Some tariffs, you know, tariffs with the scalpel actually work. That was a good thought, but tariffs with the, you know, sledgehammer don't work. And in fact, I mean Maggie and Swan have this book called regime change, which is, if you, Maggie and Swan. Maggie, haven't been, and John has been Swan.

Just wrote a book. Yes. That's right. Jesus Christ. Paul regime change.

And in it, they really document a lot of the tariff stuff. And, and the reporting is that when he first laid out the tariffs, he forgot China.

Like he never forgot China.

Well, he, he just doesn't want to fuck with China. He certainly has not ever got a chance.

“But if you're going to tariff a country, I would mean China would be what?”

But now he wants to, to punish everybody who is not on our side in the Iran war. And you know, we can't be at war with everybody. I mean, well, let's, let's talk about Iran for a moment. Oh, good. That's a good answer.

Let's talk about it. All right. Okay. I'm going to put aside the core of the entire situation, which is the Iranians cannot have nuclear weapons. Yeah, I agree.

We all agree on that. What we don't all agree, but I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm. So, me, anybody who thinks that it's okay for the Iranians to have a noop that makes no, do you think that makes that sad at free? Makes no sense.

But anyway, with the straight-of-horror moves, my frustration is that, yeah, a lot of these NATO countries, all they had to do is come in and help us secure shipping lanes in the straight. The reason why maybe even exist in countries is to make sure that international shipping lines are not held hostage by any one nation or any pirating group. That's the whole purpose of navies.

And you have the Europeans are sitting on their heels while their oil prices are higher. Their gas prices are higher. And I'm saying, oh, well, we don't have nothing to roll the planess.

simply to cause economic harm across the world because they're crazy,

“psychotic, and they want nuclear weapons.”

But weren't this, wasn't that true? A first-of-share buy. Okay, all right. Well, the regime is crazy in psychotic. But we don't think the people --

I don't want to cut you off. But the people have no ability to actually take control of this country. The regime is psychotic. It's been that way for 47 years. Actually, but then they get a new quote.

Well, I just, my question is, this straight was open. Was it a straight open? Yes.

The straight is always --

The straight is always been the leverage point of the Iranians. But the straight was open before Donald Trump went to war with Iran. Never explaining to us why. He did. He did.

He did. He did explain. He did explain. He did explain. He did explain.

He did explain. He did explain. But early on. They can't have enough of your weapon. It's such a dumb talking point.

Of course they explain. Okay, so why?

“It did stop them from getting nuclear weapons.”

And also they were a terrible actor in the Middle East. There was no way there was ever going to be peace in that part of the world as long as Iran was funding and -- Well, we knew it was an unwinnable war. It's a humongous war. Well, we did not know that.

What they did was they fucked up the timing by Iran. They should have attacked when the people were in the streets during the uprising. They waited for all they got shot. And then they attacked three months later.

So, as always, not always, sometimes he has a good idea and then the execution is fucked up.

But I want to move on to something because I promised this one viewer I would. [ Laughter ] You were endorsed by Donald Trump. Yes. Okay.

And I said last week, I'm quoting myself. Trump used to win all his endorsements. Now he's winning almost none of them. I heard from this one viewer who was very upset about this, contacted me directly.

[ Laughter ] Well, we text. [ Laughter ] I'm glad we do. I'd rather have a communication.

Okay. And he said, well, he sent me a lot of charge. He sent me a lot of information. And I said, you know, I promised. If this is not true, what I said, I will say it on the air.

He's right. I did overstated. Trump used to win all his endorsements. Now he's winning almost none of that isn't true. Overstated.

There was not so hard to not be a dick about everything. Just sometimes say, "And by the way, when I say, we all shouldn't just dig in and be a dick about anything. I'm also addressing that one viewer." [ Laughter ]

But here's the facts. And it's a little more shaded than that. But yes, 260 people, this election cycle, he's endorsed. He only lost nine, 97%.

So he still has very powerful endorsements.

But the full picture is a little more nuanced. My point was that the trend looks like it is going downward on that, because he did lose five gunners, gunnerships. Republican primary voters, this is some CNN now, now rejected 10 Trump and Doris candidates for state-wide offers

this primary season. That's equal to the number who lost in 2018, 2020, and 24, primaries combined. Now, he says that's because he backs a lot of one who were sure losers, but he did it just out of loyalty.

I don't doubt that some of that is true. I also think it's true on the other side, that he wins some, because he picks some easy winters. He picks incumbent sometimes in uncontested people with overwhelming -- OK, doesn't matter.

He just won in South Carolina, Lindsey Graham's, "No, nothing, sister." [ Laughter ] And he won one in Oklahoma. He also, when you've crossed him like Bill Cassidy,

Thomas Massey and John Cornen did, so, OK, when he shows up at a place like for Lindsey's sister, you know, he's still a star. And if you're a star, they'll let you do it. OK, and they come out and they vote for him.

So, there, that's the truth. It's a little more nuanced, but yes, I overstated it. Now, stop texting. [ Laughter and applause ] I won though.

You won one. I won the nomination. I know. I know, yeah. But you did to your point that you were making earlier.

Yeah. You did lose the Redneck Riviera badly. And, you know, I think -- OK, go ahead. [ Laughter ]

No, I'm just -- I think -- Look, I can't get with you on a lot of this policy stuff,

“but I think it would be great if the country”

did have the first black republic. [ Applause ] And I do. And -- [ Applause ] And I also think it's great that you won

a run in this post-racial world that we imagined years ago, and, you know, just the character of their character, and not the color of their skin. We're not quite there yet, though, right? I mean, because I think --

I mean, the Redneck Riviera, which is the panhandle, I don't think people can maybe sometimes picture the map of Florida,

You know, imagine how Redneck you have to be to be under Alabama? [ Laughter and applause ] It's a beautiful place, man. I know.

It's beautiful, but I think -- [ Applause ]

“I think there are people there who still would not --”

that you're Republican, you're a trumpet, they should love you, and they don't -- I think there is still racism. I'm going to bring you on the campaign trail with me. You're going to find out.

Let's talk a little bit about the panhandle. There were counties who did incredibly well in that we won. There were some counties that we felt a little short in. That's okay, but there was also 11 Republicans on the ballot. Many people who had various lines of support.

The number one thing overall, we closed out 48 percent of the vote in Florida,

800,000 votes as -- be gone a month away to the becoming the nominee. I think Florida really has become the microcosm of what we all want. It's a meritocracy. And it's about the best person with the best views,

the best skills, the best talent moving forward to represent your state, or to represent a district in your state, and Florida exemplifies that. Yeah. [ Laughter ]

You've had to say some stuff. Last week on Margaret Brennan Show, you said rampant illegal immigration was the cause for this measles outbreak, and not being vaccinated. I'm curious, like, I have three kids. You have three kids.

Do you not vaccinate your kids? I've vaccinated mine. Also, Molly, I didn't realize we were doing a solo interview with me, but that's okay. That's okay.

That is okay. It's a panel. We're talking to each other.

“But I think we have a friend's late through me.”

[ Laughter ] He doesn't even ask you a question. Let me go. [ Cheers and applause ] There are parents who want to make those decisions.

They want to be able to make those decisions about -- about their children.

The other thing is, hold on a second.

The other thing is, my oldest son is 23 years old. The vaccination schedule for him was less intense than the vaccination schedule for my 15-year-old son. And I think if you -- if you're talking to my mom, the vaccination schedule for me being 47 years old was not nearly as intense as it is for newborns today.

So I think there are parents, there are mothers who have real concerns about the frequency of vaccines for young infants into just being a toddler. And so I think some of the order that came out the other day from the White House was, well, let's just spread the vaccination schedule back out. Let parents have an ability to make those decisions for their children with informed consent.

And then the last piece is, let's also make sure that the human body and its infancy can actually manage the amount of vaccines that are being put into their child. I don't think it's anything wrong. [ Applause ] I don't know either.

We have people dying of measles. We had two people in Ohio die of measles. We were almost eradicated from measles. And now we have measles again. And there's a reason for that.

And just -- I mean, the idea that you said illegal immigration causes -- Molly, we -- Do you understand that? Molly, we -- Not what happened.

After the previous administration, more than 10 million people came into the country illegally.

And I know for a fact, just like everybody else, you could read your notes too. They weren't checking their vaccination schedules coming into the United States. That's a fact. That's number one. Number two, there was a measles outbreak in a couple of the detention facilities on the southern border.

There was a measles outbreak in El Paso, Texas. There was also one in Chicago at another illegal immigration facility. Those are the facts. So when you let that many people come into your country, when we already know in other countries, they don't have the vaccine access schedule that we have.

And then when the Department of Health and Human Services is talking about American children, now you're finding fault with vaccination schedules for American children? I don't -- I don't know if I can wait a look at it. I don't want to turn my vaccines anymore.

I have measles as a kid. I love that I was home for two weeks. I'd like to scream every day. But you know, I get it. It can be bad.

But we're talking about this war that we're having with Canada.

“And I just want to say that in any war, what you have to do is get the civilian population on your side.”

Now during World War II, we put out World War II posters. There were people familiar with what they look like. The problem with the war on Canada is that we don't hate Canada to begin with. And so they've come up with the administration has some new posters to get us to be angry enough at the Canadians, which are like to see some of the -- I thought she would --

(applause) No, all right. For example, there's this one. She's fucking you, but she's thinking of them. (laughter and applause)

Yeah, I don't get it. I don't get it. I don't get it. I'm going to add this to Canada. Canadian geese crashing our planes into the Hudson since 2009.

(laughter and applause)

Never forget who did this to us.

(laughter and applause) Canadian bacon is ham.

“If they'll lie about this, what won't they lie about?”

(laughter and applause) When Canada sends its pop stars, they're not sending their best. (laughter and applause) You wanted that job in a comedy troupe, but it went to a Canadian. (laughter and applause)

And Canadians are so nice. What's so nice about stealing Katy Perry? (laughter and applause) Okay, so -- (laughter and applause) So, while we here in America, (laughter)

on shows like this, have been obsessing about things like war and tariffs. A lot of America, I noticed this week, talking about Lindsey Clancy. And I must say, I learned a lot this week. And probably things that you already know,

by when did you learn a lot this week about moms, and you're a dad, maybe you do all this stuff.

I've never had kids, and everyone seems to now agree with me.

It's a hard thing to do to have kids. And I just want to ask --

“This woman Lindsey Clancy, she killed her three children,”

because she had postpartum depression. What I learned is that this is a very prevalent thing. It's very real. I absolutely don't think she knew what she was doing. I get that.

What I don't get is, why does she have fans? There are so many women now who are outside the courthouse. It's a little like Luigi. I understand the frustration. Don't understand why the fans.

And it's just because they've --

this has been a cause to lab that has gone under the radar for so long.

So my guess is that postpartum psychosis, which is what she had, is very real. I mean, it's not so common but it happens. And I think that a lot of women -- this is sort of brought up postpartum psychosis as a topic.

The reporting on this story is horrific. Like she keeps putting herself in mental institutions. She goes to McLean. She's a labor and delivery nurse. So if there ever were a person who knows about postpartum care,

it would be her. In the reporting, it's that she doesn't want to report how bad her symptoms are, because she's worried she's going to lose her kids. It is one of the worst stories ever. And in my mind, you know, she's paralyzed now.

And so she's in this wheelchair. I'm not sure that the courts are the answer to a problem. But if we move away from just this extreme version, which, again, I learned is more prevalent than I knew before. But what I learned reading about this this week is,

okay, obviously not a lot of women go to the length of killing their kid. But a lot of them are not afraid to say, I don't like being a mom. They put up TikToks talking about it. And they seem to be just frustrated with what back in the day.

I think Mother's just expected was going to happen when you're having a kid. And I mean, I think a lot of it is, you know, they did it to themselves, because everything is a negotiation with a kid. And if you were negotiating everything, my mother didn't negotiate with me.

It just wasn't a thing. And of course you weren't as frazzled if you didn't have to.

“If you have to negotiate with a child all day long,”

look at Congress. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. [laughter] I think my kids are a little bit smarter than a lot of the members of Congress. But I agree, I mean, there are people that want to be parents.

That's why our birth rates are down through the floor. But part of that is because they don't have, you know, in a lot of countries, we have a lot of childcare and we have a lot of sca-- A lot of countries they have scaffolding for people to have kids. They have childcare, they have health care.

We don't have that here. I mean, like, three kids are gone. And as a father, that's just tragic in and of itself. I think to what this whole story really has become, it demonstrates some of the holes that we do have in mental health

in the United States. I know in Florida, if you talk to my sheriffs, half of their population is mental health issues in the county jail system. There are beds that we need in order to help provide mental health care to people who have acute cases.

And so that's some of the other resources that are there, are available to people who might just need some outpatient care. They might just need a phone call. They might just need to follow up, something to help them get through the day.

but it does demonstrate that there are some real holes in health care. And from my perspective, we have to really think about how we're going to deliver especially in some of the real acute mental health issues that do exist in the United States. And obviously, you know, we have the social media stuff that's out there.

“Social media, I think, is helping to play into those mental health issues.”

They are not helping to bathe them. Okay, let's get back to another... Another pop culture issue sort of. The owner of the 49ers. Oh, boy.

It's all I have to say was the owner of the 49ers. Looks like he's got a great team. He's a billionaire. He's a billionaire. He went back to his home state of Ohio and was looking for some action and didn't get it.

Basically, he went to a trailer park and, you know, went what? What buyer? Nothing about this. Nothing at all. Well, listen up.

[ Laughter ] It's not allowed to know. I could summon up. He was back in his home state of Ohio and kind of a poor area. And, you know, I guess you go on the internet and hook up with somebody or say you'll meet with somebody.

And an undercover cop busted him. It was 160 dollars. There he is getting arrested. And why? Why is this guy, which is just pathetic? 10 billion dollars.

And this is the best hooker you can get. [ Laughter ] But why? [ Cheers and applause ] Why is America still have a morality police?

Basically. I'm the daughter of Erica John, so I'm not going to -- No. I'm not going to argue with you here. I think that that crazy, right?

“We're arresting all the wrong people for the wrong stuff, right?”

Not all. Well, but I mean, when it comes to this, this is clearly -- There's clearly a lot more to this story, also, that we're not totally getting. Why? Why don't we not getting? I mean, I don't know. He's a billionaire. He wanders into a --

No, I just think what a billion dollars you ain't wandering.

Let's just -- Yeah. [ Laughter ] No more. [ Laughter ]

I mean, just go to a bar, man. Go to -- just go to a bar. Just go to a bar. Well, it doesn't work that way in bars. By when people -- they're not hokers in bars.

[ Laughter ] Well, I guess there are some of those in bars. I don't know. All right. I'll move on to another thing. Hakeem Jeffries, this is interesting.

Yeah. And this gets to the president and whether his grip is slipping a little bit or not. Jared Kushner, and when you're meeting with Jared Kushner, you're meeting with -- as close you can get to the administration. I mean, he's his number one boy. He's obviously the son-in-law.

Whatever the important mission is, he sends Jared. He sent him to meet with -- or, I think, Kushner asked for the meeting with Hakeem Jeffries. To me, this says that the Republicans know Hakeem Jeffries, who is the House Minority Leader, is going to be the House Majority Leader after the Republicans get their ass kicked in the mid-terms,

which is going to happen. [ Applause ] And that's saying that, and it just is. [ Applause ]

And there was, you know, I'm for this, because I'm always for talking to people.

Not everybody is. One aide said, of course, off the record. Opening a back channel, I think, is just a governing reality. I would agree with that. James Carville, who I'm always usually agree with, he says, no, we don't want to fuck with them unless we absolutely have to.

“Well, James, you do. They're in office, you have to.”

He says, no more meetings. Okay, you know, it's a meeting, not dating. It wasn't on Epstein Island. [ Laughter ] It's like, the doctor talked to people, you don't like. Not everybody's dolly Martin, okay?

There's the only one that everybody liked. Everybody else fall short. That's right, dolly Martin Vax and gave my -- oh, it's all right. Anyway, yes, you guys. And I think one of the most dangerous things that Democrats do is this idea that we shouldn't meet people we don't agree with.

You shouldn't go on shows with people we don't agree with. We should go everywhere. And we say that with Harris, you know, she -- that she didn't want to go on broken and there was this whole talk about broken.

That was the only way we were going to get in front of 100 million people.

Like, that was it. So, do I think we should go everywhere? Yes. Now, here's my question for you. First of all, I have two questions. One is, who set this meeting up? I really want it out. I think it's -- what I read is that it came from a questionnaire. Okay. It's a relevant set it up.

It's -- it's very relevant. It's very relevant that the administration reached out to him.

I think everybody kind of knows that.

But that being said, if he is talking to the team Jeffries and you're having a conversation, okay. Now, let's talk about policy.

“Okay. How do you think we're going to solve so many of these issues?”

I know we're going to get a room for all the green talk. But not everybody is coming from a place of strength. Right? Jared is having this meeting because they think they are losing the house. So, why are you coming in a defensive way? And this is -- we talked about affordability.

There is no way they're talking about affordability. He's coming in a defensive way because Democrats are freaking out. Why are Democrats freaking out?

The Republicans aren't freaking out. The Jared had a meeting.

Well, he's been Democrats that are freaking out. You just said, Carl, it is. So we're freaking out with the left that can stand to talk. Also, my attitude is this. Look, if you really want to get down to business, you're going to have to talk to the other side.

Right? I'm working on legislation right now about opening up commercial flood because the National Flood Insurance Program isn't helping the American people. It's very expensive. You're not getting very good coverage. So open up commercial flood. I'm talking to a Democrat about that. Trying to get that policy done.

If you're going to get some of these common sense solutions accomplished, you're going to have to deal with the other side of the political aisle. That's a reality, while maintaining your principles. Okay. Thank you, guys. Arthur Newell.

Okay. All right. Newell, some of that's explained why the toilets in Japan are so far superior to the ones we have here.

“If we have the greatest country in the world, why are we number two at number two?”

Just tell me. Japan looked at wiping your ass with paper and said, "We can do better." America said, "Let's make this stuff thinner." Newell, now that San Francisco 49ers owner and billionaire, Jed York has been charged with arranging to meet a prostitute in a trailer park

and his hometown of East Palestine, Ohio, for $160. Let's honor him for putting money back into vulnerable communities. (applause) This doesn't sound like a crime. It sounds like a new program called NFL Cares. (applause)

Jed, I have to know, what exactly do you get for $160. And rural Ohio, because for 160 in San Francisco, I'm pretty sure all you do is get to watch. (applause) Newell, good thing.

Since zoos are animal prisons, let's turn our prisons into zoos.

“Who wouldn't want to take the family to the prison zoo?”

Look there, look there feeding Harvey Weinstein. (applause) Oh, a real-life serial killer. They're endangered, you know. (applause) A quiet, it's a white collar criminal. They're very shy and really

command of their enclosure. (applause) Oh, my gosh, Elaine Maxwell. Look, now she's being groomed. (applause) Newell, now that we know that sound waves directed at the penis

can have a positive effect from men suffering from erectile dysfunction. Doctors have to tell us, is this something that can only be done at the office with special equipment, or can you just tell your partner, try yelling at it? (applause) Newell, news outlets reporting on the Chinese robot that broke

U.S. Bolt's 100-meter dash record must tell the full story. The robot ended this triumphant sprint by slamming full speed into a wall. (applause) So it's not a good substitute for you saying Bolt. Tiger Woods, yes, but not you saying it.

(applause) Okay. And finally, Newell, if you're looking to find out why our government

is so dysfunctional and why the sensible middle never seems to win elections,

stop. I'm going to tell you, and as they say in the world of clickbait,

(laughter)

Because while we've all been obsessing over the gerontocracy in Washington

and how Congress looks a lot like the 4 p.m. dinner hour in Boca Retone, (laughter) we're missing something important. The people who actually run the country aren't old. They're probably too young.

Yes, the public face of the government may be an 82-year-old almost dead person. (laughter) But the person who's really puppeteering this lunatocracy of ours, that's this guy, a 26-year-old congressional staffer with the Twitter handle tactical amphibian, or something like that.

(laughter) Congressional staffers, that's who writes the material. The politicians just perform it. (laughter)

“Did you see the Canadian senator who recently did this?”

Citizens often develop expectations that exceed the powers

actually granted to those offices. Here's a more natural flowing version of that section that reads like a legislative speech rather than a series of short points. (laughter) Yes, that's right. He read out loud the part where the chatbot tells him

how not to sound like a chatbot. (laughter) A lot of people these days are asking where is Mitch McConnell? Oh, I know where he is, in Hades, arguing with Odysseus about whether it's better down there or not.

(laughter) But-- But his body is still a senator, and someone's using it to vote. The Secretary of Education is Lyndon McMahon, who's 77, and who recently referred to AI as A1.

(laughter)

“Now, she may think the internet is powered by steak sauce.”

(laughter) But her staff of 20-somethings knows better, and they're the ones who will be writing the legislation about it. Which would be okay if the kids were all right. But the kids are not all right.

At least not the ones in this job, and not on either side. Because who gets these staff jobs? Young, ideologically extreme weirdos who live online, and spend their days either accusing people of settler colonialism, or posting AI memes of Trump writing a lion.

These are not the kind of-- (laughter) These are not the kind of people who have an eye on the art of compromise, or delivering for the American people, arriving at solutions, grand bargains, please. They grew up on social media.

They're about getting a sick burn to go viral, trolling, owning, destroying, shit-posting, rage-baiting, that stuff.

“On the right, Republican leaders in New York state voted”

to spend the entire young Republican club, because they're chats to each other. We're so full of truly vile rhetoric in embarrassed even them. It's not surprising considering that the conservative estimate of how many young Republican staffers,

are fans of Nick Fuentes, is 40%. It could be as high as 75, and Nick says things like, "Hitler is awesome." And I'm not living around blacks, and a lot of women want to be raped,

and having sex with women is gay. (laughter) Right, sex with women is gay. Okay, I'm lost, and I know that's the point. But when you post about how much you love Hitler,

and then you say you're kidding, but then keep posting it, is it still a joke? And if I can't tell if you're joking or not, I don't want you anywhere near Congress, because Congress is enough of a joke already.

(applause) You know, enthusiastic young conservatives used to look like this. Now they look like this. Yeah. And ladies, he's single.

(laughter) Yeah, that's Preston Pira. He's 24, a former staffer for Republican Senate candidate, Mike Collins of Georgia. And Preston got into a little trouble this week,

because he recently shared images of his ex-account, of a swastika, and this one in clan robes, you know, a former generation of Republicans, looked to William F. Buckley for their philosophy. This one founded in Kanye,

always being deliberately offensive,

nihilistic, never caught being sincere, only ironic, "Oh, you're dead, Bull." No, you're a shock-jock on whatthefuck.com.

They call it being an edge lord. Normal people call it being an asshole. (laughter)

“And sadly, the fact that so many people can't tell the difference”

is not even a new phenomenon. You know, I went to the show called "Politically Incorrect." And people would thank you.

And people would always...

And people would always be asking me, "What does that mean politically incorrect?" And I'd say, it just means the opposite of being political, which is being full of shit. It means radical honesty.

What it doesn't mean is just saying the unsayable to get a reaction. But somebody people started doing that back then. We actually had to have a contest called "Politically Incorrect" or "Just Stupid."

(laughter) Today, I don't think politically and correct would even stand a chance. It's all just stupid. On the right, Nazis, racism, rape.

Ha-ha-ha, all good.

And on the left, just abolish anything

that isn't working perfectly. Police, prisons, borders,

“shoplifting laws, the Senate, the Supreme Court.”

(laughter) Globalized the Interfata. Tempons in the Boys Room. You know, someone is coming up with this crazy. And it's not Dick Durb and age 80.

(laughter) It's the, it's the staffers. We perpetually online, Fatwa Curious, social justice, suicide squad. Hey, memo to Democrats,

the call is coming from inside the tent. (laughter)

Democrats never really reckoned with,

why didn't Joe Biden actually give us the return to normal he promised? Biden ran in 2020 as a single issue candidate, eliminating Malarkey. He wasn't obsessing about intersectional queer theory.

When Joe heard the word trans, he thought, "Paniac." (laughter) But his administration, that is, the kids he was too feeble to fight with,

they made gender identity. The federal government's day-one top concern. They're no ones who told Kamala Harris that the answer to do your support tax funded sex changes for people in prison was fuck yeah,

instead of your fucking kidding. (laughter) Those are the Democrats' edge lords. And like the ones on the right,

“they're low key running the country now.”

So, yes, by all means, let's elect some younger politicians, but maybe the problem isn't just the old farts. Maybe it's also the new little shit. (applause)

All right, well off next week, back on September 11th. I want to thank Representative Byron. I don't smell anything on fast, and make a list as rough.

But we're in the drops every Monday, I'm YouTube. I'll listen to every get your podcast. No, don't watch over time on YouTube. Thank you.

You are great audience. That's nice news. (applause) (applause) At Joel New Episode,

it's a real time with Bill Mar every Friday night at 10. Or watch a many time on each wheel on the moon. For more information, log on to HBO.com. Mary David is back in their new HBO original Limited series.

What a pleasure to be a part of such a historic occasion. Life, Mary, Emma, for a suit of unhavenous and almost history of America. This is a declaration of common sense. Those who don't know history.

You are the world's worth but a chance. Our doom to watch Larry David repeated it. What the hell is going on here? Watch life, Larry, in the pursuit of unhavenous. Now, streaming on HBO Max.