Episode 732 Scott Adams: Shampeachment, Sondland
Date: 2019-11-20 | Duration: 33:16
Topics
My new book LOSERTHINK, available now on Amazon https://tinyurl.com/rqmjc2a Weak defense strategies by the President’s supporters Vindman was offered job of UKRAINE DEFENSE MINISTER? Ukraine made the offer…3 TIMES? CNN Chris Cillizza’s weasel words and spin
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> [!note] Rough Transcript
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## Transcript
[0:04]
[Music] hey everybody are you watching the sunland testimony oh it's a barnburner but come on in here we'll take a break from that I think we've heard what he's gonna say there will be many questions but I think his opening statement probably says everything it needs to say come on in here one you know let's get right to it quick quick grab your cup mug glass snifter Stein chalice tanker thermos last canteen Grail gobbling vessel of any kind fill it with your favorite liquid and let's enjoy simultaneity of knowing the people all over the world are going to enjoy the simultaneous sip and their dopamine will spike at the same time you're part of it be part of something bigger than yourself the simultaneous cept go oh yeah that's much
[1:05]
simultaneous cept go oh yeah that's much bigger than myself so the only news that anybody cares about is the impeachment trial impeachment theater I call it I like I love the way Devon newness is framing it before each day of impeachment he's he's framing it like theater well it's act 2 impeachment theater he doesn't say it that way about almost which is exactly the right way to do it now I'm gonna criticize a lot of people on president Trump's defense he's getting the worst defense I've ever seen all right now bottom line I'm sure the president's going to be fine there's not going to be any impeachment but man are the people defending him screwing the
[2:07]
the people defending him screwing the pooch here and I'm going to call out Jordan as the worst offender here's the defense you never want to hear from your own lawyer are you ready if you ever hire a lawyer let's say you're accused of a crime and you ever and you hire a lawyer and he comes at you with the following defense you need a new lawyer here's the defense my client totally did not commit the crime and also it didn't work what that's right my client didn't commit the crime and when he tried it didn't work that's not the lawyer you want you want the lawyer who says there was no crime now some of the Republicans are saying that in fact the best defense I think so far
[3:09]
in fact the best defense I think so far of everything I've seen every every talking head every every pundit and of all the people who have been talking about the champey Trent I've only seen one competent piece of writing on this and it's from byron york and it's today so you could say it in my twitter feed and byron york points out that there are several well-documented nobody nobody is doubting the following facts that Ukrainian officials people in the government did in fact publicly publicly tried to influence the election in 2016 against Trump publicly that's the important part apparently there were some facts I didn't know about I just read the article and it's in the The Examiner at Washington Examiner Byron York and he lays out the numerous times
[4:10]
York and he lays out the numerous times that publicly again there's no doubt there's no no dispute about the facts but publicly the diplomat for Ukrainians ambassador apparently wrote a negative piece in the during the election that's pretty direct influence it was a negative piece about President Trump now the the problem that Ukraine had with Trump as a candidate is they thought he was too friendly with Russia that was a bad thing so apparently they are documented as working against the president and trying to prevent him from getting elected I guess that's not even in dispute all right so let me tell you what matters is what doesn't matter and unfortunately the Republicans defending the president are spending a lot of time on the stuff that doesn't matter and is hurting his cause here's some things that don't matter that the process itself is unfair
[5:16]
matter that the process itself is unfair do you know why that doesn't matter now it is true that the Republicans are not getting to talk to the people they want to talk to some things are happening behind closed doors and then yesterday I saw something that blew my mind which is that the accusers got the last word so the last person to speak after each of these events is chef that this everything is backwards from how a trial should be held so I would say it's true that the process is unfair if judged against a legal process in which history has decided what kinds of processes are fair it's unfair but it is a sucker's game to argue that why because nobody's questioning the facts both sides agree on the basic facts there's not really a big difference on facts if you're trying to decide whether
[6:18]
facts if you're trying to decide whether the facts are accurate then the quality of the system the other system that that brings out the facts makes a big difference but if you both agree on the basic facts you don't really need to question the system because the system gave you what you need it gave you the facts you both agree on them even if this was terrible as long as you both agree you got the right fax it doesn't matter how terrible it was so don't argue it it's irrelevant they get it gotten got you to the same point it also doesn't matter why anybody did anything doesn't matter why Vanneman is saying what he's saying it doesn't matter that he wore his military uniform it doesn't matter what he was thinking none of that matters it's irrelevant because what matters is what byron york wrote about did the president have a reason to think the ukraine needed to be
[7:20]
reason to think the ukraine needed to be investigated now some of the things were sketchy like the you know the the CrowdStrike server thing there's no evidence that ukraine had anything to do with that but it was on a list of things that the president was concerned about Ukraine being generally corrupt and had acted against him did the president have a legitimate reason to want to investigate what's going on in Ukraine not only with Biden and burr yzma but sort of more generally because they were acting against the president yes once you've answered that question did the president have a legitimate need a legitimate concern that the country should also share all the other questions are irrelevant you don't need to talk about the system you have the process because it got you all to the same point you all believe the same facts and one of those facts that it isn't really coming out in the
[8:21]
isn't really coming out in the apparently nobody thought to bring out any of these facts and any of this these testimonies so again the president's defenders are doing a terrible job it doesn't matter that the that the transcript was originally put on a secure server nope doesn't matter because everybody agreed that the transcript looking thing was close enough doesn't matter it's irrelevant doesn't matter what anybody was thinking doesn't matter what anybody's motives even the presidents doesn't matter what his motives were doesn't matter what his internal thoughts were there's only one thing that mattered did he have a legitimate interest meaning public interest American interest in investigating Ukraine a little bit and finding out how rotten they are over there it doesn't even matter if you agree all you have to do is say to yourself given President Trump's
[9:22]
yourself given President Trump's experience and what what he knew at the time was it reasonable for him to push Ukraine for some investigating sure even if there's nothing there totally justified once you've said it's totally justified that he he asked those questions you're done there's nothing else to talk about because it doesn't matter if he pressured them doesn't matter if he had a explicit quid pro quo a indirect quid pro quo it doesn't matter which which of the witnesses thought there was one thought that wasn't one thought it was about the meeting thought it was about the funding doesn't matter doesn't matter how how long it was withheld doesn't matter why was withheld doesn't matter who thought what doesn't matter that Giuliani was over there you know making things complicated for the professionals none of it matters there's only one question that matters did the president have a
[10:22]
that matters did the president have a good reason to suspect there needs to be some investigating over a new crane now suppose Ukraine had said yes I think it would have gone something like this yes mr. president if you have legitimate concerns we'd like to look into it tell us what you want to look into specifically well one of them is this CrowdStrike server thing all right we'll look into it 24 hours later we looked into it there's nothing there's no basis for that okay what else do you want us to look into really 24 hours later Ukraine would say the same thing that Byron New York says that everybody who's looking to assess the CrowdStrike server thing isn't real but what else do you have well there's the Biden thing okay we can look into that or there's the you know you interfered in there in the election before is there anything going on over there that we need to know about well look into it so that's the only question
[11:25]
look into it so that's the only question that matters does the president have a good reason to look into it the Democrats have gotten away with framing it as digging for dirt on an opponent the Republicans have failed miserably complete failure to defend the president on the question of did he have reason to think there was some bad stuff over there in Ukraine that needed to be looked into yes that's the beginning of the story in the end of it all the rest is theater and and so I would say Republicans have totally failed this president in their defense all right let's talk about Gordon sunlen he's he's testifying today and of course all the headlines after this were gonna be quid pro quo discovered because Sandlin says it was one now they're gonna start conflating and Joe Joe pointed this out I don't know if
[12:26]
pointed this out I don't know if I would have caught it myself but pointed out that while Sandlin says was the quid pro quo that he believed was about the meeting having a quid pro quo for a meeting with the president this probably kind of standard business you know not everybody gets to meet with the president do you got a it's kind of little give me something to you get something I mean even I met with the president was there was there an implied quid pro quo sort of sort of because between the time I got invited to visit the president until the day I actually was standing there talking to him did I say bad things about the president I did not
not do you think I would have said bad things had I thought of any well I might have waited a few weeks so there's always a quid pro quo even I felt the quid pro quo yeah and I was just
[13:26]
quid pro quo yeah and I was just visiting for fun now as it turns out I usually say things that are supportive of the presidency even if I criticized a number of specific things that they're doing so it wasn't a big risk but even I felt the quid pro quo I mean it's real there's no way you have that potential meeting with the President of the United States and you don't think to yourself okay I got it not blow this you know what what do I do to make sure this doesn't get cancelled of course there's a quid pro quo so so much will be made today that son wouldn't believe there was one at least for the meeting part and I think he's saying that he understood or it was his opinion that the aid was also connected but he didn't have a direct didn't have direct evidence of that that was just as impression does it matter no it doesn't matter what's thought than thought it makes no difference it doesn't make any difference doesn't matter if there was a quid pro
[14:27]
doesn't matter if there was a quid pro quo because there always is doesn't matter if he thought it was explicit or I was indirect doesn't matter because there's always one all that matters is that the president had reason to believe that Ukraine needed a little extra investigating before he felt comfortable giving him money or anything else all right I can't not comment on the vibe that some of the witnesses put off and the vibe this onlin puts off he reminds me of some actor that you often see in movies and he plays the guy who in the end of the movie is gonna lose the girl and he's a bad boss and you wouldn't want it for your father-in-law doesn't he which actor is it there's an actual actor who looks just like him and but that actor always plays the part of the character in the movie you're not supposed to like he's just sort of a
[15:29]
supposed to like he's just sort of a goofy unlikable guy so Soglin has that goofy unlikable vibe sadly because he looks like that actor who always plays those parts and that matters you know I it's unkind to point out things like that but we're talking about how the public is going to receive him and he doesn't have he doesn't have a sympathetic look if you know what I mean
so there's that as opposed to vinden who wore his military stuff and of course that got him much more much more of a sympathetic look than if he hadn't so that was a smart choice by vinden to wear his military stuff vendôme got a little bit douche-baggy by insisting that he'd be called by his military title even though he's a civilian now right now the funniest story the chemist and a vindens testimony and it was so
[16:32]
and a vindens testimony and it was so weird that I thought I heard it wrong and it wasn't until I saw I saw Tucker Carlson talking about it that I thought to myself I actually did hear that right I completely blew it off as it couldn't possibly be true and that was that apparently Ukraine had asked American military veteran Zinman to be their Secretary of Defense in Ukraine three times they asked him to quit his job in America to be the defense secretary of Ukraine now when I heard it in that in the testimony I thought what did I just hear that Ukraine asked an American military person to take over their entire military and he's just a lieutenant-colonel did I just hear that and I actually convinced myself that I
[17:35]
and I actually convinced myself that I heard it wrong because it couldn't possibly be true but apparently apparently it's true so here's the funny part the United States was one yes away from conquering Ukraine now all venden had to do was say yes and the basically a United States citizen would be running the military in Ukraine now there are some things which we can speculate about why they would ask that now one speculation one speculation is that is that if there was some American connected citizen in their military maybe they'd get more military aid maybe they're so dependent on America that they might as well just put an American in the job now keep in mind I believe he was born in Ukraine so technically he's a dual citizen I think and he speaks
[18:36]
a dual citizen I think and he speaks fluent ukrainian and he's very Pro Ukrainian so it wouldn't be a crazy thing for him to you know take a job in Ukraine but that job that specific job what so so here's here's the other possibility the other possibility is that Ukrainians don't trust other Ukrainians meaning that they needed somebody who was unbreathable and sometimes the only way you can get let's call them untouchables and the reason the other the way that the the US government went after gangsters in the old days is they had to get people who were not local and were not known so that they couldn't be bribable you know the bad guys couldn't get to their families and bribe them and stuff so it could be that they they just had you know we just can't find anybody in the
[19:37]
know we just can't find anybody in the entire country who isn't just gonna be a crook so you know we'll pick the one person who we think is not bribable to be in charge until we can turn things around so it might be that they thought he was unbridle Oh or they thought he was bribable is both both are possible it could be they thought he was bribable and that's why they wanted him could be never know all right but that was a weird little story which tells me that they don't have a deep bench there in Ukraine they do not have a deep bench because if you're looking for an American to be your head of the head of your military I guess I'd be worried about Putin too I guess he could just walk right in there with a tricycle and take over the whole country let's see what else we got I was looking at CNN's coverage from
[20:39]
I was looking at CNN's coverage from yesterday so yesterday it was all about there's no quid pro quo because every nobody saw a problem yesterday so I wondered how CNN would handle it and
they had to somehow make a good day for the president look like a bad day and I wanted to see how they do it did you early for entertainment so Chris Elizabeth said this and I'm paraphrasing but I had to paraphrase it because it was so confusing you had to simplify it to see how confusing it was this will make more sense in a moment
one of the conclusions that crystal is made for CNN was that and again this is my wording but I'm taking his more confusing sentences and summarizing them there's not a known fact a known fact and so he uses known fact as opposed to effect so it's not a known fact the
[21:40]
effect so it's not a known fact the Ukraine had not adequately looked into Joanne hunter Biden in Ukraine it's not a known fact the Ukraine had not looked into Joe so in other words solicit was criticizing the president's side for not having a fact that had not and I don't even understand it it's just word salad it's just too many negatives here it's not a known fact that he had not adequately looked into the Biden BER yzma thing but if it's not a known fact they had not adequately looked into it they had had not adequately been looked into it's also a known fact that we don't know if his had been looked into in other words this is worded in a way to take away the fact that the President of the United States could not have known whether it was true that they had
[22:41]
known whether it was true that they had looked into BER is Moe already or it was not true in other words it was completely supportive of the president asking the question because we don't know it's not a known fact the Ukraine had not adequately looked into the bursa thing it's not a known fact that we are not and therefore it's also not a known fact that we did right that's the same thing so it's not a known fact that they did not already look into it so therefore it's not a known fact that they did if you don't know that they didn't you also don't know that they did but they had to word it backwards with a double negative to take away the fact that the president asked them to do something that the President did not know and could not have known if they had already done it and so it was useful to ask for it because maybe they say we already did it somebody says you are
[23:44]
already did it somebody says you are shameless you are stupid and blocked all right do you it's funny no matter how many times I criticize the president some idiot will come in here and say he does ever criticize the problem you're shameless how many times do I have to criticize the president before somebody will notice it's like you don't even notice so there's that new anonymous book that's recycling an old hoax that the president has mental issues and he can't remember anything he's always asking questions need to he doesn't have a deep well of understanding of anything the whole politics has turned into Dilbert's Dilbert's workplace this whole anonymous
[24:45]
Dilbert's workplace this whole anonymous book is everybody complaining about their boss everybody thinks their boss doesn't pay enough attention to their details doesn't know what's happening they think their boss is making selfish decisions their boss is selfish and stupid their boss's idiot I got rich specifically on that fact that everybody thinks their boss is an idiot that's the only reason you're even listening to me you would never even want to hurt me except everyone thinks that boss is an idiot so when you see an anonymous report this as some people think their boss is an idiot you didn't see anything because that's every boss everybody thinks their boss is an idiot sometimes I will I will agree with the anti-trump errs who say that the
[25:46]
anti-trump errs who say that the president's visit to Walter Reed was not explained adequately by well I just had some free time and I thought I'd you know take care of this that is unfortunately it was laughably unrealistic ly true all right did you see what I just did there for those of you I haven't yet blocked who say Scott you defend everything the president says listen to me again the president's explanation that he just had some free time so he went to get a routine physical at Walter Reed there's not even slightly believable it's thought he was slightly believable but what does it mean does it mean there's some horrible health problem no no it could mean he has some minor health problem like everybody his age and he just doesn't want to share it you could imagine a thousand different
[26:47]
could imagine a thousand different health problems that would be minor that would just be embarrassing or you don't want to talk about it or you know it's a it's a fungus it's a rash it's a weed say anything it just could be anything so there's no reason to believe there's a problem but there isn't the slightest chance that it was just because he had some free time that didn't happen there was something going on we just don't have a reason to believe it's anything important I think privacy would be the more likely explanation although I have to be I have to admit I was worried that I heard there was a cabinet meeting that got called and I thought to myself oh he went to a secret medical facility well it wasn't secret but and then he can't had to call a cabinet meeting it was probably already scheduled but I
[27:47]
it was probably already scheduled but I thought to myself that doesn't sound good but apparently it was just normal business all right those were the main things I want to talk about if the president's defenders continue to do such a bad job they might actually defend him right into getting impeached I didn't think it was possible but so far their defenses have been so bad it might actually happen if they don't a pivot pretty quickly and start leaning on the fact that he had a pretty good reason to ask questions about Ukraine and that's the end of the story then I don't think they're serving him well because the argument that he didn't do the crime and by the way the crime didn't work that's what they're playing now and that's just the worst the worst predictions for North Korea probably just more of the same you know my guess is that president Robb simply doesn't want to give them what they need and he
[28:50]
want to give them what they need and he is willing to wait because every day that the president waits on Iran every day that he waits on North Korea they get more flexible because they're getting poorer and we're getting richer and time is not on their side so it could be that he just was waiting as long as he needs to there's no hurry all right oh yeah South Dakota has a ad about trying to get people off on meth but it's it's not ideal it's not worth talking about but it's not ideal
somebody says I'm wrong the health care will only cost ten percent more because we're not paying for the current ninety percent well that's the another example of somebody who mischaracterizes my opinion too to criticize it here's my
[29:52]
opinion too to criticize it here's my opinion the entire system including your employer paying for your health care including the government paying for some people's health care the entire system there's only about a 10% away from being able to cover everybody because there are only about 10% of people not covered so if we had no way to clawback that money in other words do tax employers because they no longer have to pay health care and let's say ask the government is paying everybody's health care companies save a ton of money so in order to to cover that you would have to tax them in some degree that's similar to how much they were paying for health care to make up the difference so there you go I'm not saying that's practical I'm just saying that the money exists in the system now suppose you gave businesses such a massive tax break that they didn't have to pay health care anymore in other words
[30:53]
in other words they didn't you know the government's paying it so companies can stop paying it
it that would be super stimulative because every company would suddenly become far more profitable for not having to pay that somebody says you're assuming no elasticity of demand if it's free I'm not assuming no no elasticity I'm assuming some elasticity but the the place where there's elasticity there will be the cheaper stuff so the you know the heart attacks and the cancer were already being treated it's the smaller stuff that you can do by phone and email and here's a prescription that people will do more of for sure I think that if the government covers healthcare there should be some kind of a system in which if you shop for a better deal you get it to scale so there should be in
[31:54]
get it to scale so there should be in some incentive for every consumer to shop because it's good for the consumer if you don't have that I don't think you have a good system government has no incentive for efficiency yeah that's just why I said the individual needs to be in charge of somehow getting a kickback if they can get cheaper service or if they or if they do the right lifestyle things or they take their meds or there must be some way to to measure it a I will revolutionize healthcare that is true AI will completely change healthcare there are not enough practitioners well then presumably we'll get more of them I'll just leave your
[32:56]
get more of them I'll just leave your comments
all right that's all I got for today let's all watch this online stuff and watch how the Republicans are screwing the pooch on their defense I hope they get better at it bye for now