All language subtitles for 1 1 Real.Time.with.Bill.Maher.S24E13.480p

Start the clock.

Oh, I love you too.

Thank you so much. Listen.

I know.

Thank you. I appreciate it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. Wow.

What, did I have a heart attack or
something?

I'm fine, but I appreciate it. And I
know why you're happy. Congress.

finally has passed a funding bill for
the Homeland Security Department, which

means the TSA, the people who keep us
safe from shampoo.

So that's finally over after 11 weeks.
And all the big airports have already

been upgraded from complete shitshow to
giant pain in the balls. So that's...

But... Of course,

the big story, another week where
political violence has...

We're at its ugly head again. We are
officially now, I'm sure you saw what

happened at the Correspondence Center,
in the age of Gen Z assassins.

See this one? Before he did it, he took
a selfie.

No, I'm not making that up.

His manifesto had jokes.

Jokes. And it was on recycled paper.

I mean, we're in a very different era.

But, you know.

So we know who this guy is now. At the
time, what happened, nobody knew.

No one knew because they just knew a
guy. He had a shotgun. He had a .38. He

hunting knives.

Either it was a far -left activist
heading out to kill or a right -winger

heading out to dinner.

But I am not surprised that it didn't
work, that it failed,

because trust me, from a comic, no one
ever kills at the correspondence dinner.

I've been there.

Yeah. And, of course, the good news is
that no one at the banquet was hurt,

really, as soon as it started.

Everyone went under the table, where a
lot of the Trump administration was

anyway.

I kid the... Oh.

I kid the Trump people. They like a
little nip of the sauce every once in a

while. Now, when you saw pictures of
this guy and you heard about him,

at Caltech, it was like, it's a little
disturbing. You know, he seemed like

a nice, normal guy, the last person you
would ever expect to be trying to kill

the president until he was activated by
James Comey's seashells.

Have you heard about this?

Yes?

Very serious stuff.

Justice Department is trying to put
former ex -head of the FBI, James Comey,

jail for posting seashells. Why? Because
the seashells spelled out 8647.

He's the Manchurian beachcomber.

86, you get it? 86, get rid of 47.

Yeah, they're going a little crazy there
in Washington, but it was a big week

for kings.

Are you fans of kings? A weird week for
kings, because King Charles of England

was here, spoke to a congress, got a
standing ovation from the people who

to be at the No Kings rallies.

And then, the rest of the time here, he
hung out with Trump. These two...

When they're on a play date, they are
having... No, they just vibe. They just,

you know, same age. They kind of dig
each other, and they get it. And, you

they're cousins.

They're 15th -room cousins.

They share an ancestor, the Duke of
Orange.

No,

it's funny.

It is funny, because King Charles is
officially a king.

But he doesn't act or can't act. You
know, England is a parliamentary system.

And Trump.

Trump this week put his face on a coin.

You know, like Julius Caesar used to do.
His face on a coin. It's like a regular

coin, except it just doesn't make sense.

All right, Sid.

Oh, yeah, over at the war.

Remember the war?

You remember the war.

No changes. The staring contest
continues.

This is getting uncomfortably like a
relationship fight.

And we're at the not speaking, we're
arguing over who broke up with who

Fuck that. I fucked that up.

It wasn't going to be that big anyway.
I'm telling you, you didn't miss a lot.

But at least good news out here. You
know why?

Hollywood, hello. The box office, back
again, baby.

Devil Wears Prada opens today. They
think that's going to make a fortune.

Project Hail Mary was a big hit. People
are going to the movies again.

Yeah, man.

Oh, and Michael, the Michael Jackson
movie.

Huge. Oh, you saw it, yeah.

Yeah, especially among the younger
generation.

Michael's really good at luring kids.

No, the movie.

And also big news here from California.

The billionaire's tax.

You know what this is? They've been
talking about it for a long time. A one

-time tax if you have a billion dollars.
And now, just this week, we got the

news of enough signatures for it to be
on the ballot in November to send a

powerful message.

California doesn't belong to the rich.
It belongs to the millions of faceless,

anonymous people who are running for
governor.

All right.

We've got a great show. We have the
governor. We have Jillian Tutt and Brett

Stevens, but also the Democratic
governor of this state, host of the This

Gavin Newsom podcast, and author of
Young Men in a Hurry, a Memoir of

our governor, Gavin Newsom.

All right.

Good to be home. Good to be home.

All right.

So you heard what I ended there with,
the billionaire tax. And I know you are

against the billionaire tax. So this is
interesting to people who don't live

here and follow it. They would think,
oh, Gavin is some far lefty. He's going

be for the billionaire tax.

But you're not. Well, I think
billionaires do need to be taxed more,

not at the state level. Capital moves.
And the challenge with this particular

tax. If it doesn't include firefighters
and teachers, they're left out of the

tax. It's one time. And we've already
seen dozens and dozens of people leave

state. But my state of mind is crystal
clear. At a federal level, the imbalance

between the rich and the poor has got to
be addressed. And the issue of ultra

wealthy folks like Buffett, folks like
Bezos, folks like Bloomberg paying one

two percent tax. You pay, Bill, a hell
of a lot more. I talked about it last

week. They tax the shit out of us, the
regular rich. Yeah.

No one stands up to the regular rich. No
one's standing up.

And two with the point. So for the ultra
-wealthy, we've got to deal with a

stepped -up basis. We've got to deal
with the fact that we're not taxing

gains at income tax or ordinary income.
We've got to address the fact they're

borrowing against tax about their
capital gains, and they're passing on

massive trusts without any taxation to
the next generation. All of that needs

happen, but this... Particular tax is
not the answer. Okay, but we're not here

to talk about politics. You're you What

do

you want to talk about your book Oh,
that's it.

A politician with a book. You forgot
what you're doing. I forgot this is a

tour. You're on a book tour. I'm on a
book tour. A young man in a hurry.

Exactly.

It's about the book. We're not talking
about the book. It's just about the

Yes, sir. How is the book affecting your
campaign for president?

I know it's a good thing. I will say
this. I don't know why everybody running

for president, not that you are or
anything.

Has to write a book. But this one is
different. It is not your typical book

a politician writes. It's better. First
of all, it's not sentimental.

No. And it's really your voice.

Yeah. You know, it's... What?

No, I appreciate it. Keep going. No, it
is.

I'm enjoying this. It is. I mean, and,
you know, it's honest in the sense that,

you know...

You didn't have the easy time a lot of
people think.

You had what I would call a normal
fucked -up family.

Every family's a little messed up,
right? And that was yours. Yeah, a

mom, divorced family, a mom that worked
two, three jobs all her life, and a

father that was distant years and years
trying to connect with him, and finally

I was able to do it, and he was there
for the day I got elected governor and

passed away shortly thereafter.

And so it's a story that's very familiar
with a lot of folks, and it's a story

that's really a love letter.

single moms. My rock star mom that just
did everything to sacrifice for me.

But, Bill, I appreciate what you're
saying. This is not a book, you know,

is not some triumphant BS book.

I mean, I tried to scrutinize my life. I
wasn't trying to sanitize anything, and

I went back all my mistakes. If you
don't like me, you should buy this in

because there's all kinds of issues
there that can exploit. But it's an

portrayal of this young man in a hurry
who put a mask on, and my face started

growing into it, and I was becoming
someone that I didn't want to be.

And a big part of, you know, why I wrote
it was just,

Let go.

And just, you know, just start to be
myself, warts and all, and love me or

me. Well, they will pick out things like
that in the campaign and use them

against you. I know. I'm just saying.
What campaign are you keep referring to?

You're right.

You're right. Unbelievable, John.

Really. Really. I meant your book tour.

No, but I mean, as this, well, you are
particularly the frontrunner. I mean,

they do polling and you are the
frontrunner of the Democratic Party.

that's just a fact. I appreciate it.

As the heat gets heatier, you...

It must worry you. I mean, what you saw
this weekend in Washington.

Not just coming after you, obviously,
when you run for office, the horrible

things people write and people say, and
there is nothing off limits to take you

down. No. And you've already been there,
but it only gets worse the closer you

get to the prize. That's right. What did
you think when you saw that this

weekend? Well, evil. I mean, you know,
you've got to condemn it. You've got to

call it out.

And so I don't like the rhetoric on
either side. We all have to be held to a

higher level of accountability.

So, you know, that's easy to condemn.

But there's also an asymmetry here. You
have the president of the United States

that set the tone and tenor for this
country.

And that's not a partisan statement.
That's an institutional statement. He's

president. And you just made the point.
What did he do the day after? He talked

about, you know, a beach photo and an
indictment of one of his enemies. He

talked about his ballroom, his Kremlin
ballroom.

He's not doing anything to try to unite
this country in any way. shape or form

and you know for me uh that's to to me
that's the biggest reflection of this

moment is is how the just the sewer that
we're now living in

because of donald trump uh and he's
allowed all of it to us to feel free to

shove again and i think if nothing else
forget but many people would say that

you are imitating him you among all the
people who may or may not be running

You were the one who kind of imitates
his style with the trolling.

You're suing Fox now, I understand.

We're going into discovery.

Fox better look to settle right now or
apologize for defamation.

Okay, but that sounds exactly like what
he does.

Suing media?

Different point. Well, then don't
defame, don't lie.

Again, but that does sound like him.
Well, here's the point. I'm trying to

mirror up to Donald Trump. Yeah.

And I think it's important with a sense
of humor as well.

The deviation of normalcy is off the
chart. This is a guy cosplaying as the

Pope, dressing up as Jesus, a guy
putting his face on Mount Rushmore,

all cap. None of this is normal. And you
may recall when I first started doing

this, the folks on Fox said, oh, this is
so unbecoming of the governor of

California. He should wash out his mouth
with soap and water with no situational

awareness. that their dear leader has
been doing this for years and years and

years. He's a man -child.

And so I think it's important to call
that out, the dignity of the president

the United States.

But again, we're not trying to
dehumanize.

We're just trying to reflect that
reality and express the absurdity of all

this. And look, the absurdity, it's
every day.

It's a corruption story, the Trump
administration.

You referenced it obliquely in the
opening monologue.

But let's get serious. He's got eight or
nine countries. He's done major golf

course or development deals.

It's meme coins and stable coins. It's a
crypto. It's World Liberty Financial.

It's getting, you know, a piece of the
piece. I mean, the piece board is about

getting a piece for Witkoff and for
Kushner. You see Donald Trump Jr.

in the drone companies, in the mineral
companies.

You're seeing the kind of corruption
that's not, you know, not.

$60 Bibles. It's not sneakers.

It's not $100 ,000 watches.

It's the greatest grift we've ever seen
in our lifetime.

And that also needs to be called out. We
can't allow any of this to be

normalized. So our social media is part
of that.

And that's why we've got to continue to
be accountable.

Okay. Well, that's all true. And it's
going to be a great part of your

The other stuff, what they're going to
say, though, is, but have you seen the

stats from California?

Good.

For the largest economy, let's go. Are
they going to say good about gas prices?

Are they going to say good about how
high the rents are?

I mean, there's a whole litany. I mean,
the train.

Gavin, you've got to get rid of the
train.

I say this as a friend. You've got to
let that train go.

It's up to $231 billion. No, it's not.

We're doing a $119 million segment.
We've got it back on track. It goes back

three administrations. I inherited a
mess. We put it back on track. track.

the environmental work is behind us.
We're actually laying the track. All the

legal litigation, all the land issues
are all behind us. We're actually making

this project work.

And so that's a fact. Now, on the issue
of California.

Well, it's been a long time coming. Of
course it has. And you can't make up for

the past. I can only make up for my
segment, literally and figuratively, as

governor over the last seven years. But
look, you talk about California. We're

the envy of the world.

Since I've been governor, no other
developed nation has outperformed our

economy. No other state has outperformed
the economy of the state of California.

Do you think people feel that?

They may not feel that in every way,
shape, or form, but we dominate in every

key industry. We dominate in
manufacturing, agriculture, hunting

jobs, more scientists, more Nobel
laureates, more researchers, the highest

system of higher education, the finest
in the world, more venture capital. You

talk about the future, you're talking
about California and AI and quantum.

on fusion, on space.

California is dominant.

We also have seen the last three years
population growth.

We've got to update our talking points.
We've seen a 9 % decline in unsheltered

homelessness. Got to update our talking
points. We've seen a 60 % increase in

permits for housing. We've got to update
talking points. I'm very proud of the

state of California.

When I see this.

Oh, God. Here we go.

I see a front run. I see this thing with
the head.

Unbelievable.

Look at that, Bill. Look at that.

So there's a governor race going on here
now. Any favorites?

I'm trying to avoid it. I mean, the only
thing I'm focused on is making sure

that Democrats don't get locked out.
It's an open primary, just two

running, lots of Democrats running,
Democrats diluting, top two. So let's

sure there's a Republican and a Democrat
in the runoff. Okay.

I want to read a... Remember Barney
Frank?

He's ailing. I wanted to say, if you're
watching, we love you.

I always say he's my favorite
congressman. He was my favorite.

He said Democrats have embraced an
agenda that goes beyond what's

acceptable. What do you think he means
by that? I don't know. I think maybe

talking about some of the things you've
talked about for years and things that

I've...

brought up as well as around being more
culturally normal, which comes across

very negatively.

What does that mean? Words matter. The
way we talk about things matter.

Getting stuck in identity politics.

Some of the policies, not all. Is there
anything you're going to say California

was too far left on? Because I feel like
if you don't, I think a lot of the

country is not going to listen. Yeah,
look, I mean, I think there's a lot of

things that, you know, I've said this in
the past, things I could have done

better, more. I look back at COVID. We
just put out. detail, over a thousand

pages, what we did right and wrong
during COVID as it relates to the issues

outdoor and beaches being shut down,
schools being shut down for too long.

we also made the point we had a lower
death rate than any other large state,

that our economy recovered faster than
any other large state. And we had one of

the fastest vaccine rollouts in the
country. So there's good and bad on the

issue of housing and homelessness, what
we could have done more aggressively

sooner. But on social issues, where I
think you tend to be leaning towards,

know, I've also So I've made my point of
view. No, it relates to issues of

sports and transports, which I just
think it's not being transphobic. Common

sense. But I get how people are
sensitive to that because that's been

and people have been talked down to. And
the community has been abused by those

that want to take advantage of this
politically. So there's a sensitivity in

that. But look, if we're in identity
space, if we're fighting the last

war, we're toast.

And perhaps that's what Barney's
referring to.

you've been preaching and practicing, I
think, appropriately for a long, long

time. Well, you know, I certainly

practiced it on my podcast, which

I'd like you to do, Club Random, where I
practice something that is legal.

And by the way, who legalized that? You
did. I just want to go on.

I just want to go on this.

Good luck with your book.

Thank you. And whatever else you may be
doing. God bless you. Whatever else you

are. Governor Gavin Newsom. Thank you,
Paul.

All right.

Let's get off that.

Okay. Here's the Pulitzer Prize -winning
opinion columnist for The New York

Times. Brett Stevens is over here.

A bearded Brett Stevens. And she's the
head of King's College, Cambridge, and a

columnist for the Financial Times,
Jillian Tett. Hey, good to see you.

Okay.

Well, let's get the ugly news about the
political violence out of the way first,

because we have to talk about it.

I'm just going to vomit my take on it,
and then you can argue.

I would just like to say, if you're one
of these people, and there's many in

this country who watched that and was
disappointed the president wasn't

See, they're laughing at that.

You're not a good person.

Or a smart person.

But definitely not a good person. I was
reading this in your paper, an interview

with Governor Pritzer of Illinois, and
they asked him, like, where does the

president have to be? And he said, good,
decent, and kind.

Which, who can disagree with that? And
certainly Trump has often not been good,

decent, or kind.

But he's not Hitler. You can't say that
you are...

fighting for democracy or a believer in
democracy and at the same time excuse

political violence as a mechanism for
political change. It's one or the other.

And that's the essence of our system,
that it gives us the opportunity to

things through the will of the people
and not through the barrel of a gun. And

people who don't get that don't
understand the basis of the system they

supposedly championing.

If you look at opinion polls, it's scary
how much of a proportion of Gen Z are

now saying that they support some form
of political violence to express, you

know, their opposition.

And that's got to change.

I mean, that is simply not, as Brett
says, the way to build a democracy.

And it took King Charles to come over to
America to essentially give a lecture

about democracy.

Well... And it's probably...

It was probably about the only lecture
about democracy that President Trump, a

.k .a. King Trump, would actually listen
to.

You British really don't want to let go
of that democracy. I am both American.

You really, really don't. I swing both
ways. I'm American and British.

When you mention Gen Z, I also think
that it's a function of an educational

system that for way too long thought
that censoriousness... was a mechanism

for social change, that telling people
to shut up, that their views were wrong,

that you could shout down speakers, that
you could disinvite people from your

campus. You didn't have to listen to the
other side.

You could go and occupy a college campus
because you believed in, say,

Palestinian rights, and you wanted to
champion

globalizing the Intifada. Eventually,
that has consequences.

I mean, there's a reason why you're
seeing this kind of sense of permission

among younger people for violent
behavior.

Because if you think globalizing the
Intifada is like a cool slogan to chant,

some point, whether it's the Intifada or
some other trendy political cause,

someone in that group is going to
believe it's true and they're going to

it. And it's not just universalism. I
mean,

a lot of this is actually TikTok,
YouTube.

all the kind of social media that
presents these very simple one

solutions and assume that you can
basically treat life like a video game,

you don't like it, go bang, bang, and
it's over.

But some of the rhetoric is not just
from TikTok.

I get why that's a sewer.

But this is mainstream.

I mean, it's funny because I remember
when the shoe was on the other foot, and

the liberals used to always say, and
they were right to say it, that a lot of

this very violent rhetoric that we hear
on the left...

It inspires the borderline personality
to then do something.

And they were right. I never thought
they were wrong. But the shoe's on the

other foot now. I mean, it's on both
feet. But you've got to own this kind of

rhetoric. And, you know, if you call
Trump, this is why I was against this,

Hitler bullshit.

I mean, if you really believe that he is
a Hitler McPedophile, then you kind of

have to kill him.

That's the mentality they have.

Well, both sides. You've got extremists
on both sides. And the tragedy is most

Americans, the majority of Americans,
actually are pretty centrist and don't

like either extremes.

But the political system is pulling us
both ways right now. I think it's true.

And I don't think that anyone who
supports Trump and is horrified by the

violence that they saw at the
correspondence dinner or the two

assassination attempts, they all have to
take a big...

step back and ask themselves, how are
they supporting a president whose tweets

or social media posts, whose rhetoric is
consistently trying to

delegitimize his political opponents.
Trump did it not with one Democratic

president, President Obama calling into
question his birth certificate, but with

President Biden as well.

And I just would like to ask people on
the right, imagine if this had happened

two or three years ago when President
Biden was in office and the killer was

some guy or the would -be assassin was
some guy with a manifesto saying that

Biden stole the election of 2020.

Where would he have gotten that
rhetoric?

So there needs to be a deep, you know,
chill in terms of in terms of the way in

which we speak about our political
opponent.

But here's the thing, Brett.

I mean, you know.

So I'm trained as a cultural
anthropologist and anthropologists

a lot of what my first mistake,
apparently. Yeah, but.

There's a lot of the rhetoric and
stylistic, you know, performative

that Trump has borrowed from the
wrestling ring, if you look at how he's

actually presenting himself politically.

And an awful lot of it is about calling
each other names and stage managing the

fake conflict like it's a game.

And so in a wrestling ring, it's fine.
You can shout violence against each

other, but then you take it to real
life. Today we are talking about

assassination, actually putting someone
to death.

What I'm saying here is that there is a
problem with, of course, whatever you

just said about Trump is true, and
everything he tweets out and everything,

there is a little bit of a difference
between that and people who think we're

a mess in this country. The way out of
this mess is he dies.

That's what a lot of people think. And
I'm just telling you, I don't think

you're a good person there. I wouldn't
want to be that person who thinks that

way. Also, it's just not smart.

You think that's going to solve the
problem?

He would be a martyr, first of all.

J .D. Vance would be president.

I mean, MAGA's not going to die. We
tried impeaching. That didn't work. We

going to the courts. That didn't work.
The only way this actually works, it's

happening. His popularity is at the
lowest level it is. Even among his core

supporters are falling off. The only way
this ends is...

at the ballot box like in training day
when denzel goes to the neighborhood and

they've all turned on him and he's like
i'm king kong up in here and they're

like no you're not anymore

That is the only way it actually ends.

One brief additional point, which is
that the left, including the hard left,

to learn how to speak about Trump
without immediately equating him to

You can be bad and not Hitler.

You can be wrong.

You can be a worrying president.

At the same time, now I'm repeating you,
the best way to do it is to argue your

case.

Once you start with Hitler, it's like
any time you do, we've seen it in many

places in the world where they make
someone into, whether it's Rwanda or,

know, the Hutus saying the Tutsi were
Berman or the Hutu. Somebody was Berman,

remember. The Tutsi was Berman. Whatever
it was. And then the next, whenever you

dehumanize someone to that degree,
people are going, oh, I'm doing the, I'm

hero. This guy wasn't crazy, crazy.

Like, he wasn't hearing.

You know, the dog wasn't talking to him
and the moon. He just was like watching,

you know. Social media, yeah. Yeah, the
more virtuous you think you are. And

media media.

And media media, yeah. The more virtuous
you think you are, the more you have

permission to behave diabolically.

Can I go back to what Brett was saying?
It's actually universities have a duty

to teach their students, the kids.

about civilized, intelligent, respectful
debate, about listening to all sides of

an argument, about separating out an
idea from a person, and actually

you can have a furious row and then be
friends with that person afterwards. And

that is a good point.

Okay, so another aspect of it I think
that is new, which is

that people now, when something like
this happens, way more than they ever

to before, go right to the conspiracy
stage.

I mean, this was always something.

But I never heard the term false flag
operation until I think it was the Sandy

Hook shooting. Now that's immediate. We
go right to that.

Okay, so anthropologists have looked at
this a lot over the centuries.

And whenever you have people losing
trust in the system and or in a state of

great anxiety, you get conspiracy
theories flourishing. They're not new.

But right now, we have those two
conditions in America, which are...

stoking up endless conspiracy theories.

And, of course, social media and the
digital world amplifies that. But can I

blame the universities?

Okay, I'm a target.

I think this has something to do with
the decline in critical thinking skills.

I remember watching, I think, one of
the, Armstrong or Aldrin, one of

the people who landed on the moon
talking about...

you know, the conspiracy theory about
that being staged. And they made the

400 ,000 people would have to be in on
the secret and have to have kept the

secret for decades.

Exactly.

No, but, I mean, that is where we are.

We go right to it. We were staged.

Everything was staged.

You know, they don't believe it. They
thought the assassination in Butler. I

remember refuting lots of people who I
thought were rather intelligent people.

And I'm like, how could it be staged?
They shot the guy. The guy behind him

the bullet. It's like we don't have the
bullet. But now we have AI. So, of

course, people think the stage is
becoming harder and harder to tell

actually man -made and what's silicon
-made.

I mean, that's a problem. Yeah, but we
also have people who don't know the

concept that if you have two...

the simpler one is probably the right
one. Malcolm Fraser, it's a thousand

years. I'd like to push back on what
Brett said about universities. I do

with you. Universities are critical at
this point.

Overseeing King's College, we are
fighting to have not just critical

developed, to have proper debate between
the students, and to also have them

forced to talk about their ideas at
length in front of a professor.

All universities other than Cambridge
and the University of Chicago are to

blame. He was at Chicago.

I'll say one other thing, which is that
I was chatting to a head of American

University the other day who said, well,
we're having to change our mission

statement, are you?

I said, well, actually, King's College
was founded in 1441 by King Henry VI,

had his mission statement in pursuit of
education, religion, learning, and

research. Now, the religion part may be
a bit controversial now, but that four

-part mission statement from 1441 is
basically what universities should be

doing, education, learning, and
research.

Well, we can get back to this, but I
just want to say this thing about

everything is staged. There is a
magazine out now because people are so

this theory all the time that something
is staged, and we got a hold of it.

Would you like to see some of the
articles and say, where is my copy of

Magazine? Look at this.

For example, some of the articles this
week, we spoke to the crisis actor who's

been playing your neighbor since 2017.

Exclusive photos, Will Smith and Chris
Rock rehearsing the slap.

Did Neil Armstrong's wife fake it?

Was Gettysburg faked? 51 ,000 witnesses
conveniently

killed.

Where are they now? Our interview with
Jeffrey Epstein.

I'm suspicious. We asked 12 scientists
why the moon is visible at 2 p .m. and

all 12 hung up on us.

The demons that attacked Tucker Carlson
in his sleep break their silence.

Brad and Angelina together again? New
clues from the back of the $1 bill.

Alex Jones, get rid of your soon -to -be
-worthless U .S. dollars by sending

them to me.

And you won't believe who writes your
text messages and how they convince you

it's you.

So you seem absolutely head up to talk
about this education stuff and higher

education. Let's do it. The big story
this week that I saw, Yale, that's here

America, that's also pretty old. I've
heard of that. Yeah.

What is that? Back to the 17th century.
Harvard is 1636.

18th century for Yale, yeah. Oh, okay.

All right. What is Chicago?

Oh, like late 19th century. Yeah.

Anyway, they wanted to study themselves
why the trust in higher education was so

in the toilet, which it is. Some of the
things, tuition is too high, way too

much bureaucracy, unfair admission
standards.

Certainly Asian people have sued about
that, and I think won.

Great inflation, but mostly it is
indoctrination, what we were just

about. At Yale, it's 36 to 1, the number
of Democrats to Republicans who work at

that school.

36 to 1. Even if you're a Democrat, you
shouldn't think that that's a good

thing. It's not.

It's never. That's why this state is
fucked up in some ways. It's because

there's nobody checking one side.

And they just do not like the idea that
teachers now, or the professors,

whatever,

see it as more a job of enforcing a
political opinion than just instructing

people. They see themselves as some sort
of red guard, I think, a lot of them.

Certainly the ones you hear about.

And they seem to want to just...

point the kids in a direction instead of
just telling the kids what happened,

what the facts are, and let the kids
make up their own mind. Is that not

accurate? Well, I haven't been at Yale,
so I won't speak for Yale. I will give

them some credit for actually having
this. Well, in general, just all these

elite schools. Well, yeah, I would
disagree that the teachers necessarily

that. I think issues around legacy
admissions, high fees.

You think teachers don't do that here in
America? I think they do to some degree

in some context. However, it's not just
about that. It's also about the legacy

admissions, the high fees, the
completely screwed up system for handing

grades, et cetera, et cetera. It's a
bundle of things.

Kudos to Yale for having looked at
themselves and having issued this

Because frankly, I can't imagine the
White House doing anything like that

anytime soon.

Can you imagine the White House issuing
a report on itself? And of course they

had to overreact to the situation. Like
many things that the White House does,

they identify something that really is a
problem.

Sometimes the town doesn't need cleaning
up, and then they clean it up in the

wrong way. They cut off medical funding.
What the fuck does that have to do with

this? Absolutely. Well, Brett has got a
great column on this.

Look, I mean, I think it's a little bit
different with the White House. I mean,

administrations are supposed to be
partisan.

But the point of a campus is to have an
opportunity to engage with points of

view that are radically different from
your own. Like, I don't necessarily

that Yale needs an even balance of
Democrats and Republicans. But the

have is that at elite institutions, you
are getting echo chambers. And echo

chambers are deadly for productive,
critical.

And what has to happen isn't for schools
like Yale to set up little conservative

islands or institutes or have a token
faculty member.

What they need to do is to make sure
that in every department.

The people who are in the faculty are
skeptics, contrarians, nonconformists,

gadflies. That was there when I was at
university over 30 years ago, again, at

Chicago. It has to be there at every
major American university.

Otherwise, we are graduating young
people who think that they are much

and much better critical thinkers than
they are, and there's nothing worse than

people who think they're smarter or
brighter than they really are. Well, we

of agree.

For the benefit of any students
watching, we can stage manage a kind of

debate if you want. I can disagree with
you, but we kind of agree on this,

unfortunately. Okay.

I'm glad we can end that there because
there's a bigger story that we have to

get to, which is the Voting Rights Act,
which is the big story this week because

the Supreme Court ruled on, it's so
funny, it was only one week ago we were

talking about gerrymandering because the
state of Virginia decided to, and

again, Trump started this with Texas.

Let's gerrymander Texas, then Virginia,
then California.

We responded, now we're gerrymandering
California, and Virginia went all in on

it. Now the Supreme Court's involved,
and the Voting Rights Act is involved,

now it seems like, you know, I said last
week, race to the bottom.

That race took one week.

We're already at the absolute bottom.

If you don't know what the Voting Rights
Act is, it's from 1965.

Twenty years ago, when they voted to re
-up it, it was completely

uncontroversial. 98 -0 in the Senate.

And let's be honest, the Voting Rights
Act itself is gerrymandering. We've

always had gerrymandering. No computer
ever drew a district.

Humans always did it. And what they were
doing with the Voting Rights Act was

saying, we're going to draw some
districts where black folks can't lose.

As it should be. Because otherwise, you
could draw the map in such a way, which

is they're doing now.

Louisiana is a third black. You could
draw it so that all those people, we're

not stopping anyone from voting. They're
voting.

They just won't get a representative in
Congress. Because we're going to draw

the map in such a way that everywhere
they vote, they only get 40 % of the

Assuming that they vote for the
Democratic Party, but that's a fair

If you're simultaneously saying, this is
so critical, if you're simultaneously

saying the way to deal with a president
you don't like is go to the polling

booth, not with a gun, then you have to
fight with every thing in your body to

ensure that the voting system is
credible and trusted.

And right now... You don't know why...

You know why Gen Z is going to violence?
It's because people don't trust the

voting system. And that's tragic.

I mean, I think there are two issues at
stake. One is the question of the

gerrymander. And I think the biggest
mistake was made not last week, but it

made seven years ago with a Supreme
Court.

a case called Rucho v. Common Cause,
which basically said that courts could

intervene to prevent outrageously
gerrymandered districts. And

basically means that the politician gets
to choose his voters rather than the

voter getting to choose their
politicians.

What we're talking about here is a
question of racial gerrymandering. In

racial gerrymandering for the sake of
ensuring black representation in

states. And in 1965, that was...

Without question, the right thing to do.
It was without question the right thing

to do in 1985 and perhaps in 2005.

But that had to end at some point. And
one of the points that you often make on

this bill is that there has been a lot
of racial progress in this country. And

so at some point, that principle that we
were going to have to create special

districts for the sake of ensuring.

minority representation, at some point
that was going to have to end. I think

the question was, is 2026 the year in
which to end it? And maybe the answer is

after we've had a black president, after
blacks have had so much...

Success and achievement in American life
on their own merit. Isn't it time to

finally end this? And in that sense, I
think the court made the right call. Oh,

you do?

You think they made the right call? In
this case, yes. I think they're going to

look back and think this is like, I
mean, we've heard a lot of talk about a

civil war.

This is like a step toward that because
I saw the map, the picture of the map of

what it's going to look like.

There's going to be no black
congresspeople from the South.

You think you can cut off the part of
the country that has the most African

Americans in it, and that map is like
completely red. Maybe there's a few,

just the central Atlanta or someplace
like that where it's going to...

And you think people are just going to
take that lying down?

If that's the result, I will absolutely
eat crow. That's wrong, okay?

What I think you're going to have, what
you think you're actually going to have,

is you're going to have black
representation, but a lot more of it is

be Republican.

But, Britt, we're faced with a situation
right now where public trust in

democracy, in Congress, in voting is
collapsing.

Why would you do it now?

How is this going to rebuild trust in
any way, shape, or form in the system?

Well, I mean, public trust is collapsing
on both sides. So why make it worse?

Well, I don't think it's making it worse
because I think that the basis of our

system is not to have racial
gerrymanders of any form for whites or

have an actual principle.

of racial and color neutrality. I think
that's the American standard.

Now, in 1965, it was a very, very
different period. We were just emerging

Jim Crow and decades of segregation. I
don't think we're in 1965. We're

definitely not. We're definitely not,
but we're not living in the future

Yeah, I'm facing what's happening.

We are in the future.

You're having each political tribe now
racing to become more tribal, not less.

You're talking about combating echo
chambers.

You're creating echo chambers all over
the place by doubling down on the

concentration in terms of political
sorting.

So what do you think the Democrats
should do about it? Anything?

I think given that they're now faced
with a situation where the Republicans

gone ahead already, they have to
respond.

Otherwise, it's going to be a case of,
you know, being sitting ducks.

And the problem with Democrats so often
is that they end up looking like the Boy

Scouts against the mafia.

You're talking about two different
things. I actually agree with you that

once... Actually.

Agreement actually to quote a movie.
There's one issue, which is the Supreme

Court decision, which has to do with the
Voting Rights Act of 1965 racial

gerrymanders. The second question is,
did Democrats have to respond with their

gerrymanders once Texas and other
Republican states did? And I think in

case, the answer is, Sadly, yes, it's a
race to the bottom, but Democrats

couldn't sort of announce unilateral
disarmament for the sake of a principle

which was going to leave them
objectively weaker in Congress.

Well, I mean, I do foresee a situation
where, I mean... Thank you.

That's the part that agrees with you
actually over there. On the right,

obviously.

I mean, when you combine this with the
attempt to...

you know, stop voter fraud, which, you
know, they've studied many times, and in

-person voter fraud almost never
happens. It doesn't really affect any

elections. But they're trying to do
that. And, yes, I mean, there are...

lax voting situation in some places
where you really don't have to show a

ID to vote.

But it doesn't seem to really affect the
outcome.

But that is what the Republicans are
trying to do. When you combine that with

some of the states here are going to
rush to do this before the election.

I mean, this midterm election was an
election which the Democrats, because of

Trump's unpopularity because of the war
and the inflation and the rest of it,

ICE, Doge, things that even his people
didn't like.

Democrats were going to walk away with
this one.

That may not happen now. And people know
that.

You think the violence is bad now? Wait
till people know that the election that

was absolutely supposed to be in the bag
is not in the bag because they changed

the rules and they fucked with the game.

I agree.

Okay.

And people keep saying, you know, the
danger of civil war, that kind of stuff.

We don't have a civil war, thank God, on
the streets. There is civil war in

cyberspace already.

or effectively civil war in cyberspace.

It's a cold civil war. Yeah, exactly.
It's a cold civil war. Yeah. Well, we

we don't turn hot. Absolutely.

All right. Thank you very much. Time for
new rules, everybody.

New rules.

All right.

No, let's not ignore the one obvious
upside to the shooting at the

correspondence dinner.

Stephen Miller getting to know what it
feels like to be whisked away by federal

agents.

Miller, the Australian woman who was on
a family road trip, stopped to use an

outhouse, fell in and got trapped waist
deep in shit for three hours.

Has to look on the bright side.

You could have been back in the car with
the kids.

Neuro, not that we should condemn any
college for what one of its graduates

does, but since Cole Thomas Allen went
to Caltech, yeah, fuck it, Caltech must

be dropped in the college rankings.

You gave this guy a degree in mechanical
engineering and the best idea he could

come up with?

to get past security was run fast.

He's less Carlos the Jackal and more
Forrest the Gump.

Now that all these ships are stuck off
the coast of Iran, someone must make a

hookup app called Hormuz.

Because for those sailors stuck at sea,
shipping isn't the only thing that's

backed up.

No, everyone has to stop saying, you
know, pot is a lot stronger than it used

be. Like it's a bad thing.

I mean, what other product do people
complain about when it gets better?

And you know why it was weaker when we
were young? I do, because I was a pot

dealer.

Thank you.

Yeah. It's because there was no
hydroponic then.

No indoor grow room. No CO2 enrichment,
genetic breeding, or precision

irrigation systems.

And also, I put oregano in it.

And finally, new rule, stop making me
know stuff I don't want to know.

Did you know that the human brain
actually has an actual finite storage

capacity? It's estimated to be about 2
.5 million gigabytes.

Impressive, but not infinite.

That's why sometimes you just got to
say, disk full.

shoving things down my brain.

A couple of weeks ago on our overtime
segment, one of my guests used the term

the Overton window, which up until a
year ago, I had heard only once every

never.

But lately, I hear it everywhere.

The Overton window. The Overton window.
The Overton window. The Overton window.

The Overton window. The Overton window.
The Overton window. The Overton window.

The Overton window. The Overton window.

Sorry, but I just couldn't hold my
tongue anymore.

Well, the Overton window has opened up,
you know, about... I don't know what

that is, and I don't want to know what
that is.

Don't tell me.

I wasn't kidding. This isn't a bit. I
really don't know what

the Overton window is, and I really
don't want to know.

So don't tell me.

It may be the only thing that's still on
my bucket list. I want to die not

knowing what the opening window is.

Now, maybe it's awesome, but it just
seems like the kind of pedantic bullshit

that triggers me. So if you try to tell
me on the street, I'll keep walking.

Try to tell me on a plane, I'll jump out
a real window.

If you start to explain it to me, I'll
stop you. If you write it, I won't read

it. I didn't order it.

And I don't think I need it because I'm
a strong believer in the academic theory

of... I kind of get it.

I kind of get it.

The Overton window. It's something bad
we don't want to pass through, and Trump

is just making it worse, and I'm sure he
is, but that's enough for me. I don't

need to chase every one of your
manufactured buzzwords down the rabbit

A couple of... A

couple of years ago, Joe Rogan and his

guest, some guy...

Took me to task for not knowing what WEF
or MKUltra was.

He doesn't even know what the WEF is. He
didn't even know what MKUltra was.

Okay, guys, WEF is World Economic Forum
where the billionaires meet every year

in Davos. Yes, I do know that. I just
don't call it the WEF.

If I hear Joe Rogan say WEF, I just
assume it's some form of professional

wrestling organization.

And MKUltra, okay, the old CIA program
where they experimented with LSD. Yes,

I've read about it. I just don't use the
decoder ring.

Last week, when the news was all

about the Supreme Court, suddenly
everywhere, everywhere I looked or read,

someone was talking about the shadow
docket.

Shadow docket. The shadow docket. Shadow
docket. Shadow docket. Shadow docket.

The shadow docket. Shadow docket.

Yeah, the shadow docket. I kind of get
it. Some kind of fuckery Trump's trying

to pull, and I'm sure he is.

But the court is kind of stopping him. A
little bit.

Here's another one I can't get away
from. Looks maxing.

I kind of get it. Some new fucked up
shit the kids are doing. But come on,

go away soon when they die. I don't... I

don't feel like I need to know
everything.

I'm sure if I was a better citizen, I
would research all these things.

MKUltra and cognitive offloading and
astroturfing and shitification and the

shelling point.

And I will, I promise, I'll bone up on
all of them.

But not the fucking Overton window.

A man has to make a stand somewhere. I
know enough. I know it's something

liberal pundits care very deeply about,
as do I, as do I, absolutely very

deeply, whatever it is.

Because I am with you on this, because I
get it. I mean, I kind of get it.

Now it's got to stop or start.

Whatever it is, you cannot make me learn
the actual meaning. I will not learn it

on the panel.

I will not learn it wearing flannel.

I will not learn it in a tree.

I will not learn it from chat GPT.

I will not learn it on a yacht. I will
not learn it smoking pot. I will not

learn it from a cow.

I will not learn it on MS Now.

I will not learn it from social media. I
will not learn it from Wikipedia.

I will not learn it from a nerd.

Learn your new dumb word.

Look.

Look.

I wish I had unlimited storage, but I
don't.

I also will not learn the word
heuristic.

I hear it a lot lately. Heuristic.
Sounds important.

Fuck you.

Whoever uses it is going to lose the
election.

Platform decay?

If it involves my dentist, yes, I'll
learn it. Otherwise, no.

Groiper? I think I get it. A neo -Nazi
with bad skin?

If it's not exactly that, it's very
close.

I'm just tired of my mind being
cluttered with things I didn't ask for.

This is what I call mind rape.

forced into my head without my consent.
I know all five Kardashian sisters'

names, and I know the names of all six
of the characters on Friends, and yet

I've never seen one minute of either
show.

I did not consent to that.

I even know that Ross was a
paleontologist.

And the fact that I know that, I
consider that violence.

things about the Kardashian sisters I
shouldn't, like the names of all their

kids and which NBA team their fathers
played for.

I know Kim had several children with a
Nazi.

I know her ex -boyfriend has a big
penis.

People used to read books. Now they
watch a YouTube of a raccoon opening a

of soda. What did we think was going to
happen?

words that should never have been
allowed to get inside my brain are Scott

Dizik.

I don't want to know who Bill
Belichick's girlfriend is. I really

I never get Alzheimer's, but if I do, at
least I'll forget who Justin Baldoni

ever was.

All right. Thank you very much. I want
to thank Brett Stevens, Jillian Tett,

Governor Gavin Newsom.

We're in the drops every Monday on
YouTube or listen on Wherever you get

podcasts, now go watch Overtime on
YouTube.

Thank you very much, ladies and
gentlemen.