Real Coffee with Scott Adams - Episode 2758 CWSA 02⧸22⧸25

00:00:00.000 A cup or a mug or a glass, a tank or chalice, a sign, a canteen jug or flask, a vessel of any kind.

00:00:05.160 Fill it with your favorite liquid. I like coffee.

00:00:08.220 And join me now for the unparalleled pleasure of the dopamine at the end of the day,

00:00:11.980 the thing that makes everything better, especially on a Saturday.

00:00:16.080 It's called the Simultaneous Sip, and it's going to happen right now.

00:00:19.920 Thank you, Paul.

00:00:22.120 Go.

00:00:28.920 That should hold you.

00:00:30.000 That should get you through the rest of the show.

00:00:34.300 Well, after the show, remember it's Saturday, so Owen Gregorian will be hosting a Spaces event.

00:00:42.280 Spaces is the audio-only thing that's on X, so you have to be on X to get that.

00:00:47.780 But look for Owen Gregorian, and you'll see the link for that.

00:00:54.080 Now, yesterday, I was binge-watching that show, Severance,

00:00:59.180 and I was thinking, I feel so good about this show.

00:01:04.060 I feel like I'm going to post on X about it, because I've mentioned it before.

00:01:08.980 And then I noticed that Joe Rogan just posted it on X.

00:01:12.700 He said, Severance is a fantastic show.

00:01:15.080 So, says Joe Rogan, completely original and totally unpredictable, amazing writing, directing, and acting.

00:01:22.720 Just a totally unique show.

00:01:25.000 He just finished season one, he's going to two.

00:01:27.220 That's exactly where I am.

00:01:29.520 I think I have maybe an episode left.

00:01:31.500 But just finishing season one, totally addicted.

00:01:36.280 Then Jon Stewart, he also posted on the same topic, as Severance was amazing.

00:01:43.800 He dropped an F-bomb to say how much he liked it.

00:01:47.460 Now, here's why it took me so long to watch it.

00:01:51.800 It's the title.

00:01:52.540 When I see a show that looks like people in an office, and the title of the show is Severance,

00:02:00.620 here's what I assume.

00:02:02.940 Okay, I get it.

00:02:04.100 It's another one of those remakes where there's some severance, meaning people got fired.

00:02:09.060 So, the people who got fired and got the severance payment, they decided to, what, get back at their evil boss

00:02:20.260 and tie him to a chair and ha, ha, ha?

00:02:23.160 So, I didn't want to watch that.

00:02:25.660 But then I found out that Severance has nothing to do with losing your job.

00:02:30.200 And that it's more of a sci-fi and sort of an ongoing mystery than it is like anything else.

00:02:37.500 So, here's what I like about it.

00:02:41.080 And I will say that, you know, since entertainment is subjective,

00:02:46.560 no more than half of you are going to like it as much as I do, right?

00:02:50.880 Half of you are going to say, well, I don't get it.

00:02:53.660 And half of you are going to say, why have I missed this for so long?

00:02:59.300 But here's what Ben Stiller has done that is actually very impressive.

00:03:04.620 So, Ben Stiller is the, I guess he's director, producer, whatever he is, but he seems to be in charge.

00:03:11.360 And, you know, we know Ben Stiller being a little bit more woke than you want to be.

00:03:16.940 So, one thing you'd kind of assume about the show is it's going to be, you know, really woke.

00:03:23.460 Turns out it's very diverse, but you don't even really notice.

00:03:29.720 The diversity is the natural kind, where there's one character who's kind of a key character, a black character.

00:03:40.720 And you watch the black character do his thing, and you say to yourself, he's kind of perfect.

00:03:46.200 Like, that's good casting right there.

00:03:48.780 And then you watch the other characters, and you realize they are very diverse.

00:03:52.020 But they still allowed the boring, straight white guy to be the lead character.

00:03:59.280 And I thought, when was the last time I've seen that?

00:04:03.060 So, it's diverse without the wokeness.

00:04:07.940 And it's kind of refreshing.

00:04:11.100 Nothing's in your face.

00:04:12.480 You never notice, you don't see any actors who look like they don't belong there.

00:04:17.140 They're all well-chosen.

00:04:18.360 They're all great.

00:04:19.020 And not once does a 90-pound woman use her kung fu to beat up a 200-pound man.

00:04:27.980 That drives me crazy.

00:04:30.420 But no, not once is there a car chase scene.

00:04:35.740 No car chase scenes.

00:04:37.640 Not once is there anybody tied to a chair to be tortured.

00:04:43.880 I don't think.

00:04:45.120 I don't think I saw that.

00:04:46.600 So, when Joe Rogan says it's fantastic and inventive, it holds my interest like nothing ever has.

00:04:56.100 It's really special.

00:04:58.680 So, here's what I'd like to...

00:05:02.300 Now, if it sounds like I'm spending way too much time on this, and you're saying to yourself,

00:05:06.640 I don't even have Apple TV.

00:05:08.480 There's a bigger point.

00:05:09.340 Here's the bigger point.

00:05:12.520 Ben Stiller has created a masterpiece.

00:05:15.580 But it's more than that.

00:05:17.920 Because he's also proven you could violate pretty much all of the rules of how you're supposed to make a crappy piece of product in 2025.

00:05:27.840 He violates all the rules, but does them in a genius way.

00:05:34.280 So, maybe, maybe there's hope.

00:05:37.540 There might be hope for a scripted television.

00:05:40.280 You know, if you can do it this well.

00:05:42.920 Very impressive.

00:05:43.600 Well, yesterday, a lot of us were wondering what happened to an ex-user who is quite well-known, Brian Ramelli.

00:05:51.740 And Brian has got a lot of attention, especially in the last year or two, because he posts a lot about AI.

00:06:00.440 And he knows a lot about it, and he's deep into it, and, you know, his account became even more valuable.

00:06:06.480 It's always been valuable.

00:06:07.220 But he got kicked off, and he didn't know why, and we didn't know why.

00:06:11.420 But there was sort of an outcry from the people on X saying, hey, what's up with this?

00:06:17.920 Now, I'm always hesitant, because people ask me this all the time.

00:06:22.400 Can you get involved in, you know, getting my account uncanceled?

00:06:26.580 First of all, I don't have any pull.

00:06:29.320 I have no pull whatsoever on X.

00:06:31.620 Nothing.

00:06:32.720 Don't know anybody.

00:06:33.860 Don't have any special backdoor.

00:06:35.620 Nothing.

00:06:35.880 But when somebody gets canceled on X, the first thing I ask myself is, okay, as far as I know,

00:06:44.060 this is a totally good person, but do I know everything about this person?

00:06:50.380 So I'm always suspicious.

00:06:52.460 What did they do?

00:06:54.760 You know, what is it I don't know about?

00:06:56.960 So if I don't know why they got canceled, it's really hard for me to weigh in,

00:07:01.660 because I might be accidentally backing something terrible.

00:07:05.880 But it looked like Elon Musk may have been involved in getting this one reinstituted.

00:07:12.860 But Musk said that it was because of a music copyright violation.

00:07:18.580 Now, here's something you need to know.

00:07:21.200 A music copyright violation, I think, I'll take a fact check on this, but I think this

00:07:27.960 is true, is automatically removed simply because the music people complained.

00:07:35.240 Now, I don't know who specifically has to complain.

00:07:37.560 It might be some entity within the music business that's the only official one.

00:07:41.560 But it might be also anybody complaining about their own band or their own music.

00:07:46.640 But my understanding is that the simple existence of a complaint that's backed by,

00:07:53.860 you know, there actually was a copyrighted song involved, there's no, X isn't even involved.

00:08:00.240 X has to do it automatically, I believe.

00:08:02.340 I believe that the law says X doesn't even get a choice.

00:08:07.340 As long as it's reported and there is a song involved, you're gone.

00:08:13.980 Yeah, that's, I think Owen is saying the same thing.

00:08:19.700 Owen says the DMCA takedowns, which is what this would be, are acted on but don't require

00:08:25.980 permanent suspension, right?

00:08:27.600 They don't require permanent suspension, but they're acted on right away.

00:08:31.920 So this one was not permanent.

00:08:34.580 And I ran into this situation once before with another notable user who got pretty well

00:08:43.000 canceled.

00:08:44.140 And that other notable user did many things that seemed to press the line.

00:08:51.340 But the thing that took him out, copyright.

00:08:54.540 Yeah, copyright, you're just not going to win.

00:09:00.080 The copyright holders are going to be tough on that.

00:09:02.780 So anyway, Brian Romelli is back.

00:09:04.980 Maybe we learned something there that will keep the rest of you from getting canceled.

00:09:09.560 At the University of Amsterdam, they did some study on ChatGPT.

00:09:14.580 We'll get to all the politics.

00:09:16.120 I'm just waiting for people to wake up and have their first cup of coffee.

00:09:19.020 So there was a study, University of Amsterdam, about AI.

00:09:25.360 And what they found was that the current version of AI thinks very well in analogies.

00:09:32.940 But when the analogy is tweaked or it needs more original reasoning, it fails pretty quickly.

00:09:41.140 So as long as there's a pattern or an analogy, AI can operate pretty well.

00:09:48.700 But it's an analogy thinker.

00:09:51.120 Now, many of you know that for years I've been saying in public, I even wrote a book about it.

00:09:56.960 Well, a book that includes it.

00:09:59.700 That if you think or reason in analogies, you're not using reason.

00:10:05.220 An analogy is simply something that reminds you of something else.

00:10:08.260 It's not a reason.

00:10:10.760 It's not a reason to do anything.

00:10:13.500 So here's, and no matter how many times I tell you this, it's a little bit subtle and

00:10:20.240 hard to remember.

00:10:21.840 So I'm going to take another run at it.

00:10:23.640 Because the more you hear it, the more powerful you will become in your debating.

00:10:28.660 Because if you use an analogy, do you know what happens?

00:10:31.420 People debate the specifics of the analogy, which doesn't help anybody.

00:10:39.240 Because the analogy is not even the debate.

00:10:42.160 So it moves you, as soon as you introduce an analogy, somebody goes, yes, but I'm not

00:10:47.720 a flower.

00:10:49.420 No, oh no, it's just an analogy that, you know, flower needs water.

00:10:53.640 So I'm trying to make the point that a person also needs to be, you know, fed or nourished.

00:10:58.840 Mm, yeah, but I'm not a flower.

00:11:03.460 Okay, okay, I'm not saying you're a flower.

00:11:06.160 It's an analogy.

00:11:07.900 Person needs to be fed and nourished.

00:11:11.240 A flower needs to be fed and nourished.

00:11:13.060 I'm just trying to make a point.

00:11:15.380 Yeah, but a flower doesn't live as long as a person.

00:11:19.700 I know, I know, I know.

00:11:21.520 That has nothing to do with my point.

00:11:23.480 It's just, and that's the way all analogies go.

00:11:26.400 So if you think you're going to use an analogy to win an argument, you're not.

00:11:30.720 Here's the one way to use an analogy correctly.

00:11:34.120 If it's a fast way to get somebody to understand a new concept.

00:11:38.300 That's different from an argument.

00:11:40.580 You're not trying to debate them.

00:11:43.220 You're just trying to introduce a new thing that they didn't know about.

00:11:46.380 And my famous example is, what would be the fastest way to describe a zebra to someone

00:11:53.280 who knew everything else in the world, but had never seen a zebra?

00:11:57.340 Here's how I'd do it.

00:11:58.680 I'd say, okay, so a zebra is basically, it looks like a horse, but it's got black and

00:12:04.920 white stripes.

00:12:07.080 So here I'm comparing a horse to a zebra.

00:12:10.180 Now that's a good use, because the person knows I'm not calling it a horse.

00:12:15.100 I'm saying it looks like one.

00:12:17.160 And now you've got this in your mind.

00:12:19.100 Okay, got it.

00:12:19.880 It looks like a horse, but it has black and white stripes.

00:12:21.740 I'm almost there.

00:12:23.220 Now you would add things like, well, it's native to Africa.

00:12:29.060 Maybe there's something different in its lineage from horses.

00:12:32.140 And maybe it's different in several other ways.

00:12:35.220 But it would be a real quick way to get from knowing nothing about zebras to, oh, okay,

00:12:40.080 I got the basic idea.

00:12:41.160 So that's the only time to use it.

00:12:44.580 Now, do you think this is a real problem?

00:12:48.700 This whole analogy thing I keep harping on, I'm harping on it and harping on it.

00:12:53.280 Well, let's look at a real example.

00:12:57.300 Have you heard this story about Representative Robert Garcia?

00:13:01.300 He's a Democrat, California.

00:13:03.960 And he was on some show recently, and he made the following analogy.

00:13:09.220 Are you ready for this?

00:13:11.260 Now, this is a human, not AI.

00:13:14.260 And the human tried to use an analogy to make a point.

00:13:18.920 And here's what he said.

00:13:20.460 Talking about the Democrats in their, let's say, political contest with Republicans, Robert

00:13:28.080 Garcia said, we're in a bar fight.

00:13:30.580 I'm paraphrasing a little bit.

00:13:32.200 But he said, we're in a bar fight, and we have to bring actual weapons.

00:13:36.820 And then his critics say, whoa, you're telling people to actually arm themselves with what?

00:13:45.900 Knives and guns so you can shoot Republicans?

00:13:48.720 My God, you've got to be canceled.

00:13:50.360 Now, of course, it took about like a minute and a half for Representative Garcia to come back and say, it was just an analogy.

00:14:01.980 There's no smart person who heard me say, it's a bar fight, so you have to bring weapons.

00:14:08.340 Nobody thought that meant I meant bring weapons to the political contest.

00:14:13.320 Now, but some people did, or they pretend they do.

00:14:18.940 So with Republicans, I can never tell, because sometimes maybe they believe the analogy.

00:14:25.360 Maybe they believe he was actually suggesting weapons.

00:14:28.520 Let me say as clearly as possible, he wasn't suggesting bringing real weapons into the political realm.

00:14:34.860 It was an analogy.

00:14:37.760 What happens when you use an analogy?

00:14:40.900 People will pick apart the analogy instead of whatever point you were trying to make.

00:14:47.420 So that's what happened there.

00:14:49.280 So don't use analogies like that.

00:14:51.120 But I would say he used the analogy correctly.

00:14:54.260 He even used it correctly, which was he was trying to introduce a point.

00:14:58.960 And the point was, we're in a fight with no weapons.

00:15:02.540 If you were in a bar fight, you'd want to have a weapon.

00:15:07.340 So in any other fight, you might want to have a weapon too.

00:15:10.400 The weapon might be better ideas, better policies, better podcasts, something like that.

00:15:16.360 So Representative Robert Garcia, Democrat from California, I back you 100%.

00:15:21.920 I'm not entirely sure if the Republicans going after him really believe what they're doing,

00:15:28.120 or it's just sort of convenient, kind of a convenient attack line.

00:15:31.900 But no, he didn't do anything wrong.

00:15:49.980 Here's some good news.

00:15:51.720 The Epoch Times is reporting.

00:15:53.640 Apparently, CEO confidence in the economy is at a real high.

00:15:58.260 So it's looking really good.

00:16:01.080 Now, we've seen some other indicators that the economy could have some trouble when the

00:16:06.440 stock market took a dump on Friday.

00:16:09.280 So it's not all positive.

00:16:11.540 But here's what I like about it.

00:16:13.280 The CEOs are extra important when it comes to their optimism.

00:16:20.260 If the CEOs are optimistic, then they increase their investment budget, their capital expense,

00:16:27.320 and then things go well.

00:16:30.280 So you want your CEOs to be optimistic because anything but that destroys your economy.

00:16:37.480 So when they're at some kind of high in terms of optimism, and they are pretty high,

00:16:44.720 that is a really good, really good sign for the future.

00:16:50.800 Meanwhile, Elon Musk's private security, they must be pretty good because they've been deputized

00:16:59.220 by the U.S. Marshal Service, meaning that they'll now have certain rights and protections

00:17:05.240 of federal law enforcement, CNN's reporting.

00:17:08.180 Now, it makes me wonder what special rights they're gaining.

00:17:14.400 The one that seems obvious would be the right to arrest somebody.

00:17:20.660 You know, if you're private security, can you detain and arrest somebody?

00:17:25.580 I don't know.

00:17:26.880 So is that one of the rights?

00:17:28.320 I don't know exactly what rights they get.

00:17:30.860 But I like anything that makes Elon Musk safer.

00:17:39.440 So if this in any way makes him safer, yes.

00:17:43.280 Yes, please.

00:17:44.300 Let's do that.

00:17:45.240 So it looks like it makes sense.

00:17:47.220 You know, it passes the sniff test.

00:17:52.060 Well, Trump, again, is reiterating that he's in favor of the death penalty for drug dealers.

00:17:59.900 He makes a good point that a big drug dealer could kill 500 people, you know, just the

00:18:05.400 number of overdoses over time, you know, it could add up to a lot of people.

00:18:10.420 So, yes, if there's somebody who is knowingly, knowingly, this is the important part, knowingly

00:18:16.940 selling a drug that is likely to kill 500 people at the scale they're selling the drug.

00:18:22.680 Yeah, the death penalty is not just appropriate, but it's just screaming for it.

00:18:30.180 If somebody just murdered 500 people, would we be questioning the death penalty?

00:18:36.900 We would not.

00:18:38.520 So the fact that it takes a little while for these victims to die, that shouldn't be any

00:18:45.380 safety for the person who did it.

00:18:48.040 So, yes, I'm 100% in favor of the death penalty for any drug dealers that are working at scale.

00:18:57.400 I don't think you want to get, you know, the one who sells a pill or two to their friends.

00:19:03.500 I wouldn't agree with that.

00:19:04.820 Trump said also that they're going to make some brutal anti-drug ads.

00:19:12.460 He says they hired some of the best agencies.

00:19:15.700 I guess that means ad agencies.

00:19:17.980 And they're going to spend $150 million, maybe $200 million on advertising that says when you

00:19:23.940 take certain drugs like fentanyl, it destroys your skin, destroys your teeth, destroys your

00:19:29.360 brain.

00:19:31.320 He says they're really horrible commercials.

00:19:33.040 He's seen the first of them in the brutal.

00:19:35.680 And he thinks that it will work.

00:19:41.640 Now, it might.

00:19:43.500 It might.

00:19:44.220 Because brainwashing works.

00:19:46.700 So if these are designed to brainwash people, the young people, I have every reason to believe

00:19:53.100 that as a way forward, it could be a good way.

00:19:58.260 But you have to worry about the reverse happening.

00:20:03.040 The reverse is that you make it cool.

00:20:08.520 Oh, here's your brain on marijuana.

00:20:11.920 Now it's a cracked egg.

00:20:15.300 And then people say, eh, that sounds like they're overdoing it.

00:20:18.600 I think I'll do more of it instead of less.

00:20:21.140 So you can get the risk is that, you know, the young people just resist anything you tell

00:20:28.460 them.

00:20:28.920 So they end up liking it more because it's more forbidden.

00:20:33.000 But if you do it right, you can really put the stink on something.

00:20:37.160 Now, what I'd want to know is the following.

00:20:40.980 What makes an ad agency the best?

00:20:44.380 That they were good at selling a commercial product?

00:20:49.220 Or maybe somebody's brand?

00:20:52.640 Do you think that these ad agencies have somebody with, let's say, hypnosis skill?

00:20:59.160 I think some of them do, actually.

00:21:01.660 I don't know if these do.

00:21:02.920 But it would not be unusual that the ad agency had more than ad people, right?

00:21:09.520 If you watched, what's that TV show with the advertiser people?

00:21:15.100 If the only expertise they're bringing is ad agency, then they're going to do something

00:21:21.680 like, OK, we'll just say it's bad for you and young people don't want to look ugly, so

00:21:28.480 they won't do it.

00:21:29.720 Well, that's a good start.

00:21:32.180 But here's how I would do it.

00:21:34.440 We now have the technology that they can put sensors on your head and they can tell how

00:21:39.420 you're receiving certain messages.

00:21:41.120 And what they should do is try a bunch of stuff, maybe use AI to generate some quick visuals

00:21:51.600 and just run all the different messages across the people that you're testing and test it

00:22:02.140 on young people, whoever your target is, and just see what works.

00:22:07.180 So I don't know that advertisers automatically do that.

00:22:11.120 They have the technology, but I don't think they automatically do it.

00:22:15.100 This is one of those cases where I wouldn't say, oh, just make it look unattractive.

00:22:19.640 I don't know if that's enough.

00:22:21.780 You know, I think they could take the next level of science to make people just run from it

00:22:25.960 if they did it right.

00:22:27.920 Well, meanwhile, CPAC is happening and Steve Bannon's making things interesting by teasing

00:22:34.320 a third term for Trump.

00:22:37.240 Now, I think the smart people believe he's trolling and he's not actually literally saying

00:22:44.980 third term.

00:22:45.840 He might.

00:22:46.720 I mean, I can't read his mind, so I don't know what he's thinking.

00:22:49.440 But one of the things I like about Bannon is that he seems to understand the whole media

00:23:00.200 landscape better than almost everybody.

00:23:04.720 So Bannon's one of the ones, maybe the one, who said the only way past the media gatekeepers

00:23:11.500 is to overwhelm them.

00:23:13.260 And I think that started with the first term.

00:23:16.980 And so that's something that not everybody would have seen, right?

00:23:21.580 So Bannon can see around corners in a lot of different ways.

00:23:26.260 So if he's doing this teasing that Trump might have a third term, I step back from my usual

00:23:36.420 reaction, which is my first take.

00:23:39.080 My first take is don't do that.

00:23:41.000 That's exactly what they're accusing him of.

00:23:44.280 If you get them all worked up about this third term thing, it's going to fit in with their

00:23:49.240 dictator, oligarch message.

00:23:51.460 And, you know, you're just making it worse.

00:23:53.040 Why would you give them that ammunition?

00:23:55.120 So that's my first take.

00:23:56.980 But then I say, all right, what if Steve Bannon is smarter than I am?

00:24:02.280 What would that look like?

00:24:04.820 And then I think, oh, damn, it means I'm missing something.

00:24:09.720 What would I be missing?

00:24:11.000 I don't know.

00:24:13.700 But let me just put something out there.

00:24:16.520 If it's Steve Bannon just trolling, then it doesn't mean anything.

00:24:21.460 If it's Steve Bannon who's thought of this strategically, it could mean a lot.

00:24:27.700 And here's the other way that this could be playing, and I don't know which way is the

00:24:33.140 dominant way.

00:24:33.760 But one way it could be playing is that Trump has such a commanding control over the media

00:24:41.300 that he and his, let's say, supporters can feed the media stories that fit exactly into

00:24:50.520 their sweet spot, like right on the nose.

00:24:53.040 This is exactly what you thought would happen, isn't it?

00:24:56.180 And it will just make them chase their tails about this third term while Trump gets things

00:25:04.460 done.

00:25:06.380 Because again, they're going to run out of shelf space.

00:25:09.320 They can't talk about everything all the time.

00:25:12.540 They have to decide what to talk about.

00:25:15.240 And they always have to coordinate.

00:25:16.760 So they're all talking about the same thing.

00:25:18.740 So with one good troll, you can make the entire enemy media landscape focus on the message that

00:25:26.280 you wanted them to focus on.

00:25:27.720 And if it turns out that the whole third term thing just doesn't resonate with anybody, you

00:25:35.240 know, it doesn't resonate with Democrat voters, doesn't resonate with Republican voters, he

00:25:41.580 could be sort of leading them down this dead end alley, which would be brilliant Steve Bannon

00:25:48.980 strategy.

00:25:50.280 Now, is that what he's thinking?

00:25:51.880 Again, I can't read his mind because he's a little bit ahead of most of us.

00:25:56.600 He's certainly ahead of me in some ways.

00:25:59.840 So if he thinks it's a good idea to tease this third term, he might be just working on

00:26:07.560 a level that we're not quite at.

00:26:10.400 You know, I'll just put that out there.

00:26:11.900 If it were anyone else who did not have a proven record of seeing around corners, I would

00:26:17.660 say, hmm, looks like a mistake.

00:26:19.740 But just the fact that it comes from Bannon makes me go, okay, back up, back up.

00:26:26.300 He doesn't do things by accident.

00:26:28.400 He doesn't do something that dramatic without thinking it through completely.

00:26:36.180 So we'll see.

00:26:37.480 I'd love to hear his thinking on it someday.

00:26:39.820 You probably saw on the news that Trump was talking to some folks that included the governor

00:26:47.720 of Maine and Trump was saying that he was banning, at least in terms of supporting with federal

00:26:55.980 funds, he was going to not give federal funds to any school that was allowing biological men

00:27:03.220 to play women's sports.

00:27:05.340 And I guess the governor of Maine was in the audience, Janet Mills, and she indicated that

00:27:14.000 they were going to continue allowing biological males and women's sports.

00:27:20.000 And it was kind of a smallish room, you know, not that many people attending.

00:27:26.320 And watching Trump just destroy her while we watched was kind of interesting.

00:27:34.980 So he starts out by saying, you know, it's illegal.

00:27:39.500 He made it illegal.

00:27:40.600 Then she tried to say, oh, we obey state and federal law.

00:27:44.880 So she's, you know, making the point that his executive orders are not law.

00:27:50.460 Trump tried to sell it as law, but that's a harder sell.

00:27:54.620 And so instead he backed up to, smartly, he backed up to, well, you're not getting any

00:28:01.240 federal funds then.

00:28:02.900 And then he adds, and by the way, your political career is basically over now.

00:28:08.120 And he said, the voters in your own state want what I'm offering, which is, you know, blocking

00:28:20.460 biological men and women's sports.

00:28:22.980 So not only did he dress her down in public, but he basically predicted the end of her political

00:28:30.660 career over this because it's so obviously what Trump wants is also popular in her state.

00:28:36.300 So that was fun.

00:28:39.180 She said, I'll see you in court.

00:28:42.000 And he said, looking forward to it.

00:28:46.220 I will give her credit for being spunky, but she's being spunky on the wrong topic.

00:28:52.040 So I don't think that's going to work.

00:28:56.960 According to the news, Trump is planning to shut down a federal building in San Francisco.

00:29:04.740 But the funny part is that the name of the building is the Nancy Pelosi Federal Building.

00:29:11.620 So he's going to close down the presumably largely unused Nancy Pelosi Federal Building.

00:29:20.800 And I was thinking that if they're going to sell it, they should change the name first.

00:29:29.220 Because I don't know what kind of a bidding war you're going to get for the Nancy Pelosi Federal Building.

00:29:33.820 But you might want to change that to something that would get a Republican bidder.

00:29:39.220 I suppose if you buy it, you can change the name.

00:29:42.720 But it just feels like somebody died in the building.

00:29:46.480 You know, you always have to, if you're selling a residential real estate, you have to disclose

00:29:51.580 if anybody ever died in the house you're selling.

00:29:54.720 Well, I think having Nancy Pelosi's name on your building is sort of the commercial property equivalent of somebody died in it.

00:30:09.540 That's just me.

00:30:11.540 J.D. Vance is at CPAC, too.

00:30:13.400 When he was defending the, let's say, the appropriateness of young men acting like young men,

00:30:22.760 instead of being forced to, as he said,

00:30:26.520 Democrats are trying to turn everyone into androgynous idiots.

00:30:33.560 The Democrats are trying to turn everyone into androgynous idiots.

00:30:39.740 That's pretty badass.

00:30:40.860 I don't think J.D. Vance or any vice president would have said those words unless he was under the umbrella of Trump,

00:30:50.000 in which case it just seems natural.

00:30:52.340 Yeah.

00:30:53.080 Yeah, they're trying to turn everyone into androgynous idiots.

00:30:56.680 And then he went on, J.D. did,

00:30:59.460 saying that the Republicans believe that there are two sexes and that there's a reason for that.

00:31:05.900 And obviously there's some, you know, there are some exceptions.

00:31:10.520 You know, not every person is born with exactly, you know, male or exactly female stuff.

00:31:17.200 But the exceptions are so rare that it makes sense to treat them as exceptions.

00:31:23.260 I think that's the point.

00:31:25.220 Claudia was leaving for her pickleball tournament.

00:31:27.440 I've been visualizing my match all week.

00:31:29.580 She was so focused on visualizing that she didn't see the column behind her car on her backhand side.

00:31:35.900 Good thing Claudia's with Intact,

00:31:37.860 the insurer with the largest network of auto service centers in the country.

00:31:41.620 Everything was taken care of under one roof and she was on her way in a rental car in no time.

00:31:46.080 I made it to my tournament and lost in the first round.

00:31:49.560 But you got there on time.

00:31:51.400 Intact Insurance, your auto service ace.

00:31:54.020 Certain conditions apply.

00:31:54.940 There's still some talk about that Epstein list.

00:32:00.500 Alina Habba said that transparency is coming and we're going to see that list.

00:32:05.220 Well, do you think so?

00:32:07.720 Do you really think that the Epstein list is going to be presented and it will tell us things we didn't already know?

00:32:14.940 I would put the odds of that at very low.

00:32:19.180 Very, very low.

00:32:20.260 It's possible that something will come out that looks like it's new, but it's not that new.

00:32:30.780 Maybe we already knew it or it'll be who flew on Epstein's plane, but that won't tell you that they did anything illegal because apparently a lot of people flew on his plane.

00:32:41.200 So, my prediction will be you're not going to learn anything because if they had the goods, they wouldn't tell you.

00:32:52.260 They would keep it for themselves.

00:32:55.100 Suppose, I'll just put it out there.

00:32:58.340 Suppose there was something on there that was embarrassing to an ally.

00:33:02.360 Like, I don't know, something involving the British royal family.

00:33:08.600 I'm just putting that out as an example.

00:33:10.780 I have no information whatsoever.

00:33:13.480 Would we, as an ally of Great Britain, would we throw their royal family under the bus knowing that that would be a big problem?

00:33:24.520 And that, you know, whatever anybody did or did not do probably stopped.

00:33:30.480 So, you know, who's the better off?

00:33:34.680 I don't know.

00:33:35.580 I think I see five different reasons not to tell us and not a single reason to tell us.

00:33:42.920 So, I don't think they're going to tell us.

00:33:44.900 They might come back and say, well, really, there's no list.

00:33:50.020 There's just a lot of information and we're still looking through it and, you know, it's all got stuff we can't show you.

00:33:57.680 I don't know.

00:33:57.920 Nothing.

00:33:58.460 Nothing's going to happen.

00:34:01.160 Well, there's a Pentagon shakeout you probably heard.

00:34:06.020 So, Trump's removing the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General C.Q. Brown, Jr.

00:34:12.780 Now, because it's 2025 and I know what you're going to say, you're going to say, he was a DEI hire because he was a black man, four-star general.

00:34:24.260 There's no indication of that.

00:34:26.460 There's no indication of that.

00:34:27.500 In fact, he was, I think he got his last job through Trump and Trump has said good things about him and even in replacing him, he had good things to say.

00:34:36.460 So, I would not make any assumptions about General C.Q. Brown, Jr.

00:34:43.540 It may be that maybe he was a little too pro-DEI.

00:34:48.180 Maybe Trump just wants his own preferred advisor there.

00:34:53.200 He doesn't really need a reason.

00:34:55.360 But the reason I would rule out is it has anything to do with DEI.

00:35:00.440 I don't think he does in this case.

00:35:03.280 But at the same time, I think Hegseth removed the Admiral of the Navy, who was a woman.

00:35:13.080 And again, there's no direct information that this is any kind of a DEI thing, unless the problem is it was somebody who supported DEI too much.

00:35:23.800 Supporting it would be its own problem.

00:35:25.580 But no, let's not do the thing where every single person who loses a job under the Trump administration was incapable because of some DEI reason.

00:35:36.040 The DEI argument, as I often remind you, is that it guarantees that things will fall apart, just not any specific person at any specific time.

00:35:47.020 You can't go that far.

00:35:48.320 Meanwhile, the SBA offices are mostly empty.

00:35:56.380 So there's a new SBA chief, Kelly Loeffler, and did a video of her second day of work.

00:36:02.160 And the office is just pristine, but empty.

00:36:06.300 You know, everything looks like it's in good shape.

00:36:08.720 It's just empty.

00:36:10.520 So I guess on Monday, federal employees have to go back to work.

00:36:14.780 Is that for all the federal employees?

00:36:16.240 I don't know.

00:36:17.920 I feel really bad for them.

00:36:19.720 So my Dilbert comic making part of me says, oh, God, imagine losing the right to work at home.

00:36:28.140 Well, maybe there was a little slack and off at home.

00:36:32.340 Maybe there was.

00:36:34.600 But it would be devastating if you built your life around this working at home thing and then you lost the ability to do it.

00:36:40.840 There are people, for example, who probably got a dog because one of them was going to be home all day.

00:36:48.000 That would be really bad for the dog to have to leave it home all day.

00:36:52.940 So people are going to have a really hard adjustment.

00:36:56.300 Now, you might say, but I don't feel sorry for them because they were working at home and collecting their paycheck and maybe not working too hard.

00:37:03.140 Well, we have to make the hard choices, no doubt about it, but there's definitely a human impact that's hard to ignore.

00:37:12.420 According to the Washington Post, Trump might want to take over the post office and move it under the Commerce Department instead of leaving it as this quasi-independent thing that it is.

00:37:23.640 But I don't know why.

00:37:25.460 I didn't see in the story any reasoning.

00:37:27.180 Does anybody know a reason?

00:37:31.280 Is it because we assume that the Commerce Department would make it more efficient somehow?

00:37:37.640 I don't know.

00:37:38.600 So I don't know what problem is being solved there, but we'll see if that happens.

00:37:45.780 According to Eric Doherty, who's reporting on this, when Trump was talking to the governors, I think it was in the same time he was talking to that main governor,

00:37:57.180 he told the governors that they need to switch to paper ballots in their election and same-day voting.

00:38:04.760 Here's what he said.

00:38:07.540 He also said to verify citizenship to vote and voter ID and that Elon Musk supports this.

00:38:13.800 So I love that Trump can now say, Elon Musk supports this or that, because if Trump supports it, you say, well, it's at least political.

00:38:26.820 So there's at least a political reason.

00:38:29.040 But is that good enough?

00:38:30.560 Well, if Musk supports it, then it makes sense technically, and it makes sense logically, and it probably makes sense economically.

00:38:38.340 Because, you know, Musk isn't going to ignore any of that stuff.

00:38:42.260 You know, Musk is not going to say, well, let's ignore the technical issues.

00:38:46.260 No, he's not going to do that.

00:38:48.820 He's not going to ignore cost or effectiveness or any of the things that he focuses on.

00:38:54.060 He's not going to ignore the very things he focuses on.

00:38:57.460 So it's such a good thing to be able to refer to, and Elon Musk agrees with me.

00:39:02.440 Anyway, so he says more about it, Trump does.

00:39:06.880 He says, it's called the watermark.

00:39:09.300 It's impossible to copy, impossible to cheat.

00:39:11.760 Well, I'm not sure if it's impossible, but it'd be much harder.

00:39:17.260 Highly sophisticated, he says.

00:39:19.880 He goes, those four things, if he did two-day or three-day voting, fine.

00:39:26.220 Other states do.

00:39:27.440 They were weeks after the election.

00:39:29.040 Imagine if it were a close election.

00:39:31.080 So, you know, his point is well taken.

00:39:35.480 And he said, I did ask Elon Musk, and he said, quote, now, I'm not sure this is an accurate quote,

00:39:43.180 but this is Trump saying that he talked to Musk, and Musk wasn't in the room then.

00:39:49.540 And this is what he says, Elon Musk said.

00:39:53.220 So I did ask Elon Musk, and he said, quote, computers are not meant for voting.

00:39:58.160 Too many transactions taking place.

00:40:00.060 Now, I don't know what that means exactly, because generally I would think too many transactions is why you want a computer.

00:40:10.440 You know, it would be the whole reason for a computer.

00:40:14.020 But is there a part left out?

00:40:16.860 Is there some context left out or maybe a fuller reason that's not expressed here?

00:40:22.040 So I'd love to hear Elon's take on voting machines.

00:40:28.600 Love to hear that.

00:40:31.360 And then about paper ballots, Trump says, I hope the governor's, he says it'll cost you 8% of what the costs are now.

00:40:40.760 So it'll be 8% of the cost to use paper instead of machines.

00:40:44.120 So it's not faster, it's not cheaper, it's not easier.

00:40:50.560 Why do we have machines?

00:40:53.500 Now, I posted the other day, maybe it was yesterday,

00:40:58.080 that you should Google what countries have banned, just banned, made it illegal,

00:41:05.600 to do some of the things that we routinely do in our elections.

00:41:10.100 For example, did you know there are a number of countries that ban electronic voting machines?

00:41:16.360 You know, the very ones we use?

00:41:18.600 They're banned in some countries.

00:41:20.380 Do you know why they ban them?

00:41:22.660 Security risk.

00:41:23.560 We're actually using systems that our own allies, you know, like European allies,

00:41:32.540 our own allies, and other places too,

00:41:35.000 our own allies, say, are not sufficient for voting.

00:41:39.320 And yet, the American public has been sold on,

00:41:42.500 oh yeah, there's no way to cheat.

00:41:45.780 And then the Europeans who looked at exactly the same systems,

00:41:49.380 the Europeans do know some things, like they're not children,

00:41:53.560 and when their experts looked at it, they said,

00:41:56.100 ah, no, you can't have this in our country.

00:41:58.700 You're banned.

00:42:00.100 And then we just use it.

00:42:02.260 Banned in another country.

00:42:04.180 When I found out my friend got a great deal on a wool coat from Winners,

00:42:08.260 I started wondering, is every fabulous item I see from Winners?

00:42:12.860 Like that woman over there with the designer jeans.

00:42:15.780 Are those from Winners?

00:42:17.320 Ooh, or those beautiful gold earrings?

00:42:19.760 Did she pay full price?

00:42:21.120 Or that leather tote?

00:42:21.940 Or that cashmere sweater?

00:42:23.060 Or those knee-high boots?

00:42:24.820 That dress?

00:42:25.600 That jacket?

00:42:26.280 Those shoes?

00:42:27.300 Is anyone paying full price for anything?

00:42:30.240 Stop wondering.

00:42:31.520 Start winning.

00:42:32.440 Winners.

00:42:33.040 Find fabulous for less.

00:42:35.280 How about the voting by mail?

00:42:38.920 Do you know how many countries say it's illegal to vote by mail?

00:42:44.460 Quite a few.

00:42:46.120 And our allies.

00:42:47.660 Our allies say, oh, it's not safe to vote by mail.

00:42:51.140 That's just asking for a rigged election.

00:42:54.060 And it's our basic way with mail.

00:42:55.780 I think most of our votes were by mail.

00:42:58.920 So if you just take those two things, and then what about same-day voting versus voting for a month?

00:43:07.460 I don't know that there's anybody who does that.

00:43:10.500 Or at the very least, most of our allies probably ban voting outside of the narrow window on voting day.

00:43:18.520 Maybe a day or two.

00:43:20.640 And I'm sure they have special things for, you know, military serving overseas and stuff.

00:43:25.840 But those are just small exceptions.

00:43:27.740 So when you say that our own voting system includes major elements, not minor, but the most important elements,

00:43:37.620 are literally banned by our own allies who also looked into it.

00:43:44.020 Do you feel comfortable with our system?

00:43:47.260 Europe doesn't.

00:43:49.120 How about our food?

00:43:51.680 You ever notice you go to Europe?

00:43:53.080 Europe, and because they've banned more things than we have, you can eat the food and not get fat?

00:43:59.620 Come back to America, God knows what you're putting in your body.

00:44:04.680 Well, sometimes our allies get it right.

00:44:08.620 I think they got it right with food.

00:44:10.680 We'll wait for RFK Jr. to do his full look at stuff to know for sure.

00:44:14.480 But it looks like they got it right with food.

00:44:16.560 And it certainly looks like they got it right with election security.

00:44:20.100 So maybe we shouldn't be so quick to say, America does everything better than everybody,

00:44:27.340 because obviously not.

00:44:29.160 Obviously not.

00:44:31.480 So let's talk about the budget.

00:44:35.700 Oh, the most fun thing about this voting machine thing is I hope it gets to the point

00:44:40.560 where Elon makes a clear statement in his own voice about what he thinks of electronic voting machines.

00:44:47.320 I'm going to guess, I think he may have said it before, but I think he did confirm it actually the other day,

00:44:53.800 that voting machines are not ideal for voting.

00:44:58.880 So in order to get Democrats to disagree, they have to disagree with Elon Musk on a question of technology and systems.

00:45:10.440 It just gets funnier watching the Democrats be in automatic, reflexive disagreement mode about everything.

00:45:21.160 It just makes you can trap them a hundred different ways.

00:45:24.800 All right.

00:45:25.360 All right.

00:45:25.760 Let's go to the next topic.

00:45:27.080 The next topic is electronic voting machines.

00:45:30.900 And Elon Musk says that there is a security problem.

00:45:35.520 What do you say?

00:45:38.700 Well, what does Elon Musk know about technology?

00:45:43.160 It's going to look so dumb.

00:45:45.840 Anyway.

00:45:48.180 I guess there are two versions of the budget that have been passed.

00:45:52.220 The House had a version that covers the whole budget, and I guess that's passed.

00:45:58.280 But of course, both houses would need to pass a bill for it to be the actual budget.

00:46:02.420 So the Senate, instead of waiting for the House or working on the House version, they did their own.

00:46:07.980 Not that unusual.

00:46:09.560 But theirs, they also passed theirs.

00:46:11.500 But theirs is a two-part process.

00:46:14.880 So they only passed the first part.

00:46:17.060 Now, I think there's some strategy involved here.

00:46:20.060 So I think the Senate is thinking a little more strategically.

00:46:23.380 But Trump actually liked the House.

00:46:25.660 Trump liked the House because they threw everything that he cares about into their budget.

00:46:29.800 And he says, well, if you just approve the whole thing, then we're done.

00:46:35.260 But the Senate does one version that's focused on border security, the military, beefing up the military, and focus on energy production.

00:46:45.760 Now, that's pretty smart, too, because if the Republicans are all on board with those things, they can vote on them and then just take them off the table because it's already voted on.

00:46:59.260 And then when they bring the second bill, which they would plan to do later in the year, so that would be the one that talks about Trump's tax policy, extending it, and all the other stuff.

00:47:10.900 All right, that's the good news.

00:47:14.840 Here's the bad news.

00:47:17.880 I read two long stories about these two different budgets, one the Senate version and one the House.

00:47:26.820 Do you know what was not included in either story?

00:47:30.200 The deficit.

00:47:32.320 The deficit.

00:47:33.980 The deficit's the only thing I care about.

00:47:36.700 It's the only thing that's going to kill us.

00:47:38.280 You know, the other things are important.

00:47:40.860 You've got to have a military, you've got to have a border.

00:47:43.500 But really, if you're talking about the budget and your top line isn't, they've got a new budget, it's going to add to the deficit by this much, they're not really in the right conversation.

00:48:00.380 They're not covering it at all.

00:48:03.080 It should be, number one, what would this budget do to our deficit?

00:48:09.240 And then if the answer is, oh, it blows it up worse, then we're done.

00:48:14.080 They need to go back and do it again.

00:48:16.520 Unless they have some other plan that I'm not aware of where the budget will magically not be spent or something.

00:48:23.000 I mean, what's that?

00:48:23.680 So, we have one job.

00:48:27.600 Bring us a budget that doesn't break the bank.

00:48:31.960 Oh, here's a budget that breaks the bank.

00:48:34.480 Well, you got anything else?

00:48:35.840 Yes, we have another budget that breaks the bank.

00:48:38.240 Got anything else?

00:48:39.200 Well, we have a process to create a budget that breaks the bank.

00:48:42.540 Okay, let me say it again.

00:48:44.120 Again, the only thing that would be a mistake, the only thing, would be a budget that breaks the bank.

00:48:51.580 So, let's try it again.

00:48:53.460 You got the House version and the Senate.

00:48:55.780 Could one of you assholes go come back, come back with a budget that doesn't break the bank?

00:49:01.340 Sure, sure.

00:49:02.740 Tomorrow they come back.

00:49:04.540 Well, here's our budget.

00:49:06.140 Does it break the bank?

00:49:08.240 Yeah, it does.

00:49:10.520 How about you in the Senate?

00:49:11.860 Do you have a new one?

00:49:12.600 Yes, we do.

00:49:13.420 Here's a brand new budget.

00:49:15.680 Does it break the bank?

00:49:17.700 Ah.

00:49:20.940 Yeah.

00:49:21.700 Yeah, it does.

00:49:23.760 Can you even get Rand Paul to agree with it?

00:49:28.000 No.

00:49:29.160 No.

00:49:29.520 You can't get Rand Paul to vote for it.

00:49:33.260 Why won't he vote for it?

00:49:37.560 It breaks the bank.

00:49:40.360 Okay.

00:49:41.340 Are you even listening to us?

00:49:43.800 We've got one thing we fucking want.

00:49:47.480 Don't break the bank.

00:49:50.320 All right, I'll try again next week.

00:49:52.540 Here's my budget.

00:49:54.560 Does it break the bank?

00:49:55.800 Well, yeah, but, but, but, but, but there's no time.

00:50:02.220 There's no time left to do it any other way.

00:50:04.940 Really?

00:50:05.920 You waited months until there would be no time so you could fucking shove this down our throats

00:50:12.560 and up our asses at the same fucking time.

00:50:15.560 And we would sit there and say, oh, I guess there's no, there's no time left.

00:50:20.140 There's no time left.

00:50:22.060 Could you get a watch from Rand Paul, please?

00:50:25.340 Could somebody talk to Rand Paul and get a fucking watch?

00:50:28.840 Because there is time if you want to do it right.

00:50:32.520 Now, I know it's hard, but if you can't do it, just fucking give up and tell us, oh, sorry,

00:50:40.020 the only thing you wanted us to do, we're not going to do, and we're not able to do it,

00:50:43.820 and we won't do it later, and we won't do it at the last minute.

00:50:46.260 There's just no way we can do it.

00:50:47.460 Well, give up, and then maybe we'll try something else.

00:50:51.580 Maybe the White House can come up with a budget, and you just have to vote on it.

00:50:55.700 But don't give us another fucking bank-busting budget.

00:51:02.480 Now, if I'm wrong, meaning that there's the, let's say the Doge effort is on top of the budget,

00:51:12.340 so that, you know, as we start realizing the cuts, because it takes a while to actually realize

00:51:18.160 any of the cuts, that the plan is to reduce the budget by exactly the amount of the Doge

00:51:24.860 findings.

00:51:26.200 If that's the plan, could you let us know?

00:51:31.900 Could you include that in the budget wording so that we know, well, we're going to have a,

00:51:37.480 we're going to pass one with a $2 trillion deficit per year, per year.

00:51:42.420 But we're really hoping that by the end of whatever, we'll have most of that $2 trillion cut down,

00:51:49.800 and so in the end, we won't be spending it all.

00:51:52.760 Or tell us this, you know it's too late to do it for the next 12 months.

00:51:57.580 All the Doge cuts that we find, even if we cut it right away, the best we're going to be able to do

00:52:04.020 is kind of look at a 2026 as the year that the Doge cuts really kick in, and then we can really

00:52:11.720 reduce the budget, to which I would say, all right, all right.

00:52:16.940 Everybody wants it sooner, but if anything's good, it's worth waiting for.

00:52:20.800 But I'm reading two major stories in our press, and even the media, even the media is ignoring the

00:52:31.560 deficit when they talk about the budget.

00:52:33.580 How in the world is this even happening?

00:52:38.300 Anyway, so as you know, Zelensky and Trump had some words for each other.

00:52:44.000 And here's what Trump says about Zelensky.

00:52:49.760 He said it on Fox News Radio.

00:52:51.920 He said, quote, I've been watching for years, and I've been watching him, meaning Zelensky,

00:52:56.780 negotiate with no cards, Trump said of Zelensky.

00:53:00.440 He has no cards, and he gets sick of it.

00:53:05.620 Yeah, so I don't think he's very important to be at meetings, Trump says of Zelensky,

00:53:10.840 to be honest with you.

00:53:12.060 And then he said, he makes it very hard to make deals.

00:53:18.280 Now, Trump can dismiss the value of people better than anybody I've ever seen, whether

00:53:24.760 you like it or not.

00:53:29.660 But what he says, Zelensky is trying to negotiate with no cards, and he makes it very hard to

00:53:37.340 make deals.

00:53:37.900 It's just like, it sounds like he's talking about trying to do a Zoom call, and your kids

00:53:43.960 keep coming in and bothering you during the middle of the Zoom call.

00:53:46.500 It's like, I'm trying to do a Zoom call here.

00:53:49.600 I've got to lock the children out.

00:53:51.000 They just keep wandering in the room.

00:53:52.480 It makes it very hard to do a serious Zoom call.

00:53:55.660 Anyway, so apparently, Trump is also angry, according to Rubio and Vance, they both say, that this

00:54:07.640 is being reported in the National Pulse, Jack Montgomery.

00:54:10.320 Apparently, both Rubio and Vance say that Trump is mad at Zelensky, because allegedly, Zelensky

00:54:19.820 had agreed on at least the framework of a deal where Ukraine would be giving up some mineral

00:54:26.600 rights to the US in return for some security guarantees.

00:54:30.560 And Trump went away thinking that that was a done deal, because there had been agreement.

00:54:37.140 And then Zelensky, according to at least our side, Zelensky just lied and said, no, there's

00:54:44.360 no deal.

00:54:46.260 So imagine being the person who lied about what happened in the room, and then threw Trump

00:54:55.300 under the bus with your lie.

00:54:57.820 At the same time, he's the only one that can protect your country.

00:55:02.940 That's what I call somebody who's not good at making deals.

00:55:07.340 So when Trump says that Zelensky is not good, he's making it harder to make deals.

00:55:12.100 Well, there's a perfect example.

00:55:14.840 If you know Zelensky is going to make a deal in private and then publicly say there's no

00:55:19.780 deal, how do you work with that guy?

00:55:22.420 I mean, seriously, what can you do with somebody who does that right in front of you?

00:55:30.000 And, you know, apparently Rubio and Vance are both backing that that's exactly what happened.

00:55:36.240 Now, it would be one thing if he changed his mind or he said, you know, let's not get too

00:55:43.280 far in front of it.

00:55:44.840 We haven't closed on any details of, you know, what it would look like with the mineral rights.

00:55:50.720 So we agree in principle, but we're a long way from a specific agreement.

00:55:56.320 I could live with that.

00:55:58.080 I could live with that if they didn't have any specifics.

00:56:01.560 Just say, don't know it's going to happen.

00:56:04.440 We like it in general, but we're going to have to make sure the details work for Ukraine.

00:56:09.420 But to just come out and say that it didn't happen, that there was no agreement, you leave

00:56:16.980 that guy home.

00:56:19.380 You just leave him home and you make a deal.

00:56:22.400 And then if you can make one, you just make it work.

00:56:26.500 So I'm going to make a point.

00:56:30.440 I don't remember if I made it on the show or I made it in the man cave.

00:56:34.440 Some people are criticizing Trump for seemingly having granted concessions to Putin without

00:56:42.440 actually negotiating.

00:56:43.580 For example, I think Trump's said, you know, certainly there'll be some kind of land for

00:56:51.400 peace deal.

00:56:52.420 So it's not as if Russia is going to give back all the things or any of the things that

00:56:57.820 they've captured.

00:56:59.900 So that seems like you're just giving Putin something.

00:57:03.700 To which I say, it's not giving somebody something if you know that's not up for conversation.

00:57:09.860 And it works both ways.

00:57:11.020 Do you think that Putin is going to ask Trump, at the end of this, we want to make sure that

00:57:17.980 America has no CIA bases and no military bases and no strong connection to Ukraine?

00:57:26.300 Well, that's what Putin would want, wouldn't he?

00:57:30.080 Wouldn't he want Europe and of Ukraine and America and of Ukraine?

00:57:33.880 Do you think he's going to ask for that?

00:57:37.340 Well, probably not.

00:57:38.640 Why would he not ask for the very thing he wants most?

00:57:42.780 Because he wouldn't get it.

00:57:44.240 It would just be a waste of time.

00:57:45.900 So if you watch both Putin and Trump say, OK, I'm not even going to ask for that.

00:57:51.560 That's just a waste of my own time.

00:57:53.780 If you really want a deal, the first thing you have to do is decide what things are not

00:57:59.700 on the table to talk about.

00:58:01.240 And if you both agree with the other side, OK, I get it.

00:58:04.740 I get it.

00:58:05.140 That's not up for conversation.

00:58:08.780 When I made my deal to be a syndicated cartoonist the first time, did I give up anything in

00:58:15.960 negotiation?

00:58:17.340 Of course.

00:58:18.100 Because I knew I couldn't get it.

00:58:21.140 One of the things would be, let's say, OK, I want to do a 15-year contract with you as

00:58:26.440 my syndicator company.

00:58:28.120 But at any time, if I get a better deal from somebody else, I could just go over there.

00:58:32.920 That's what I wanted.

00:58:34.560 Why did I not ask for that?

00:58:36.100 Because there's not any chance in the world that they would have agreed to that.

00:58:41.940 That's the whole industry is based on the fact that this syndication company puts up

00:58:47.920 a lot of resources at first so that they can get money down the line.

00:58:53.240 So you wouldn't ask for something you know you're not going to get.

00:58:56.080 So the same with Trump.

00:58:58.880 Let's check in with Morning Joe Scarborough.

00:59:01.880 He's saying now that Republicans did not vote to cut wasteful spending.

00:59:11.660 Isn't that amazing?

00:59:13.060 I remember when I briefly thought that MSNBC was trying to be news and trying to be maybe

00:59:20.840 biased, but they're trying to be news.

00:59:22.860 Once you realize that they're only in it for the propaganda, it's not really a news network.

00:59:28.180 It's not like even the ones that are biased.

00:59:30.680 I always talk about CNN.

00:59:32.020 CNN is biased.

00:59:33.880 Fox News is biased.

00:59:35.840 But if you know the bias, you can kind of factor that into your viewing.

00:59:40.500 But MSNBC doesn't try to do anything.

00:59:42.600 It's just pure propaganda.

00:59:45.400 Want an example?

00:59:47.500 How about this?

00:59:48.620 NBC, the parent company of MSNBC, NBC is now settling a $30 million defamation suit.

00:59:56.180 And the defamation suit is because they claimed that there was some specific gentleman who was

01:00:05.820 working at the ICE facilities and was doing unnecessary hysterectomies.

01:00:14.020 And he was a uterus collector.

01:00:18.160 So they said he was doing basically, here's what they thought.

01:00:22.920 So MSNBC, and this included Rachel Maddow, Chris Hayes, and Nicole Wallace, they were treating this story as if they'd found Hitler's Dr. Mengele.

01:00:35.220 Because if you believe you're living in a Hitler movie, you're going to look for Dr. Mengele, the one who does illegal and horrific experimentation on people that don't look like you.

01:00:49.320 And so they come up with this story that, according to them, and they're being sued and they lost because it's all fake, they believed, based on some reporting that got to them,

01:01:03.080 they believed that there was a doctor who was just doing unnecessary sterilization of immigrants.

01:01:11.200 Now, how could they have known that that was a fake story?

01:01:15.320 You would all know it, wouldn't you?

01:01:20.960 I'd never heard of the story when it was originally aired.

01:01:24.220 But if I told you, okay, turns out that Trump has a Dr. Mengele kind of guy at the border, and he's just taking the reproductive equipment out of women with surgery,

01:01:39.040 and there's no medical reason, no medical reason at all.

01:01:42.360 Well, what would be your first reaction to that?

01:01:47.280 Well, that's not true.

01:01:49.120 Do you know why you would know that's not true?

01:01:52.280 Say it.

01:01:53.780 Say it.

01:01:54.980 There's a rule.

01:01:56.500 There's a rule I've taught you about how to spot fake news.

01:02:00.580 And this is right on the rule.

01:02:04.240 And the rule goes like this.

01:02:06.580 That's too on the nose.

01:02:09.040 Wait a minute.

01:02:09.940 Wait a minute.

01:02:10.380 You're saying that Trump is Hitler, and now magically has something to do with immigration.

01:02:19.640 That's a little too perfect.

01:02:21.280 That you found a Dr. Mengele who's doing these horrible experimental or whatever he's doing.

01:02:26.700 If I had heard that story on day one, yeah, you got it.

01:02:32.380 If I had heard that on day one, I don't remember hearing it ever, actually.

01:02:35.940 But if I had heard that story, I would say, uh, seriously?

01:02:39.740 Honestly, you can't tell.

01:02:42.380 You can't tell just by hearing it that it's not true.

01:02:48.260 I would guess that most of my audience would have spotted that one right away.

01:02:54.020 What do you think?

01:02:55.940 How many of you think you would have spotted that in the first minute because you know the rule about two on the nose?

01:03:02.180 That two on the nose thing works so well.

01:03:06.600 Like until you see a few cycles of it working, it's hard to convince yourself it's that accurate.

01:03:12.560 But boy, does it work.

01:03:14.380 Because the real world doesn't serve up stories that clean.

01:03:18.260 That's just such a clean, perfect political story.

01:03:23.120 The real world doesn't create those.

01:03:25.020 Those are always fake, right?

01:03:29.020 So at least you wouldn't have been fooled.

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01:04:31.160 Well, here's another win from Robbie Starbuck.

01:04:35.560 Pepsi-Cola has announced it's going to end its DEI policies, according to Katie Jurkovic.

01:04:43.120 Is that really a name?

01:04:44.860 Katie Jurkovic?

01:04:46.040 It must have been tough in high school, unless that's a married name, in which case her husband had a tough time.

01:04:53.320 Anyway, the Daily Wire is writing about this.

01:04:55.520 And they're going to end their DEI stuff.

01:04:58.660 I'm pretty sure that Robbie Starbuck was the driver of that, because he'd mentioned it might be coming.

01:05:05.180 And here's my question.

01:05:09.320 So you're a Democrat, and you've been living in a bubble, and you don't know what's true.

01:05:18.540 But you do believe, you do believe that the things you're being told are largely true.

01:05:27.620 So let's say you believe that DEI was just flat-out good for the world.

01:05:32.940 And you were happy that these big corporations were woke, and that they were pursuing it, because, hey, that's double, double good.

01:05:42.820 Big corporations are on board?

01:05:44.600 Yes.

01:05:45.520 And DEI is good, according to you?

01:05:47.880 Yes.

01:05:48.520 Those are two good things.

01:05:49.840 And then they're implementing it, and they're spending lots of money on the DEI?

01:05:52.960 Yes.

01:05:53.900 That's like a big win, right?

01:05:55.720 And then PepsiCo announces that they're going to end the whole thing.

01:05:59.720 Why would they do that?

01:06:00.920 Why would PepsiCo end it?

01:06:04.680 Is it because they're afraid of Robbie Starbuck?

01:06:08.500 Well, maybe.

01:06:11.100 Maybe.

01:06:12.040 Because he can bring a lot of negative media attention to a company.

01:06:18.820 But here's what I think it is.

01:06:21.700 I think PepsiCo realized it was a huge expense, and it didn't help their DEI or diversity much at all,

01:06:29.520 or at least not in any way they couldn't have done on their own without any DEI.

01:06:34.240 And I think maybe they appreciate it when somebody like Robbie Starbuck comes in and gives them what I call the fake because.

01:06:44.760 So, I've described the fake because in the context of persuasion.

01:06:52.360 A fake because is a reason that you are willing to go with, even if you don't buy into the reason.

01:07:00.200 Because it's something you wanted to do for your own reasons that you maybe couldn't mention.

01:07:04.100 So, you're like, oh, yeah.

01:07:08.520 Yeah, we love this DEI, but I don't think we can handle all the attention that we'd get from Robbie Starbuck.

01:07:16.360 And then half of our customers are conservative, and they'd stop buying.

01:07:20.160 So, I guess we're forced into a corner.

01:07:24.120 You know, we'd really love to just drive this DEI as hard as we could.

01:07:28.220 We'd love to do that.

01:07:29.280 We wish we could, but oh, oh, darn.

01:07:32.760 Darn, Robbie Starbuck came after us, and yeah, that's a risk too.

01:07:38.280 So, I guess we're just going to have to live in the real world and get rid of our DEI as much as we loved it.

01:07:45.280 So, that's a fake because.

01:07:47.720 I don't believe for a minute that the leadership of Pepsi was saying, really?

01:07:54.720 We really wanted to keep this DEI because it was working out so well.

01:07:59.240 Nope.

01:08:00.840 I think the reason you're going to see a lot of the bigger companies now start to fall in line the same way is they all have the same fake because.

01:08:09.380 Oh, so a well-known conservative activist might turn half of our customers against us over this.

01:08:18.860 Yeah, I guess just out of fiduciary responsibility, we're going to have to get rid of DEI.

01:08:24.500 But we'll tell everybody we're still going to get diversity.

01:08:28.280 We'll just do it a cheaper way.

01:08:31.000 So, I think that's what's happening.

01:08:32.720 Now, how do Democrats handle this situation?

01:08:40.600 Well, let's look at the view.

01:08:42.240 So, the view had a conversation about DEI.

01:08:45.280 And the question they were trying to wrestle with on the view, the ladies of the view, is the idea of blind hiring versus normal hiring.

01:08:56.100 Blind would be, presumably, they wouldn't know anything about the candidate except their experience.

01:09:00.720 And then, if the experience was right, then you get the candidate.

01:09:06.840 And then, later, you find out, oh, okay, looks like we got some diversity, too.

01:09:11.060 Double win.

01:09:13.600 But you wouldn't be managing it to it.

01:09:15.940 You know, you would just be managing to merit.

01:09:19.980 Now, the problem is, I don't know how you do blind hiring because you just have to do an interview.

01:09:26.140 I wouldn't hire anybody without an interview.

01:09:28.320 So, I'm not sure how you would do blind hiring, but that was the idea they were talking about.

01:09:33.560 And Sunny Hostin, she starts with the following assumption, which shows she's never worked in a real corporate environment.

01:09:44.120 You know, the TV corporate environment is not like any other.

01:09:47.280 So, TV is just its own little island world.

01:09:51.220 But I got the feeling she's never had any experience with a regular corporation.

01:09:57.260 Because the main thing that people know is that it's not an equal pool of candidates.

01:10:03.920 That's the whole problem.

01:10:04.960 If it were possible, just numerically, and again, this has nothing to do with anybody's genes or race or sexual preference.

01:10:15.100 It has nothing to do with anybody's culture.

01:10:17.940 It's just math.

01:10:19.700 I'll use Elbonians to make my point.

01:10:22.240 If you were trying to make sure you had enough Elbonians working for your company, and you were, let's say, in the nuclear energy business, and you look around, you're like, oh, we've got to get more Elbonians.

01:10:35.880 And you find out there are only three Elbonians who have ever gotten that degree, you know, the degree that you need for that job.

01:10:43.020 And the three of them have already been hired by a bigger company.

01:10:48.440 So, you know, Google already hired them.

01:10:50.020 Apple already hired them.

01:10:51.760 Somebody already hired them.

01:10:52.920 And they were genuinely good.

01:10:55.200 They had all the right experience, all the right everything.

01:10:58.660 So, everybody agrees, those three, absolutely first-rate nuclear scientists.

01:11:05.780 But you need diversity, too.

01:11:08.180 And the only three that had the right background are already hired.

01:11:14.340 What are you going to do?

01:11:15.880 Do you not pursue diversity, at least in terms of Elbonians?

01:11:22.000 Or do you lower your standard and hope it works out?

01:11:26.620 As in, well, I'd like somebody with a PhD in engineering, but how about just somebody who says they're good at it?

01:11:35.240 In the real world, and this is what Sonny Hostin apparently has never been exposed to, is that in the real world, people will manage to the number.

01:11:45.900 So, if you say to me, Scott, there are two things you need to do as a manager in this company.

01:11:50.300 Number one, diversity.

01:11:52.140 And we've got specific goals for you to hit.

01:11:54.400 I go, okay, good.

01:11:55.880 I like it when the goals are specific.

01:11:57.780 Then I know if I hit it or not.

01:11:59.080 And the other one is we want you to get your fusion reactor, which is experimental, and I'd like that to be up and running in five years.

01:12:13.360 And I go, in five years?

01:12:15.480 Yeah, because that's the fastest you might be able to do it.

01:12:18.940 So, I'd say, okay, so you're definitely going to base my bonus on my diversity number this year.

01:12:27.140 But you won't know this year if I'm going to hit my five-year target of opening my nuclear plant.

01:12:35.800 So, I'll just tell you that things are moving along great because I'm not worried about that one.

01:12:41.820 You know, I haven't done anything wrong yet.

01:12:43.600 It's just sort of moving along.

01:12:45.420 But I'm going to make sure I nail the diversity thing because I'm definitely going to suffer if I don't do that.

01:12:52.140 So, what are you going to do?

01:12:53.260 You're going to lower your requirements to hit the diversity target.

01:13:00.000 Now, this is something that Sunny Hostin doesn't understand because she imagines that there's an endless bounty of available, high-quality people that are all there for anybody who wants to hire them.

01:13:11.860 I wish.

01:13:12.700 I wish.

01:13:14.320 If that were true, you wouldn't need any DEI, would you?

01:13:17.880 You would never need a DEI group if everybody who wanted to hire talented people just opened their door and was like, wow, there's a lot of talented people with just the right qualifications.

01:13:29.800 And look, they come in all types.

01:13:32.080 All right.

01:13:32.580 They come in all types.

01:13:33.800 I'm not even going to worry about diversity.

01:13:35.840 I'll just do my hiring in the normal order of doing anything, and diversity takes care of itself.

01:13:41.100 Because diversity was solved before I even opened my door.

01:13:44.740 So, here's my take on the ladies of the view and the question of DEI.

01:13:52.400 They're operating on a completely different fact pattern than you and I.

01:13:58.340 So, because of the different fact pattern, when we look at them, they look like they're either stupid or lying, right?

01:14:07.920 When I'm watching, I think, are you stupid or are you just lying right now and you know it's not true?

01:14:15.160 But, because they also have a different fact pattern than us, when they look at our, maybe even what I just said, they're going to say, huh, hmm, that doesn't make sense with what I know to be true.

01:14:29.240 So, you're either a racist, and you might be lying too.

01:14:35.880 So, you're probably a lying racist.

01:14:38.920 Now, neither of them are true.

01:14:43.360 I don't believe that Sonny Hostin is stupid, and I don't think she's lying exactly.

01:14:49.900 I think she's working with the fact pattern that she thinks are the facts.

01:14:54.960 And when I talk about it, I'm using the facts that I know.

01:14:59.140 And the one thing I would offer is that I don't think the ladies of the view have much or any contact with ordinary straight white men.

01:15:09.840 Because if they had even one, just one ordinary corporate straight man sitting there for, let's say, the hour, everything they thought was true, they'd find out it wasn't.

01:15:22.520 And then the fact pattern would change.

01:15:26.580 Now, if the fact pattern ends up being the same on both sides, and then you've still got wide disagreement, well, then something else is going on.

01:15:35.740 But as long as we're dealing with different facts about, you know, what is the pool of qualified people of every type, if we have a completely different fact about that, you can't judge anybody based on what comes out of their mouth, because it's all driven by the wrong fact.

01:15:53.280 And we're the ones who think we have the right ones, and they think they have the wrong.

01:15:57.820 So I would say this.

01:16:01.940 If you haven't included a straight white man, you just don't know what you're talking about.

01:16:07.440 I feel like I have a pretty good sense for what the non-straight white men are thinking, because it's not that hard.

01:16:17.180 You know, they're just thinking, hey, there should be more of us in this company.

01:16:20.560 We're highly qualified.

01:16:22.200 So why don't we have those jobs?

01:16:24.300 I get it.

01:16:25.320 It's not really hard to understand.

01:16:26.580 But how many Democrats would even understand that for 40 years, 40 years, straight white men have been overtly discriminated against in employment?

01:16:42.060 As in, Bob, come in here.

01:16:44.980 I got to tell you that you can't be promoted because you're straight, you're white, and you're male.

01:16:50.620 We hear it directly.

01:16:54.500 We're not guessing.

01:16:56.620 Management tells us this directly.

01:16:59.020 I've been told this twice.

01:17:00.680 You know, I talk about it too often.

01:17:03.280 I've heard it directly.

01:17:05.000 And if I asked you how many of you have heard it directly, the comments would just go, it'd be full of people.

01:17:12.080 There are 50 million, at least.

01:17:15.720 I bet you there are 50 million witnesses to this, and yet Democrats don't know it.

01:17:21.660 Why?

01:17:22.640 Because it's 50 million people they don't want to hear from.

01:17:25.820 At all.

01:17:27.680 And so they don't.

01:17:30.680 In related news, according to a Gallup report, the Post's millennials writing about this, one in 10 American adults identify as LGBTQ more than ever before.

01:17:42.620 Huh.

01:17:42.800 Let's see.

01:17:43.940 Have we ever talked about this concept of follow the money?

01:17:47.220 Yes, we have, Scott.

01:17:49.320 You talk about it way too often.

01:17:52.080 All right.

01:17:52.520 Well, let's do that with this one.

01:17:54.440 Because it seems like it's about sexual identification, doesn't it?

01:17:58.080 And that the sexual identification as being in the LGBTQ community seems higher than ever.

01:18:05.360 Now, one reason for that could be that there's less stigma.

01:18:10.040 So there are more people saying, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:18:13.280 Now, it's certainly for women.

01:18:15.500 If you know any young women, I'll tell you what a normal conversation with a young woman would look like in 2025.

01:18:22.320 So what do you identify as?

01:18:26.240 Well, I, you know, I like boys.

01:18:29.880 Oh, so you're hetero.

01:18:32.180 Well, I don't rule out a relationship with a woman.

01:18:36.480 What?

01:18:37.580 I mean, I've never been attracted to a woman.

01:18:39.860 This, here I'm pretending to be a young woman.

01:18:42.240 I've never been attracted to a young woman, but I don't rule it out.

01:18:45.220 I mean, if I met the right person, I could imagine that I would go for that.

01:18:50.220 Okay, but you never have, right?

01:18:52.100 No, I never have.

01:18:53.660 But why would I rule it out?

01:18:56.680 Because they don't have any reason to rule it out.

01:18:59.760 So are they bi?

01:19:03.160 Just because they didn't rule it out?

01:19:04.700 Well, kind of yes.

01:19:07.280 They might actually, if they were to fill out a form, they might say, well, I haven't ruled out either gender.

01:19:12.720 So I guess I'm open.

01:19:14.060 Boop.

01:19:15.320 So a lot of it is just how people would answer a question in 2025 and 2024.

01:19:21.820 And a lot of it is that definitely the stigma is gone.

01:19:25.600 And maybe even somebody, you know, thinks it's a little bit sexy to say that they're more open-minded.

01:19:31.200 You know, lots of reasons.

01:19:31.980 But remember following, follow the money always works?

01:19:39.640 And I tell you, why does follow the money always work, even when it should?

01:19:46.100 I don't know.

01:19:47.420 But it always works.

01:19:49.420 Let me do it now.

01:19:50.520 Now, if I applied for a job in corporate America and I said, you know, I present myself as a straight white male, what are my odds of getting the job?

01:20:02.560 Well, maybe a Pepsi Cola a little bit better than it was.

01:20:05.820 But basically, it would be the hardest sell.

01:20:09.120 You're a straight white man.

01:20:11.480 Boom.

01:20:11.700 But if I suck one dick, what happens to my odds of getting hired?

01:20:18.920 Just one dick.

01:20:21.260 Goes through the roof.

01:20:23.020 Because now I'm a member of the LGBTQ community and I'm a preferred candidate.

01:20:28.920 Now, somebody might say, but, you know, do you do it on a regular basis or is it just something you tried?

01:20:36.260 To which I might say, doesn't matter.

01:20:40.740 It doesn't matter how often.

01:20:43.200 Nobody's telling me you can't be gay if you didn't do it a number of times.

01:20:48.420 I sucked one dick.

01:20:49.840 So I'm LGBTQ.

01:20:51.200 Get over it.

01:20:51.780 All right.

01:20:53.180 Well, would it be okay if we put you down as LGBTQ?

01:20:57.540 Absolutely.

01:20:58.840 You fill out your form any way you like.

01:21:00.740 Just give me that job.

01:21:02.600 Now, do I believe anybody has done that?

01:21:06.080 I've never heard of it.

01:21:07.660 I've never heard of it once.

01:21:09.420 But why is it that the economic incentive to be LGBTQ exists at the same time there are way more LGBTQ people?

01:21:21.780 So, yes, it could be completely explained by people are more open-minded and society is less judgmental.

01:21:30.020 That could explain 100% of it.

01:21:32.180 But why is it always that follow the money will also tell you what's going to happen?

01:21:38.200 Why does it always work?

01:21:40.480 I guess that's just the mystery we'll have to figure out.

01:21:42.720 All right.

01:21:45.900 Well, Hamas is looking.

01:21:50.840 I guess they released some more hostages.

01:21:55.560 And one of them has not been identified.

01:21:58.540 I think there might have been some question about one of the prior hostages.

01:22:02.720 May not have been who they said it was.

01:22:04.400 But here are the numbers.

01:22:08.120 There are 59 hostages remaining.

01:22:12.080 And maybe half of them are reportedly deceased.

01:22:16.760 So by hostage, I mean, in that case, there would just be the bodies.

01:22:20.580 But 59 of them are left.

01:22:23.200 And they're releasing them in, like, groups of, you know, four and six and stuff.

01:22:27.760 Are we going to have to just put up with this for, what, years?

01:22:33.420 I mean, pretty much playing into their hands.

01:22:35.980 Because there's no real better way to handle it, which is what Hamas knows.

01:22:40.980 So I was brainstorming this morning to see if there was a better way to handle it.

01:22:46.200 And I don't know.

01:22:48.000 I don't know.

01:22:48.440 But let me just throw out an idea.

01:22:50.180 And this will be the bad idea.

01:22:51.960 And then see if you can fix it.

01:22:53.640 Presumably, there's some budget already for how much humanitarian aid is getting to the residents of Gaza, the ones who have been displaced mostly.

01:23:04.780 So let's say there's some budget.

01:23:07.640 And I'll just put a number on it.

01:23:09.400 Let's say $20 billion over some period of time for humanitarian support.

01:23:16.520 Here's what I'd be tempted to do.

01:23:18.840 But this would be a humanitarian disaster.

01:23:21.580 I'd be tempted to say, here's the deal.

01:23:27.040 You've got $20 billion coming to keep your people alive and help them get resettled, wherever it is they end up.

01:23:34.520 But we're going to reduce that by half a billion dollars for every hostage we don't have back by Tuesday.

01:23:42.220 Pick a date.

01:23:42.780 So then Hamas gets to decide how long they wait.

01:23:49.640 But by Tuesday, they're going to lose their funding for humanitarian aid.

01:23:54.380 Now, that would be punishing the civilians for what the Hamas people in the tunnels are doing.

01:24:03.580 Typically, that would be the worst thing you could do.

01:24:05.840 That's like a war crime.

01:24:07.360 You know, it's like collective punishment.

01:24:08.620 But what we're doing now is also a war crime.

01:24:14.280 And I don't know how kind you're supposed to be to the population that seems almost fully supportive of the terrorists.

01:24:25.280 How much money are you supposed to give them for wanting to kill you?

01:24:32.380 I don't know.

01:24:33.600 Now, I'm not there, so I don't know what percentage of the Gaza refugees just want to mind their own business and don't want to hurt anybody.

01:24:45.360 Surely, some people like that exist.

01:24:48.520 But it doesn't seem like the majority.

01:24:51.840 And so, and it wouldn't work, by the way.

01:24:55.480 This is why I call it a bad idea.

01:24:57.200 As soon as you said you were going to deny food and medicine to the civilian population, that would be the end of that idea.

01:25:04.100 But there has to be something that we're taking away from Hamas for every person they're not giving us back.

01:25:12.700 There needs to be a specific cost and not just a, well, someday we're really going to bomb you.

01:25:20.760 Well, then you never get them back.

01:25:23.300 So it should be, you can take all the time you want.

01:25:26.800 It's costing you half a billion dollars per person you don't give us.

01:25:31.760 Something.

01:25:32.620 Now, like I said, it's the bad idea because it wouldn't be practical.

01:25:35.700 But is there any way that we can just put them on a schedule and say, you get to decide.

01:25:43.000 Yeah, you make up your own mind.

01:25:45.560 And we'll make sure that the residents know it's you who made this decision.

01:25:51.400 Well, anyway, Owen Gregorian is going to have a spaces right now after we're done.

01:25:58.180 I think I'm going to say goodbye both to the locals people and the rest of you because Owen will be firing up the spaces right about now.

01:26:10.600 He's probably getting ready to do it.

01:26:12.500 So look for Owen Gregorian and you can carry on the conversation if there's anything you heard today you want to follow up on or probably anything else.

01:26:20.240 And everybody, thanks for joining.

01:26:22.300 I really appreciate it when you take part of your Saturday to show up.

01:26:28.860 So X and Rumble and YouTube and locals to everybody.

01:26:35.060 Say goodbye.

01:26:37.420 All right.

01:26:39.200 I'll see you tomorrow.

01:26:40.460 Same time.

Real Coffee with Scott Adams - February 22, 2025

Episode 2758 CWSA 02⧸22⧸25

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