Speaker 1: You're listening to Comedy Central. Welcome back again. Our guests
Speaker 1: to night is he has to discuss the inaugural Obama
Speaker 1: Foundation Democracy Forum and how he's training the next generation
Speaker 1: of young leaders in the US and around the world.
Speaker 1: Please welcome the forty four President of the United States,
Speaker 1: Barack Obama. Oh I do do? What's he doing? Thank you?
Speaker 1: Thank you? Thank you? Bok Alma, that's love. Um. I
Speaker 1: should have I should I should have brought Michelle here.
Speaker 1: So this is this is how I'd like to be
Speaker 1: greeted when I come home. But I feel like Michelle's star.
Speaker 1: Mr President, Welcome to the Day to Show. It is
Speaker 1: wonderful to see you. Do you miss your name, by
Speaker 1: the way, because everyone calls you Mr. President? But like
Speaker 1: I feel like I would like if people call me
Speaker 1: like Mr Daly, I would miss just being called travor
Speaker 1: do you miss your names? My best friends call me Barack?
Speaker 1: You should, Mr President? You know, Welcome to the show. Um,
Speaker 1: let's let's start with I mean the most present used.
Speaker 1: The midterms just happened. You know, America voted, the House
Speaker 1: is flipping. Democrats have held onto the Senate. Many credit
Speaker 1: you for coming out and pushing out, you know, people
Speaker 1: to vote. I would love to know two parts to that.
Speaker 1: You know. Number one, do you do you feel pressure
Speaker 1: whenever you asked to come up? It's like in the
Speaker 1: movies when you know they need that home run and
Speaker 1: the basis are loading, the team's losing and they go,
Speaker 1: but rock, we need you to hit this out of
Speaker 1: the park. We might lose everything. Do you feel the pressure?
Speaker 1: Does it get to you? And and second of all,
Speaker 1: what does it say about the state of the Democratic
Speaker 1: Party that they always need you to come out and
Speaker 1: do that before election? Look, I think that the reason
Speaker 1: we did better than expected can be attributed to uh,
Speaker 1: not me or uh you know, anything I did, But
Speaker 1: it has to do with ay. We recruited some excellent candidates.
Speaker 1: Uh you look like Good Westmore in Maryland, Josh Shapiro
Speaker 1: and Pennsylvania. You look at our Senate candidates John Feederman
Speaker 1: and Mark Kelly Um. They are committed, passionate, down to earth.
Speaker 1: They connect with people, um and so I come in
Speaker 1: mainly to shine a spotlight on them. So that's point
Speaker 1: number one. And the second thing that happened in in
Speaker 1: this mid term, and we've seen it now for three elections.
Speaker 1: So I'm starting to feel pretty hopeful that this is
Speaker 1: a habit. Young people are voting and you got higher.
Speaker 1: It has been many times remarked how I got thumped
Speaker 1: during mid terms during my presidency, and part of it
Speaker 1: was that voting rates were really low. People In some sense,
Speaker 1: I think a lot of Democrats felt, all right, Obama's
Speaker 1: there will be okay. And you know, if it turns
Speaker 1: out that McConnell and Baynard and others suddenly have power,
Speaker 1: then that greatly restricts what a president can do. And
Speaker 1: I think that lesson was learned. Trump comes in and
Speaker 1: suddenly and now this one, you've seen young people come
Speaker 1: in and they're typically voting at a rate of seventy
Speaker 1: to thirty, sixty to forty Democrat to Republican, and that
Speaker 1: makes a huge difference, and so they're but enthusiasm, I
Speaker 1: think is what really drove this election. I agree with
Speaker 1: that in terms of the people who actually voted, but
Speaker 1: young people don't seem to be turning out as much.
Speaker 1: You know, so the ones who did vote votes an
Speaker 1: overwhelmingly Democrats. But then the number of young votes seems
Speaker 1: to be dwindling from election to election, and many young
Speaker 1: votes are saying they feel disillusioned, They feel like America
Speaker 1: hasn't made away for them, they don't see a future
Speaker 1: for themselves. Well, look, what is always true is young
Speaker 1: people are going to vote at slightly lower rates than
Speaker 1: old people like me because maybe got better things to do.
Speaker 1: Michelle and I are sitting at home, you know, eating dinner,
Speaker 1: what kind of run out of things to say, Well,
Speaker 1: let's go vote young people, Millie and Sasha, they're out
Speaker 1: in our ne on all kinds of stuff. So, uh so,
Speaker 1: that's always going to be the case that that young
Speaker 1: people voting rates are a little bit lower. They are
Speaker 1: higher now than they were in the mid terms when
Speaker 1: I was president, and in such a polarized environment one
Speaker 1: to three percent. If they're turning out at instead of difference,
Speaker 1: that can make an enormous difference. Right when you look
Speaker 1: at that tiny difference, you still see the places where,
Speaker 1: I mean, people got into power despite the fact that
Speaker 1: they deny elections. I think Republicans got a hundred and
Speaker 1: seventy election deniers into Congress. People who don't believe in
Speaker 1: the way America's running its elections, people who don't believe
Speaker 1: Joe Biden should be president or they you know, they'll
Speaker 1: be vague about the answers. What do you what do
Speaker 1: you think it says about American democracy that so many
Speaker 1: people are getting elected to these positions when they seem
Speaker 1: to dismiss the election itself. Well, the interesting thing is
Speaker 1: you notice election deniers don't deny their own election. Funny
Speaker 1: how that works, um, how many of them actually believe that, uh,
Speaker 1: some of the nonsense that that circulates, versus those who
Speaker 1: think it's convenient or it's a way to own the Libs,
Speaker 1: or it's a way to send a message um or
Speaker 1: align themselves with Trump. That's hard to say. But what
Speaker 1: is important is that because of some really concerted efforts
Speaker 1: in a lot of important states, some of the most egregious, prominent,
Speaker 1: and potentially dangerous election deniers, they got thumped. They got
Speaker 1: beat and particularly in these secretary of States races and
Speaker 1: in some cases governors races, where you know, the next
Speaker 1: presidential election you could have somebody who could really do
Speaker 1: some damage there. I think we held the line. Now,
Speaker 1: what it does say, more broadly is the fact that, uh,
Speaker 1: not just here in the United States, but around the world,
Speaker 1: the fundamental precepts of democracy are being challenged. Um, we're
Speaker 1: not having arguments about policy, but we're having arguments about
Speaker 1: the the rules of the game, which previously we all
Speaker 1: agreed to. Right, there was a notion that all right,
Speaker 1: we run elections, whoever gets the most votes actually wins.
Speaker 1: The loser concedes, goes back and tries to do better
Speaker 1: next time. Um. And what we've seen now for a
Speaker 1: whole host of reasons, is a creeping sense that, um,
Speaker 1: if the outcomes not what we want, then we can
Speaker 1: do whatever we want and say whatever we want in
Speaker 1: order for us to win. And that is profoundly dangerous.
Speaker 1: And as I said, it's it's not unique to the
Speaker 1: United States, but when it happens in the United States,
Speaker 1: it sends a signal all around the world that weakens democracy.
Speaker 1: And and that's why think us getting our house in
Speaker 1: order is so important when when you look at the
Speaker 1: discourse in the country's well and and around the world.
Speaker 1: But again, I think you're correct in that America as
Speaker 1: a leader in what's happening right now, the discourse has
Speaker 1: become so toxic. You you were in every single state,
Speaker 1: you were meeting with people all the way from Iowa,
Speaker 1: you know, through to California, where wherever you you were
Speaker 1: meeting people on the ground, they were listening to you.
Speaker 1: There was an openness even though people had different political affiliations.
Speaker 1: It seems like that has eroded over time. And I
Speaker 1: wonder what you make of that. Where where do you
Speaker 1: think it's coming from? Do you think of social media?
Speaker 1: Think do you think it's the tenor of politicians in
Speaker 1: the capital. Two things. The biggest change that's taken place
Speaker 1: when I ran for let's say US Senate in Illinois.
Speaker 1: You go down state, that's the South. I mean, it's rural,
Speaker 1: it's conservative. There aren't a lot of folks who look
Speaker 1: like you or me. Um and certainly there are more
Speaker 1: Trevors than there are Barracks in the variable. But and
Speaker 1: uh so uh and I'm driving around, I've I've got
Speaker 1: you know, map for young people here that it's this
Speaker 1: paper thing. You can't figure out how to fold it back,
Speaker 1: but it's how you find your way on roads. Um
Speaker 1: and uh. But I go into a town and it'd
Speaker 1: be Republican, a lot of evangelicals, et cetera. But I
Speaker 1: could go to a diner or a VFW hall or
Speaker 1: uh county fair. I could go to the local newspaper,
Speaker 1: and the owner there is conservative and he's got a
Speaker 1: bowtie and buzz cut. He's kind of skeptical about my ideas.
Speaker 1: But there wasn't the filter that had been created by
Speaker 1: Fox News or the media infrastructure, the sort of right
Speaker 1: wing conspiracy theory, uh ye know, folks. And so they
Speaker 1: came at me with an open mind, and I could
Speaker 1: I could listen to them, and they could listen to me,
Speaker 1: and at the end of the day they might say, well,
Speaker 1: he's a little liberal for our taste, but we have
Speaker 1: something in common. He talked about, you know, his mom
Speaker 1: getting sick. I remember my mom getting sick. You know,
Speaker 1: it seems like he loves his kids. I love my kids,
Speaker 1: and there was some sense of connection. And I think
Speaker 1: the filter now has become so thick. It started I
Speaker 1: think with Fox News and some of the other uh
Speaker 1: uh you know, traditional media, and now with social media
Speaker 1: that's gotten turbo charged. If you go into those same
Speaker 1: communities now, they have so many preconceptions about what somebody
Speaker 1: like me believes, cares about, etcetera, that it's very hard
Speaker 1: to penetrate. So I think that the answer is both
Speaker 1: thinking about information flow and media and how do how
Speaker 1: can we breakthrough that information bubble that people are in.
Speaker 1: That requires, by the way, progressives to get out of
Speaker 1: their media bubble because we've got some preconceptions that I
Speaker 1: think create barriers as well. And then working a lot
Speaker 1: more locally, uh, because you noticed that when you're on
Speaker 1: the ground doing stuff, it's harder to stereotype people. And
Speaker 1: the nationalization of our politics I think has been damaging.
Speaker 1: The more we can focus on grassroots efforts, real world
Speaker 1: rather than just virtual meetings m conversations, that's what, over
Speaker 1: time I think can can help strengthen democracy. And that's
Speaker 1: part of what you know our EMPSIS has been at
Speaker 1: the at the foundation is with young leaders who are
Speaker 1: working on the ground, coming up with new ideas to
Speaker 1: create those connections. Well, I definitely want to speak to
Speaker 1: you about that. I want to speak to about democracy worldwide.
Speaker 1: I want to speak to you about disinformation and what
Speaker 1: we can do to immunize ourselves from it. But we
Speaker 1: gotta take a quick break. We'll be right back after
Speaker 1: this with more from President to us about alcome back
Speaker 1: to the Daily Show. We are still here with President
Speaker 1: Barack Obama chatting democracy, disinformation and who is better looking
Speaker 1: between us. I want um, let's start. Let's you know,
Speaker 1: the real question is how how will they luck when
Speaker 1: he's sixty if you wants attractive when they're in the
Speaker 1: almost almost yea almost almost. Let's run all over. Let's
Speaker 1: talk about plancy, Let's talk about your your your foundation,
Speaker 1: Let's talk about what you're doing. We see you out there,
Speaker 1: you know, we see you talking about democracy. See, the
Speaker 1: world isn't a really interesting place in that. You know,
Speaker 1: a few years ago and I think the world was
Speaker 1: of the world was you know, you could say the
Speaker 1: countries were democratic. Democratic, you know, they had they had elections,
Speaker 1: people won those elections, there was an exchange of power, etcetera.
Speaker 1: And now I think seventy of the world is living
Speaker 1: in a state where they either ruled where it's a
Speaker 1: complete you know, autocracy, or it isn't a democracy. Two
Speaker 1: things again, One, why do you think the world has
Speaker 1: gotten there? You know, if if democracy and freedom on
Speaker 1: things that everybody wishes to have, why does it seem
Speaker 1: like the world is moving away from that? And then secondly,
Speaker 1: what can we do or why should we then try
Speaker 1: get back to this democracy? If you look at the
Speaker 1: trend lines, there are a bunch of factors. I think globalization,
Speaker 1: the global economy, disrupted a lot of traditional societies. What
Speaker 1: do you mean, well, Uh, the global supply chain eiminates industries,
Speaker 1: eliminates jobs, increases, Uh, you know, the wealth gap not
Speaker 1: only between countries but within countries. Right. So, and then
Speaker 1: modernity challenges people's traditional notions of religion and family and
Speaker 1: general roles. And you've got these culture clashes. Right, You're
Speaker 1: in some village in Yemen and suddenly your kid has
Speaker 1: a phone and it's looking at the Kardashians and right,
Speaker 1: and and you're so so you get this vertigo and
Speaker 1: what happened, what you've seen happen I think in a
Speaker 1: whole bunch of places is essentially a pushback, a backlash
Speaker 1: to change that is happening too fast, uh for their comfort.
Speaker 1: And when people are pushing back against change, then they're
Speaker 1: vulnerable to politicians who say, you know what, I can
Speaker 1: make things just like it was back then, when you
Speaker 1: we're feeling more important, you had higher status. You know,
Speaker 1: you didn't have people who don't look like you suggesting
Speaker 1: somehow that yeah, you're doing something wrong. Um, that somehow
Speaker 1: your traditions are flawed and and that appeal usually also
Speaker 1: involved saying the problems you're feeling are somebody else's faults.
Speaker 1: It's those folks there, it's immigrants, it's gays, it's hind News,
Speaker 1: it's Muslims, it's so forth and so on and uh.
Speaker 1: And that then gets turbo charged with the information issues
Speaker 1: that we talked about. Um And Look, democracy requires by definition,
Speaker 1: getting along with people who don't agree with you. Uh.
Speaker 1: And the other thing that happens is these countries have
Speaker 1: become less homogeneous, right. And so you just had a um,
Speaker 1: a right wing party in Sweden, which we always used
Speaker 1: to Swedes right there, so chill and democratic, right, But
Speaker 1: if you've got a whole bunch of immigrants coming in,
Speaker 1: suddenly people start getting nervous. And and so part of
Speaker 1: what I think we have to do is to stand
Speaker 1: fast on the principles of equality and self governance and
Speaker 1: representation and everybody gets a seat at the table. But
Speaker 1: I think we have to also find a language and
Speaker 1: a story, a way of telling the story about how
Speaker 1: we can get together that does not threaten people who
Speaker 1: are uncomfortable with change as much. Um And and that's
Speaker 1: you know, going to be different for different countries. But
Speaker 1: I'll give you an example. There's a young leader who
Speaker 1: we worked with from Slovenia, she's part of our network,
Speaker 1: who was an advocate for doing something about domestic violence.
Speaker 1: The laws of that country didn't have domestic violence. There
Speaker 1: was a real problem. Ran a referendum, it got crushed,
Speaker 1: and we worked with her and suggested, well, maybe you
Speaker 1: want to talk to the people who didn't vote for it.
Speaker 1: So she goes out to these rural villages with these
Speaker 1: um older, traditional rural, very religious, very conservative women and
Speaker 1: just interviewed them and listen to them and talk to them.
Speaker 1: And it's not that they agreed with domestic abuse, it's
Speaker 1: that they thought their way of life was being challenged.
Speaker 1: She adapted their language, ran the referendum again a few
Speaker 1: years later, and it passed right because she adopted the
Speaker 1: language that made them feel as if, Okay, this is
Speaker 1: not so much of a earthquake a huge change in
Speaker 1: how we live, but it's rather affirming our best values.
Speaker 1: And I think us finding ways to do that in
Speaker 1: a consistent way will help um. But it's hard. Yeah. Look,
Speaker 1: for most of human history, democracy is relatively recent vintage.
Speaker 1: It's a blip. Yeah, tribe, uh, you know, nation, state, race, sect.
Speaker 1: You know, that's typically been how we organize things. And
Speaker 1: it's always easy to say us versus them, that that's
Speaker 1: that's the easy politics. What what democracy demands is always
Speaker 1: a little bit more difficult. It also feels like, you
Speaker 1: know when when when you observe it. There are two
Speaker 1: elements that I that I often see is, on the
Speaker 1: one hand, storytelling. As you said, it's often easier to
Speaker 1: tell a story of blame. Yes, why are things going wrong?
Speaker 1: It's because of that person. It's simple. There's the person.
Speaker 1: We we we've solved it. Why are things going wrong? Well,
Speaker 1: there's a confluence of factors, and you have this and
Speaker 1: you have the economy. You gotta understand the supply to.
Speaker 1: That's not an answer for many people. And when you
Speaker 1: sell freedom, they got I don't. I can't eat freedom.
Speaker 1: I can't buy a house with freedom. I can't, you know.
Speaker 1: And then the second part is what you're talking about,
Speaker 1: you know, the US versus them, the who is and
Speaker 1: who isn't. Sometimes I think for many people it feels
Speaker 1: like it feels like the populists come in and just
Speaker 1: do you know, whether it is in Brazil, you know,
Speaker 1: whether it's more so narrow, you know, whether it's in
Speaker 1: America with Trump, whether they go they're just gonna do,
Speaker 1: and whether they do or don't actually do it. It
Speaker 1: feels like they're gonna do. But then some people go, oh,
Speaker 1: but when we get the freedom people they want to
Speaker 1: talk and they want to discuss, and it seems incremental
Speaker 1: and it seems like things won't change. Is there a
Speaker 1: way to combat that, because it is a feeling a
Speaker 1: lot of the time. Well, yeah, Look, if you want
Speaker 1: to be a progressive, pluralists tolerant democrat. Uh. And I
Speaker 1: don't mean small D democrat, I don't mean Democratic party. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, you can't be a wuss. I mean you
Speaker 1: you you You've got to have a story that with
Speaker 1: some swag, you got to be able to sell the
Speaker 1: future and and deliver and uh and also call out
Speaker 1: the fact that what those folks say they're gonna do,
Speaker 1: they almost never do, right, because the truth of the
Speaker 1: matter is is that, Um, when you look at we
Speaker 1: we have experiments those countries that have the ability to
Speaker 1: harness everyone and everybody participates and there's consent and people
Speaker 1: feel like, all right, this is working for us versus
Speaker 1: places that um are failed states. You know, the track
Speaker 1: record of democracy is is pretty good. But you know,
Speaker 1: we have to be forceful in making our argument. And
Speaker 1: what is true is that um you know, we can't
Speaker 1: just talk. We gotta walk the walk, which is why
Speaker 1: you know we're having a form in New York. One
Speaker 1: of the topics that we're talking about is inclusive capitalism.
Speaker 1: It people are when you think about, let's say, here
Speaker 1: in the United States, there's greater appeal of right wing
Speaker 1: populism in a lot of communities, rural communities that they're
Speaker 1: not wrong that the economy, the global economy has shifted
Speaker 1: away from them to urban centers, even in their own states,
Speaker 1: and so the opportunities in Austin, Texas are different than
Speaker 1: in a rural community in these Texas UM and people
Speaker 1: notice that. So we have to spend some time thinking
Speaker 1: about how are we delivered on behalf of people whose
Speaker 1: lives who used to work in a factory, who used
Speaker 1: to uh, you know, farm for a living and have
Speaker 1: have dignity and worth and stability and security in those
Speaker 1: lives and now suddenly they don't feel as if they've
Speaker 1: got the lottery ticket in this in this existing economy,
Speaker 1: that does have to be addressed. And in places like Africa, um,
Speaker 1: you know, right now, you have let's say, China coming
Speaker 1: in heavy presence in a lot of these countries, providing
Speaker 1: a lot of foreign a lot of strings attached, a
Speaker 1: lot of Chinese workers coming into build big buildings. But
Speaker 1: if we're not there, if we're not helping build that road,
Speaker 1: if we're not there to uh build that port, then
Speaker 1: naturally people are going to start thinking, well, maybe that's
Speaker 1: a that's a recipe for bettering my life as opposed
Speaker 1: to you know, some flowery language, but it has nothing
Speaker 1: behind it. I wonder, though, do you think inclusive capitalism
Speaker 1: is somewhat of a paradox? You know, it feels like
Speaker 1: it feels you think it's because it feels it feels like,
Speaker 1: I mean, capitalism is designed to extract as much wealth
Speaker 1: as possible from every single interaction that you can look.
Speaker 1: You know, I mentioned yea, Sweden and some of the
Speaker 1: problems they're having because immigration. On the other hand, you
Speaker 1: look at Scandinavian countries. They're capitalist countries, but some and
Speaker 1: those work very well. But some people would argue that
Speaker 1: their foundation is more you know, socialists, and then they
Speaker 1: go with it's it's almost like they go with with
Speaker 1: socialists first and then capitalism is our undercurrent. Not really
Speaker 1: you know, well, if you go there, essentially they people
Speaker 1: are taxed more and they have more common goods. But
Speaker 1: you're still going around at a job and you get
Speaker 1: paid and you know you can't. It's not like you're
Speaker 1: going into the store just happen whatever you want walking out,
Speaker 1: but fish, friend, you gotta pay for it. Right then
Speaker 1: the guy registers checking and did the American profit here today?
Speaker 1: But the reason I'm asking that is because and maybe
Speaker 1: it's the words that fail us sometimes. I often, you know,
Speaker 1: I'll talk to my friends about this. It's interesting that
Speaker 1: we sort of stopped. We went, oh, the socialism, there's
Speaker 1: you know, there's this, there's the communism, this capital and
Speaker 1: then we just stopped, like this is it? This capitalism?
Speaker 1: And that's that I sometimes wonder is there not something better?
Speaker 1: Is there something we could be making? Maybe I should
Speaker 1: be is inclusive capitalists. The reason I just used let's
Speaker 1: say a Denmark is an example, is not because it's
Speaker 1: gonna work perfectly in India, the United States, etcetera. The
Speaker 1: point though, is is they've they've got some blend some mix, right,
Speaker 1: there is an advantage in terms of efficiency and also
Speaker 1: freedom to a market system. You have a control system.
Speaker 1: You know, some guy in office is deciding how many
Speaker 1: potatoes we're going to grow this year. That usually doesn't work.
Speaker 1: The flip side of it is that what we've also
Speaker 1: learned is that if some kind in a boardroom is
Speaker 1: deciding I'm gonna ravage the environment to do whatever I want,
Speaker 1: that doesn't work either. So we're gonna have a blend
Speaker 1: of some sort. We want some collective decision making about
Speaker 1: the social good, and we want something that's efficient and
Speaker 1: dynamic and allows us to exercise our innovation and freedom.
Speaker 1: And we don't need to worry so much about the
Speaker 1: labels as we do about being practical and thinking about
Speaker 1: what's working and what isn't. And this is going back
Speaker 1: to the information issues. This is part of why to me,
Speaker 1: one of the biggest challenges of democracy is not just
Speaker 1: the mechanics of elections or uh the independent judiciary. Those
Speaker 1: things are all important, but this is why this information
Speaker 1: and media issue is so important, because what we've seen
Speaker 1: here in the United States and elsewhere is a a
Speaker 1: abandonment of a commitment to facts and reason and logic
Speaker 1: and you know, stuff that is useful, uh and and necessary.
Speaker 1: And if we can't have a debate based on facts,
Speaker 1: then we can't get to better solutions. Right we start
Speaker 1: talking in slogans and nonsense and there's no reality check.
Speaker 1: We just make stuff up. I didn't lose an election.
Speaker 1: You know, there's something broken over there, um and and
Speaker 1: it doesn't and and it's impervious defects. So so part
Speaker 1: of what I think, why I've been spending a lot
Speaker 1: of time thinking about this uh disinformation issue, is how
Speaker 1: do we and how we teach our kids in you know,
Speaker 1: either industry standards or and or regulation of these social
Speaker 1: media platforms. How do we get back to the point
Speaker 1: where you can have opinions? We all do, but facts matter,
Speaker 1: and and proof matters, and and our capacity to debate
Speaker 1: and say, you know what, if we do things this way,
Speaker 1: it might work better. And then you may disagree, but
Speaker 1: at least we we agree to a set of rules
Speaker 1: whereby we can arrive at a better solution. It's possible
Speaker 1: to get to that place when almost to let's just
Speaker 1: talk about the United States, almost half the country says, well,
Speaker 1: what all those rules and why are you even deciding them?
Speaker 1: And why are we having this conversation You are not
Speaker 1: even affect How do you honestly mean, how do you
Speaker 1: get to that place with people we're not The interesting
Speaker 1: thing is, even in those places that are just inundated
Speaker 1: with what I considered to be nonsense and lies and
Speaker 1: destroy portions, when people operate in their own lives, they're
Speaker 1: still operating on facts right on their jobs. When they're
Speaker 1: coaching their kids the league or their soccer game. In football,
Speaker 1: they don't let the ref just kind of say, you
Speaker 1: know what, this time, we're just gonna get five points
Speaker 1: for the touchdown. It's like wait, wait, wait, folks on
Speaker 1: the sidelines saying no, it's six points for the touchdown,
Speaker 1: and then you get the extra point. And so we
Speaker 1: abide by all kinds of facts in our own lives.
Speaker 1: It's just this national story that is being told where
Speaker 1: we allow lives to be told, and we accept them
Speaker 1: mainly because it turns out there when we tell a
Speaker 1: story about the other side, it makes us feel better.
Speaker 1: It's like, you know, Trevor, he's a jackass. You should
Speaker 1: see and you're happening to be sitting there and and
Speaker 1: uh and and and so we enjoy the performative aspects
Speaker 1: of making stuff up and and part of that is
Speaker 1: because we don't think they're consequences to it. Now, what
Speaker 1: we've learned from the election of my successor, from the pandemic,
Speaker 1: from the insurrection is actually the stories we tell do matter.
Speaker 1: And you know, having some baseline of sticking to the
Speaker 1: truth when you're telling stories about our country, about policy,
Speaker 1: but also about the other side, that matters. Um And
Speaker 1: and I I like to think that part of what
Speaker 1: happened in this election is people said, Okay, you know what,
Speaker 1: some of this stuff is getting a little too crazy.
Speaker 1: It turns out that there is a you know, a
Speaker 1: majority of country that does prefer normal not crazy. And
Speaker 1: that's and that's is, that's a basis for I've to
Speaker 1: talk to you for hours about this. I know you
Speaker 1: don't have the time. UM it has been wonderful having
Speaker 1: you here, though it's also been wonderful seeing you know
Speaker 1: what what you're getting up to, because after you you know,
Speaker 1: we have the pleasure of interviewing at the White House
Speaker 1: just before you left, and then afterwards, I saw you
Speaker 1: kite surfing, and I, uh, I loved it. I loved it.
Speaker 1: By the way, um great technique, but I often wonders, like,
Speaker 1: you know, what is Mr President going to do next?
Speaker 1: Where does he go? And you know, you started producing
Speaker 1: shows about issues around the world, and now you've got
Speaker 1: this forum. I wondered if maybe you know, you have
Speaker 1: any tips for me as you know, because well because
Speaker 1: because you I mean, you know, I like, we're basically
Speaker 1: you know, we're guys are gonna saying you know, you know,
Speaker 1: I think dumb. I think you're gonna have to uh
Speaker 1: really focus on relearning things like driving, pressing your own
Speaker 1: elevator button. I think was what was the last time
Speaker 1: you heard the drag waters myself? Yeah, we have very
Speaker 1: you you you don't like you're very like you know.
Speaker 1: That's like I said, you missed the President forever. You
Speaker 1: have secret Service forever. That's correct, I do, and and it, uh,
Speaker 1: I still am in a bubble. I thought I thought
Speaker 1: I could escape it quick stories. Since we're in New York.
Speaker 1: I used to say, Oh, you know what, once I
Speaker 1: get out of here, I'm gonna just be able to
Speaker 1: like walk through Central Park and that's gonna you know,
Speaker 1: and I'll just put like on a baseball cap. And
Speaker 1: it's gonna be fine and yeah. Michelle's all like, yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: good luck with that. And the first time I tried it, um,
Speaker 1: I got like half a block and then suddenly there
Speaker 1: was a small and their phones and traffic stopping and
Speaker 1: it didn't work. So um, so uh, you know, uh,
Speaker 1: I guess what I would say though, is uh that
Speaker 1: you will be missed here. But um and uh but
Speaker 1: but but we were talking backstage. Uh, you're already following.
Speaker 1: One piece of advice that I would have is leave
Speaker 1: when your poll numbers are high. That that's how they'll
Speaker 1: remember you. So I'm actually yeah, I'm I'm excited. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna you know, I'm gonna go on the road. Yes,
Speaker 1: I mean I've said this to you before. You know
Speaker 1: what the with it's the White House car spond instead
Speaker 1: and Georgia when you're doing the speed. You're a very
Speaker 1: funny guy. So you want me to open for you?
Speaker 1: I thought I'm showing Chicago. It doesn't you know, what's
Speaker 1: not even open. I wouldn't then we could co you know,
Speaker 1: you can't open for me. You you still missed the president.
Speaker 1: We just do like a headlining tour. You know what
Speaker 1: I mean, you know what I mean. All the good
Speaker 1: cousin of Barack Opoma. Everybody want to cry over later
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