Episode 727 Scott Adams: A Stone Pardon, The Next Scandal After the Perfect Call, Other Fun Stuff
Date: 2019-11-16 | Duration: 39:20
Topics
My new book LOSERTHINK, available now on Amazon https://tinyurl.com/rqmjc2a President Trump has merged entertainment and politics Ever met anyone IRL…that’s offended by President Trump? The Ukraine thing is dead…isn’t it? ”fateful convergence”, “endemic”? Protecting America and the President from a coup attempt… …for this crime, Roger Stone is going to prison for LIFE? Kamala’s campaign chair, her sister…might get fired Why do we protect other countries, FOR FREE? “Abundance mindset” versus “scarcity mindset”
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## Transcript
[0:09]
um hey if you all checked out your copy of loser think it just made two more bestseller lists that's three bestseller lists so far two more in the Wall Street Journal I think it's in the business book bestsellers and and the digital book is in the e-book bestsellers its best-selling all over the place like crazy if you don't have yours feel sorry for you you know I think you're here for a little something called the simultaneous M it's sweeping the country it's the biggest thing ever and this should be because it's the thing that makes your day amazing and it starts like this first you look around your environment and you see where you can find a cup or a mug or glasses snifter Stein jealous tanker thermos flask empty and Grail goblet vessel of any kind fill it with your favorite liquid I like coffee and join me now for the
[1:10]
coffee and join me now for the unparalleled pleasure the dope of being hit of the day the thing makes everything better the simultaneous hip go yep yep still good still good it's better every time alright let's talk about a few things few things here so it looks like the perfect phone call scandal is winding down I don't know what to call this one you want to call it the Ukrainian phone call doesn't really have a name does it the scandal doesn't quite have a catchy name let's call it perfect phone call gate he who frames first wins so de fact-check me here but does this seem like the Ukrainian phone call thing is
[2:11]
like the Ukrainian phone call thing is sort of already done now I know there will be more hearings and stuff but does this feel like it's kinda done it feels that way to me because I don't think we're gonna get more stuff out of this what was the big revelation from the last round of hearings that it turns out that President Trump sometimes inappropriately tweets insults at people at the wrong time did anybody see that comment is there anybody here who could have possibly imagined the president Trump would send a public tweet insulting somebody who is testifying at the moment let me let me say this I believe that a hundred percent of the people who have commented on this so far what we're talking about is that ambassador Jovanovic was doing
[3:11]
is that ambassador Jovanovic was doing her testifying and the president was trashing her by tweet while she was twist while she was testifying shocking shocking we're all shocked now I think sometimes I feel as though there are only a handful of people in the world who even our understanding of what's going on sometimes what we're watching is the complete let's say collapsing of serious politics and entertainment they're no longer separate this president has merged entertainment and politics now before you say that's a bad idea he's been doing it for a while and it works really well he's the first person smart enough to do it now other other leaders of course have put on spectacles the let's take the the
[4:13]
spectacles the let's take the the British Royal Family with where they have a wedding for example big spectacle so it's it's very common for a governments to put on a show you know whether it's the Romans throwing Christians to the Lions whatever it is you know military parades leaders put on shows this particular leader president Trump is basically putting on a wrestling match show every day and people are still treating it like it's not a show if you were to look at it Trump's tweets through the filter of government you just say all right this is the government I'm watching let's see what the government is doing oh it looks like the leader of the government sent this tweet let's see what it says the leader of the government just tweeted some trash
[5:15]
government just tweeted some trash talked to somebody who was testified to Congress while she was testifying to Congress and she's a good person who served the country loyally for many years because that's the government filter now let me let me move you over to the other filter you know the one that's actually happening not not the one that's ridiculous here's the other filter entertainment and government have merged we have a president who understands that because he created it he's the one who merged the entertainment he's the one who puts on the rallies he's the one that tweets funny things he tweets memes he's putting on a show was there a better show yesterday then the president tweeting trash talk to this about the about the hearings while they were happening no no you can pretend to be offended by that all day long and I will consider you part of the show so all the
[6:18]
consider you part of the show so all the people who were so offended fixed by lighting here I'm so offended I do not consider you to be observers who are offended because you're not your observers but it's more like you're part of the show the thing that people who people who were offended and commenting on it don't realize is that they're part of the show I'm sorry you're part of the entertainment literally I literally consume to your comments as entertainment I didn't read it for news because it doesn't really have any news value that I care about but I read it why is it that I consumed stories about the people who were terribly offended at the president why was I consuming that at all why did I pay attention for knowledge nope I didn't gave any knowledge nothing I care
[7:20]
didn't gave any knowledge nothing I care about was it for entertainment yeah it was it was for entertainment I consumed it like entertainment let me ask you how did you consume it the knowledge that people were deeply offended by this tweet you consumed it as entertainment how is it intended it was intended as two things it was intended to get your attention the president doesn't tweet to be ignored the president doesn't do anything to be ignored everything the president does is with a very conscious I'm you don't have to be a mind reader to to note the obvious everything he does is with the understanding that is going to be a big public thing of course he wants attention who wouldn't so the people who are pretending to be offended and pretending it's the end of the world you're part of
[8:21]
it's the end of the world you're part of the show and apparently I'm the only one to point that out so as I've said to you before nearly a hundred percent of the people who pretend to be offended by anything the president does since the campaign people have been offended I'm so offended I'm so offended if if the picture seems frozen to you you might have to leave and get back in or something so do not treat the people who say they are offended as real offended people there's nothing like that going on there are people who are pretending to be offended for a fact and there are people I think some sincere people who believes that other people are offended ask yourself if you've ever met somebody who was actually offended by the president I'm probably never you
[9:21]
by the president I'm probably never you know everybody's pretty sure that someone else is offended I I would never be offended by this because I'm not a small person I would not be offended by the sense of humor the way somebody phrased something on the other side of the world wouldn't offend me but I'm pretty sure other people are offended and so on their behalf I'm going to be twice as offended as I assume the other people are offended who by the way are not that offended because they don't care too much all right so I was trying to get ahead of the the next news cycle and trying to figure out what the next line of attack will be because I think we can think past this Ukraine thing do you know what I think kills the grain thing most effectively I think what kills it most effectively is the slow realization that all conversations between leaders are kind of a
[10:22]
between leaders are kind of a negotiation and the slow realization that the public had a legitimate interest in knowing what the president was asking of Ukraine he's not the only person who wondered about Joe Biden in Ukraine he's not the only person we all wanted to know that even the people who were thinking of voting for him they certainly wanted to know if they were getting a clean candidate of course now they made out of the the supporters may not have ever asked for it themselves but you can't say that they don't have a big big need to know if their candidate is clean or not it was the same thing with the Russia collusion except the Russia collusion was a little bit more you know it was more transparently BS at least it seemed like that to trump supporters but was there ever any point where you said to yourself you know I think the president's surely innocent but wouldn't it be good that we had an official
[11:23]
it be good that we had an official statement on that and then when Muller came out with his thing and it looked like okay there's nothing here Russian lies anyway weren't you better off as much as you might have hated the Muller investigation I think we were better off because we at least you eliminated that that set of concerns same with Biden I don't think there's gonna be anything there that Biden himself is you know guilty of in terms of a crime but don't you want to know I mean there's certainly enough there to ask questions so I think that this low realization among the public that the president was asking the same questions that we would want to know and that is pretty normal for for people who you know have leverage and use it there's just nothing there so that's going to go away here's what I think might be the next attack this is from a line on CNN's website a fateful convergence of events
[12:25]
website a fateful convergence of events Friday reflected a culture of corruption and intimidation endemic to the circle of a president who vowed to drain the swamp but instead became its incarnation now if I've taught you anything if you have to use that many big words to make your point you don't really have a point that the public's could ever care about even if everything said here is accurate and true it's irrelevant because if that's the best way you can express it the public isn't gonna get anything any interest in it let me read it again so you can see our ridiculousness this is using words to try to something that isn't there right so is manufacturing something with words yeah nothing you know it's manufacturing something out of words listen to it again events a fateful convergence of events
[13:26]
events a fateful convergence of events Friday was it faithful was it a faithful convergence of events or did just stuff happen on Friday already it's ominous it's not just stuff that happened it's a fateful convergence of events and that fateful convergence of events is right reflected a culture of corruption and intimidation a culture you say can you give me some examples no we're just going to talk about the culture of it and apparently it's endemic to the circle of a president who endemic how many people in the United States could pass a vocabulary test in which they could tell you the definition of endemic seriously what percentage 10% so if you
[14:26]
seriously what percentage 10% so if you have to write in a writing style that the public can't understand in order to make your point maybe you don't have a point because one of the things you'll learn is that the more true a point is at least in the political realm the more true it is the easier it is to explain if it's this hard to explain it maybe you don't have so much all right so it could be that that's where the next play will be the next play and it looks like maybe somebody's a/b testing it a little bit here it looks like the next play is hey look at how many people went to jail on the president's team and then people will say well guilt by association if there's so much in the atmosphere some of that atmospheric endemic reflected cold of which there's a fateful convergence I
[15:27]
of which there's a fateful convergence I mean if you were ever gonna be worried about something you should be worried about the endemic intimidation and corruption of the culture that's part of the faithful convergence I mean if that doesn't scare you what does so that might be the next play they might just say hey everything about Trump's circle is looking bad so therefore he must be bad bad bad bad but we don't have any proof of anything the president did that might be thanks let me ask you this so Roger stone got convicted to it looks like 50 years maximum I think that might be reduced but certainly that's life imprisonment any way you look at it because he's 68 years old do you think Roger stone should go to prison for his crimes well nobody's above the law right no one's above the law and I think it's probably a matter of fact I would except
[16:28]
probably a matter of fact I would except this is true that he was found guilty of lying to Congress and witness tampering I don't know the details of the witness tampering but maybe he talked to somebody I don't know did something with a witness now here's the thing what was it he was trying to accomplish why would Roger stone lie to Congress and why would he tamper with any witnesses what exactly was he trying to cover up was it his own crime no I don't believe he was trying to cover up for himself the the accusation is that he was trying to cover up for the president to protect the president from the Russia collusion accusations which turned out to be absolute so Roger stone is going to go to jail
[17:29]
so Roger stone is going to go to jail forever and his entire family will be you know devastated of course not to mention obviously you know his own life would be over for all practical purposes for the crime of protecting an innocent president for the crime of protecting the country from having his president removed by dirty tricks now did Roger stone know that there was nothing there probably he probably knew there was nothing there the insiders probably all do that did he commit a crime according to the jury apparently yes do I deny that any of these things were illegal I do not I don't have an independent opinion I imagine the legal system does a pretty good job of determining what the facts are but if you've got somebody who's going to jail for a life for the crime
[18:30]
going to jail for a life for the crime of trying to protect the sitting president from being removed from office by a coup attempt when you say that again he's going to he's going to be serving life in prison for the crime essentially of trying to protect the country from losing a legally elected president to a coup attempt that's actually what happened have you ever seen a situation there was more conducive to a presidential pardon I have not I except for people who were innocent and were wrongly convicted and literally weren't even there so certainly that's the easiest pardon the easiest pardon is somebody who was innocent and somehow you found out later
[19:31]
innocent and somehow you found out later and I don't I would think those people would get off anyway without a pardon but there must be some that are easier than this but the second easiest kind of pardon is somebody who was trying to interfere with a coup interfere with that's what Roger stone did Roger stone if that's what he was doing and all evidence suggests I mean that's actually the accusation so it's not me reading his mind the legal system has decided that Roger cou temps are there Roger stone is guilty of trying to interrupt a coup and he's going to jail from life
easy as pardon ever so easy that I think Trump's gonna lose supporters if he doesn't do this pretty quickly I don't know when's the right time to do it you know maybe that may be the legal
[20:31]
it you know maybe that may be the legal process has to wrap it up a little bit more so that we know exactly what what's going on but I suppose the president could do it anytime you wanted and I can't think of a better time can you think of a better time to pardon Roger stone and then this afternoon think about it can you think of a better time to pardon the guy who just got life imprisonment for trying to stop a coup in the United States than right now right now if you were waiting for lunch you waited too long and I think every day that Trump goes without pardoning him Roger stone we're talking about I don't think it looks good for the president now obviously the president is going to take the hit simply for being associated with Roger stone the
[21:31]
associated with Roger stone the president's already been punished the president took his punishment Roger stone was going to jail forever somebody who's been you know fairly I don't know close they were but they're they've been they've known each other for a long time Roger stone and the president and his friends going to go away for life for trying to stop a coup against the president the United States how about now about pardoning him right now by the way this president have that full power in this case I think he does right so president Trump I would say that you have no downside no downside whatsoever in fact you this is just a plus if the president pardons stone for trying to stop a coup that's just all win because the other side is gonna hate him the same no matter what doesn't matter the Democrats they're locked in but you could lose
[22:34]
they're locked in but you could lose some Republicans on this the president could definitely lose some Republicans if he plays this wrong and not pardoning stone or even just waiting too long you know and letting stone twist I don't get it
it this afternoon is the right time to do it this afternoon is the right time to do it all right what else we talked about so Kamala Harris is getting more bad press of course for her bad campaign and there's some calls for her campaign manager to be fired but it turns out that her campaign chair so the the head person of the campaign who isn't come all herself is Kamala sister now if kabbalah can't fire her own sister in the quest to become president she's not qualified if you can't fire your own sister you
[23:35]
if you can't fire your own sister you can't run against President Trump you don't have what it takes so Kamala if you want to show that you have at least a trace of what it takes to be President prove it fire your sister she's obviously the problem obviously you have the worst campaign anybody ever had I've never seen worse not a Republican not a Democrat and I mean this I'm not being mean it's the worst campaign I've ever seen and it's your sister who's in charge if he can't fire your sister you should just quit all right fire your sister you should get otherwise because you don't have you don't even have the the most basic capability that's just so basic if you can't fire somebody close to you that desperately needs to get fired you don't have the right stuff all right Trump is squeezing South Korea and Japan for more military funding for the US
[24:37]
for more military funding for the US presence in both of those places and isn't this one of those situations where you ask yourself why did that take so long why were our other presidents not doing exactly this why were we not turning our military into a profit Center you know people ask me all the time Scott Scott Scott sure you're happy about Trump's performance and this or that or this or that but what about the debt it doesn't matter what he does that's good if he runs up the debt we're all dead you know we're all ruined anyway and the debt is going up like crazy like crazy is that a good point probably but remember national debt is not like personal debt so there's some basic differences one of the differences you don't you never have to pay it back personal debt you have to pay it back national debt if you want to you could just pay the interest forever and they'd
[25:38]
just pay the interest forever and they'd never pay it back because over time just inflation will reduce the amount of your debt to where you know I don't know 16 trillion or 18 trillion or whatever we're at now seems like an enormous number today about in 30 years it will seem like you know a third of the size even if you didn't pay anything back so a bank would never let you and I never pay back the principal but the government can the government can also print more money and just inflate it away which has its own problems but again that's an option that you and I don't have but there's another option that you and I don't have that makes our personal debt different from Nash that and that is that you and I do not have nuclear weapons well I can only speak for myself I personally have no nuclear weapons so you might have some but and I'm using nuclear weapons as a
[26:39]
but and I'm using nuclear weapons as a proxy for the biggest baddest military of all time now if you have the biggest baddest military of all time and you're protecting countries that don't have as much debt because they don't have a big military to support shouldn't we be charging them in what world does it not make sense for us to be charging countries we protect like crazy the president is apparently the first person who's figured out that the military should be a profit center because you know what the military should be a profit center now I don't think it should be a profit Center in terms of starting a war we never want to do that like that would that would be the worst kind of military profit centers like hey let's start a war to make some profit that never works we want our military to never fight that's where the profit comes in so our best situation is our military is the
[27:39]
best situation is our military is the best in the world by far true they never fight well at the moment there's not a lot of fighting going on and other people will pay for it so that they can be protected by the same umbrella it's sort of a perfect world I also think we should be working order to make alliances with countries that are still operating from a shortage of mindsets I've never heard this applied to countries before I've heard it this applied to people so let me let me give you the most important mental reframing you've ever seen so this is a change the world reframing are you ready for this I'm going to change the world right now probably see if you this is true I'm going to say something in the next 60 seconds that could well change the history of the world and it's
[28:41]
change the history of the world and it's this our foreign relations continue to be in a shortage mind sent that there's a scarcity yes there you go somebody says in the comments we manage our foreign relations with a scarcity mindset there used to make sense because in the old days you didn't have enough stuff you had to acquire some resources you know somebody was always going to come to you for financial gain or military gain etc but all of the old rules the scarcity rules don't make any sense anymore if the United States and Russia are like poking each other with cyber crimes and you know little things where where you can hurt each other but not start a war does that make sense does it make sense anymore is Russia really going to poke us with these little stuff until the United States doesn't have the biggest military
[29:42]
States doesn't have the biggest military anymore I don't think so and I think the message that Trump has been bringing to these various frenemies and nemec's is I think he's bringing them an abundance mindset which he doesn't use in those words but he says North Korea why don't you let us make you rich nobody's ever said that before there's a reason that Kim jong-un writes love letters to Trump and yet he wants to beat Joe Biden to death with a stick according to recent communication of North Korea they love President Trump and they want to beat Joe Biden to death with a stick before it's too late they actually said that what's the difference probably the difference is that Biden is in a scarcity mindset and he's competition Trump is very clearly an abundance mindset where he's saying hey I've got
[30:43]
mindset where he's saying hey I've got an idea why don't we both do something that's better for both of us how about we be friends I'll spend a lot less money trying to protect myself from you you'll make a bunch of money because we'll invest in you how about we just make more stuff and then we all got everything we want how about abundance so the same thing for Russia can you give me one good reason why Russia once the United States as an enemy why why I would love to see anybody explained to me in any rational way how Russia would get an actual advantage that makes some difference to them in the real world I can see lots of things that will hurt them if they poke us and it's enough for us to notice you know if they focus and we don't notice I suppose you could argue there's some advantage there but we always notice we catch them when they hacked we catch them if they try to interfere with the
[31:45]
them if they try to interfere with the election we certainly know if they're marching into Crimea we certainly know what they're doing with everything else so the days of poking each other and having a you know a scarcity mindset where if we do we have to get this stuff before you do it's just ancient thinking and when the president says we should be friends with Russia the way you should read that is not the old mindset which is my god you fool don't you know where the Russians are a big enemy and we're competing with them for this and that the president without using these words is in an abundance mindset it's it's the thing that is his most basic personality element you can see it in everything he does and indeed he learned from the power of positive thinking I remember his is I forget is the past for a
[32:46]
his is I forget is the past for a minister I was forget which the name is preacher pastor Minister when he was a kid was norman vincent peale who was really the that I don't know the grandfather of the abundance mindset he didn't he didn't phrase it that way I don't think but he did did talk about the power of positive thinking and you go out and just make good stuff happen somebody says pastor maybe pastors the right word but Trump is bringing that to them to the international realm at exactly the time that you should do that because we are as time when cooperating is a really big advantage and being enemies doesn't help either side tell me which side has benefited by being in a war lately I mean really benefited even the winners of the war's end up with just debt they end up with morton's more they have to protect you know more poor people they have to feed and it just
[33:48]
people they have to feed and it just doesn't seem to work all right so we should work out something with Russia where we just say you know let's get back to let's get to an abundance mindset and everybody wins all right well what else is going on yes actually a good point somebody says the Jared was making that same pitch for Middle East peace and I think in the Middle East you've got a different thing going on the abundance mindset is good everywhere but with Middle East you've got religious you know concerns that you don't have with Russia the the reason that it's just it makes me crazy that we can't work something out with Russia is that we don't have an ethnic problem with them either way and we don't have a religious problem with Russia either way so if we can't work out something with
[34:49]
so if we can't work out something with Russia I don't feel like we've tried hard enough because it seems like that should be the easiest abundant situation where we say look China might still be a problem I hate Boonton can we just can we just make more money for each other can we just you know make this work all right
would you like to hear more stories about loser think I know you do come on yeah now do you do so I'm at that fun part of the process where so as I mentioned loser thing made the bestseller lists I made three different bestseller lists this first week now what might happen is that because you do a lot of publicity the first week the second week it might go down a little bit until word-of-mouth kicks in so this
[35:50]
bit until word-of-mouth kicks in so this is one of those word-of-mouth books so I should expect that the real fun is next week the week after this one that's when we'll know if word of mouth has kicked in so he says the New York Times there's some leak about the wiggers I don't see any chance we're going to have a comprehensive of a trade deal with China do you I think China's just got too many issues and as long as their top fentanyl dealer is still walking free and apparently is I don't see you having any kind of trade deal somebody says they boast haven't copies of loser think wow so so loser think is on the following bestsellers it's on the New York Times self-help list at number five which is a great place to be by the way that's a really that's the best list everybody would drool to be on cuz if you get on the self-help list you can sometimes stay on there for decades you know
[36:51]
stay on there for decades you know that's the one you want to be on but the Wall Street Journal also has a top ten for digital business books and a top ten
400 books in general alright I think digital books non-fiction books and then it's also a top ten for business books is it in the airport it is it is in the airports and should be in the window at Barnes Noble if you go by Barnes & Noble you should see it in the window we'll anti-trump purrs like loser thing yes yeah no my lot my book before this you sort of had to be either a trump supporter or at least not hate him too much in order to read the content in the book which was about persuasion but because it talked about Trump a lot you'd sort of need to be a trump supporter too to love that book but this latest one goes right
[37:53]
that book but this latest one goes right down the middle so I talked about some topics on the left some topics on the right and I apply the loser think filter to both and nobody comes out perfectly here so I really did put an effort into taking it right down the middle on this one because I didn't want people to miss the book thinking there was a political bias in it I don't think you'll find it sois well appears a lot for some reason that yeah for some reason I wonder what that reasons could be yeah my representative in this area Eric's wall well who full disclosure on a few times he is a perfect example for some of the some of the material in the book all right it's personal improvement yeah it is a personal improvement book all right I used to defend SWA well I don't remember
[38:57]
used to defend SWA well I don't remember exactly what that was but yeah we talked about Roger stone all right that's all for now I don't have anything else left I love talking to you guys every morning I got to tell you this is always fun for me so goodbye for now I'll talk to you later