Episode 614 Scott Adams: The Democrat Debate, Open Borders and Whatever Trouble I’ve Caused Lately

Date: 2019-07-31 | Duration: 57:53

Topics

The left is having a seriously bad identity crisis Reviewing the Democrat candidate performances from last night WSJ article mentions my help debunking the “Fine People” HOAX Don Lemon’s AMAZINGLY UNPROFESSIONAL question Weren’t CNN people embarrassed? How many things do Democrats believe…that are HALLUCINATIONS? Bernie says they need to push big ideas that aren’t practical… …in order to beat President Trump? Are Democrats allowed to admit that? Trevor Noah’s clarity in observing what’s tripping up the Democrats ZERO mention of Russian collusion during a 3 hour Democrat debate? Controversy update: WhenHub’s Interface App for witness source info NYT and WaPo articles both mention the controversy News organizations exist because they can monetize disasters

If you would like my channel to have a wider audience and higher production quality, please donate via my startup (Whenhub.com) at this link: https://interface.my/ScottAdamsSays

> [!note] Rough Transcript
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## Transcript

[0:13]

hey everybody come on in come on gather round it's time for the best part of the day it's time for coffee with Scott Adams that's me and if you're prepared I know you are you might have something that you need whether it's a cup or a mug or glasses stein a chalice a tankard could be a thermos of plastic a canteen a vessel of any kind fill it with your favorite liquid I got my coffee right here and join me for the unparalleled pleasure the dopamine hit of the day the thing that makes everything better the simultaneous mmm good stuff well well well well so here's my favorite thing of the day you know David hog for being famous for I guess was the parkland shooting and he

[1:16]

I guess was the parkland shooting and he tweeted and I had to respond they they just had to tell you what he tweeted and what I responded now I have to tell you before I read his tweet and my response this response I stole from someone else on Twitter and the first time I saw it I thought oh my god I gotta use that one of these days I'm gonna use that and then I finally got a point perfect setup to use it so here's the setup so David hog who is 1819 going off to Harvard he said that I quote it's so ironic how many politicians ancestors came here through open borders stole land and killed indigenous people and now call people that came to the United States the same way illegal and I responded in my tweet to david hog and i said how did open borders work out for the end people I'll just let that hang there for

[2:18]

people I'll just let that hang there for a minute since I can't hear your laughter but I know you're laughing and the funny part is that everything's funny about this first of all I teach you all the time that analogies are terrible for arguing but sometimes sometimes the analogies go so wrong that they can't get much funnier than this because if you're making reference to the indigenous people in the United States you're kind of have to explain how they lost their entire country were you know we're destroyed by smallpox rounded up and put on reservations I kind of think that wouldn't have happened if they that border security and I'm not trying to make fun of anybody I mean I'm not trying to I'm certainly not trying to minimize the experience of the Native Americans which was plenty bad I'm just

[3:21]

Americans which was plenty bad I'm just saying that if you don't understand that the entire Native American experience was because of open borders maybe you shouldn't be having conversations with the adults that's all I'm saying all right you want to talk about the Democrat debate I watched some of it so you didn't have to if you tried to watch that thing it was sort of like trying to chew on dried concrete you know the concrete that comes right out of the bag you know before you've added the water just put it in your mouth ago I can't digest that you death I can't even swallow it I can't even chew it it's getting hard in my mouth I hate this I hate this make it stop so that's how I felt trying to watch some of the Democrat debate so I didn't watch every minute but I'll give you my I'll give you my impressions number one

[4:23]

I'll give you my impressions number one as I tweeted last night the debate was of a black hole for charisma nobody on the stage had charisma no that's odd because we everything we heard about Beto for example was his charisma and I know Buddha jeggi has charisma but he certainly put that on hold and it feels like Bernie should have some charisma and Elizabeth Warren should have some but nobody nobody really stood out they all just sort of blended into this big loser category so they didn't look like the winning side and so my my impression is that there is not a president in that group and probably not a nominee either but some further impressions the thing that was most interesting is that the Democrats in the group who are sort of moderate even they think that Democrats

[5:24]

moderate even they think that Democrats are nuts with their big plans so persuasion wise if you're trying to persuade somebody to vote a different way people are pretty locked into I'm a Democrat and you're a Republican and so we're gonna vote the way our team says we should vote so most people and when I say most 95% 97% are just going to vote their team but one of the things that's interesting is the team is split so if you're a Democrat you watch that debate and you saw somebody like Tim Ryan who looked a lot like Republican to me and you saw was a Dulaney who looked sort of Republican to name so the the people up there who were arguing for plans that could actually work look like the ones who can't get elected but it does split your decision about what a Democrat is

[6:25]

your decision about what a Democrat is so there's gonna be an identity crisis on the Left people are gonna say well I thought I was a Democrat but I'm certainly not with any of these ideas these are kind of crazy so I think the identity of the Democrats is in crisis right now and since people only vote for their team what happens when the team splits in two if the team splits into a lot of Democrats aren't going to have anybody to vote for because whoever gets nominated there's something like half of the Democrats are going to say well I don't even recognize that kind of Democrat whichever way it goes so working on the Democrats identity might be a persuasion path that could be fruitful and imagine if you saw a clip a fast clip of Democrats criticizing Democratic policies because I think you could could you could come up with a lot of them couldn't you and if I were a Democrat and I saw a clip of other

[7:29]

Democrat and I saw a clip of other Democrats criticizing whoever becomes the nominee and I think you could probably put that together pretty easily I would say to myself wait a minute I am a Democrat and all these Democrats are saying this is nominees got bad ideas so that would I think that would be persuasive all right and let's talk about Bernie Bernie looked like he was gonna have a stroke didn't he because in my imagination or when when Bernie talks it seems like he gets so worked up and his face gets red and he's like spitting with enthusiasm and you add that to his age and sort of his overall look and he looks like him yeah he looks like get off my lawn guy and he looks like he's actually going to have some kind of a cardiac situation and he doesn't look sane and healthy so I don't

[8:32]

doesn't look sane and healthy so I don't think he has a chance so I would say it's a safe bet that Sanders will not be the nominee I think I could say that was some confidence let's talk about some others as I said Tim Ryan just looked like a Republican but I kind of kind of looked at what liked how he looked I mean he came off well except he's you know a certain kind of demographic which might not go over well he's a straight white male and I don't think the Democrats are going to go for that this time all right Elizabeth Warren is it my imagination or did Elizabeth Warren have a frozen face did it look like her face could move now I'm guessing Botox I'm guessing that some of the eyebrows situation makes it look like her eyes are permanently open because just the way her eyebrows are shaped so she has sort of permanently

[9:35]

shaped so she has sort of permanently eye open eye brows but also no wrinkles on her forehead it looks like Oh was Warren and the things I'm saying would indicate that I am putting great emotional investment into what I was saying but yet the emotional investment doesn't seem to register on my face why is it that the things I'm saying are so emotional but my face is always looking the same what's happening you know my guess is that the public is going to read that as disingenuous or a little bit of the uncanny valley the uncanny valley is that theory that if you if you were to build a robot or an Android for example and it didn't look exactly like a person but it looked almost like a person you

[10:35]

but it looked almost like a person you would find it revolting and disturbing but if it looked totally like a metal robot you'd say oh that's cute that's a cute robot so the uncanny valley is the idea that the closer you get to looking like a human being but if you don't quite get there and you're just sort of looking like an actual human it's frightening and disturbing that's why zombies are so scary because they sort of look like people but not quite and that a little bit of difference is what makes them frightening Elizabeth Warren has that frozen face thing that makes the emotion of her statements not match up with her face and it probably at some level is disturbing to people but who knows how much difference that will make she also had some of the worst persuasion you'll ever see in your life now first of all she's sort of lawyerly and in my wildest

[11:36]

she's sort of lawyerly and in my wildest dreams I can't imagine a lawyer or somebody who has that lawyer vibe losing to trump here's a statement that Elizabeth Warren said it looked for the bad persuasion in this she said quote I get it there's a lot of stake and people are scared she said but we can't choose the candidate we don't believe him just because we're too scared to do anything else you know what's wrong with that persuasion why's everything everything do you can you think of any time that President Trump or candidate Trump every use the word scared think about it think about all the times you've heard president Trump talk has he ever said the word scared nope this is one of the little things that you notice yeah once

[12:38]

little things that you notice yeah once it's pointed out you notice that he is so on point with his persuasion and other people were not good at it they're missing really basic stuff if you're a candidate and you're saying blah blah blah scared blah blah blah frightened blah blah blah scared what did you just tell people you told them to feel afraid you told them to feel scared what do you people hear if you say don't be scared here's what they hear scared the scared is always bigger this is a basic persuasion rule that's a hypnosis rule brains do not register words like not as much as we register words like scared so if you say don't be scared you're pretty much telling people to be scared you just don't know it because they're picking up scared it has a lot of association with other things that

[13:38]

of association with other things that have scared them in the past it brings all of those past feelings that means scared to the to the front you invest in that word scared all of your past experiences and then you're saying oh but he said don't be that doesn't work the don't be is completely ineffective the word carried the content all the content comes with the word so when you see Warren say stuff like I get it there's a lot at stake and people are scared do you want to do you want to elect the frightening candidate is the candidate who tells you to be scared the one you want to lead you is that leader quality telling people to be scared no leader quality is exactly the opposite leader quality is Winston Churchill and people you know will fight on the beaches will fight in the air there's nothing to fear but fear itself is also

[14:39]

nothing to fear but fear itself is also bad because it was feared there but the point of it is to to ignore your fear so that was the least a stronger statement even though he had the word fear in there too this is unbelievably weak persuasion and it's also very lawyerly good if you almost have to diagram the sentence to figure out what she meant because if you throw it or not and the don't be brains just sort of like oh wait you said not that but don't be but only okay that's too many instructions in the sentence listen to the sentence again and see how complicated it is even though it's a simple thought there's a lot at stake and people are scared you said but we can't choose a candidate we don't believe in just because we're too scared to do anything else do you see how complicated those sentences because it says but we can't choose that's a negative we can't do this choose a candidate we don't believe don't as negative so we can't do the

[15:41]

don't as negative so we can't do the don't just because we're too scared to do anything else unbelievably complicated sentence like insanely complicated Trump would never say a sentence like that you know what he'd say we're gonna win make America great again build a wall you can't compare these people in terms of their persuasive leadership qualities they're you know one is a ten and this is layer two these are not even in the same field of competition in terms of their rhetorical powers alright let's talk about somebody else Buda JG is such an interesting character and I'm trying to figure out why he's not more popular and I'm not saying that because I think he ought to be I'm saying it because I to look at boo to judge and I say okay there's a lot of good stuff here smart successful military background he's got a track record you know at

[16:43]

he's got a track record you know at least of bigger mayor and I'm thinking that's pretty strong candidate but why don't I like him more what it what is it that's putting a cap on how much people are willing to invest in Budaj edge I don't think it's pretty sure it's not the gay thing I deal with you know the conservative Republican part of the world 85% of the time because of this kind of conversation I don't think I've ever I have not heard one conservative or I don't think I've even heard one person speak out against him because he's gay have you I mean maybe somebody did it you know in dark humor or something but just think about that just think about that 2019 and we finally got to the point where there's a legitimate candidate for president who's an you know a married gay man and nobody cares nobody absolute

[17:46]

nobody absolute nobody cares it's sort of a lesson for things you think we're gonna ruin the world you know did you ever think oh my god you know I never thought this but I'm sure some of you thought this if gay people can get married what's the world gonna come to well the world comes to this a gay candidate for president who everybody says yeah he looks pretty good let's hear his policies I mean if you think about it it's like one of the most positive things in the country but because it's now normalized you know you don't think about the the contrast of how only a few years ago this would have been a big deal and now it's literally not interesting which is the best thing that could possibly be the fact that his sexual orientation is literally uninteresting is exactly where you want to be so yes some people are saying in the comments that he's too smug that wasn't the word I was going to use but I see where you're going and I think

[18:46]

see where you're going and I think you're heading in the right direction on that and maybe that is the right word I'm not gonna I just wasn't going to use it myself the I almost wonder if he's too smart because I don't think he's relatable and it's not because he's gay I think it's because he's too smart it makes it a little less relatable a little too intellectual I'm a little bit too much like the good student who asks if if the teacher forgot to assign homework and even though I like just about everything about him you know as a candidate that as a person he looks like a pretty good person somebody's calling him a liar but just means he's in politics he comes to clog process of maybe a little too too small I think that's that could be a factor at least from the male candidates we'll see

[19:47]

from the male candidates we'll see please from the male candidates we'll see let's talk about Mary Ann Williams I didn't see all
you know the commentary after the fact she's interesting because she's she's different and let's admit that Republicans are pushing her because they want to see mourning for her as she's so non serious it just sort of you know invested up the Republican brand a little bit to keep her in there so don't be surprised if she's the most popular Democrat candidate among Republicans because they just want to see the game play in a certain way but she's not a threat to win the nomination so she has no chance so I can't get too interested in her Beto is an interesting story he is the emptiest suit there is nothing

[20:47]

he is the emptiest suit there is nothing that Beto says that Cena feels like he has any meat on it it just feels like there's a suit up there and the suit is talking and I don't know if anybody else is having that experience but there is so little substance coming through and I don't know maybe in his mind he has plenty of substance but the way he presents it yeah it just comes off as being unserious and sort of goofy
Klobuchar is such an interesting situation because if you were to ask me or anybody else you know why don't you like club a jar I don't know if anybody would be able to give you a reason you know you could come up with reasons why you don't like most of the candidates you could say well I don't like birdie cuz you know his numbers don't add up or I don't like Hickenlooper because he doesn't have charisma or whatever it is and you know you could come up with reasons but I don't know what would be a reason for not liking Klobuchar and

[21:49]

reason for not liking Klobuchar and maybe she's not radical enough but I hate to say this but I think she's not tell again ik and I'm not saying not attractive I'm gonna make a very clear distinction here because most politicians are not attractive right I'm not saying that II Democrat or any Republican male or female they're not terribly attractive you know Bernie Sanders not terribly attractive right so it's not about being a woman it's not about her in particular but on the top on top of the fact that politicians especially after a certain age or not you know they're not sex symbols on top of that she's not tell again ik which is on top of whatever you look like you could have an unusual look and the camera could still love you you know because there's something interesting about you but there's something about her that just doesn't fit right she just doesn't come across while on

[22:50]

she just doesn't come across while on camera in general I would say it was a losing group nobody landed a real punch there were no real moments you know the network's trying to in the news trying to tell us there was some some moments when Warren slapped down Delaney but they were really just rhetorical moments not really important so the New York Times tallied the minutes that each were given so this appeared on CNN the debate did and Warren had 18 minutes over 18 minutes Sanders was just behind her so Ward and Sanders got a lot of time and compare that to Williamson who had less than nine minutes and Hickenlooper less than nine minutes now on one hand I say to myself well it makes perfect sense you should give the people who are polling the best the most time because

[23:52]

polling the best the most time because those are ones the viewers want to see they're the ones who matter you know the ones that were the lowest polling people really nobody thinks they're gonna get the nomination but on the other hand isn't CNN locking in the frontrunner isn't the effect of that to guarantee that the people who were polling poorly stay there and so I asked myself is this another case of the media picking the candidate because it looks like it it looks like the media picking the candidate and they're deciding who the public's gonna see a lot of and that more than anything will decide who you think is viable if CNN tells you that word and Sanders are viable by giving them a lot of time well then I think the public's could say oh I guess there's the viable ones I'll put my support there so it's a tough it's a tough one though you can't really criticize see you then

[24:52]

criticize see you then because there is a legitimate public interest in the frontrunner and I can't say it's wrong to give them more attention you certainly you know if it were the other way around and your favorite candidate were in charge or was ahead in the polls that's what you'd want but it does have the effect of being very influential on the outcome I think I had I don't know if I saw this when it first happened but several weeks ago the Wall Street Journal wrote an opinion piece strongly debunking the fine people hoax did you see that I tweeted it around today I don't know if I had seen it the first time but I was credited as being one of the main architects of called calling out the hoax and I thought that's a good one because that's a nice permanent record even though it's an opinion piece The Wall Street Journal isn't going to let

[25:54]

Wall Street Journal isn't going to let an opinion piece into their pages unless they fact-checked the basics which means the Wall Street Journal editorial fact-checked that opinion piece and said yes it is a hoax that the fine people or at least you know it's it's a valid opinion that the fine people thing is honks so that was fun let's see what else oh then a little bit more about the debates so Donna Levin says what do you say I got the actual quote here I wanted to give you Don lemons actual oh so dog lemon actually asked this question he said what do you say to those Trump voters who prioritized the economy over the president's bigotry that was an actual question asked by Don

[26:57]

that was an actual question asked by Don Lemon on CNN at the Democrat debate he actually basically presented as a fact the president's bigotry now I have to wonder what the CNN co-anchors and the other people there Jake Tapper etc I have to wonder what they thought about that because I feel like they must have been embarrassed now maybe they're just used to him and everybody knows Don Lemon is an opinion a guy and so you know maybe it's just you know just washes past but if I worked for CNN and I saw my coworker go on TV and stated as a fact that the president is a bigot I'd be pretty embarrassed by that because that's simply not the way to handle an interview even if you agreed with it you could totally agree with it as being true and it's still so amazingly

[27:57]

true and it's still so amazingly unprofessional for a news organization presenting a debate now had Don Lemon said something like many people might ask you what do you do about you know their feelings that he is the bigot if he had said there's a there's an opinion out there what what do you say to that opinion I would have said that's fair more than fair totally legitimate but to state it in the question as if it's a given is so amazingly unprofessional I would think that people were embarrassed to watch that if they worked for CNN but I don't know maybe none could be surprised and so I'm starting to wonder if the Democrats have become the party of hallucinations here are some examples of hallucinations number one that they have a way to pay for Medicare for all even

[29:00]

a way to pay for Medicare for all even Democrats you saw their southern debate stage tool Amy Ryan even Democrats say that's an illusion the green new deal and and all of that and climate change being irreversible in 12 years is that real because it feels like a hallucination even if you believe that climate change is real and a real problem I feel like still they've turned whatever you know base facts there are into some larger hallucination about the end of the world of course it was the Russia collusion hoax there's the fine people hoax that they believe there's the President Trump not only will become a dictator but it's already happened he's already a dictator he's moving toward Hitler status they believe that they also believed Trump could never win the election they believe that the economy will would go

[30:01]

believe that the economy will would go to heck how many things do Democrats believe that are literally hallucinations or ridiculous I mean there's some things that you say well that's a different priority so what Democrats say everybody should have health care that's not a hallucination that's that's a philosophical priority kind of difference that might be different from you by the way I agree everybody should have health care I just think capitalism is probably the way to get there so I'm not I'm not mocking them for their opinions I'm mocking them for the actual hallucinations because it's easy to document that the Russia collusion thing was the hallucination the fine people hoax was a hallucination the green new deal in terms of being practical is a hallucination by the way Bernie as much as admitted that there their plans are not real did you hear Bernie say to one of the other candidates he was responding to a

[31:03]

candidates he was responding to a comment he said something like if we want to win we've got to have big plans you know we're not going to get there with small ideas we have to have big ideas and he gave the example of and if we want to get young people we want to have the college debt relief and free college and he said that's the way to be Trump and I thought to myself wait am i hearing this right is Bernie saying that the reason for those proposals is to be Trump because the way he said it strongly suggested that he doesn't believe these are real ideas I mean that's how it came across it came across as him saying in public these quote big ideas are not practical but you have to say them to win I think he said that fairly directly in public to the other candidates that you need to come up with these big and practical ideas to capture people's attention and maybe a free giveaway to the young will

[32:05]

maybe a free giveaway to the young will get them to show up and that's how we beat Trump do you want to elect the person whose policies are based on who gets more votes because that's what he said he said he would come up with stuff you that isn't practical to get more votes now I get that everybody does that but I've never seen anybody say it in public have you have you ever seen a major candidate for office say yeah yeah we have to say these crazy things because that's how you get elected it's true but I don't know if you should say it out loud that was kind of surprising
Trevor Noah was critical of the Democrat debate in a very funny way which I agree with he said that I quote Trevor Noah said it's a mess that Donald Trump has successfully started to create Noah continued because you realize he started painting the Democrats as the party of

[33:05]

painting the Democrats as the party of open borders and now there's struggle to convey their compassion for asylum seekers with that was sounding like they want to give visas to Isis yes Trevor Noah that is exactly what's happening for the president Branson as the open border party and it looks like they just are Pro Isis now the the dumbest thing that the Democrats are doing on this topic is they're trying to break they're trying to make a distinction between a felony and a misdemeanor and the word decriminalize and they're trying to say they we should decriminalize border crossings while still keeping it illegal to cross the border because decriminalizing it and making it a misdemeanor would take away from President Trump his ability to confine people I think because you don't put people in confinement or because of the misdemeanor yeah we're separating kids

[34:07]

misdemeanor yeah we're separating kids children from parents you can't do that if it's a misdemeanor and here's the thing I kind of sort of follow the argument how much of the United States let me ask you this what percentage of the voting public can make the distinction between something that's decriminalized as something that's still illegal but it's a misdemeanor nobody probably yeah somebody say eight percent that's about right probably eight percent of the voting public Jordi probably eight percent of the you know just I'm just guessing right something like less than ten percent of the public will even understand that argument can you ever imagine President Trump saying something so unclear and wonky imagine President Trump saying well what we want to do is decriminalize but when I say decriminalize I don't mean that it's legal that's not open that I'm not saying open borders I'm saying decriminalize it because you want to

[35:08]

decriminalize it because you want to take it as not a felony you want to move it by decriminalizing what that means is it's not legal what that means is it's a misdemeanor now if it's a misdemeanor there's a different set of laws and requirements which would go into effect from the Border Patrol and then the Border Patrol you new sets of rules were not to detain people and then what and then what there's a missing part right what happens isn't it isn't the whole point the whole point is what happens you make a policy and you say if we do this policy this is what happens they always leave out what happens the small part of what happens although it's you know obviously major to the individuals is that they won't be treated as harshly as they are under current law so that's one thing that happens and that's what they talk about but isn't the topic border the topic is the border what would happen if you decriminalize it would it not lead to millions of people walking

[36:10]

not lead to millions of people walking north maybe you know if you think it wouldn't then maybe you should say that and say why but if you don't you know at least give us your assumption of what would happen under this scenario but the point is I don't believe the president could ever lose an election to a lawyer he beat Hillary Clinton you could argue she hasn't been a lawyer in a long time but Warren talks like a lawyer and I just don't see frozen face uncanny valley lawyer talk taking it all the way I just don't see her making it over the finish line several people pointed out about the Democrat debate that I forget who said this but after years of all this coverage about Russia collusion it came up 0 times in the debate so the Democrats you know the leading or at

[37:12]

Democrats you know the leading or at least half of the leading group of Democrats talked for how many hours and nobody mentioned the biggest story of the last three years Russia collusion why because it's a loser it's a super loser
that's why I see simply prompting me there that Trump has tweeted something and if he's tweeted about the I'm sure heated about the debate let me open that up and see what see what the boss is saying all right here are some of trumps brand-new tweets this is a quote from Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana he said he says quote and the president tweets us the lesser of two socialists is still a socialist it's not a great quote the lesser of two socialists is still a socialist now I'm not I'm not a

[38:15]

still a socialist now I'm not I'm not a fan of branding people socialists and just saying well we're done there are socialists that's bad because that's completely illegitimate there are people who have some policies that would be similar to our socialists would say but there are miles away from being actual socialists so in terms of accuracy it's completely illegitimate to say that all socialist insane completely illegitimate but as a quote it as a political thing to say it's really good it works politically it just isn't accurate
here's the president saying 19 minutes ago so the president says if I hadn't won the 2016 election we would be in a Great Recession depression right now the people I saw on stage last night and you can add in sleepy Joe Harris and the rest will lead us into an economic sinkhole the likes of which we have

[39:17]

sinkhole the likes of which we have never seen before with me only up now what I love about this the only reason I read it is his use of the word sinkhole the president uses visual language when he says sinkhole you see it right don't you actually see a sinkhole when he says that they're leaving the economy into a sinkhole you immediately imagine it although all the economy is going into this hole in the ground now compare compare compare the president's tweet just here's the clarity I met I'll to read it next to so the second part of his tweet is blow blood that all the candidates the Democrats will lead us into an economic sinkhole the likes of which you have never seen before with me only up how clear is that right they will lead you into an economic sinkhole with me it's only up theirs contrast there's visual and it's simple

[40:19]

contrast there's visual and it's simple perfect that's a plus and then I'll really get in that warren quote i get it there was a lot of steak and people are scared she said but we can't choose a candidate we don't believe in just because we're too scared to do anything else oh my god the difference between those two in their persuasive talents the best night and day that's as far as you can get between good and bad and then he won some kind of case they got thrown at a court I guess I don't know anything about that it's probably one of hundreds of lawsuits I'm not sure it's too important I haven't seen the great hack on Netflix yet I guess that's something I should see oh yeah somebody saying that in the debate last night

[41:21]

saying that in the debate last night there was not one word about Baltimore oh yeah there's a story about California past some kind of law I guess that said that the president can't be that he can't be on the ballot unless he's released his tax returns I guess the law is general saying that nobody can be on the ballot less they've released their tax returns but it's really targeted at the president I don't think there's a chance that that will pass constitutional muster but it just does show you how far we both yeah somebody's talking about one in the comments here this has nothing to do with anything but to my point about how people don't see the word don't if you're using your credit card in one of those point-of-sale machines and you stick to your credit card and it says

[42:22]

stick to your credit card and it says don't remove your credit card I can't tell you how many times I've tried to remove my credit card when I read the words don't remove credit card because you know what I say remove credit card and I have to like use my my actual you know brain power to say ah not okay God and I've asked cashiers how many times if people read do not remove credit card and then remove credit card wall no Iranian and the cashiers will always say all the time and in this amazingly bad design you should say leave Khartoum and that it should say take card out as somebody is saying in the comments yes that is exactly what it should say
Cummings robot Joe Rogan's I don't know about that

[43:28]

all right that's enough about fixing the world apparently there's a there's an article in The New York Times about me in the Washington Post about me about my interface by when hub app which by the way let me give you a little update admit anybody wanted an update on my recent and controversy you know I think it was sort of a clinic on have a handle controversy now you could say I did it wrong or I did it right but it's still a clinic it's sort of that I you know you can make your own judgments about what worked and what didn't but I'll just tell you the basics so the basics was that I sent out a tweet about my my company's my startups app called an interface and I did it during the time or just right after immediately after the shooting in Gilroy and people said oh my god how can you promote an apple during a during a disaster to which a

[44:29]

during a during a disaster to which a lot of did a lot of people get angry now so the question is how to handle that as my friend recently said bad PR day for you Scott now here's the thing people make mistakes people tweet things they wish they hadn't tweeted it's the most normal thing in the world should I crawl in a hole and die in embarrassment because I did a tweet that lots of people thought was outrageous should I well I got to tell you that my my entire sense of embarrassment over the situation which is literally national news it's in the New York Times in the Washington Post today it was in you know a lot of major media the daily Daily Beast a bunch of media and I gotta say there was not one time that I felt embarrassed now partly is because of practice you know I have so much practice being embarrassed in public that it just doesn't even have any effect on me but I

[45:30]

doesn't even have any effect on me but I also have learned over my life you know just had it at a deal with so here's how I dealt with it I went on video the very first time I had a chance to to respond was the next morning and I explained the situation so I added a clarification so people could know the the background and the full context and the background in full contacts includes the fact that it's the third time I've done it but only the first time anybody cared meaning it's the third time that I've tweeted about the availability of the app and exactly when people would care which is there's a big event and people might want to have news from it what one time was during a hurricane when I promoted our approach app that's a different app and the approach app allows you to find people a group of people on a map so you know where everybody is nobody complained even though it was in the middle of a disaster or hurricane I

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the middle of a disaster or hurricane I also did it when a helicopter fell through the roof in New York City there was a death and nobody complained and the reason nobody complained is that there is no political feeling about helicopters crashing and there's no political feeling about hurricanes they're just generic disasters and so what I made this I made people more aware of a tool that was directly applicable to the public good at the time that they cared about it those two topics people said oh I didn't know you had an app how about that but as soon as it was about gun violence that was the part I had a blind spot for I didn't realize that the gun violence element of it makes it not a normal disaster it makes it a political disaster on top of being a human disaster so it was the political disaster part that people said aha here's a chance to pick off another effective trump supporter so people said

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effective trump supporter so people said here's our chance to get that guy who's in public talking good things about Trump if we can take him off the field that's one less voice we have to contend and so the the vultures descended that wasn't all Democrats there were plenty of you know Trump supporters who said Oh Scott you stepped on it you better apologize well a lot so here's what I did the very first time I got to respond was the next morning and I did a periscope in which I explained the situation and I said the reason I did it when I did is that's when people need to know had I told people about it a month ago
ago would they remember it when they needed to probably not but if you do it during the event that's the most useful time now people complained a few things they said number ones got you it's it's gross because you're trying to make money off it to which I say the entire news media makes money off of disasters and if they

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makes money off of disasters and if they didn't there would be no reporting because you don't want to do you don't want to depend on the government as your news source right and nobody's going to be a news source for free and not at least not when you can depend on so we have an industry that commercialize disasters and even if you think that shouldn't happen the alternative is worse commercializing disasters is why there is a news organization in the first place you can't have one without that now this tool that I promoted is just one of its many things that can do is that it would be a way to for news organizations to find witnesses easily because they just be on the app so if you were a newspaper in let's say I know and there was a disaster in Florida and you wanted to talk to some people to get an idea about it you could just pick up the app you know put in the hashtag for the disaster and say oh three people who were there are willing to talk to me

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were there are willing to talk to me about it now I imagine that the maximum amount of potential income that I could make would be somewhere in the five dollar range because most people just set their prices 0 because they just want to talk to the media you know they're willing to have their story told so they would not charge and if they don't charge there's no money changing hands in any direction but my tweet was unclear and so I accept so here's what I did the next day I accepted all of the criticism all of the criticism is fair it was a thing which offended people and I can't argue that it didn't offend people because objectively people were saying hey you offended me but most people were the fake outrage guy they were being offended on behalf of somebody else they weren't they weren't personally offended they were just pretty sure somebody else's offended so they were sort of white knighting for imaginary people who were offended so I

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imaginary people who were offended so I went on and I said I unreservedly apologized to anybody who was actually part of the event in any way if they were witness to it and shooting survivors etc certainly would not want to offend them so I apologized unreservedly and quickly and added some clarification and I did it within 24 hours and then I posted the apology to the top of my Twitter feed where it remains for days in other words is the most important thing in my entire communication world a Pindus tweet is the most important thing so I've made my apology the most important thing but I did sort of a sneaky thing I buried my apology in a long video I could have done it quickly I could have put my apology in a tweet but I chose not to do you know why it was funnier to make

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you know why it was funnier to make people watch the whole video to to look for the apology so they could decide whether it was sufficient and whether they could mock me for it because you know the second part is sure you apologize but you did it wrong so I knew people were gonna look for the wrong apology it's like well that's not an apology you were or if that's not soon enough so right now the the biggest complaint I'm getting about it is people were saying you still refuse to apologize why can't use what you did wrong to which I say refused to apologize don't see what I got wrong I admitted all of the critics are right of course I understand what they're saying and I apologized unreservedly quickly publicly and made it the most important thing in my in my tweet to which people say I have other things to talk about now I'll see you later so it was sort of a trap meaning I did

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so it was sort of a trap meaning I did it intentionally because I thought it was funny to make my biggest critics have to sit through a long video to find to try to find the thing they were gonna criticize again knowing that they wouldn't find anything to criticize because because I did I did my apology and clarification according to form so that was just for my own personal entertainment but anyway and then the many of you were wondering what's the homecoming of all this and the outcome is is signups for the app are very high so we get a spike in signups the spike in interest and the app got mentioned all over the country would you say would you say that it worked out poorly for me what would you say now I'm not going to this was no plan in my part there was no there was no like long-term strategy whatever anything like that it was just literally I just wasn't thinking it

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literally I just wasn't thinking it through and if I had it wouldn't have done it which is what what the critics got right so when the critics say what the hell were you thinking they're kind of saying you didn't think this through and that's the part I completely accept completely if somebody had said to be tapped me on the shoulder before I did it said Scott this isn't like the other ones you're forgetting the part that this is a gun violence and the public won't see it like they see every other tragedy this that you you'll be a pawn in their political fight and it will become the it will become about Trump and you'll just be the thing they try to crush under your under your wheels and everybody will pretend to be offended and maybe even some people will be offended I haven't I haven't heard from anybody hapten was actually offended if it happened you know I wish it hadn't and that's why I apologized but the fake offended people were Legion and had I thought it through probably

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and had I thought it through probably wouldn't have done it which is what I said in in the clarification slash apology video so my standard for these things is a quick apology / clarification I satisfied my own standard and that leaves me somewhat invulnerable from cries of hypocrisy because the same thing I ask of the public Oh somebody smart I'm going to comment on a comment here a moment I'll just comment on that comment without even finishing my statement somebody made an allusion to New Coke do you know the New Coke story most of you who did not go to business school have heard that the New Coke story was a marketing fiasco the coke had a successful product in coke when they introduced New Coke everybody said yuck we don't like this new coke it's a big mistake and it's a big marketing

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big mistake and it's a big marketing error but if you check back with coke a few years later you'd see that sales of coke in general are through the roof or at least they're strongly better because the coke attracted so much attention to their older brand because people remembered how much they loved it compared to this new one that ended up being one of the greatest marketing mistakes of all time in the positive way it was a mistake that just got the more attention and became positive so that was very much like what happened to me yes I was gonna make that same analogy but somebody beat me to it alright if it ain't coke don't fix it somebody says ok that's that's clever
Ted Cruz testimony with a democratic professor I should have that guy on you're talking about Epstein professor Epstein who said that essentially Google

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Epstein who said that essentially Google can decide to with the president this based on his research they can move enough votes that they can effectively decide whose president I should have that guy on I'm gonna do a an interview series but I've got to do a little more prep before I do that how many of you would like to see Christina my significant other on my periscopes how would you like to see her interview me on camera what I want to get an opinion on that before we do it how many of you want to see Christina interview me on camera I'm looking at your comments mostly yeses yes yes yes
[Laughter] what no why would anybody say no all right mostly yeses so I I think I might do that one of these days maybe after evasion or two and I will talk to you

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evasion or two and I will talk to you all later have a great day