Episode 190 Scott Adams: Who is Crazier, President Trump or his Critics?

Date: 2018-08-21 | Duration: 33:23

Topics

Philip Mudd vs. Paris Dennard…President Trump tweets about it Who seems “unhinged”, President Trump…or his critics? Jim Carrey’s anti-Trump artwork Bill Maher’s show registers as a lack of mental health now

Transcript

The Simultaneous Sip

Hello Joanne, Gino, Olga—come on in here. You’re the lucky ones who get here early and get a little extra. Hey Mike, hey Matt, Kevin—good to see you all because you know what time it is. We’ve got a thousand viewers coming up now, so it’s time for the simultaneous sip. Please join me. Here it comes. It gets better every time. Aloha.

Philip Mudd vs. Paris Dennard

Did any of you see the tweet from the President that I retweeted in which he was referring to the clip of Paris Dennard on CNN talking to Phil Mudd? It was one of my favorite tweets lately. I’m going to have to read it to you. I hope you all saw the clip. Everybody saw that, right? It was a clip of CNN’s pundit Phil Mudd appearing to go crazy. I’m not a medical expert, so I’m not going to say that I know what’s happening in Phil Mudd’s mind, but here was the President’s characterization:

“Just watched former intelligence official Philip Mudd become totally unglued and weird while debating wonderful Paris Dennard over Brennan’s security clearance. Dennard destroyed him but Mudd is in no mental condition to have such a clearance. Should be revoked and REVOKED!”

And then he says, “at Sean Hannity.”

Trump’s Mental State vs. His Critics

So, here’s the funny part. How long has it been that people have been criticizing President Trump’s mental state? How many times have we seen the President in public? We’ve seen him at all hours. We’ve seen him in the morning, at night, when he tweets in the middle of the night—we’ve seen him do all kinds of things in all kinds of contexts. But what his critics would have you believe is that he’s only crazy when you’re not looking.

He is the most on-camera, transparent president of all time. It’s not even close. He’s tweeting at all hours, he’s doing rallies, and after all that public exposure, the only times he is crazy is when you’re not watching.

But then you’ve got Philip Mudd, who acted crazy right in front of us. Again, I’m saying he “acted” crazy because I don’t know what’s in his head and I can’t give a medical diagnosis, but he acted crazy right in front of us.

Bill Maher and Trump Derangement Syndrome

If you haven’t seen the clips, there are some clips with Bill Maher now. Bill Maher typically would be one of the more legitimate voices in any conversation, meaning he’s not nailed down to one side or the other; he’s going to look at the facts more often than not. But when it comes to matters of Trump and you hear him talking, it looks crazy. It looks like Trump Derangement Syndrome to the casual observer.

When he talks about Trump, he doesn’t look normal. He talks about it as treason and the end of the world, and he’s going so far as to say that maybe it would be good to have an economic crash just to get rid of Trump. Those don’t sound like stable thoughts. Again, I’m not a medical professional, and I would not assume to know anybody’s medical fitness just by looking at them on TV, but the best argument against the President at the moment is that he’s crazy when nobody’s looking—even though we’re always looking.

Personal Observations of the President

Keep in mind that I’ve spoken to the President in a private, semi-private conversation with other people in the room. I’ve seen him off-camera, and I didn’t see any “crazy” there. Not a trace. Usually, you feel like you could detect it. People couldn’t hide crazy; it’s pretty hard to hide.

But then you look at his critics, and we are to believe that although they act crazy in public, they are totally sane when they get off the air—totally sane when nobody’s looking. So those are our two movies: Trump is completely capable, in charge, and sane whenever we’re looking, no matter the time of day or the context. None of it looks crazy in public, and we haven’t heard any of his allies say he’s crazy privately. You’d think you’d find someone who was willing to say, “You know, something’s going down there.” Instead, you end up with only people like Omarosa, who has no credibility.

Do I know Penn Jillette? I’ve met him; we hung out a little bit one day. I have seen his opinions, which he’s keeping to himself it sounds like. But were to believe that the President’s critics act crazy when we’re watching, but they’re totally sane when they get off camera. That’s their best argument right now.

Media “Mind-Reading” Tactics

Here is your homework assignment: when you’re watching the criticisms of the President, look for “mind-reading” words where the person talking about him is assuming his mental state.

Here’s an article—I won’t tell you who wrote this—stating “Trump was surprised and bothered.” This is someone who was not in the room when this supposedly happened. It’s a third party writing about somebody else who is unnamed, who is interpreting the President’s inner thoughts. Watch how often you see words that describe the President’s inner feelings and inner thoughts without any kind of quote or exterior description of events.

They’re saying the President was “furious,” he was “caught off guard,” he was “shocked,” the President was “disturbed.” When you see all of those words, they’re usually coming from someone who’s writing after talking to a secret source. Why is it always “lashes out,” “bashes,” “feuds,” “worries about,” “concerned,” or “panicked about”? They’re all mind-reading words. Mueller asked about Trump’s state of mind? We don’t know that, do we?

Talking about Asia Argento? No, that’s just awful. I’m not even going to talk about that. I’m not the one who wants to talk about all of the horrible sex scandals. I’ll let the media handle that stuff; that’s not my beat.

The Deported Nazi Guard

There was news that the Trump administration supported the deportation of an actual Nazi—someone who worked at a Nazi concentration camp. Yeah, he’s 95. It’s going to be harder to keep holding up those old thoughts.

Manafort, Assange, and the “Unhinged” Label

It seems to me that the anti-Trumpers are a little bit lost right now. Their best argument is that they are acting crazy in public, talking about a President who only acts crazy when nobody is watching. That’s not a strong attack.

Do you want to talk about Julian Assange? I don’t know a whole lot about that situation other than Rand Paul has suggested that Assange get a pardon in order to testify. I would be in favor of that. On Paul Manafort, there’s no verdict yet, but the deliberations continue.

There was an artist called “unhinged” for playing a rally. “Unhinged” is another one of those words that they like to call each other. Kevin Hart? Don’t know anything about him. Any predictions on the Manafort verdict? I think all that deliberation tells you that probably we’re heading toward a hung jury on at least some of those counts.

No, I am not uninformed. What am I uninformed about? I’m not denying that I’m uninformed, but I don’t know which category you’re talking about. I doubt you’re going to get “not guilty,” but you might get a hung jury.

A Bad Week for Anti-Trumpers

Tim Cook buying Tesla? I haven’t heard anything about that. Is Omarosa’s time over? It looks like it. Her time in the sun has disappeared.

If you look at some of the things that happened this week: there was great pushback about the President’s military parade plans, but then the President got a price, the price was too high, so he canceled it like a completely normal person. They just sort of took away all the fun.

Then there was Omarosa. The best attack they had on the President that week was somebody who has absolutely no credibility whatsoever. So that didn’t work out.

Then you had Paris Dennard. An African-American supporter of the President goes on television and just annihilates the President’s most vocal critic—who matters in this case—a white guy who was the biggest critic. Nobody had to point out that Paris is African-American and Phil Mudd is not; it’s just part of the story. I think anybody who saw it would have the same conclusion: Paris absolutely obliterated him on air.

That was a bad day. So bad that you can watch the CNN host—I forget his name—the look on his face when Phil Mudd was acting, as the President would say, “weird,” was precious. It was just great. Then you’ve got Michael Avenatti running for President, which makes everything look ridiculous. That just makes the whole Stormy Daniels thing look like it was trivial.

Jim Sciutto—I don’t know how to pronounce it—then you had James Clapper calling out Brennan for his rhetoric. This was an absolute slaughter, wasn’t it? You’ve got the economy screaming along. This week was an absolute rout. The President is just killing it. Eric Swalwell running for President? I heard he was thinking about it. He’d be crazy not to. If you were Eric Swalwell, wouldn’t you run for President now? I know Eric Swalwell; he’s the Congressperson for my area. I’ve met him a few times and we have some mutual friends, so that would be interesting to see a local guy running.

Jim Carrey’s Artwork

Let’s talk about Jim Carrey’s Trump Derangement Syndrome artwork. If you were to separate—and I hope you’ve all seen it—Jim Carrey’s doing art, doing a lot of anti-Trump, cartoonish art. I have two thoughts about it. The political opinion part of it looks like Trump Derangement Syndrome to most of you, but the actual art skill—I’m going to say I freaking love it. I know you hate to hear that, but the actual quality of his artistic talent is really, really good.

Even the stuff where I completely hate the message, I find myself very drawn to the talent. I’m completely blown away. For a comedian who’s also an artist, it’s pretty darn good. It’s his own style; it doesn’t look like anything else. It jumps off the page, the colors are great, and it’s really strong. Somebody said Carrey did too much acid. Well, maybe, or maybe he did just enough, because it’s making his art pretty good.

Scott’s Thoughts on Hallucinogens

It’s very important to see if we can separate the artist from the opinion. I like it when people do that with me, and I’ll try to do it with other people. He said he had an awakening, so it was like drugs? Maybe good ones, not bad ones. “Are you ever going to do some acid, Scott?”

I’ll give you an honest opinion on that. I’m very curious about acid. I know lots and lots of people who’ve done acid, and some of them are the smartest people I know—people who are literally geniuses and have started companies. I’ve done mushrooms once, and I felt like I only needed to do it once because it changes you forever in terms of how you see the world. I don’t know that I would get anything out of acid. Because I don’t know that it would benefit me, I have a barrier. If there’s any risk involved whatsoever—and everything has risk—I’m not sure there’s an upside for me personally.

The new thing is micro-dosing, where you take a tiny bit of acid and you can still sort of function but you see the world differently. That’s sort of big in my part of the world. “You’re too old to do acid,” somebody says. I don’t think it works that way. Let me put it this way: when I’m 85, I’m probably going to drop some acid. What have you got to lose? You’re 85. If you like it, you like it. If you don’t like it—well, you’re 85, you’re going to die anyway.

Don’t micro-dose? How many of you have done acid? Give me a check-in. Forty times? Somebody said “done it three times.” If there’s anybody young listening to this, I do not recommend it. I have seen somebody just recently have a very bad week because of acid. “Coming down was the worst,” somebody said.

Oh my god, is it my imagination or do I have an unusual number of acid-doing followers? Something strange is happening right now. It feels like I am on acid. Is it a coincidence that you’re Trump supporters and you’ve done acid? I don’t mean that as a joke; I mean that literally. Wow.

I’m going to hypothesize here, without any data to back it up based on just what I’m seeing: it might be that having done a hallucinogen—whether mushrooms or acid—might make you more able to see what’s going on with Trump. I wonder if there’s a correlation. Probably not, because the Antifa people have probably all done acid. I take back my hypothesis, but I’m actually shocked at the number of people who are saying you’ve done acid. It’s way bigger than I thought it would be for Trump supporters. Maybe it’s not a coincidence.

The Slow News Cycle and Voice Recovery

Is this the slowest news cycle we’ve ever had in the Trump presidency? Somebody just said my voice is the best; it’s like ASMR. Keep in mind that I wasn’t able to speak for three and a half years, so telling me that my voice is pleasant is the best compliment.

Why couldn’t I speak? I had a condition called Spasmodic Dysphonia, an incurable voice problem. I found the one person in the world who had developed a surgery. After years of practice, my voice is normal. It probably took ten years to get my voice to where it is. Did I experience depression when I lost my voice? Yes, which is very common. It’s like being a ghost in the room; it’s not a good existence. Is it neurological or psychological? The answer is neurological.

The Jackery Battery Velcro Fix

I just did a Periscope saying that this product—it’s a Jackery spare battery—was terrible because in the dark, you can’t tell which side is which. You don’t know if this is the side it plugs in or if it’s this side. Somebody suggested putting a little strip of Velcro on it, which I did, and now it’s fixed. Tada!

With this Velcro, I can close my eyes, and now this product—which was completely unusable in the dark because it felt the same on all sides—suddenly I know exactly where the Velcro is. I know the cord goes down here, I know the button for the power is here, and I know it’s this side that is the iPhone as opposed to the USB. All with my eyes closed, thanks to the miracle of Velcro. Problem solved. A lot of companies should be putting Velcro on stuff because if you can’t feel it, you’re not going to be able to use it in the dark.

The Manhattan Madame and Mueller

So, the “Manhattan Madame” is being questioned by Mueller. Wouldn’t you love to be in that meeting? I’d love to be in the conversation between Mueller’s team and the DC Madame.

North and South Korea families are reunited? I saw a headline on that. That’s really happening. North and South are reuniting.

The Uncanny Valley and Detecting Illness

Do I like Bill Maher as an entertainer? His show is very successful and I’ve watched it for years. It’s hard to watch lately because—I’m going to be honest with you, and I know this will be a little provocative, but that’s what makes it fun—I’ve talked to you about the “uncanny valley.” That’s where if somebody is almost like a human but not quite, like an android, it’s kind of creepy. It would be easier to look at a metal robot that’s not trying to look human. But if you saw something trying to be human but it was a little bit off, it would be freaky, like a zombie.

I think humans have the ability to detect illness, both physical and mental. This is just a hypothesis, but it’s based on actual science. There have been studies that show humans can actually detect somebody’s health problems by looking at them. They’re pretty good at it. When I watch Bill Maher’s show now, and obviously Trump is always a big topic on it, it registers to me like illness. Does anybody else have that experience?

I think Bill Maher is very talented and very successful, but after the age of Trump, it was hard to watch because it doesn’t register the way his show registered with me in the past. Now, what I don’t know is if it’s just confirmation bias and I just don’t agree with what he’s saying. But the way it feels to me on some irrational level is that it registers as a lack of health—in this case, mental health.

Again, that is completely different from me saying he has a mental health problem, because I have no qualifications in that field. I hope Dr. Drew is not watching me say this, because if he is, he is cringing. Even a doctor should not diagnose anybody’s mental illness without speaking to them in person. So I’m not doing that. I’m just talking about myself; the way I register it is like a health problem.

The Language of Corruption

When they talk about things like “treason” and “traitor,” those are words I saw Bill Maher use. Here’s another word I keep hearing: “corrupt.” Are you hearing this word popping up? It feels like the anti-Trumpers are A/B testing a new word. I’m hearing “his corrupt regime,” “corrupt,” “corrupt.”

But when they say that, I never hear the specifics of what is the corrupt part. I know the allegations against Manafort, but he’s not really in the administration. Some cabinet members have disappeared, the ones that were problematic, but what are people talking about exactly when they talk about this administration being corrupt? What are the examples? Because he goes golfing a lot and it costs money? I don’t know exactly what they’re referring to. Is it just this general new insult they’re trying out because “fascism” didn’t work? By the way, wouldn’t fascism be a little bit more obvious if it were happening?

ICE and the “Fraudulent” Media Narrative

Let me add to the story. It’s such a terrible week for the anti-Trumpers. You had that story about the undocumented immigrant who was grabbed when his wife was on the way to the hospital to have a baby. That was the original story. Then it soon came out that he was actually wanted for murder in Mexico, and ICE was grabbing him at the request of Mexico for a valid Interpol job.

Basically, it wasn’t even an American operation; we were doing it on behalf of our friends in Mexico. The healthiest thing you could ever see happen is the U.S. coordinating with Mexico to pick up criminals. It’s literally the healthiest thing you could have two neighbors doing. Then it turns out the wife was on the way to the hospital to have a baby, but it was a planned C-section; it wasn’t like she was in labor. That story was so obviously fraudulent when it was first reported to make ICE look bad, and then when it was clarified, it actually made ICE look good.

Closing Thoughts

What a horrible week for the anti-Trumpers. All of their best fodder turned to dust. They blame the President for being unhinged, and then Philip Mudd goes on, and Brennan goes on, and even their own people are like, “Alright, pull back, pull back.” Preet Bharara wouldn’t even let Bill Maher say “traitor” and “treason”—he was uncomfortable with those words. You’re seeing a lot of failure on the anti-Trump side of the world.

Alright, I think I’ve said enough. There’s not enough interesting stuff going on, so I’m going to sign off for now. I will talk to you later. Bye.