Ep. #732: Vice President Mike Pence, Sen. Chris Murphy, Amb. Susan Rice

Welcome to the video. From the HBO Late Night series, real time. Thank you so much All right, you are a hot crowd. Thank you. Thank you, people. I appreciate Thank you. Okay. I know, I know, I know. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I love you too. You specifically. Okay. Okay, I know. I I know why LA is excited today, because the World Cup is coming here next week. Oh my gosh.

This is soccer, right? I no, I don't know anything about soccer. Everybody's so excited. All I know about this is that it's uh soccer and a lot of countries come and it takes a long time. Uh apparently, to play these games. Uh in in thirty nine days we will know the winner. Oh no, that's the mayor of LA. I'm sorry. Oh yeah, we are off California. What a fucked up state this shit. But apparently uh the two finalists are gonna be Karen Bass, the mayor, and Spencer Pratt, the reality.

Oh look at Thank you. So they are going to be in a runoff. I give the edge to Karen Basquez. Who knows more about running off? Yeah. Oh, we kid. Spencer, oh boy, I had him on my podcast. He's ooh. It's like a Jason Statham movie with this guy. It's like this You burned down my house, now I'm coming for you. And he's very b oh quality of life issues, very concerned about the homeless who he always calls naked homeless drug addicts. And they don't like that term. They prefer former child actors.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Uh we also had the primary for governor here, the leading candidate, Xavier Becerra. Uh Yeah. That is the exact kind of enthusiasm. No, he won because uh his the closest name on the ballot to fuck ice. 감사합니다. Also, you know who was on the ballot? Eric Swalwell was still on the ballot and got nineteen thousand votes. Who were these people? People who opened a dick pic and liked it? Thank you.

Democrats, they have another sex creep problem. Have you seen this guy, Graham Plattner, up in Maine? He's this their big hope to take the Senate, the Democrats. But Graham Plattner, he's a lie. You know, he's got a Nazi tattoo. We don't know about that. Maybe it was just drunk. He didn't know it was whatever.

Uh but a lot of stuff. Now stuff about hi you know, he definitely was sexting other women outside of his marriage. Now some of the girlfriends are coming forward. One of them says he used to uh Watch TV while he was sharpening his axe. Could cost him women and their vote, but he did win over Stephen King. It's Maine. It's a small stadium. Thank you. No, I apparently Graham Plattner, the one of the girlfriends, said one of his fantasies was how heroic he would be if there was a home invader.

Problem is how he wanted to be heroic with the home invader, which was by raping him. I'm just I'm just reporting people. I just R but he but he not in a gay way. He emphasized that, not in a gay way, just in a regular this is what happens to a guy who busts into my house with Thank you. Well you know. That's politics, okay? I mean say what you want, it's not soft on crime. I I would say that does doesn't anybody wanna win a race?

B both parties. I mean, you know, this week uh Jill Biden, have you seen that? She needs to have a book out, Jill Biden. She went on said she thought Drew was having a stroke during the debate. Uh went on the view and admitted she thought, no, uh Joe couldn't have served another term. They uh they said, really? She said, no, not from what I know now. Who knew? Yes. Other than everyone, no one.

Doesn't anyone want to win? I mean, the other side, Trump keeps pissing off people so badly, even the Republicans are standing up to him now. Thank you. They figure, hey, it worked for the Iranians. I can always tell when the president is in a bad mood, because he starts tweeting about me. And look, I I I feel it's an honor always to be in his tweets, even when they're bad and they're always bad. This week he said I was low ratings Bill Maher with his fake laughing machine. Thank you.

First of all, low ratings, yours is thirty five percent. Fake, fake laughing machine, can we get a shot of our audience? Wow, that's right. That should settle that. Well I know he's in a foul mood. Did you see the the phone call he had with Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel? Wow. The language. He didn't even deny it. He said to Natsu, you're fucking crazy. You'd be in prison if it wasn't for you. I'm saving your ass and everybody hates you. And your laughing machine is fake. Thank you.

He said all that. But hey. Hey, it's uh let's not forget it is the beginning of Pride Month or uh as as As uh Lindsey Graham called us. Why is everybody looking at me? But, you know, I gotta say. Usually Pride Month is just fun, but there is news this year. This is serious. There is disturbing polling that the acceptance of gay people in this country on all levels is regressing among Republicans. One of their Congress people, Andy Ogles, How's that perfect for the name?

Said homosexuality has no place in America. Then he uh took down the tweet and blamed it on a staffer, like real men do. This is a... Serious thing that is going out. Acceptance of same-sex marriages weighed down among Republicans. Well they still want the gay sex part, just not the marriage part. We got a great show. Former Ambassador Susan Rice and Senator Chris Murphy are here, but first...

Okay, he was the 48th Vice President of the United States. His new book is called What Conservatives Believe, Rediscovering the Conservative Conscious. How about it for Vice President Mike Pan? Staying our basis. Among the left-wing lunatic. See, we have the nicest crowd in in the in in any in all of television. Thank you very much. Yeah, because uh they're willing to listen anybody and and so am I. And I'm sure lots of people said to you, Why are you going on that crazy atheist show?

Yeah. More than a few. I'm glad to be here. I I'm glad you're here because I think you know W we can say to each other, we don't agree on a lot of stuff, but I know there are ways you've said to my staff, Israel and stuff, you think I'm not all bad. Anybody who did what you did on January sixth can't be all bad. And I think we we have a lot in common. Like we both know it's kinda hard to stay friends with Donald Trump. Are you ever in contact with them these days?

Well uh You never just call him? I think you've uh you've actually spent more time with him recently than I have. But uh no, I l I love how you started the show and I I I really want to commend you for the way you carry yourself. I really see you as a Uh you're an honest broker. Speak your mind. It's hard. Thank you. I've always said uh you know, I'm a conservative, but I'm not in a bad mood about it. You know. And y you've always struck me as a liberal that's not a bad mood either.

No, no. I I wanna talk to everybody. My little line is everybody's a monster till you talk to them. Yeah. Just just talk to them a little bit. Yeah. And I really do believe that's a key to our country right now. In fact, uh I don't know if I mentioned mentioned that I I just wrote a book. I'm just about to bring it up. Just about to burn it out. In the book I actually I I really believe that

Democracy depends on heavy doses of civility. And I think the American people long for us to restore a threshold of civility. Now I'm in the Thank you. The book and your column today in the Washington Post, i the the theme is that we are at a crossroads in America. I mean you are a traditional old school Republican conservative and you see this country having moved to a different place.

Populism. You put in in contrast to traditional conservatism. Now when you say populism, we all think and rightly so, that means Donald Trump. So you're saying we've gone off track And you're basically saying the person who took us off track is Donald Trump. Well, I I I don't think entirely, Bill, in all fairness. I look for the last uh five decades the Republican Party that uh you might be surprised to learn I was a young Democrat. I am. I joined the Republican Party.

When Ronald Reagan came with eleven. You were a Democrat. I was a young Democrat. Uh but I listened to Ronald Reagan. I heard about the the ideals of a strong defense of limited government, traditional values, and I joined the Reagan Revolution. For fifty years the Republican Party's been defined by those conservative principles.

We principally did political combat with the with the Liberal Democratic Party. But uh as as you will concede, uh the Democratic Party itself Has slid farther to the left, the progressive left, even embracing socialism, uh lifting up uh Believe me, I have the battle scars for pointing it out. I don't know. I don't know. Thank you. I mean the the progressives on the far left are questioning our support for traditional allies. Even Israel, our most cherished ally.

But what I wrote the book about is that in addition to the context with the ever more left wing radical Democratic Party now in America, Conservatives deserve to know that I think there is a new threat to our movement uh from the populist right that would uh question our role as leader of the free world, uh that would uh embrace big government solutions, including broad based tariffs, price controls,

Nationalizing American businesses. I heard about Elizabeth Warren when the Trump administration announced they were nationalizing American businesses. Uh Elizabeth Warren said, I think Donald Trump came across an idea that I came up with years ago. And actually, Bill, that uh uh uh nationalizing private enterprise is an idea that uh Karl Marx came up with years ago. Yes. But that and marginalizing traditional values like the right to life.

I just want people to know that that while the Trump administration has gotten a lot right, secured the border, extended taxes. And and by the way, I g I've said that to him. Yeah. On the show. Over he just you have to agree with him a hundred percent or he hates you. You know, it's just then you're just part the I agree there there's and there is such a thing as Trump.

Uh derangement syndrome. You know, think people people who just hate everything he could cure cancer tomorrow. And there were people who would hate it just because he did it. I agree the border needed to be fixed. You know, I I see the Tax cuts were extended. In the wake of uh in the wake of uh October seventh, uh the way candidate Trump and and President Trump have stood without apology for Israel and finally been the first president in history.

To take the fight directly to Iran last year and this year. Yeah. He should be commander. I know. I and I have commended him. The problem is that he does other things that are not good. And and I will not stop talking about those. Doge. The corruption, the revenge path that he's on, not conceding elections. These are just the top five. I mean the the I feel like Thank you.

So I'm sorry, but that's how I feel. And I feel like the Democrats finally have an issue with this corruption. I mean there's a senator, John Osoff in the Democratic Party, who said that the Today's Republicans, apropos to your thing about populism, he says that they are the elites they pretend to hate. You agree with that? I I do think that this

populist right that's coming up within our movement really questions the foundations of conservatism in America. It's it's why I wrote the book, What Conservatives Believe, because I I really want to begin a conversation Uh about the future of our movement. Look, we're gonna have a new standard bearer uh in twenty twenty eight. Candidates coming up in twenty twenty six.

You know. But I I tell people it's going to be more important for the people in our party to talk about what we're for before we talk about who we're for. And and I want the Republican Party grounded in those traditional values. Thank you. But how about beginning with saying to the guy who keeps saying there are ways you could do it and I'm talking about Donald Trump because that's what he says. Yeah. He does not uh it's just insane to me to absolutely won't say

You can't run it's just plainly in the Constitution. Your book is a lot about what's in the Constitution and following that. And there's nothing more plainer than you get two terms, not three. Right. Uh uh. So I mean it seems like we could somebody think we could come to some agreement with the middle like January sixth. Like Trump pardon everybody.

Could we say that yes, some people were there just for reasons of who knows? They weren't exactly tourists, but they weren't having horrible intent. Other people Can we say some bad people were there, like the ones who wanted to hang you? Can we say those were bad people?

Well Bill, I yeah, I made it clear. I I had no problem with the with the President pardoning uh people who got caught up in that day. But But for anyone who assaulted a police officer, anybody that violated and vandalized the seat of our government and sought to disrupt uh the counting of electoral college votes, those people never should have been pardoned, and they should never get a dialogue. No ill feelings about the hanging thing. You know? Yeah. I get you know.

Did you ever fear for your life? Uh-huh. Do you did you actually fear? Well, yeah To be honest with you, um I never felt a greater sense of resolve any day in my life than on January sixth. You know, I I've I've often told my kids the safest place in the world is to be in the center of God's will. And I really knew I was where I was supposed to be, doing what I was supposed to be doing.

I mean, under the Constitution, the Vice President's role is only to preside over a session of Congress where the Electoral College votes are opened and counted. That's it. And no Vice President in history had had ever asserted any authority to decide what votes to count or send back to the States. So I knew my duty was clear, and I I'll always believe by God's grace I did my duty.

And I know as a person of faith,'cause I know a lot of people of faith, they say they know if they they think if they die they'll be in a better place. Mm-hmm. So maybe if they hung you, good thing. Um Last issue. Abortion. Now this is one we'll never quite agree on. Um but I get it.

I get your side of it. You know, I always have. Some people don't like that about me. I'm pro choice, but I understand it is becoming a life and we're just killing it before it can fight back. I'm just okay with that. Now we find out, even after Roe v. Wade was overturned, abortion has increased. in these in I guess across the country because they don't do it by having to go to a clinic. You get a pill over the mail. Right. Should we uh outlaw these pills? Is that where you are in this issue?

Well I I I really believe it's one example where we've seen the Trump administration depart from that uh conservative agenda. I mean I I couldn't be more proud that our administration Uh appointed three of the justices that sent Roe v. Way to the ash heap of history where it belonged.

Um but since that time as you said, Bill, ab abortion after the Biden administration uh essentially approved male order abortion, no doctor supervision, with a drug that's actually done great harm to many women around the country, as well as claimed unborn lives. Uh it's been a disappointment to me and other pro-lifers that this administration has turned a blind eye uh to that issue entirely. In fact, uh appointing an abortion rights supporter

uh to lead the health and human services department. So it's it's was part of the impetus for me writing what conservatives believe because I really do believe that at the end of the day, um Uh the Republican Party ought to offer a choice, not an echo. Uh look, I I never begrudge anybody, you included, of having liberal views. It's what America is all about. You can believe what you believe, I'll believe. what I believe. And as long as we conduct each other with the golden rule, we'll I agree.

Yeah. Feel like you are the standard for me, because I like of all the people. Well quite good. Challenge myself a and be friendly with you are probably as far on the other side as me. And I hope we can keep that up. I want you to do Club Random, my podcast and get super high with me. Would you do that? We'll just we'll just kick it. Well think about it. All right. Thank you. Mike Pence, everybody. Thank you, Mr. Vice President, and good luck with the book. All right, let's read our panel.

Thank you. I'm friends with everybody. You see?

All right. He is a Democratic Senator from Connecticut and author of the book Crisis of the Common Good, The Fight for Meaning and Connection in a Broken America. Senator Chris Murphy. And she served under three presidents, including as the U.S. Ambassador to the UN, National Security Advisor, and Director of the Domestic Policy Council Ambassador Susan Rice. Thank you for being with us. Okay.

Now let's hear from the democratic side. Now it's uh we're a couple of weeks away, three weeks away from our two hundred and fiftieth anniversary. Um I don't know if you're getting all the uh emails from people in the media asking your comments and what what do you think is the most I'm I am, I bet you people like you are. What what is your big takeaway they want? What what made America work? My answer is balance.

That was the genius of the Constitution. Three branches of government that kept each one in check. That was what was new. That's what we've lost, I feel. Now the headlines this week are all about the Republicans are maybe going to restore that. I've heard this before, but we do hear rumblings from lots of Republicans in ways we haven't before. Last week it was all about the slush funds.

And we heard uh the the people saying stupid. I'm talking using stupid. Trump is being stupid and it's a slush fund and words we this week it's about Bill Poulte who he tried to or you know try. He is the director of national intelligence now. Uh John Thune says we don't need a weaponized DNI uh What's going on here? Is this real this time? Did they is it that they smell blood, that Trump is going to be after the midterms, maybe a lame duck, they see his ratings are low.

I don't think it's real. I mean I I just watched in the last twenty four hours after they made a whole bunch of noise about this slush fund. They said they weren't going to give him his number one priority, this immigration bill that he wanted, if he didn't um do away with the slush funds.

Um he's said openly that he's still thinking about it. They had an opportunity last night in the Senate to adopt an amendment that would have made it completely illegal. Only a handful of Republicans voted for it. I think there's only one rule in the Republican Party and it still holds. He gets anything that he wants. It's true they are starting to make more noise right now as they get closer to the election, and I think that's a good thing.

They think that that will have some electoral benefit, making more noise. But until they actually start voting against him, voting to end this war, voting to tie his hands so that he can't set up personal political slush funds. I just don't know that for our democracy the noise matters that much. We apparently did have some big screaming match with each other last week.

Yeah, and and and and then what and then what happened what happened last night? They delivered him the votes to pass his immigration bill without any amendment that would stop the slush run from going forward. Listen, I'm with you. I'm rooting for them to break from him. I just haven't seen it yet. I'd like to see balance restored.

I think that uh one interesting test of that will be how the Republicans respond to Bill Poulty because he is now going to be the acting director of national intelligence. Here here is somebody that has literally No national security and no intelligence experience. The statute says that's required by law in the DNI. He has never had a security clearance. He's never touched classified material. Who is he? He's a uh a housing uh financier and uh the skyin of a Was he even that?

uh business family and then he went to the FH FA and has apparently used the U.S. uh that perch as a way to operationalize efforts to go after some of his a uh adversaries. So I think that kind of character with the mission that the President has overtly given him. uh to go in there and uh you know find evidence of rigged election

Um and to go after uh people within the intelligence community who are long standing experts and and rid them of the place. That's quite worrying. And I think if we care deeply about our national security, which we must. At a time when we're dealing with Russia and China and Iran and terrorists, we need somebody as director for I do remember when when we created that bureaucracy.

I I do remember when we created that bureaucracy after nine eleven, a lot of people on the left said, What are we doing? Well why? Why do we need it? I remember I I my joke was, if only we had some sort of central intelligence agency. Which which is which is now one of the eighteen agencies under the DNI. It just seemed like another layer of bureaucracy we didn't need. Maybe we don't.

Well no, I I do think we do and and it's not perfect, believe me. We've both dealt with uh the intelligence community and its complexities. But the reason why after 9-11 that concept made sense was what we discovered when we did the look back on 9-11 was it was stovepipes between the FBI and the CIA and other aspects of the intelligence community weren't sharing information that a lot of the people. Yes. So they all are? Yes. And it works. Well, it works better than not having a DNI, I think.

Right, okay. And Poulty's cheap um qualification according to Donald Trump is that he is going to be willing to go into the intelligence files and pull out information on Trump's political opponents. I mean that's the only reason this guy got picked because he did it at the housing agency and now he's going to do it That's the case. That's the key.

that Poulty is being nominated for this position. And even if he only stays on the job for a couple of weeks, that's enough time for him to go in and fish out information on a whole bunch of people that Trump is trying to destroy.

Okay. Let me ask another issue. Um there is something called the Great American State Fair Festival. that was planned. Now this is not the same thing as the UFC event on the White House lawn. John Kappa. Or the race car track going around the city. Yes, but there's lots of exciting stuff in Washington going on. No, the UFC thing look, we have a redneck president. I'm sorry. We just we're just gonna have to get From Manhattan.

We we uh from Manhattan, a redneck from Man he just does redneck things. Okay. Uh this is one of the things I don't give a shit about. Uh but this other thing is was not planned as a specific Trump thing or a specific MAGA thing. And they had some acts lined up, not the greatest. The Commodores Morris Day and the Time I they were pretty good. Commodores were good in the day. Very good, very yes, that's true. That that's Lionel Richie, right? Yeah. Okay. Um well he's not with them anymore. Okay.

Martina McBride, Brett Michaels, Young MC, C C C plus C Music Factory, Millie Vanelli, I would not have left them on. I think it was just vanilla. Right. Right. Because the other one is discredited for lip syncing. Yeah. I think these people are not going to be able to do that Yeah. They all pulled out. This is a question about what looks best for the Democrats, because I don't think that looks good.

It looks like you you are just what people say about you, you don't really love America. It looks like you think Trump is more important than the country itself. Now it's just a big MAGA rally, this whole thing, because they all pulled out. So now it's just Trump and Lee Greenway. Wouldn't it been better to play this gig? It's a month-long gig, lots of people, like uh just celebrating America. Can't we all just celebrate America itself and leave Trump out of it?

Well and and and listen, like my kids are excited about the DC race, right? Like I mean there is stuff I listen, that's obviously a ton of people love UFC the U UF the UFC. There's gonna be people that are excited about this, but here's what happened. There was a nonpartisan, apolitical effort to celebrate America's two hundred and fiftieth anniversary. And instead of just letting that effort go forward, Donald Trump took it over, right, to to create a parallel.

set of events. My understanding is these artists thought that they were going to the nonpartisan effort, and then when they found out that it was just a predicate to a Trump rally, they didn't want to be part of it. I think this would have been a lot better for the country if Trump had decided to just let professionals, let people who just care about celebrating America with no political agenda be.

I agree that there's no reason to overly politicize this, but Trump decided to politicize it by essentially shutting down the citizens who were leading it and turning it into a big MAGA event. What about the bigger issues? Big issue of there is a uh it's Pride Month, but a a different kind of pride. Pride in the country. P there's a big pride gap.

Like thirty-eight percent of Americans report feeling proud. That's not a lot, but it's only eighteen percent Democrat, sixty-eight percent Republican. Should Democrats feel prouder of this country and and show it uh both really and politically? I mean, you're talking to two people who've served their country for most of their careers. So I Thank you. I care deeply about our country and I'm very proud of it, but I also think that we're uh in a difficult spot and we need to do better.

It's Thank you. This is I mean, this is part this is part of the reason I wrote this this book about the common good. Because there's actually a lot more agreement out there in America than you think about what's wrong and what needs to be fixed. You know, people want healthier

small towns and neighborhoods. They do think the capitalism has been corrupted. They want the technology regulated to save their kids. You know, we've been fighting on the same issues year after year after year. They're important issues, but they're kind of stuck in political gelatin from guns to climate change.

But i there is a set of things that makes the economy more fair, that makes the technology less poisonous, that makes your local downtown healthier, that are actually things that unite left and right, an agenda about the common good. And my hope is that this

250 celebration doesn't become just about the differences between Republicans and Democrats, but maybe causes us to realize that there are actually some things that could make us feel better about our lives that have nothing to do with left or right and can bring us together. Thank you. You also uh I noticed That's kind of a big theme for you now. I mean you're talking about the gun issue, which you were more associated with than anybody, and you're saying now that went too far.

Yeah. Well, I want a big tent for the Democratic Party, and I do think that we have lost a share of vote because we've been really judgmental. about people who don't line up with us on all of our litmus test issues. I also think we should be in the business of conversion, like converting people, like trying to convince them that maybe they're wrong about

you know, drag shows being the biggest threat that is presented to this country. And I don't think you ever get to be in a conversation with somebody if you tell them that they can't be a part of your party or they can't get nominated unless they line up with you on A, B, C, D, and E issues. So we don't talk to Trump's patients.

very often. We don't even give ourselves a chance to say, hey, if you think the economy is rigged, just come and listen to us a little bit about our ideas. I I want to build a bigger tent party and I think that in doing that you might actually have the ability to reach into Some of the folks that are s solid members of his base and convince them that he's really a populist fraud. I would just add that, you know, in the current context.

The most important thing I think we need is you use the term big tent and I think that's absolutely right. We need a coalition of Americans of all political persuasions who in my view believe in three fundamental things. The Constitution. the rule of law and the animating principle of this country that we're all created equal. can subscribe to that I think you know belongs in the biggest possible tent we can create. Is this tent big enough for this uh Graham Platiner guy?

I I I I must say I I I'm I don't wanna make any judgments'cause I'm just learning who he is. And uh unfortunately so is he, apparently. I I I I I mean This is a new kind of guy that we and it's not just um in the Democrats. People who like if you look at their history, uh, you could find things that make them look very conservative. Like a Nazi tattoo. What I would uh in the past have associated with the concern.

Uh and then there's things that you know, he's also flirted with communism and uh and now he's got a sex scandal, which in the past has been just something that absolutely made somebody toxic in the Democratic Party, unlike in the Republican Party, where they don't they don't care at all. Um What about this one? Have what have you been reading about Mr. Platiner and what do you think they should do? Because if he wins they think they're gonna get the Senate. So it's a very key seat.

Yeah, I mean this is this is gonna be a complicated race. Um he he is imperfect. He's made a lot of mistakes, he's been pretty clear about it from the outset. He's built a pretty big movement in Maine because people like his ideas. Um on the other side you've got uh Susan Collins who just last night cast one of the deciding votes to give seventy billion dollars to Trump's secret police. That's a character issue as well.

So I think you're seeing m more candidates run today, um, that don't have perfectly clean personal histories. And the question in Maine is gonna be, um, is he a bridge too far or are his ideas What do you say? You're in the Senate. I think he's the clear I think he's the clear choice there. Um but

You say Nazi schmatzi and then texting schmexting and I'm just asking. I'm I'm I'm maybe that's the right answer. I'm Like I said, I think this is a super complicated race, but I think the choice here is between the incumbent who has enabled Trump's corruption and Graham Platiner, very imperfect, but who has fought and put his life on the line for this country, which is not something that's in significance.

No, it's not. And and I just think it's a different country. It's a broken country. It's full of broken people with bad information on both sides. And I think people just go, he's pissed. I get that. And these and this last set of allegations are serious allegations that he's gonna have to talk about with the people of Maine, and they're ultimately gonna make that decision. Um uh but that will be their decision to make. Okay. Graham Platner, any thoughts?

I remember when a tan suit was a scandal. I do too. Or or holding the cross. Thank you. He had a cup of cup cup of coffee when he saluted and tea, whatever it was. He was holding a cup and it was I know, things have changed a lot. Uh let's talk about Iran because I'm never gonna get anybody here on this show who knows more about it than you, because you were very instrumental in the original Iran deal.

Um I talked about that I I mean I was supportive of that deal. I I remember talking about it that horrible night when I had dinner with Voldemart and his castle. I we did talk about that a lot, about the Iran deal and I said, you know, I I thought it was worth a try to bring Iran into the family of nations because what? That wasn't that the deal? No. But go ahead. They're just trying to deal with their nucleus. But wasn't that the first step?

We so we did never Okay, well then that's the question. Okay. There was other issues that we said we're gonna put those aside because Iran is doing a lot of bad things. The reason why I was supportive of this war if he hadn't fucked it up and I think we all agree now it's been fucked up.

But was because I don't think anything in the Middle East is gonna get solved until you deal with Iran. And it was not just a nuclear issue, it's the fact that they have been state sponsored terrorists for years. Just just all of it with Iran is just never very good. Correct. Okay. So we put that aside for the Iran deal and said we just want to deal with the nuclear. Was that right to decouple?

Yes. Let me explain what we did and why I think it was the right thing and why I think unfortunately we're really on the wrong course right now.

First of all, Iran, as you said, absolutely correctly, poses threats on multiple dimensions. It's missile program, its support for proxies in the region, its human rights violations. But the way it poses a direct threat to Israel, to our allies in the region, to Europe and potentially to the larger international community is if it were able to acquire a nuclear weapon or weapons plural.

And so back in twenty thirteen, uh, we began to try an effort sh without using force, but using economic pressure and sanctions that brought Iran to the negotiating table. And after two years of negotiations resulted in a nuclear deal that prevented Iran from building a nuclear weapon. Based on inspections.

Based on not just inspections, based on taking ninety-seven, ninety-eight percent of their fissile material out of the country, shutting down their plutonium reactor, making it impossible for them to put in place the most highly sophisticated centrifuges. We know that we know it for two reasons. Two ways. One, uh the intelligence community of the United States and even Israel validated that up until twenty eighteen when the prior president pulled out. Is real.

Yes. And secondly, that they were not cheating on the Iran nuclear deal. Secondly, the IAEA, had the International Atomic Energy Agency had twenty-four-seven intrusive inspections in all of Iran's nuclear facilities. So when the United States withdrew from the nuclear deal, the deal was being implemented fully. But even if you don't buy it Why wasn't Net why if if Netanyahu thought they weren't cheating, why was he so adamant to get out of the deal?

Because th this is the right question. It gets back to your original point. It wasn't just about nuclear in the minds of the Israelis. But he was lying when he's not going to be able to do Yeah. Well that's what he said to me. He said we don't agree we don't believe that they're not cheating. And when we had a mechanism in place to prevent them from getting it, he urged President Trump to get out of the deal. They got out of the deal, and what happened? Iran.

Built up its arsenal. Now they have four hundred and forty kilograms of highly enriched uranium, up enough for ten thousand. I know. They have a sophisticated missile program. They now control the Strait of Hormuz and they are tanking the global economy as a consequence. And what have we done? We went to war. And we have not either dealt with the nuclear program or verifiably dealt with the missile program or the proxy problem. We've made it worse.

It's an F C me on every level. I mean we we the regime change didn't happen, uprising didn't happen, we didn't get the nukes. We didn't even get their military, really, we find out. And we look weak. And now the now we have to go back to the negotiating table and we're gonna go back with a much weaker hand and end up with a deal that I will be very surprised if it's nearly as good as what we got in 2015. And That's why it doesn't make sense. Wow, that does it. Thank you. Thank you.

Every president has been briefed on the consequences of military action like Trump like what Trump has taken. And they were all told two things. Right. One, Iran's gonna close the straight affirmatives and it's gonna shut down the global economy. And two. With an air campaign alone, you are not gonna be able to get their nuclear program, you're not gonna be able to get all their missiles, you're not gonna be able to get all their drones.

And so that's where we're stuck with. We're stuck with the situation in which the strait is closed down. That was a foreseeable action. And Iran believes that it's taken our best shot and survived, because open reporting says they still have 70% of their missiles yet.

And so unfortunately Everybody knew that this was going to be the outcome and maybe because Netanyahu convinced Trump that there was going to be a quick regime fall and a pro American, pro-Israeli government taking its place, he bought into that flawed logic. All right. Tomorrow, Donald Trump decides he wants to spend more time with his family. And and he resigned. JD Vance is the president.

What would the new policy around toward Iran be and what should it be? We got a new slate, we got a new guy who wasn't crazy about it to begin with. What do you think it would be? I mean I I y that's like speculating about speculating. I mean it's g who knows Which one? I I I have no idea. Should it be I can answer? What new slate could we have? Well what h here we are now as a result of the decision that President Trump made to go to war with no good option.

We've got bad options and worse options. We either escalate the war, which is unlikely to lead to uh anything better than what we have now, probably much worse. Or We get into a negotiation with Iran if they'll even negotiate with us from a position of weakness. where they now control the Strait of Hormuz and can dial it up and down, where they have this nuclear material, where they have a greater incentive to rush to a bomb and

Uh and we're starting from, you know, m less than square one. But those are the two options. And whether you're JD Vance or Donald Trump or anybody else, that's the the hand that has been dealt you. Yeah. Some of this can just be explained by basic incompetence, right? We we have incompetent people running this war. Thank you. Thank you. I don't I don't think these guys can negotiate their way out of a paper bag. I don't think they can negotiate a way to get the straight open. So my feeling is

w we need to end the war and then it's likely going to be other players, the Europeans or Gulf countries that are gonna come in and find a way to get the strait reopened. I just don't think that these guys have the ability to do it. All right, thank you very much. I appreciate it.

Okay, uh Neural, the uh Florida cop who pulled over a woman for distracted driving, insisting he saw her holding a phone in her right hand, only to find out she doesn't have a right hand. But gave her a ticket anyway. Must not be judged too harshly. Being a cop is always dangerous, and for all he knew, she could have been armed. Uh neuro the half dozen kids who are hospitalized in San Diego after doing the Benadryl challenge.

where they consume, yes, a large quantity of Benadryl to induce hallucinations, must be congratulated. That's six kids who won't be dying from fentanyl. Six kids who got it through their heads that today's designer drugs are just too risky and said, you know what? Let's party with the stuff Grandma takes before a flight. Uh New Roll Until 60 Minutes works through all its behind-the-scenes turnover drama. They have to change their name to Give Us a Minute.

I don't think anybody said you're fired on TV this much since the Apprentice. Thank you. That's so funny. Sunday night used to be the one time of the week when families weren't fighting. New rule, whether you're about to have a fight in a movie or whether you're about to have a fight in a bar, everyone has to come up with a better threat than I'm going to tear off your something and shove it up your somewhere.

The human body has only so many things to tear off and only so many holes to shove them in. Fortunately there's a simple fix before you start fighting always threaten to tear them a new asshole. That Uh, new rule, it's not cute anymore when someone runs a dog for mayor of some small town. You know, it was funny the first hundred times, but I say if you're gonna do it again and run Max for mayor, you have to go all the way and put out an attack ad.

Max wants to be your choice for mayor, but he doesn't even know how to read or write. Max claims he's a good boy, but do good boys spend their weekends eating trash? Isn't it time for a candidate who won't drag his ass on your new carpet? I'm Tom Smith. I'm qualified to be your mayor, and Mox is not, because I can't stress this enough. He's a fucking dog.

Finally, New Rule. Congratulations to all the people who graduated from college this month, last month. Yes, it's commencement season, the time of year when college kids make the transition from campus life to their parents' basement. And Thank you. And I just want to say congratulations, you did it. And by it I mean had your first lesbian kiss. As for the degree you just got, that's a little more complicated. Uh there was a lot of booing.

at the commencement ceremonies this year, which is weird because you know how hard it is to make bombing at a graduation speech. All you have to do is give a little pep talk, tell a joke about college debt and lie about how anything is possible. But this year, speakers did not read the room. Hey geniuses, maybe don't mention AI to the people whose future jobs it's about to take. Artificial intelligence is the next industrial revolution.

The question is whether you will help shape artificial intelligence. We do not No. I gotta say, the kids are right. They're right to fear that in the age of AI, that degree they're holding. Is about as useful as your unused Miles Unspared Airlines. Really? Isn't that the big question we should now be asking about education? Now that you can get the answer to everything by asking your phone, why are we going to college at all? Anyone? Bueller, anyone?

Rahm Emanuel, who is definitely not running for president. Just released his five point grand bargain plan for higher education, as private citizens with no political aspirations often do. Rom wants to make college great again. Cheaper, faster, more accessible. It sounds exciting and looks good on a campaign website, but it's a little like buying manned fighter jets in the age of drones. As it is, only about 35% of graduates get a job in their field of study. And now with AI,

English major, AI can write, computer science major, AI can code, music major, AI already has songs on the charts. Philosophy major, AI can learn to write names on coffee cups. And it's not like college was doing such a bang up job before Google Gemini came along. 600 desperate professors from the California University system just signed an open letter to let people know that a lot of the kids coming into their college classroom have to be taught middle school math.

Sadly, today many young people cannot locate on a map the countries we're bombing. Fox News sent a reporter to the beach on Memorial Day to find out what many typical young adults know. Nothing. Not even what the holiday means. Not who we fought against in our wars or why we fought them. World War Two? That might have been against Vietnam.

The level of basic shit these kids are let out of high school not knowing, like the country we gained our independence from? Who could know that? Oh, they know who knows. Yeah. Why bother learning with context when ChatGPT can not only just tell me the answer, but also compliment me for asking such an astute question? Yeah. That's the one thing the robots figured out early on. We're less likely to oppose them if they're always acting like they kinda wanna fuck.

You know, it's so easy to get seduced by technology. I remember a teacher once scolding me for using a calculator saying, I should learn math, because you're not always going to have your calculator walking around in the real world. Except now I I don't have to know math because I do always have a calculator when I'm walking around in the real world. So fuck you, Mr. Banderholz. Thank you.

His point was not wrong. The calculator disabled a part of my brain. Look, we all want the good parts of AI, solving medical mysteries, figuring out clean energy. But the vast majority of us will never use it for that. For us, it's a lobotomy with a monthly fee. We're not using it to cure cancer. We're using it because we forgot how to make toast.

We emptied the kids' heads by letting them out of high school without knowing anything, and then what a perfect time for robots to come along and say, no problem, I got you. I'm your brain now. That is one big grand experiment we're running here. Can humans survive if we completely outsource our brains to something that does all our thinking? Like Jill Biden used to do for Joe. Thank you. Fake laugh machine.

Now I'm no I'm no commencement speaker. They wouldn't let me near that podium, but I do have a message for the graduates and it's this. You are not wrong. You do face an existential issue here, but the good news is it's one completely in your power to fix. Other issues that college students in the past faced, like ending the Vietnam War or civil rights, or climate change, they all involve having to convince the older generation to do something.

This one's all you. You are the AI generation. And you only have to convince yourselves. Thank you. I think it's great that you have this instinct to get involved and take up causes and many are worthy, but get serious. Your issue shouldn't be Zionist. Or trans or plastic straws. No, your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to fight for humans and make sure we're not completely replaced. And Thank you. And you can't do it if you're hopelessly dependent on the thing that's replacing you.

90% of today's college students admit they've used AI academically, and 73% of the faculty say they've had to deal with AI integrity issues, formerly known as cheating. Maybe the commencement speaker should be booing you. AI has made college one big robot circle jerk where students use AI to write papers and professors use AI to grade them. Okay, can you see in this equation who has been completely cut out?

The humans. It's the human kids. This is your issue. Fight for the humans. All right, that's our show. I want to thank my guest, Senator Chris Murphy for for Susan Rice and former VP Mike Pence. Rob Random drops every Monday on YouTube or listener if you get your podcast. Go watch overtime on YouTube. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you guys. HBO.