New Rules and American Exceptionalism

This podcast is sponsored by Chase Sapphire Reserve for businessiness. I'm Lonie, co founder of Zoeic Studios. We're a VFX company that works on House of the Dragon. Our goal is to create epic TV. Building a business is its own epic adventure. In visual effects and shows of this scale, details Matter, where every minute of screen time equals thousands of minutes of people time. We take big swings and refuse to think small. For world builduilders everywhere, the business card that gives back all you put in, Chase Sapphire reserve for business. Cards issued by JP Morgan Chase Bank, and a member of FDIC, subject to credit approval terms apply Your summer weekends fill up fast, but Crocx has your back. Road trips, beach days, last minute getaways, whatever's on the agenda, swing by your local store and find your new goat too Try it, style it, make it yours. becausecause the right pair doesn't just show up. it shows off Walk out ready for whatever's next. Visit your nearest crox store today Welcome to an HBO podcast From the HBO Late mononth series, Real timeime with Bill Mong L a summer break for a month, you got toa give me a little time off. It's been nerve wrrecking lately Fth of July coming up, and you know what, this today it opened Supergirl. perfect for the fourourth of July. It run big superhero Another superhero movie opened this week about what's going on in Washington, Deadpool I'm tired of hearing about the goddamn reflecting pool. I gotta say, I don't really get a shit about the reflecting pool. And I love America, but I gott to admit, we are the only place you could make a pool improved by pissing in it. W this You know It started out innocently enough. I wasn't against the idea that we should spiffy up Washington a little. It needed a little spiffying up. So they tried it with the pool. whatever happened, you know you know what happened next, the algae. then the pool is full of algae. So then they put a fence around the pool I like that. I for one, am tired of algae coming into this country We don't know what caused the problems in the pool.r Trump says it's lunatic liberals. That's for what he calls me, but you know, I was not in Washington who vandalized it. So now he's suing ABC newews for reporting falsely on the pool. TheBC says this is baseless, outrageous, and preposterous, and how would you like us to make out the check? Okay Like that Butike you know, problem is now, there are dead ducks in the pool or possibly murdered by Antifa. I don't know. You know, the poll it's dragging down the president's approval ratings. It's like in the low thirties now in the country. and among independents, twenty five percent and zero percent with ducks The other big headache, of course, is the ceasefire with Iran, not going perfectly well, as ceasefires often don't. Iran hadit a cargo ship yesterday. And you know Trump wants this war over. He you know he just really does. we fired back a little, but you know he's basically, he said, damage was done. You know, people make mistakes A month ago he was calling them derrain scum bags. Now it's let me finish eranged comx, but very fine fanatics on both sides . Id say it's gott to be tough negotiating this with whoever's doing that. Oh, yeah, it's the vice president, and he's here tonight. No gototta be the tough job negotiating for this country in this war, because last week, when he was in Switzerland talking about it with the Iranians, at the time, President Trump threatened to kill them said if the stit isn't open, you won't have a country, you won't make it back to your country fucking alive. Okay. And then eighty minutes into the thing, he said we're going to blow the shit out of them and they walked out of the room. So before J.D Vents left, President Trump took him aside and he ses, let me know if there's anything I can do to hinder Now let's talk about the big earthquake on the left because this is big news in this country. I don't know if you saw what happened in New York, there were three candidates for these are the primaries. They are going to win the election. So they're going to be three Democrats in Congress. These are Mend Damis people. These are Democratic socialists, I think very different than the Democratic Party. What happened is you know for years we've been asking young people to vote. Well now young people are voting And they're voting to abolish the police, abolish prisons unlimited immigration. so no cops, no prisons, no borders, proving for sure that eating tide pods does cause brain damage This there There's one candidate. she will be a congressperson from New York's thirteh district, who the New York Times asked her if someone murders someone randomly, should they go to jail? Couldn't get her to say yes for that She says, no more police ever, at all ever. She says Our veterans are war criminals, she said, fuck Kamala Harris and Joe Biden is a rapist so There is a woke mind virus and I think we found patient Zero Her name is Doria Liza Avila Chevaler. They call her DAC. She makes AOC look like LOL times WTF. Good news, if you're a Democrat with a Nazi tattoo, you're no longer the weird one She also says that the United States, the country she's running to be a part of, is occupied native land and says this country, America, is a fucking disgrace During the oath of office, she's going to take a knee And she's not too crazy about white girls She calls ugly colonizer women and she says Black men and Arab men fetishize ugly colonizer women, to which the Kardashians wrote back, fuck you bit. we have Senator Raphael Waroock here and Larry Wilmore is here But first up, he is the fiftieth vice President of the United States, and author of two number one best selling books, Hillbilly Elegy and the one that's out now Cunion finding my way back to faith. Jie Man, our Vice Pident. All right. All. How are you N bad. Do I have a nicest crowd? I'm sure it's the only applause I'll get, but I'll take you. Noven I'm just glad you're talking to me, you know? I mean, I say it every time when the Republicans come here, they take their beating like a man the people I vote for They're the ones who won't talk to me. That's od, isn't it? It is very odd. I mean, and I'd probably like this new woman who was elected to New York. Do you think she'll come on the show? Oh, I know you won. No, I can't get AOC. I can't get Mendami. I can't goad and get Kamal Harris. You know, took me eight years to get Obama. Anyway, let's not talk about my problem And I promise this is going to be a lot easier than talking to the Iranian Or orr even more the view. The question is whether it's harder than the view. That's right So look, you're negotiating for America. I'm rooting for America. So I want success here. But you know, you came out of these meetings, I heard sort of the same thing. I've heard a lot of talk about progress and that. I've heard it so many times before Why is this different? Why isn't it bullshit this time Well, I'd say the most important thing, Bill is that the people who judge whether the oil is actually flowing, they judge this as a success, right? If you look at oil right now, it's back down to seventy three dollars a barrel got up to one hundred and twenty six dollars a barrel. So there's a signal that there's something real going on here. I think the second bill is whether we make the final deal because you have to remember, this MOU is fundamentally, it says the straits are going to be open, the oil is going to flow. We're seeing that happen already. It's also a ceasefire, which as you pointed out, is always going to be a little messy when you're dealing with the Iranians. But if we make the final deal Then great, if we don't make the final deal, their nuclear program is still destroyed. They're still much weaker as a country. So my attitude is America wins either way. But I do think that what the president has done is asked us to do something that frankly, nobody in forty seven years are dealing with the Iranians has done, which is offer them an opportunity to fundamentally transform how they behave with the West They've been the largest state sponsor of terrorism basically since they began as a nation, or at least as an Islamic repepublic forty seven years ago. He's saying, look, if they're willing to change, we're willing to change too. If they're not willing to change, we still fundamentally have all the cards. and I think that's a good place for us to be. But their program isn't destroyed. The nuclear program isn't destroyed I mean, don't know I don't know any of our objectives. And look, I said what part is not destroyed? Well, we didn't get in there The whole thing is we have to get in there and see. Other else we wouldn't be doing this? Well, let me say, we did. First of all, so a nuclear program, and I'm hardly a nuclear scientist, I'm a lowly politician The thing that you have to destroy is their ability to enrich uranium, which has been destroyed You have to How to destroy their ability? Well, because you need functioning centrifuges that can actually We got to get in there and we got to get the dust. Okay. And we didn't get in there. So how do we get the dust? So that's actually a separate question. So there's the highly enriched stockpile, which by the way, was allowed to accumulate over twenty years of previous administrations. That enriched stockpile is something that we want to get, but Bill, if we never get it And the president wants it, and we are going to get it. But if we never got it, it's buried deep underground and they don't have the ability to turn it into a nuclear weapon. So the program is functionally destroyed. We're just talking about can we set them back even further through these negotiations?. I only have limited time of this, so I want to move on to other topics. I want to tell you what people have been saying to me, tell them, you know, people get excited. Why you have the vice president on. I'm impressed myself. I'm very excited about that. Hs on I've had both his vice president a couple of weeks ago. Pence was here. I'm killing it with the vice president, okay What did you talk about with Mike Fence? and sex drugs and rock and roll? I don't He was a lot more human than I thought than I'dbstino. I even asked him to come on my podcast where I get stoned. and he was like, Mbe So it was great. but here's what we broke up. nice C I say you Here's what sticks in their craw Okay the number one issue. immigration. Not immigration. We like it that you closeed the border. That needed to be done Peoples were here The way you treated I'm talking about your administration. You weren't out there yourself, but IC, all that shit Too rough T mean too unnecessary I think you I'm not telling you what to do. okay, I'm just giving you some advice as a friend. okay? And I'm not I am And I'm not saying I'm not asking you to apologize for I don't like do that. I'm just saying you go a long way toward getting people who are just completely shut the door to you in your mis if you would just own that that you guys went too far You went too far and you should own it like you did childless cat ladies. Wh. So here's the basic problem with that bill is you cannot do any deportations without law enforcement And you can't do a law enforcement operation like that without having some situations that don't look good when they're recorded like that. I mean, let me give you like just one obvious example. Let's just set aside the immigration element of this, okay If you take a guy who's committed murder and you go in and arrest that guy. Sometimes that person's going to resist arrest. Sometimes if you take a video of it and it's out of context and you don't appreciate why that person is being arrested in the first place, it looks pretty icky if you take that out of context video clip. And what I worry about is when people say you can't ever do immigration enforcement if it produces a bad video clip What they're really saying is you can't ever actually do immigration enforcement We had twelve million people come into the country into the interior over the last four years, I should say from twenty twenty one to twenty twenty five And we were elected with a mandate to get some of those people out of the United States of America. You can't do that easily. Law enforcement deporting people is never an easy process. So I appreciate your argument that we've gone too far, but we couldn't do nothing. And I don't think there was an easy way to do this. Of course, there's a middle ground. See the other thing that bothers us about stuff like that is that nothing ever lands in the middle which is what I'm always trying to get people to do. I thought you were crazy liberal show I should watch the show. I actually do watch the show. I laugh my ass off backstage. I's a good monolog. You knowough you're making fun of me, I kind of like it Thereair I know someone in your administration who watches the show Zero man. S lady. She's a big fan. S second lady's a big fan of Bill More. But what we hate is that the pendulum never lands in the middle. You're right. Biden did let in too many people. It Boggles mind why he did that, but then it has to go all the way to the other side Always, nothing can ever land in the middle. Did they go too far probably in the Pentagon with DEI and Yes, and now Pete Hagigseth is like firing everyone who's not whiter than an albitaer. No, he'sill certainly looks that way Well to do business I disagree with that. I think sometimes things do land right where they should, but just you take this story about Pete Hageth Obviously, I'm biased. I like Pete. But if you look at the actual promotions that we've done, there have been a lot of people from all walks of life. There have been some high profile people where he said, you know what? I don't think that they merited a promotion. But the idea that we're not promoting minorities in the Pentagon under Pete Hegeth It's just not true. And I do think that sometimes your criticism is things don't land in the middle and I understand that. Sometimes the problem is the media reports things in such a way where they actually obfuscate or conceal the truth rather than reporting what's actually going on. Of course they do. they all do That's why you have to read both sides. Yeah. Like My recommendation is if you read a news story and it says something bad about me, you should disbelieve it. It's probably lying. Whereas if you read a news story So something nice That's f some m with it. But okay, but again, I'm just trying to help you with your issues. Because I'll tell you something. you me and a hundred friends. this is like political therapy I I' tell you something that I don't think I've ever said, but what this happened this week, but the thing I'm sure you want to talk about, we're gonna talk about on the panel, with the deemocratic socialists. I'm actually here to talk about my book. I want everyone I know We're gonna get to it. We're gonna get to it. It's called commommunion available wherever books are st. We're just one more thing about this. Now we'll get to the book. Okay. Okay. Like, if this is where the Democratic Party is going where this democratic socialist, this obsession with Israel, with the Jew hating, with they don't believe in capitalism, no prisons. If this is where they're going, My vote is in play, okay I like to hear that. It actually always has been. I just every year, I don't make my decision by who is an R or D. I actually always came to the conclusion that the Democrat was probably better. Sure, and voted for them. Okay. And Trump can't run again, and he'd be a little too exciting for me anyway. So it's either going to be you Arubia Here's my deal breaker for your side. Okay U Trump, You guys have two outcomes in an election can be. either we win or they cheated. That shit has to stop. And the person That means person who has to stop it would be you or Mco. Can you tell me you will do that? Will you bring us back to the middle at least on that where we concede elections where it's not either one of those two options? Okay, Bill, so this is where I'm probably gonna lose you here. but here's That happened about eight minutes ago. I don't think that we should not concede elections, but I don't think that's what's going on. I think that if you go back, if you go back to the president's core argument, he was making an argument about problems that existed in twenty twenty. And here's the problem that I'm most focused on. The presresident I've talked a lot about this. And I think we share a perspective here, but Set to the side the stuff that really gets you and your audience very angry about whether the count was legitimate in Georgia or Pennsylvania or any of these other states Is it true that large technology companies some of whom have financial interests that exist outside the United States of America Were they censoring information in the run up to an election and set to the side the stuff again, the Georgia stuff. was that was litigated, dominion, the Fox newews pap I'm actually I'm trying to make the more the more middle ground argument here The biggest criticism I had of the twenty twenty election is that you had technology companies that were quite literally censoring negative information about the left and promoting negative information about the right So in a fundamental sense, like if the First Amendment says that we have a free and open debate and then the American people judge based on that free and open debate, the sense in which I think the election in twenty twenty was rigged, I'm sorry, is that you had technology companies that were putting their thumb on the scale in a way that completely obliterated the real open exchange of ideas. Now by the way, it didn't happen in twenty twenty four But it happened in twenty twenty and it was a problem. Well, you're going to get a big pat on the back and you go back to the White House. All. Let's talk about your book. Cin, I think it's very interesting because you know, I always want to talk about what people have in common. I used to be Catholic You're a Catholic now. That's right. You used to be an atheist I'm an atheist now. So we've been over to the same gl. Yeah, That's right. And you know You were born a baptist. This is about your spiritual journey. That's right, whichich is really interesting. And by the way, very personal. Yeah. It reminded me a little of Gavin Newsom. He has a book here and I was very surprised. It didn't look like his book. H you read his book? People bought my book. That's the difference between Sorry. was that mean? I'm just saying that's fine. Well, I'm just saying politicians are getting a lot more real when they write, you know, it's not like that old kind of book, you know. And it's about you moving toward the I'm just asking why the Catholics, why go experience with them. whyy did you you could have went Hindu? Your wife's a Hindu? Well, we should talk about that Bill in a longer setting, not just, you two's in front of the audience, do the podcast. Okay. All right I'm not gonna to smoke weed though. I don't want to ruin my political career. I've already ruined my city. We don't make the question. I mean, here' let me try to answer that question. Okay. so first of all I think that there's a core truth of the Catholic or the Christian faith that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that all people need grace, okay that fundamental truth that I believe in. I didn't land there. I didn't start there. What I saw was what I would call echoes of that truth. in a lot of the people who live their lives in very, very charitable and good ways. But I think with Catholicism in particular, what's interesting about it because I meet a lot of young Catholic converts is they start to discover that truth because they're attracted to the beauty and the stability of it I think people are craving in a modern world where we build ugly buildings and everything is constantly changing and social networks have changed, even how, you know, men and women date one another. I think that people are craving something that is more stable and it calls us to something more beautiful. And I think that was one of the ways that I found su Now it's interesting because I've actually gotten criticisms. You know, one of the things I talk about in the book is I was a striver And I think that was very bad. I think it's wrong to be ambitious for ambition's sake. If you want to be ambitious, you should be trying to accomplish something meaningful. And it was my Christian faith that encouraged me to actually worry about things that mattered, like being a good husband, being a good dad, being a good community member. Now I get criticism from some Christians who say, well, you know, that might be true. But then you've got to talk about Jesus too. But I think my point is and as I talk about in the book, available over books orore or soldver books or sold. again, is that like I started seeing refractions of the truth of the Christian gospel, and that got me on a pathway to where I eventually accepted the truth that Jesus Christ was the Son of God I think all of us have our own path You obviously have yours, but it's not over yet, man. so I still have hopeful. Thank you I appreciate that you have hopeedully. a life for you Vice President Thank you, Pomis. I'll see you soon . My friend Larry Wilmore is over here N Senator from Georgia, Sror, pastor at Atanta' Ebenezer Baptist Church, and author of the best selling book, The Crooked Places Made Straight Reflections on the Moral meaneing of America. Senator Raphael Warny book This you wait to see you All right I want to talk about stuff in your book to start this off.. because it certainly is interesting considering some of the things that have happened in the news this week. I'm talking about what we were talking about with the Vice Pident Some of these people who have got just got elected as Democratic socialists, and I assume you are not a Democratic socialist that you're more of a Democrat Is that correct? I'm a Democrat.. They want to abolish prisons. I mean, they say it outright. abolish the police, abolish prisons. I don't know how society can run that way. I don't think that's where you are. No a lot of the book is devoted to this issue of mass incarceration. So as I was saying to the vice presresident, nothing ever ls in the middle What is the appropriate place where we should land with I hope we're not for no prisons and no police because you know that's anarchy. And what's going on in the country presently? Well, Good to be with you. I'm seningor pastor Evan Th are in Atlanta. but I actually lived in New York for ten years. I went to seminary there And I you know, it was on staff at a church in those communities represented by U Asuming assuming the the new congresswoman. You talk to folks in those communities. They don't want to abolish the police. No, I know. Now, they've had their share of issues with the police. We know the whole sad spectacle of stop and frisk When I was a student at Union Theological Seminary, one of my cllassmates was thrown up against a wall late one night folks jumped out of an unmarked car. We know the story. We've heard it time and time So we got to address these issues. Over the course of the last several decades The United States of America, the land of the Free has become the mass incarceration capital of the world Weve made a set of public policy choices that have made us No safer We put more people in prison than any nation on the planet We put a greater percentage of our people in prison. Yeah, the numbers rem nation on the plan. and I've lived this personally. My brother went through this as I talked about in my book. And so it's something that I think a lot about, and we got to fix it I mean, the numbers from the nineteen sixties through the two thousands, the incarceration rate went up six hundred percent. twowo million people, we have I didn't realize this. we have over oneteen hundred state prisons, almost one hundred federal prisons. We have three thousand local jails, twelve hundred juvenile correctional facilities, immigration detention centers, Indian countounty jails This Fix has a lot of jails here. There's a lot of ways to go to jail in America. It's really what it comes down to Okay. Well, I'm not sure in the Oval Office, but shot soon, I Larry. He brings the heat. I'm a pastor. My business tell. I know. No. No I te. you keep it a hundred. I just started reading your book. I was reading Hill Billy Elllegy to get ready for this. so I apologize I reading the wrong book But mass incarceration You know, it's one of those things. you're right, Bill, How do you talk about an issue like that? You know, focusing on On the one side of it is one way to talk about it, but then there's the other side Why is so much crime even happening right now? Like what's going on in our culture?ike whyy are people falling down this hole of of maybe hopelessness or feeling like there's no future for them where they have, you know Well One of the issues is assuming that people who are incarcerated don't belong there or that they didn't commit crimes. That's not necessarily true. Right. You know bothoth things can be true. There can be prison abuse and there can be people that have done some really bad things. What do you do with these people You know, And I don't think the answer is necessarily that they should be out on the streets. I mean, my personal story is my nephew was shot he was twenty two years old, shot in the back of the head. stillill hasn't been solved. I don't know where that person is, but I know where he should be. He should be in one of two places. One of them is prisoned and we know the other places sorry past you, but we know it is. rightight? Stay in your lane. Yeah, yeah. . All right. So it's a complicated issue. There are many ses. These communities are both under pololiced and over policed at the same time You know, So you've got a lot of unsolved murders. Sure.bsolutely. That's the story of your nephew. And at the same time nonviolent drug related offenses sending, you know, lots of people to prison We could choose to invest, for example, in childcare rather than jail care. folks, the kids that we neglect from zero to four are the folks who end up in our prisons? And so I think we need, whatout the King called a a renewal of our values. to get us into a different place. okay This podcast is sponsored by Chase Sapphire Reserve for businessusiness. I'm Lonnie, co founder of Zoic Studios. We're a VX company that works on House of the Dragon. Our goal is to create epic TV Building a business is its own epic adventure. In visual effects and shows of this scale, details Matter, where every minute of screen time equals thousands of minutes of people time. We take big swings and refuse to think small For world builduilders everywhere, the business card that gives back all you put in. Chase staff are reserved for business. Card issued by J.P Morgan Chase Bank, and a member of DDIC, sububject credit approval, terms apply. The new LinkedIn Hiring Pro can't undo your last hire. The human postponer. They were the master of one phrase. I'll circle back on that. But three months later, you were the one doing all their work and wondering how big that circle is But LinkedIn Hiring Pro can take the hiring load off your plate by automating the hiring busyw from the initial job post to scheduling interviews Hire write the first time with LinkedIn Hiring Pro. post a free job today at LinkedIn. com flash quality wishing you could be there live for the big game, soaking up the atmosphere in the crowd Too often, life gets busy Or the price hlded you back Priceeline is here to help you make it happen. With millions of deals on flights, hotels, and rental cars, you can go see the game live D just dream about the trip? book it with Priceline. Download the prriceline app or visit priceline. comot Actual prices may vary limited time offer So what is your impression of what happened this week with the Democratic socialists being elected? I'd like to I mean, I'm sure you know James Carville. This is what just he makes me laugh just thinking about it There's the man who missed his call. What minute to me. L Yeah, he is very funny.s veryy funny. And he's also very wise I think about. I mean this is what he said. He wass talking about this Disi Lisa Abilier Chevalier. said She says she has attacked interrational relationships, which is true. She doesn't like race mixing forormerly the position of the Ku Klux Klan. But now now this is the far left. I believe it's still the position of the K Kl. Yes. But now it's apparently also the position of the far left. Okay. He says, she's against that, she's against the American flag. He said, Lady, I ain't in the same party as you. He said, Democrats, we're a coalition, we're a big tent. and there's just some shit I can't be in the same tent with I'm done. I'm not in that fucking political party. Okay, so Tucker Carlson has quit the Republicans and James Carel has quit the Democrats. WTF, R you know, the far left, they always take things too far. The far right, they just make shit up. That's the difference between the far left and the far right. right you notice far right if they're making shit up, and you notice the far left if they just take things too far, you know? Because there's always well meaning underneath some of these things, and I don't know why things have to go to the extreme in order to get something done. That doesn't make sense to me. And she's in a very important seat right now. That was Adam Clayton Powell's seat for a long time, you know? And after him, Charlie Wango is you know. And I think recently the head of the Hispanic cor Cus for the Democrats in Congress. I mean, R. there's some serious very important sea. and the issues that come out of that sea historically have been, you know, many of them have been black Snate issues. and have been around affordability and you know housing and a lot of the same issues that we're facing today, but there was more of a practical approach that And there was a humility about some of this takes time, you know, and it takes grit and it takes a lot of things to get things done. But you know Okay. Well, listen, whenever we take a month off, we do something here on what? You're laughing at me I love what's coming on. Do you know me too well now I know's antic like an old married couple between us at this point. But No, we do future headlines because we're not off. People get the news from our show. So we have to actually predict the headlines that are going to happen. Would you like to hear them We will be back on july thirty first, until then these are the headlines you will read. President changes American flag colors to red, white, blue and gold The platter discovers tattoo that covers Nazy tattoo also a Nazi tattoo You knew a rand S agrees to dismantle its nuclear program. Wow. flag runs out of colors in the visible spectrum becomes fully human and immediately begins wasting life on social media Trump Newsome tensions boil over during Chance's encounter at Hir Salon Bill Mare turns prestigious Mark Twain prize into Bond. Okay were sum up because we didn't really get to what the heart of the issue I think, is with this new crowd in the Democratic Party, and that is Israel. They are obsessed with Israel. It's a litmistest. I'd like to quote you. You once said, first of all, I stand with Israel, which I appreciate. You said, I wholeheartedly and unabatchedly echo doctor King's declaration that Israel's right to exist as a state in security is incontestable. claims that I believe Israel is an apartheid state are patently false Thank you, first of all. It says to me ording, Dror King. It says to me this is becoming not at all the party of Obama. or Martin Luther King. I don't think Obama could have won one of these races in New York It was just there. I mean, so for all the people who are always, o gosh, you know, you changed. Did I Was it really me and these other people who, you know if you don't see that this is a fundamental change, I don't get it. And why do you think they are so obsessed with Israel Well, I think, you know, there's a lot of frustration that people are feeling. And it's let me say first of all, Israel is our ally And allies and friends can have honest conversation, right and real debate about what's going on And u, you know, we we're at a as people are witnessing what's happening under Netanyahu There's a lot people in Israel, he's not terribly popular. No he is who are not comfortable with what's happening. There iss an acronym in Gaza, and it's a terrible way to start yourour life, it's WC N SF wounded child. No surviving family. You can't look away from that. You've got to look at it. No, but you have to look at it and who caused it? Yeah. and at the same time, who caused that? You have to They have tunnels which are shelters, which they didn't put any of their people in You have to hold everybody accountable And as a pastor, my North star is a sustainable peace in Israel that is at a nation that's at peace with its neighbors I think at the end of the day Israeli mothers Palestinian mothers want the same thing. They want to be able to put their children to bed at night. them to be safe and to awaken in a world that embraces all of us And I think these extremes are not helpful We gotta have honest conversations Okay I'm sorry I think that's false equivalency. I think there's a lot more extremism on one side. I mean, there's a woman Parasaku Amadi. She is Iranian. She got seventy four lashes seventy four lashes left because she sang. She's a singer. She sang without a head scarf on Let's not forget who the other side is. I mean, do you get seventy four lashes for singing without a headscarf in Israel? No, you don't. You just don't. It's just not aquriiley. I don't want I don't want to judge I want I don't want to judge Israelis or Palestinian people by the most extreme voices among their people I think I think most people want peace there's seven million Israelis, seven million Palestinian folks there in that same region. It's a very small area And we've got to figure out a way at least to a two state solution where both communities can live at peace with each other. Well again. So've I've been very consistent in condemning I've had to take positions. on stages, including the DNC. standing up for children and gos and at the same time, standing up for Israel's right to exist and to live at peace with its neighbors. This idea of I think that's the choice that you got to choose one or the other. Well, but it's also not true that both sides want a two state solution equally. One side's beginning negotiated position is you all die F the river to the sea. From the river to the sea is have we have to condemn that.. Whoever's saying it, we have to condemn it. Yeah. Well, one side is saying it. Yeah. notot two sides. I was going to say this is one of those really complicated situations because for a lot of Americans You know, it's almost what I like to call like a war by by proxy or causeed by proxy because we're not directly involved. you know, we're not sending people over there who are involved in it. so people are forced to take sides or' not even forced to take sides or maybe they take sides just from what they see, you know And when you what they see on Tch correct. R or wherever they get. That's as much as they know about it But they're very powerful. there's very powerful images, especially when you see images of war and people dying and children and all those types of things, you know. There has to be an approach that involves a humane approach to a lot of this stuff. And a lot of things are going to have to be reevaluated. It's kind of you know the world we're living right now, but man, this is one of those things. first of all, I'm completely out of my det with both of you too on this particular issue. I'm But just to bring it back to the deemocratic socialists, they do seem to want to live in a fantasy world They imagine that they would be happier in a world without police living under Islamic law I mean, the level of stupid that that is, I can't even describe. T. I live and work in Washington, so I see a lot of stupidity at I'm. Well before these folks got there.. And so it is the reason why I try to focus on the people. you know as a pastor I'm useduid vote for. That's the real question coming up It People are deeply frustrated. I mean we seeing an increasing divide between the haves and the have nots in our country P peopleeople in these communities are struggling trying to figure out how they' going to pay for their groceries. How they going to pay for housing How they going to pay for utility bills? And I feel like neither party is speaking to that And so every now and then, you know, they want to shake it up sometimes on the right, sometimes on the left. But what is clear is that where we where we've been is not working. and people feel that young people feel it in their gut. And so you know, even as even as we engage them, I think we we do a dangerous thing when we slam the door.ve got we've got to listen to each other. And so I don't want to be dismissive even of those who I disagree with deeply I think the issue is how do we get I agreelease. All right. But before we're out of time, let's talk about another issue that's very important in your terrific book here. And that is voting because I mean, this is in the news again this week. Trump, the Congress did something they haven't done in a long time. their job They they they passed in about that? They passed in law . Yeah, he man. No, D Amen. That's what I say. They passed a law, a housing bill, a good housing bill. That's one of the big issues in this country. There's not enough housing. Absolutely. And it's too expensive. and they did something about itp would not sign it. at least as of now. mayaybe he has at this point, there were ep negotiating. But if he doesn't, it may just you know the procedure better than I do it. it'll just automatically pass or something. I think it's pass. I help write the bill. We passed a housing bill out of the banking and Housing commommittee Every Democrat and every Republican on that committee that I'm a member of voted for it. Amazing. One of the provisions in that bill caps or stops private equity From swooping in the communities we have a great problem around is in Atlanta They just dies up buing up all the housing stock. So you got just ordinary families, single mothers trying to buy a home. And their competition is a big corporation. Right. And so my provision stops that. There are other great provisions in the bill. If you get an appraisal you think is too low, you have some recourse to challenge that. And the president had a chance to stand there with members of Congress. R, takeake credit for a bill he did a little to create, and instead he made it again about. Well again, well no what he made it about is the save act. S. He's not going to sign it because as always, everything is sort of transactional. He wants the Sve act. Let me tell you what the S A. This is about voting. This is a very important issue in book important And the country because things have changed a lot the Supreme Court voted on Voting Rights Act, gerrymandering. I mean just in the time Of a couple of months ago, the districts have changed terrible. Okay, Here's what the Sve A act says. every American will have to have a go to the office somewhere in the prefect's office, I assume, and appear in person with documentation, a birth certificate, photo I birth certificate and a passport, and a photo ID It's estimated over twenty one million Americans lack. these as weve said here, neearly half of Black Americans under thirty do not have ID with their current name and address So What is your reaction to this? I want to be clear of this. I want to be clear though.? Well, it's not this ID. You need a birth certificate. Right. To register to vote, you gott to go find your birth certificate And if you or a passport, most Americans don't have a passport And if you're a married woman and your name on your birth certificate is different from from your your birth certificate, if the name is different on your birth certificate and your marriage right, you got to figure out how to reconcile those things. All of these hoops just to register to vote. This is not a voter ID bill. It's a voter suppression bill Because Trump knows that his presidency is an abject failure. He does not want people to vote. Well, and what's ironic about this though, this is the irony of it all day He's trying to push out of the system a lot of people in the lower classes who probably voted for him You know, there's a lot of people who can't afford these things because they don't have any money. They can, you know, it costs money and time. but by saying it costs money, maybe they have to take time off from work or whatever it is. But a lot of the people in this class voted for Donald Trump, you know, But you're alienating a lot of your own vote. But then he wouldn't kick fifteen million of them off their health carere, cut a trillion dollars out of Medicaid, cut snap And so I don't think he wants people to show up. They think that their fortunes are better if fewer people show up to vote. Why don't people have a birth certificate Well, sometimes If you don't have a birth certificate in your house if you've never had it, then it you have to get it from somewhere So you have to hope that there's a physical record. Don't you get one when you're born? someomebody But it may not have stayed maybebe your parents have it, Mbe they lost it. People Look, we just had fires in Alteradino. People lost personal records, you know Right. Somet It's not always easy to replace those in a certain amount of time I mean, literally, this bill, the so called save Act, should be renamed. Your driver's license is not good enough And that's no, that's where it's gonna def we have real ideas work Yeah, but so yeah, this' a good in very few states where your driver's license work. There are few states where that will work. So your driver's license is not good enough. They don't want people to vote. Are you going to run for president I understand that the local HOA is looking for a president Oh. Thank you gentlemen S see you on the Hustings. Time for new roes everybody. N roes Okay General, everyone must tip their hat to Madonna for continuing to put fantastic music out into the world at her age, which will hopefully soften the blow when we also tell her But the sex symbol days are over. Trust me, manadge, this cover doesn't say I'm crawling toward you in an alluring way. It says, I've fallen and I can't get out A Hll, and I'm sorry, but this cannot be the guy Trump hired to fix the reflecting pool Except that it is. His name is John Cafaro and he's a Trump donor who got a no bid contract You know what? get all that. I just have one question for this lady who chose to take a picture with him You know there are other guys who have money, right? Nirl, get your dog's asshole off the tray table I don't care if he is your certified service animal. There's a thing called hygiene, and some people have to snort cocaine on this flight. N, whoever is considering awarding the world record for longest continuous speech to Mississippi pastor Matt Olson? who delivered a sermon lasting ninety six hours, has to admit they never asked their wife after a glass of wine, how was your dayad Not not to diminish your feet past the Rilson, but at least you allowed bathroom breaks N, someone hased to ask the guy at a California campground who dropped his sunglasses into a toilet, tried to retrieve them, fell down into the toilet, and had to be rescued by firefighters How mad were you when you finally got back to the campsite and somebody said, Whatould you do Fall in? And finally, newew rule, let's all give it up for soccer being the greatest sport No Not the game itself. That sucks I mean, there's more scoring at a Star Trek convention But But I am loving that the World Cup has brought to our shores all these people who are doing Americans the service of reminding us just when we needed it on our big two hundred fifty birthday that actually this place It's kind of awesome. Yes, I know, how dare I, how privileged when there are so many problems and threats and people left behind, all true. I could give you the statistics where we are not good enough and have done so many times Infant mortality rate fififty fourth in the world Women in government, eighty fifth. Overdose, deaths, lack of health insurance. Yes, many problems But that's because the name of our country is America, not utopia And the appropriate comparison isn't to the Eden, you might imagine. it's to every other place on earth We can't be more perfect than what's in your mind We can only be more perfect than Belgium which I bet has nicer airports, but trust me has its own problems. And I never saw anyone getting ecstatic about being there. But that's exactly what I've been seeing here for the last month. Social media flooded with videos of slack jawed soccer tourists wandering around America, positively gushing about everything we take for granted rememinding us what America looks like from the outside That's through the lens of some influencer explaining why watering your lawn is violence just regular people looking around and saying, wow These people live like rock stars. Look at this Japanese guy trying Texas barbecue This. A. Hey, that's a st. I love it The Last time he was that excited, he was rubbing himself against a stranger on the subway British people are walking through Costco like they're touring the Vatican on mushrooms ne European guy said, This is the biggest tourist attraction I can have as a European. It's like a museum He was talking about Walmart Where? Our comfort foods, supermarkets, big box stores, stadiums, they're blowing their minds You could buy a ceramic beaver wearing sunglasses Fuck ye, you can. And you can buy mayonnaise by the gallon This guy can't believe pizza comes in a size this large One point six So Wait until they see our asses. Yeah American food is insane, said another one. Tryed a hot dog today, American delicacy. And oh my God, why does the sausage taste so good? It's the rat here, but we just know how it do Listen to this, there are thousands of people from countries we think of as prosperous and advanced who have come here and are now saying they can no longer go on in life if they can't get ranch dressing One woman from Sweden said, Why did no one tell me ranch sauce is like cracks Because it's not, your crack must suck Really, I never heard anyone say this crack is like eating ranch But plainly, plainly, we have a lot of things here. We assumed everyone has, and they don't They came here for soccer and can't believe you can watch it while having a beer Yeah, they don't have that in Europe But that sink in. In the paradise you think the rest of the world is, they can't drink beer in public without beating the shit out of each other And have you seen Europeans reacting to air conditioning Like it's some exotic experimental technology. Every summer, they're sitting in a four hundred year old stone building sweating through their speedo underwear. As opposed to America where we ask the question, what if my living room didn't cause heat stroke Yes, sir Here's my favorite foreign visitor testimony from this month I feel like I've been lied to my entire life about America This beach is insane. like just as good as Australian beaches But if you log ont to the news Everything's bad. Everything's terrible It's not. absolutely fucking amazing Thank you for that perspective, Australian dude who probably just stole somebody's American girlfriend A actually are some good things about us Even with all the ice nonsense We have more immigrants than the next four countries combined We have to fight for it, but still have freedom of speech and assembly and trial by jury. And even if you're found guilty, you can still ask a Kardashian to get your a pardon. Other countries struggle just to have water. Here, we make it put on a show In the desert no less We have drive throughs for both church and sex toys. That's right You can buy a dildo, then ask the Lord to forgive you for it without ever leaving your car The strongest intellectual property, the most innovative R and D, the highest GDP, the most valuable companies, and the most trillionaire Now look, maybe it's a coincidence, but I think it's something in the American system and character that we have the highest number of Nobel prize winners and invented the light bulb, the telephone, the smartphone, the airplane, personal computers, and the party siz bag of extra flame and hot cheetah Plus, you can believe in whatever crazy religion you want here and twenty four states have legal weed and our pop stars can juggle knives. Happy for us every. July. We'll see you back one V President Jie Bang Catch all new episodes of Real Tim with Bill M every Friday night at ten. or watch them anyime on HBO on demand