Real Coffee with Scott Adams - Episode 1010 Scott Adams： Tell Me About the Riots in Your Town. Mine is Heating up Now. And More. Relax!

00:00:00.000 Bum-bum-bum-bum-bum-bum-bum-bum-bum-bum-bum-bum 1.00

00:00:04.820 Come on in here, it's safe.

00:00:07.980 It's safe in here.

00:00:09.540 Come on, gather round.

00:00:11.900 Nobody can catch you when you're in here.

00:00:15.120 Well, there's craziness breaking down all over the place,

00:00:18.600 but you don't need to worry about it.

00:00:21.200 I'll tell you why.

00:00:23.120 Make a note to myself so I don't forget to tell you why.

00:00:25.320 Oh, people are calling me the Bald Prophet.

00:00:31.460 Well, I guess you don't get to make up your own nickname, so I'll take what I can get.

00:00:40.220 So, Erica, relax. Calm down.

00:00:44.800 The rest of you, relax.

00:00:47.500 Here's what you need to know.

00:00:48.760 Now, I've told you before that it's always helpful to see the world through an energy filter.

00:00:56.180 In other words, don't look at the details of what people are doing.

00:01:00.220 Don't look at the fact-checking.

00:01:01.900 Don't look at the reasons and the logic.

00:01:04.280 Look at the energy, because the energy is very predictive.

00:01:07.940 When the energy is moving around, that's where the luck goes.

00:01:11.180 It's where the bad stuff goes.

00:01:12.540 It's where the good stuff goes.

00:01:14.720 So, follow the energy.

00:01:16.160 And if you take that theory, then we should see the protesters burning out in a few days.

00:01:24.820 Meaning that there was all this pent-up energy, just a ton of energy, largely because of the lockdowns.

00:01:34.220 And that energy has to go somewhere.

00:01:36.720 So, all of that energy, it didn't just disappear.

00:01:40.580 It just was still there, and it was kind of pent-up, and now it's being released.

00:01:46.880 Now, the point of this is if you think this is the beginning of something that's going to build and build and build,

00:01:53.340 I would say you're almost certainly wrong.

00:01:55.840 If there's one thing I'm willing to bet on, like a lot, that this has a peak, and then it peters out.

00:02:06.100 Now, that would be true of most protests in general.

00:02:08.760 But I think this one is especially easy to predict because of all that pent-up energy.

00:02:13.980 You're just seeing it come out.

00:02:15.020 Now, the bad luck of it, and it was the worst luck, is that George Floyd was killed, and that became the trigger for all of this.

00:02:26.480 So, there probably would have been any trigger that would have done it, but man, that was a powerful trigger.

00:02:31.960 Now, the tragedy, of course, as we're all watching this, is, you know, first of all, there's a tragedy for George Floyd,

00:02:40.160 and there's a tragedy for the credibility of the police because one assumes that most police are perfectly good human beings

00:02:49.340 and doing their job, but certainly this group of four police officers did not make them all proud.

00:02:57.580 So, it was a bad day in all those many ways, but man, did it get worse.

00:03:04.620 Wow.

00:03:05.180 Now, the one positive that could have come out of the tragic death, if you can even say it that way,

00:03:14.300 is that for a moment, the entire country was on the same side.

00:03:19.800 We all had the same impression of this video.

00:03:23.440 It's obvious some kind of crime was committed.

00:03:26.600 We're not lawyers.

00:03:27.400 We don't know which one exactly, but it's obvious that there's something deeply wrong there.

00:03:32.080 And it could have been this big unifying breakthrough kind of thing.

00:03:39.040 And then Antifa came along and then the looters.

00:03:42.960 But whose fault is that?

00:03:45.560 Whose fault is it that there was Antifa and there were looters?

00:03:51.100 Well, your first impression should be, well, duh, it's Antifa's fault.

00:03:55.960 And it's the looters' fault, and if you want to blame me, go further back, it's the cops' fault.

00:04:04.280 That's probably your first reactions.

00:04:09.400 But I would suggest that in the year 2020, when you have an issue that is so unusual and powerful as this one,

00:04:17.800 unusual, and everybody agreed, the right way to play this was anything but a street protest.

00:04:25.780 The right way to play it was anything but protesting in the street.

00:04:31.900 Because protesting in the street is sort of guaranteed to give you exactly what you're getting,

00:04:38.060 especially with all that pent-up energy and the weather getting warmer,

00:04:42.560 and it was just everything that you don't want.

00:04:45.820 So I've got to say that Black Lives Matter, while I believe most of them are well-intentioned, 1.00

00:04:51.640 they used a strategy that kind of invited all this.

00:04:56.260 Now, once you've seen that your strategy doesn't work, what do you do?

00:05:01.780 Do you say to yourself, gosh, I hope the next time we do a nighttime protest,

00:05:07.000 I sure hope Antifa doesn't show up, that's not going to work.

00:05:13.120 You don't say to yourself, I hope nobody thinks of looting,

00:05:17.380 because that's not going to work either.

00:05:19.980 So what does Black Lives Matter, what do they do when they know they have a strategy

00:05:26.480 that is guaranteed to make things worse?

00:05:30.020 What do you do?

00:05:30.600 Well, apparently Black Lives Matter just repeats the same thing that made everything worse. 0.97

00:05:39.640 So at this point, I would say originally they're just victims.

00:05:44.560 Victims of the looters, victims of Antifa,

00:05:48.320 turning what should have been a positive thing into a bad thing.

00:05:51.480 At this point, their strategy is deeply, deeply flawed.

00:05:55.360 And in fact, they're losing more ground every minute.

00:05:59.040 Would you not say that your empathy for their cause has dramatically decreased because of the riots?

00:06:08.260 And the answer is, if you're human, probably so.

00:06:11.140 Because it's hard to hold too many thoughts in your head without them influencing each other.

00:06:16.060 And at the moment, our biggest thought is, why are you doing this?

00:06:21.220 Why are you having even a peaceful protest that you know is guaranteed to destroy businesses?

00:06:27.660 You know it's going to make you look bad.

00:06:30.960 You know it's going to make Antifa behave badly. 1.00

00:06:34.320 You know these things.

00:06:35.820 You don't even have to guess.

00:06:37.540 You know them.

00:06:40.180 So at this point, my empathy, which started out nailed at a 10, probably for most of you, right?

00:06:49.080 You watched that video, and your first reaction was that your empathy, if you're normal and you're human and you're a good person at all,

00:06:58.060 your empathy just went to a 10 out of 10 and just pinned there.

00:07:02.420 Boop.

00:07:03.480 Now that was the biggest opening in the world to get something done.

00:07:07.660 Name one thing that Black Lives Matter has suggested in terms of a policy change.

00:07:13.460 Go ahead.

00:07:14.660 Name anything that you're aware of that Black Lives Matter has put together as a little suggestion of how things could be better. 0.81

00:07:24.360 Go ahead.

00:07:25.500 Yeah, none. 0.98

00:07:27.180 Not a damn thing. 0.87

00:07:29.660 So not only has Black Lives Matter squandered maybe the best opportunity they'll ever have to make real progress, 0.71

00:07:38.880 completely lost now.

00:07:40.080 You can't get it back.

00:07:43.140 Not only did they lose that, but they never had any suggestions after all this, after all of this.

00:07:51.160 Not a suggestion.

00:07:53.320 Something we could chew on.

00:07:56.080 Something Congress could vote on, or more likely states could vote on, or municipalities.

00:08:02.240 Nothing.

00:08:03.000 Nothing at all.

00:08:03.640 Now, if they do have something, then I would say that our news sources are failing us terribly.

00:08:10.880 Because if Black Lives Matter has anything that looks like some suggestions, why don't we know it?

00:08:18.820 I don't see it on any news source.

00:08:20.520 Now, so what empathy am I supposed to give to Black Lives Matter when I started as a 10 and they're implementing a strategy to lower my empathy for their cause?

00:08:37.300 And not only are they implementing the strategy, they're putting a lot of effort into it to lower my empathy for their cause.

00:08:44.140 They couldn't work any harder at lowering my empathy for their cause.

00:08:49.620 Now, here's the thing that I think they get wrong that would be a good lesson for you because it's something that everybody gets wrong.

00:08:55.780 It's a really, really common thing to get wrong.

00:08:59.580 In fact, I would say when you're talking about communication and persuasion, this might be the most common thing that people get wrong.

00:09:06.900 And they're so wrong on this, just terribly, terribly wrong.

00:09:12.060 And it goes like this.

00:09:14.700 Just as I could never fully understand what it's like to be a black man in the United States, of course I can't.

00:09:24.280 I can listen and I can observe and I can do what I can.

00:09:28.260 But there's nothing you could really do to make you really know what it's like to exist as another person.

00:09:34.780 But the same would be true in reverse.

00:09:38.660 There's no person who's different from me with a different life who really knows what it's like to be inside my body and my life and my mind and feel the way I feel.

00:09:49.080 So the first thing you need to know is that nobody really knows what's in other people's heads.

00:09:53.800 We just sort of sometimes think we do, but we're terrible at it.

00:09:58.080 And here's the big problem.

00:10:00.900 People forget that they're persuading the other team.

00:10:04.780 People forget that their job is to persuade the other team.

00:10:10.580 And the way you know that they've forgotten that is that they communicate and they persuade in a way that's designed for their own team.

00:10:17.880 People are just talking to themselves.

00:10:20.540 It's the opposite of persuasion.

00:10:22.320 So when you see Black Lives Matter protesting in the street, protesting in the street, who are they talking to? 0.90

00:10:33.220 Who are they talking to?

00:10:35.720 Not the people they're trying to persuade.

00:10:39.140 They're not talking to white America.

00:10:41.000 Because if they wanted to talk to white America, they would have seen the protesting in the street, led to violence, and they would have immediately stopped it.

00:10:50.260 And then white America would say, good move.

00:10:53.220 I'm glad you clamped down on that.

00:10:54.860 Let's talk.

00:10:55.980 Do you have any suggestions?

00:10:56.940 This is the time to talk.

00:10:59.000 We're open to suggestions.

00:11:00.620 We'd like to do something.

00:11:02.540 When have you ever been in a situation where everybody would like to do something?

00:11:07.040 It's not even that you have to talk anybody into anything.

00:11:09.700 We'd like to do something.

00:11:12.020 Seriously.

00:11:12.900 We'd like to do something.

00:11:15.000 We'd like to help.

00:11:16.680 Give us any suggestion.

00:11:18.440 Just to chew on.

00:11:20.480 We'll debate it.

00:11:21.580 I'll help you.

00:11:22.640 I'll help you persuade.

00:11:24.480 If there's some good suggestion.

00:11:27.740 So let me put a bow on this.

00:11:30.660 The protesters need to figure out a language that is the language of the people they wish to persuade.

00:11:38.080 That is primarily white America. 0.65

00:11:40.680 They're speaking a language which is designed to persuade themselves. 0.67

00:11:44.740 It's missing by a mile.

00:11:46.660 Missing by a mile.

00:11:47.940 It's not even close.

00:11:49.920 And all they had to do was bank the game that they got by accident.

00:11:53.820 Because that video was so compelling that everybody just joined their side.

00:11:58.020 And then they protested.

00:12:00.960 Everybody joined their side.

00:12:03.480 And then they protested.

00:12:06.280 It's like they missed the biggest opening of all time.

00:12:11.180 To me, that's the biggest tragedy.

00:12:13.860 The tragedy was far bigger than the death of even one person, no matter how tragic and horrible it was.

00:12:20.640 The death of one person, of course, was special because death is death.

00:12:24.960 But what this lost opportunity could have meant for civilization, I mean, it was a really, really big loss for the black community especially, but for really everybody.

00:12:39.540 But there are some signs of, well, maybe a trend.

00:12:51.400 And some signs of maybe a shift.

00:12:56.320 And it comes in the form of multiple anecdotes.

00:13:00.920 I've been following, if you're not following Ian Miles Chung, he's got the best feed on all the various videos from the protests.

00:13:08.700 So I'm looking at one now in which there was obviously some Antifa protester guy who started to break up with a hammer, tried to break up some concrete curb to make bricks that people could throw at things, you know, to get projectiles.

00:13:25.240 And the peaceful protesters tackled him and handed him over to the police.

00:13:29.060 Now, some of the protesters, most of them, I think, the peaceful ones were white, and they tackled what I'm guessing was a white guy.

00:13:37.400 He had a lot of masks on, but that's my best guess.

00:13:40.220 And, you know, there was at least one black guy helping to wrestle him down, et cetera.

00:13:44.920 So at least in one place, the peaceful protesters literally took physical action against Antifa, physical action.

00:13:54.320 They tackled him.

00:13:55.660 They tackled him and they dragged him to the police.

00:13:59.060 But it wasn't just one.

00:14:02.600 Do you know, if you follow sports, you may know a basketball player named J.R. Smith.

00:14:07.940 Apparently, he was in L.A., and I think it was a protester of some sort, messed with his vehicle.

00:14:15.780 Now, if you want to have a bad day, mess with a vehicle of somebody who doesn't look that big until they get out of their vehicle.

00:14:24.940 So there's a video of J.R. Smith, who, did I mention he plays in the NBA?

00:14:32.900 I don't know his height, but he plays in the NBA.

00:14:38.200 He's a big guy.

00:14:39.420 And he's just beating the piss out of this guy who's about half his size.

00:14:45.120 He was not happy about this guy messing with his car.

00:14:48.060 Now, was the guy he beat up Antifa or Black Lives Matter?

00:14:52.340 I couldn't see much of him.

00:14:53.660 He was getting beaten so badly you couldn't even tell anything about him.

00:14:57.940 But, you know, it's that sort of story where you see the, let's say, the peaceful segment of the protesters,

00:15:08.680 the peaceful segment of Black Lives Matter, the peaceful people who are supporting them, are going to turn on Antifa.

00:15:16.580 I've seen now maybe four or five videos in which the Black Lives Matter people, the peaceful activists,

00:15:24.280 are shouting down the Antifa people who are not Black and saying, hey, you're getting us in trouble.

00:15:29.920 One of them was graffitiing.

00:15:31.740 So it looked like two young females who may have been Asian, I couldn't tell, it matters to the story,

00:15:38.500 were graffitiing something and writing Black Lives Matter, and they weren't even Black.

00:15:43.900 And the Black woman who was presumably with Black Lives Matter, or at least, you know, marching with him,

00:15:50.700 is saying, we're going to get blamed for this.

00:15:52.720 So she's yelling at him, who do you think is going to get blamed for spray painting Black Lives Matter on public property?

00:16:00.060 It's not going to be Antifa.

00:16:02.340 Antifa isn't going to get blamed.

00:16:04.240 So I don't know if these were outside agitators.

00:16:08.160 But was it Susan Rice?

00:16:10.560 Susan Rice now says that she suspects Russia is behind this.

00:16:16.620 Russia? 0.61

00:16:18.160 Really?

00:16:21.300 So that's funny.

00:16:23.520 But I would expect that in the next maybe day or so, and I predicted this yesterday,

00:16:29.060 I said it would take about 48 hours for Black Lives Matter to turn on Antifa.

00:16:35.940 And let me just put it out there.

00:16:41.060 If Black Lives Matter wants to turn on Antifa, they're going to have a lot of friends. 0.92

00:16:50.740 Let me tie two conversations together here.

00:16:54.720 I told you that if you want to communicate and persuade,

00:16:57.500 you have to speak in the language of the people you're trying to persuade.

00:17:01.840 If you imagine that the people you're trying to persuade are, say, conservatives.

00:17:06.820 Because if you could persuade conservatives, well, you've already got a lot of people on the left,

00:17:12.400 then you'd really have a lot of people.

00:17:13.980 Then you could get things done.

00:17:15.760 So if Black Lives Matter wants to persuade conservatives,

00:17:21.900 the best way to do it is to just shut down Antifa.

00:17:25.440 Because you know you can do it, right?

00:17:29.300 You know you can shut down Antifa.

00:17:31.920 It wouldn't be easy, but you know you can do it.

00:17:34.460 If you want conservatives to love you, shut down Antifa.

00:17:39.040 If you want conservatives to care less and less about you every day,

00:17:44.200 keep protesting in the street while we have video of hardworking business owners, 0.98

00:17:50.580 many of the minorities, having their lives destroyed by your careless and ridiculous strategy 0.99

00:17:56.520 of protesting in the street during a pandemic, which, of course, invites looters and Antifa.

00:18:04.580 So it's pretty easy if you want an ally.

00:18:08.660 The conservatives are anti-Antifa.

00:18:11.540 So all you have to do is be anti-Antifa, and you've got a lot of friends suddenly.

00:18:17.280 So that's the strategy I would look at.

00:18:19.400 All right, let's see what else is going on here in crazy town.

00:18:28.100 So it seems to me this week that thanks to Antifa primarily,

00:18:36.800 Democrats have lost every argument they've ever made.

00:18:40.520 That sounds like a big claim, right?

00:18:42.840 That because of Antifa this week, Democrats just lost all the arguments they've ever made.

00:18:49.400 For example, how do you feel about the Second Amendment this week?

00:18:55.240 Do you think you're going to give up your gun?

00:18:57.120 You can forget about gun control because the visuals are so pro-gun ownership

00:19:05.800 that you couldn't do anything more powerful for convincing people to buy extra guns.

00:19:14.260 My guess is that gun sales are through the roof right now.

00:19:17.580 And if they're not, I don't know why, all right?

00:19:21.000 So on gun control, they're losing badly because they just made the best commercial you'll ever see for gun ownership.

00:19:30.700 That's it.

00:19:31.300 How about income inequality?

00:19:35.920 How's their argument for income inequality?

00:19:39.080 Do you know how much I care about income inequality when the people who are complaining

00:19:44.100 are burning their own small businesses, people within their community who do not have a lot of money,

00:19:51.640 their small businesses, how much empathy do I have for income inequality

00:19:58.820 when Antifa and Black Lives Matter are actively destroying, at least through their actions anyway, 0.97

00:20:05.760 actively destroying business of low-income people?

00:20:09.880 None.

00:20:10.620 None.

00:20:11.020 I have no empathy for it because of the way it's being handled.

00:20:13.900 I have empathy for it if they hadn't done that, but their actions so discredit the entire argument.

00:20:21.680 How about reparations?

00:20:23.960 How's that looking?

00:20:25.840 Well, I wouldn't bring up reparations this week.

00:20:28.560 I don't think that would be a winning argument this week.

00:20:31.620 I think you can put that one to bed.

00:20:35.320 How about, let's see, what other arguments have they lost this week?

00:20:40.060 They haven't lost abortion because you see that many people running around acting poorly

00:20:46.660 and you don't think to yourself, we need more people.

00:20:50.220 You don't think that.

00:20:54.780 So I was just looking.

00:20:56.320 All right.

00:20:58.580 So that's pretty much. 0.94

00:21:00.680 The entire left has discredited itself to the point where it's ridiculous.

00:21:05.200 I don't know if it changes anybody's mind. 0.50

00:21:06.760 It doesn't work that way.

00:21:07.540 Did you see the video of the woman who was running away with a cheesecake?

00:21:14.180 How many of you saw the cheesecake video?

00:21:17.520 If you haven't seen the cheesecake video, you have to see my Twitter feed.

00:21:24.380 I think it's several tweets down now, but it happened today.

00:21:28.240 And there's an Antifa-looking person, a woman it looks like, in a raincoat,

00:21:33.220 and she's got a full cheesecake.

00:21:34.540 And the article is a local news story that says that the cheesecake factory was looted

00:21:39.720 and then there's a woman walking out with just a full cheesecake. 1.00

00:21:43.460 Do, do, do, do.

00:21:44.920 And so I added my own caption to the video. 0.99

00:21:49.100 And I said, quote, all capitalists must die. 0.95

00:21:52.000 But if I'm being honest, their cheesecake is exceptional. 0.99

00:21:55.600 Antifa. 0.97

00:21:56.000 So that is how ridiculous it is. 0.93

00:22:00.960 Now let me ask you, what is it that Antifa wants? 0.91

00:22:05.500 What does Antifa want?

00:22:09.180 Don't know, do you?

00:22:10.740 You don't know.

00:22:12.440 Neither do I.

00:22:13.560 Does Antifa all want the same thing?

00:22:16.280 I don't think so.

00:22:17.840 I think they're breaking stuff for fun.

00:22:20.940 Some of them.

00:22:21.740 I think some of them are in it for the lifestyle.

00:22:24.040 We know that because people who have been in Antifa have said that directly,

00:22:27.940 that they were in it for sort of the lifestyle and the thrill.

00:22:31.200 Some of them might think it's going to help in some weird way.

00:22:34.700 I don't know. 0.99

00:22:35.260 But what do they want other than to destroy black lives? 1.00

00:22:42.240 So I think Antifa is working directly to destroy black lives and everybody else's life, it looks like. 0.99

00:22:48.800 And they are the common enemy. 0.96

00:22:51.060 So if black America wants to team up with white America, we've got a common enemy called Antifa. 0.65

00:22:59.940 Antifa is attacking my town tonight.

00:23:06.020 I don't know.

00:23:06.680 Did I mention that?

00:23:07.480 Probably not.

00:23:08.780 So my town is under attack tonight.

00:23:11.960 The local shopping mall may or may not go up in flames today.

00:23:18.700 I don't know.

00:23:20.160 But I think when you attack the suburbs, there's a little extra risk.

00:23:28.360 Now, it could turn out to be a peaceful protest.

00:23:32.740 Who knows?

00:23:33.880 But I don't think you plan a peaceful protest at the mall.

00:23:38.460 No.

00:23:39.380 You plan looting at the mall.

00:23:42.440 So I would expect that in my little East Bay town in Northern California,

00:23:47.020 there will be something like at least attempts at looting.

00:23:51.640 One of the things that people don't quite appreciate about the suburbs is how heavily armed we are.

00:23:58.360 I saw one of the organizers saying it would be safe because there are so few MAGA people around here.

00:24:08.640 Okay.

00:24:10.280 Okay.

00:24:12.080 Maybe as a percentage there aren't that many.

00:24:14.380 That's true.

00:24:14.920 But they are really well armed.

00:24:18.740 Just the MAGA people that I know personally in my town have enough armory to have their own National Guard.

00:24:28.840 The suburbs are really well armed.

00:24:31.600 Now, I don't know that it's going to make any difference.

00:24:33.640 Anybody's going to use it.

00:24:34.640 But if you're going to tell me where is there most likely to be a lethal event,

00:24:43.460 I think my town is pretty close to the top of the list because you're not going to get lost in the crowd that easily.

00:24:50.360 And the odds of running into somebody armed in my town is pretty good.

00:24:55.180 And the number of people in my town who have a firearm in their car, it's pretty high.

00:25:02.520 It's pretty high.

00:25:03.860 So I think those who maybe don't own firearms and are on the left probably operate in a world where they don't know anybody who wants a gun.

00:25:12.380 You know, in the suburbs, they might not even know anybody.

00:25:15.900 But there's a lot of guns here.

00:25:17.680 A lot of guns.

00:25:18.680 So there's that.

00:25:29.780 All right.

00:25:30.560 Yes.

00:25:31.280 It looks like Antifa, if I had to guess, I mean, the odds of a mass casualty event are pretty high.

00:25:39.880 But I think most of the people who will be in that event will be Antifa, if you know what I mean.

00:25:46.600 So I think there will be a mass casualty event, but it won't be Antifa causing it.

00:25:51.840 I think it will be, you know, if there is one, there will be in the direction of fewer Antifa protesters, if you know what I mean.

00:26:00.080 I'm not recommending it.

00:26:01.820 I'm not recommending it.

00:26:02.960 I hope it doesn't happen.

00:26:04.400 I'm just saying it's about a 50% chance at this point, I'd say, 50%.

00:26:10.420 Somebody says Pleasanton folks have ARs. 0.98

00:26:14.120 You know you're Pleasanton, don't you?

00:26:15.600 Yeah, yeah, Pleasanton is bristling with assault rifles.

00:26:20.660 It's true.

00:26:22.680 And the people who think that it's not, they better keep their protest kind of peaceful because it's a pretty heavily armed place here.

00:26:34.920 All right.

00:26:36.540 I'm going to take some calls.

00:26:37.920 Is there anybody having any protest where they are?

00:26:40.500 Anybody have any eyewitness accounts?

00:26:43.480 But you can ask me anything.

00:26:44.860 I'll just take some callers.

00:26:47.560 Let's see who's around.

00:26:49.640 Let's see if Benjamin wants to talk.

00:26:55.480 Hey, Benjamin.

00:26:57.900 Can you hear me?

00:26:59.340 When I catch people off guard, they're not ready to talk.

00:27:02.160 Benjamin?

00:27:02.420 I think he has his mute on.

00:27:06.000 Let's pick somebody who just signed on because they're almost certainly going to be ready.

00:27:12.920 Dave?

00:27:14.860 Dave?

00:27:15.720 Dave, are you there?

00:27:18.280 Good.

00:27:18.760 Do you have a question for me or do you have a report?

00:27:20.640 No, I don't have a report, but I do have a question I've been meaning to ask you for quite some time.

00:27:26.440 Do you think that USA slash Trump should buy Taiwan at, say, 10,000 an acre?

00:27:34.680 No.

00:27:35.960 Taiwan has the Hong Kong problem, which is that the geography just doesn't work.

00:27:42.580 Taiwan will someday be part of China, I think.

00:27:47.260 It might be in 100 years, but I think China just has infinite patience when it comes to that topic.

00:27:53.460 And I just don't know there's any other way it can go.

00:27:56.260 Now, it might be that in 100 years, China will be a democracy, and then Taiwan says, well, why not?

00:28:03.860 You could imagine it.

00:28:05.140 But, no, I don't see there's any – there's no way we could get away with that without causing way more problems than it solves.

00:28:13.380 It would only be $91 billion, so not much.

00:28:17.660 Well, it would be cheap, but not in terms of what it would cost us in the long run.

00:28:21.680 So, anyway, good idea.

00:28:22.980 I like the out-of-the-backs.

00:28:25.040 I like that out-of-the-box thinking.

00:28:28.960 All right.

00:28:32.500 Somebody says, Scott is my Oprah.

00:28:35.140 That gets you the invite.

00:28:39.580 Guest, can you hear me?

00:28:42.640 Hi.

00:28:44.500 Do you have a question or a riot report from your town?

00:28:50.640 Yeah.

00:28:51.180 So, I'm in Salt Lake, and we had had a little bit of rioting.

00:28:57.300 We went on – what is that called where they shut you down at night?

00:29:01.560 Curfew.

00:29:02.000 Curfew.

00:29:02.360 They put us on curfew.

00:29:05.220 I think a car got put on fire, and that was, like, it.

00:29:10.080 Maybe a couple – a few windows broken.

00:29:13.080 But we still have protesting, but the news is reporting that rioting has been quelled, and the police are doing a fantastic job.

00:29:22.800 Good.

00:29:23.240 Good.

00:29:23.740 You know, what are the odds that we would come from a COVID lockdown immediately into a riot curfew?

00:29:30.780 Like, you know, the rioters ruined the only thing that we had going for us, which is, oh, finally, we can go outside a little bit.

00:29:37.820 And then, the next thing you know, bullets and bricks are flying, and mostly bricks.

00:29:44.340 All right.

00:29:44.640 Thanks for the update.

00:29:45.960 Oh, yeah.

00:29:46.820 Well, I think the rioters didn't realize that they came from out of state to come to basically Mormon Switzerland.

00:29:53.740 I mean, we are – I mean, we are also ridiculously armed.

00:30:00.300 Yes.

00:30:00.880 The Mormons are prepared.

00:30:03.180 I know that about you.

00:30:04.500 Yes.

00:30:05.020 First up, yes.

00:30:06.120 We're supposed to fit in and a little bit suspicious of a government, so we are always well armed.

00:30:12.100 All right.

00:30:12.680 Well, that's where I'm going to go during the end times.

00:30:15.180 I'm going to go right to your state.

00:30:17.800 Yeah, you should.

00:30:19.020 All right.

00:30:19.400 Thanks for the call.

00:30:19.880 We'll protect you.

00:30:20.600 Bye.

00:30:20.960 Bye.

00:30:21.100 Bye.

00:30:21.160 Bye.

00:30:21.180 Bye.

00:30:21.200 Bye.

00:30:21.220 Bye.

00:30:21.260 Bye.

00:30:21.280 Bye.

00:30:21.300 Bye.

00:30:21.720 Bye.

00:30:22.280 Bye.

00:30:23.220 Bye.

00:30:24.020 All right.

00:30:25.020 That seems like a safe place to be.

00:30:28.280 All right.

00:30:29.420 How about Awadesh?

00:30:34.460 Watch me mispronounce this name.

00:30:36.740 Awadesh, are you there?

00:30:40.480 Was that even close to the right pronunciation of your name?

00:30:45.760 Actually, you did better than my parents.

00:30:50.640 I'm the ninth youngest child of my parents.

00:30:57.260 And they ran out of all the names even where I come from.

00:31:01.020 And even from where I am, it's not a usual name.

00:31:08.560 I feel like they were sitting around and they were like, all right, oh, I lost the connection, but I have to finish this thought.

00:31:14.120 I feel like his parents were sitting around based on his story and saying, all right, we've got eight kids.

00:31:21.280 We've named them.

00:31:21.940 We're just out of names.

00:31:23.020 How about, how about, have we done, how about, I did, and then they just sort of triangulate on one.

00:31:32.480 I'm not making fun of your name, just having fun.

00:31:36.940 Sorry you got disconnected.

00:31:38.520 Let me see if you got back on.

00:31:40.660 We'll try you again if you did.

00:31:41.860 Jump back on.

00:31:44.720 There you go.

00:31:46.620 We're going to try you again.

00:31:50.960 Let's try this again.

00:31:54.660 What was your question and or report?

00:31:57.280 Yeah, yeah, my report.

00:31:58.760 You know, I've been locked down in my little apartment in midtown Manhattan here for more than three, four months now.

00:32:06.220 And I was so excited watching the news that all these things are going on all over Americans, big cities.

00:32:14.220 And I go for a walk.

00:32:16.020 I mean, kind of like Hell's Kitchen. 0.99

00:32:18.060 Oh, darn, we lost them again. 0.99

00:32:22.760 All right. 0.99

00:32:23.260 Well, let me take somebody else and let's see if Michael's connection is good.

00:32:30.320 Oh, maybe not.

00:32:35.280 Michael doesn't seem to be connecting.

00:32:39.580 Let's try someone else.

00:32:41.860 I'm not exactly sure why there are so many that don't work.

00:32:46.440 Hello, caller.

00:32:53.560 Can you hear me?

00:32:56.120 Hi.

00:32:56.780 I want to tell you I really enjoy you.

00:32:58.880 But I want to.

00:33:00.540 So the governor's daughter in Minnesota and the Blasio's daughter have both been arrested.

00:33:07.360 What kind of repercussions are going to happen?

00:33:10.120 Arrested for what?

00:33:11.040 The Blasio's daughter was arrested for – she's out with the protesters.

00:33:18.020 Yeah, I think all of the protesters will probably get off with just warnings or, I don't know, tickets or whatever it is.

00:33:26.100 I don't think the society cares too much about punishing some protesters to get a little bit out of hand.

00:33:32.720 You know, it's more about crowd control, I think, than really punishing them.

00:33:36.020 So I would guess nothing.

00:33:37.680 Well, I'm not really asking about the protesters, but the optics of the governor and of de Blasio.

00:33:45.360 Well, actually, the optics are fine because aren't they left-leaning?

00:33:50.140 And if the protesters were protesting against police brutality and they were with Black Lives Matter, I think it's all good for the left. 0.76

00:33:58.720 I'm not sure that hurts them in one bit.

00:34:01.220 Okay.

00:34:02.280 All right.

00:34:02.840 Thank you.

00:34:03.500 All right.

00:34:03.740 Thank you.

00:34:04.060 Thank you.

00:34:04.120 All right.

00:34:09.600 Let's see who else we got here.

00:34:12.720 Let's go to Ale.

00:34:15.300 Or is it Ali?

00:34:19.120 Hello.

00:34:20.200 Is it Ali?

00:34:20.840 Ali or Ali?

00:34:21.800 Ali? 0.52

00:34:22.580 Ali? 0.52

00:34:23.220 Ali? 0.52

00:34:24.440 Ali? 0.52

00:34:24.680 Ali, do you have a question or report?

00:34:26.540 What I would like to address is the fact that President Trump actually designated the Antifa as a terrorist group.

00:34:41.140 Yeah.

00:34:41.640 How do we go forward from there?

00:34:43.640 Well, apparently that doesn't mean anything.

00:34:45.520 The experts have weighed in and they've said that if you're not a foreign group, it doesn't mean anything to designate you as a terrorist group because there's no formal anything that goes with that.

00:34:59.020 It's just words.

00:35:00.400 But if they were foreign, there would be a whole set of things you would do because of it. 1.00

00:35:05.800 But domestically, I don't know that it means anything.

00:35:09.340 So I guess the president is going to have to figure out what it means.

00:35:13.040 Yeah.

00:35:13.400 I think the president will have to figure out what it means and maybe they need some new legislation or something.

00:35:18.680 But we could get there.

00:35:20.060 I mean, I think we could make it more of a thing than it is.

00:35:24.080 So I think it's a good step that he gets the, you know, he's directionally correct on this.

00:35:30.160 So being directionally correct is the first step.

00:35:32.760 Maybe we get the details later.

00:35:35.440 So, but thanks for bringing that up.

00:35:38.340 Yeah.

00:35:38.880 We lost that connection.

00:35:41.240 But let's talk to Ken because he has a nice dog icon.

00:35:49.500 Ken, are you there?

00:35:50.500 Ken disappeared.

00:35:55.460 There's something about talking to me that makes people disconnect.

00:36:01.380 All right.

00:36:02.060 Let's see if Nicole's connection works.

00:36:05.440 Nicole, can you hear me?

00:36:09.180 Hi.

00:36:09.800 Do you have a question and or Antifa report?

00:36:12.980 I have both, actually.

00:36:14.940 All right.

00:36:15.560 So, I went to the Boston protest today.

00:36:22.080 I haven't been there since, like, the sun's gone down.

00:36:25.260 But it was very well populated when I was there.

00:36:29.780 But it didn't seem violent, which is good.

00:36:32.460 I talked to some of the police on the scene.

00:36:34.740 And they weren't pleased to be there.

00:36:37.540 Oh, we lost the connection.

00:36:42.260 You know what I think it is?

00:36:43.280 I think that people who are not on Wi-Fi lose the connection.

00:36:48.200 So, if you're not on Wi-Fi, you should probably not try to join as a guest.

00:36:53.180 Because I think that's, I think it's the regular cell connection that's causing everybody to fall apart.

00:36:59.400 Let's see if Mark's got a Wi-Fi connection here.

00:37:03.060 Mark, are you there?

00:37:04.300 Mark is not there.

00:37:08.120 All right.

00:37:08.860 What am I, one for three lately?

00:37:11.920 I can do better than that.

00:37:13.340 Let's try Joe.

00:37:15.380 Ah, no.

00:37:17.540 Joe, come on.

00:37:19.820 Let's make this work.

00:37:23.180 Joe, are you there?

00:37:27.700 Joe.

00:37:29.480 Joe.

00:37:30.700 Hello.

00:37:31.900 Oh, this is Jim.

00:37:32.760 Oh, Jim, do you have a question and or anti-fire report?

00:37:38.940 Yeah.

00:37:39.780 Just like Nicole right ahead of me, I, too, am in Boston.

00:37:43.920 And over the last hour, it's starting to get a little more.

00:37:46.900 The last couple of nights have been quiet, but it's starting to get a little more out of control now.

00:37:51.100 The most I've seen is burning a police cruiser, but the crowds are getting pretty heavy right about now.

00:37:57.400 Yeah.

00:37:57.580 Yeah, go ahead.

00:37:59.040 Two quick things.

00:38:01.300 I got into listening to you over the last two months because I was home due to COVID.

00:38:05.920 So I've become a really big fan.

00:38:08.340 But do you think it would be good if the president addressed the nation at some point, maybe to help things out?

00:38:15.700 Well, you know, I've been thinking a lot about that question because I've seen a lot of his supporters almost begging for it late last night.

00:38:24.540 I'm not sure he needed to do it in the middle of the night last night.

00:38:27.920 And here's my concern.

00:38:32.040 He's really bad at this.

00:38:35.080 It's the one thing that I'm going to say unambiguously.

00:38:38.340 He's bad at this, which is saying just the right words without the illegitimate press finding the one thing they can take out of context and make it turn it into a racist dog whistle.

00:38:50.120 So he may have calculated, as his advisors may have as well, that saying anything at all would make it worse.

00:38:59.400 And he might be right about that because when he sends a tweet, he can say unambiguously, you know, you're, you're, you're, you're, let's say you're looting is ruining the, the memory of George Floyd.

00:39:12.800 And that's nice and clean and easy to understand.

00:39:15.260 And, you know, his side he's on.

00:39:16.560 But the moment he starts freestyling and, you know, he would freestyle, it opens up that possibility.

00:39:24.200 He uses the word thug too many times.

00:39:27.720 Right.

00:39:27.840 You know, he, he, he does the, what was the thing that caused offense?

00:39:32.360 The, when the looting starts, the shooting starts, which I, which I doubt he was thinking of in racial terms, but any of these things allow them to find something to grab onto.

00:39:42.860 And it's a week in news.

00:39:44.320 So I don't know if that's why he's not doing it because it's still his job.

00:39:48.780 Right.

00:39:49.720 He shouldn't, I would have thought we would have heard something by now.

00:39:52.740 Right.

00:39:53.220 It's still his job.

00:39:54.320 And I don't know if it's, I don't consider it good enough.

00:39:57.840 That he's just tweeted and said he'd do a few things.

00:40:01.860 So I'm with you.

00:40:02.980 Something needs to be said, but I guarantee it will make it worse.

00:40:07.160 It's sort of a bad situation where he has to do it, but it's going to make it worse.

00:40:12.160 It just, you know, it will.

00:40:14.020 Right.

00:40:14.060 Absolutely.

00:40:14.360 So it might, the other possibility is there's something else brewing, something that's really taking a lot of his time.

00:40:25.040 And I don't think, I don't think it's COVID and I don't think it's the riots.

00:40:29.540 It very well could be there's something international brewing that's really, really big.

00:40:34.720 Yeah.

00:40:35.740 And he, he, he, he just might be absorbed by that, but still I would be with the critics who say it's still his job.

00:40:45.080 It doesn't matter what the reasons are.

00:40:48.520 That's still his job.

00:40:50.100 So at the moment he seems to be missing in action.

00:40:52.860 I would agree with you.

00:40:53.880 All right.

00:40:54.600 Okay.

00:40:54.960 Thank you.

00:40:55.440 Thanks for the comment.

00:40:58.980 Yeah.

00:40:59.380 I've been wondering about that when the president's going to make some kind of an address, but it just isn't what, it's just not what he's optimized for.

00:41:07.980 He's so good at other things, but that's just not that.

00:41:11.580 All right.

00:41:12.060 That guest didn't work.

00:41:13.140 Let's try another one.

00:41:15.500 Let's try Jedi Mac.

00:41:18.560 Let's see if Jedi Mac is here.

00:41:20.280 Hello, Jedi Mac.

00:41:23.280 Are you there?

00:41:25.940 I can.

00:41:26.600 Do you have a question and or Antifa report?

00:41:30.280 I actually have a question.

00:41:32.660 I just was wondering if you could speak a little bit about how you think the direction of the economy is heading.

00:41:40.560 Because I've been seeing a lot of material about hyperinflation in the near future within the next 10 years.

00:41:49.300 And I was wondering if it was going to happen even sooner since all this has happened the past week.

00:41:56.320 Well, I've got a degree in economics and an MBA, and I'll tell you everything I know about that question.

00:42:04.780 Nobody knows the answer to that question.

00:42:07.460 The people who are predicting anything 10 years from now, you could discount that entirely.

00:42:12.660 Because nobody can do a 10-year economic prediction, even on one variable, such as inflation.

00:42:19.860 It just can't be done.

00:42:20.640 Nobody's ever done it.

00:42:21.900 Nobody ever will do it.

00:42:23.120 There's just too many complications.

00:42:24.940 So I would never worry about a 10-year economic prediction.

00:42:28.360 Too many adjustments and changes will happen before any of that happens.

00:42:32.040 That said, we printed, digitally anyway, trillions of dollars.

00:42:38.960 Under normal circumstances, that would immediately cause inflation.

00:42:43.020 Because people would have more money, but they're the same amount of goods.

00:42:47.020 So we would bid the price up, and people could raise the prices, and they could get it.

00:42:50.900 Because people had more money.

00:42:51.900 But in this rare situation where there's no demand because of the COVID situation, you can actually print trillions of dollars, and it won't immediately, emphasis on immediately, it won't immediately cause inflation.

00:43:08.000 Because people can't raise prices.

00:43:09.740 They're lucky if they get any customers when times are struggling right now.

00:43:14.460 So nobody knows how long it would take to get demand up to the point where we have too much money for the amount of demand or products, whatever.

00:43:26.080 So it probably won't happen in a few years.

00:43:29.760 And then, of course, we don't have to print any more money between now and then because we'd have enough money in the system, presumably.

00:43:37.080 So there's at least some possibility that this will all work out.

00:43:41.080 And I'd love to give this example, which is everybody smart in economics and finance, everybody, 100% of experts would have told you that you can't have strong growth and inflation basically disappearing.

00:43:56.600 Those can't happen at the same time.

00:43:59.420 And then Trump did it.

00:44:01.700 He did it.

00:44:02.860 Now, I'm not saying he did it personally, but he was the president when it happened.

00:44:06.480 And it's not supposed to even be physically, mathematically, the physics of the economics just don't make any sense.

00:44:15.360 So with something that basic, I mean, that is incredibly basic.

00:44:21.180 And the experts said it couldn't be done and it was.

00:44:25.240 What about the most basic question of can we pay back our debt?

00:44:29.280 Well, nobody knows.

00:44:30.920 Believe it or not, nobody knows.

00:44:32.420 We don't know how much we can service.

00:44:34.100 We don't know how big it could get and we'd still be fine.

00:44:38.200 Nobody knows at all.

00:44:39.460 It's completely unknowable.

00:44:41.520 So people have opinions, but definitely nobody knows.

00:44:44.120 So I'm not sure if that gives you any comfort.

00:44:46.660 But what I would say is we probably have lots of flexibility to tweak things and engineer things and patch things up as we go.

00:44:55.260 Yeah, I think my sources were saying that we're printing a lot of money now to help with the unemployment.

00:45:12.120 And then when the insurance rates go up, then they'll have to somehow print more money.

00:45:18.480 And then that's going to cause the hyperinflation.

00:45:21.900 So that's just – yeah, that's what I was looking at.

00:45:24.700 Sorry.

00:45:25.260 Well, as long as the economy is crippled, meaning that demand is low, you can sort of print a lot of money, trillions and trillions.

00:45:34.280 So we'll see.

00:45:35.180 Nobody knows.

00:45:36.480 But it certainly – so your friend's point is well in the category of things you should consider.

00:45:42.480 But probably not something you need to worry about right away.

00:45:46.880 Thank you so much.

00:45:48.000 Thank you.

00:45:48.820 Thank you.

00:45:49.280 Have a good one.

00:45:50.880 All right.

00:45:51.480 I think I'm going to end at about here.

00:45:56.600 I think it's a terribly tragic day for the black community in this country.

00:46:01.940 And if they – I'll make the offer, and I've been making it for several years, actually, the same offer.

00:46:09.300 If there are any specific changes to laws or policies that they can suggest that would make this situation better, let me help.

00:46:18.980 I'd be happy to help you persuade.

00:46:23.080 And that's all I've got for now.

00:46:25.000 And I will talk to you tomorrow.

Real Coffee with Scott Adams - June 01, 2020

Episode 1010 Scott Adams： Tell Me About the Riots in Your Town. Mine is Heating up Now. And More. Relax!

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Summary

Transcript