Episode 769 Scott Adams: All the Good Things to Expect in 2020, and the Simultaneous Sip

Date: 2019-12-27 | Duration: 47:23

Topics

My new book LOSERTHINK, available now on Amazon https://tinyurl.com/rqmjc2a Announcing our engagement: Kristina is now officially my fiancé Overcoming spasmodic dysphonia and my Loserthink audiobook The Golden Age and what to look for in the coming year Influencing the world in positive ways Healthcare, homeless, nuclear, North Korea, China decoupling, full legalization of drugs TEST

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

[0:09]

hey everybody come on in it's time for a coffee with Scott Adams hey and I'm Scott Adamson you're coming in for coffee or possibly your favorite beverage it doesn't matter what beverage we'll talk about that at the moment it's all good news this week no bad news happening no bad thoughts no negativity mm-hmm what a wonderful wonderful weakness and you know what makes it better I think you do because that's why you're here you're here for this simultaneous lip and all you need is a cup or a mug or glass a tankard Callister style a canteen junker flask a vessel of any kind fill it with your favorite liquid I like coffee and join me now for the unparalleled pleasure though dopamine's you know the day the thing makes everything better the sun'll team you set go yeah just as good as I thought never disappoints so

[1:13]

good as I thought never disappoints so let me start off by saying uh I don't know how your week is going but I've had one of the best weeks my whole life honestly one of the best weeks of my whole life number one it's the end of the year and a lot of people are just sending nice messages so I'm hearing from people who've just enjoyed interacting during the year but hearing from a lot of people who say that something I said in my periscope or something that I read one of my books had changed their lives so all week I'm listening to people say thanks to you I lost weight I got a job I got a raise I started a new career and I'm just being sort of bathed in good feelings at the same time I've noticed that all of what I would call the bad trolls on Twitter I'm not talking about people would disagree with you get into an exchange I'm talking about the ones were just

[2:13]

were just you know the the f you would leave kind they all left for vacation and I thought to myself there they have you notices by the way if you look online the quality of the interactions are far less because people are on vacation but it looks like a hundred percent of the good people stayed around and they're just tweeting a little bit less but all of the people who look like I always suspected they were paid trolls you know actually working on the clock they're all gone so what does it tell you that all of the patrons the ones I suspected were paid they're all gone there's there's none of them on the internet right now but the good people are still here so it kind of tells you how not real a lot of the the trolling was because they still have computers they still have Wi-Fi they still have plenty of time on their hands nothing changed for the trolls unless they're

[3:15]

changed for the trolls unless they're getting paid and they're not getting paid this week coincidence I know it could be could be some other explanation but I can't see one but even more fun I got engaged this week so christina is now officially my fiancee and I gotta say I didn't know how different it would feel until after I asked and she said yes it feels completely different it just feels completely different I have to say so I may tell you more about that at some point I know that you're gonna want to ask you think you're gonna wonder how I asked her and the answer is I put the ring in a in a box of C's chocolate so that she discovered it and a good time was had by all so um I've never felt better I don't think that's probably the best week ever read my life or one of them so thank you

[4:18]

read my life or one of them so thank you for thank you for being a big part of that because your all your all your actually a huge part of that every one of you because you know this this interaction that I do with you in the extended interaction on the intranet and Twitter and stuff I don't really do it for the money it's not about the money there's there's definitely a deeper meaning deeper purpose and I'm glad you're all part of it so let's talk about some more good news I tweeted about this but I just want to mention it again because it's I just throw it in the list with my good news in 2006 ish I lost my voice most of you know this story to something called his spasmodic dysphonia which meant that I could make noise and in my mouth but I couldn't form proper consonants and sentences without my vocal cords clenching and making it incomprehensible so I was told that that was a permanent problem and that there was no cure and

[5:20]

problem and that there was no cure and therefore the rest of my life I would not be able to have a conversation in a normal way wouldn't be able to talk on the phone for the rest of my life so that was what the diagnosis was I however do not like being told that I can't do something and so as has been my lifelong habit I started something called affirmations which is when you repeat to yourself or you write down 15 times a day something in particular some some goal that you want now I also warned against goals so I like to keep the the goals either general if it's something like money so you can make as much as you want you don't want to be too specific about that but if it's something as specific as you've got a specific health problem well then be specific you want your specific health problem to be specifically fixed so for three years every time I drove my car by myself which was a lot you know I'd be

[6:20]

myself which was a lot you know I'd be driving around locally going to the gym or whatever I would repeat aloud even though I couldn't form actual clear sentences I would repeat aloud i scott adams will speak perfectly now what's interesting about this affirmation is that I never spoke perfectly before I had the medical problem I had that approximate you know kind of a bad nasally voice and obviously still not perfect but I repeated that for years and eventually I did find a rare surgical fairly new procedure that fixed it and then it took years to rehab it after after it was surgically fixed it took years of practice to get it up to actual usable strength where I'm going with this is that yesterday my audio book the audiobook version of loser think the book my latest book is sitting at number one in this category and it's the audiobook that I produced so not

[7:22]

the audiobook that I produced so not only did I get my voice back from an incurable problem but I've also helped a lot of other people get cured of the same problem because I'm part of the outreach you know I I make sure that I use the spasmodic dysphonia words in my tweets every now and then so people can find me find how I solved it and then they can find their way to the same solution so I've probably I don't know I may have cured personally just by connecting people to the very very hard to find solution I may have cured I don't know 50 people a hundred I don't know but I do hear from a lot of people who heard about it from me and I've gone through with some kind of surgery so I just want to say there are very few things that feel better than knowing that years ago you were you were chanting a specific literally impossible seeming goal in your car all alone it's the loneliest

[8:24]

your car all alone it's the loneliest process in the world and I don't think there was one point that I thought I wasn't going to do this I don't think there was ever a point I thought I would fail to get my voice back even though there was no way to do it so here we are I've got a periscope that three point three thousand people are watching probably a hundred thousand people watch this and replay eventually and I'm doing all of this when I started with not being able to talk but I am one stubborn mofo is it if there's one thing you could take away from me you know one thing that you in my own this is my own opinion of myself the the one thing that defines me is I don't like to lose and I don't like to be told I can't do something and it's motivating as all hell and even when it's like really really bad stuff like

[9:25]

it's like really really bad stuff like the voice problem was I just get more motivated so that's just me anyway here's what to look for in the coming year as if you've been watching these periscopes and watching me for a while you probably know that I can be influential I write about influence I'm a trained hypnotist etc and many of you have noticed this some of the things I talk about seep into the common consciousness maybe directly maybe it's coincidence maybe it's confirmation bias it's always hard to tell but we're going to continue our ongoing process of influencing the world yeah in positive ways so I want to tell you what influence I'm going to focus on for 2020 so that you can watch how things look today you know just take a mental snapshot and then do it again at the end of 2020 and ask yourself if the things

[10:25]

of 2020 and ask yourself if the things that I tried to influence look like they're different now that doesn't mean I'm the one who influenced them but it's fun so so you can follow along so here are the things I would like to accomplish in a perfect world I would like to see Democrats and Republicans agree on this that a hundred percent health care coverage whether let's call that insurance or just health care is a goal and I think that the the Republicans fail big-time in their persuasion on health care they really fail big by not saying it is also our goal to cover on percent of the people we want to do it a different way now explain what that is because I don't think the case has been made and if you're not going to make the case Republicans that you do want to cover a hundred percent of the people in this country you just can't take a moral high position you just can't you're just going to have

[11:27]

you just can't you're just going to have to admit that the democrats are better at this more more morally bounded more biblically bounded in every way they have an advantage and if you want to give them the advantage go ahead but it's gonna cost right it's gonna cost in congress it's gonna cost those to the presidency so what i'd like to see is a republican full-throated statement that you want to get to a hundred percent coverage maybe maybe you say it at the same time you say you don't know how to do it because here's the second part the second part is i would love to see the commitment to get there followed by here's the good part you ready the good part is a public debate about how to get there not a political debate not a debate of pundit against pundit lobbyists against politician politician against politician don't care none of that is gonna fix anything we've done that to death here's what we need in my perfect world

[12:29]

what we need in my perfect world president Trump would say something like this a Democrats there's one place we agree on everybody needs health care we don't know how to get there you've got several plans just within the Democrat side Republicans have lots of ideas too let's have a national debate a national debate where you know actual experts and individuals could propose ideas and debate it out in some very transparent way without the politicians like just let's just let the experts battle it out make it a show turn it into entertainment turn it into a website turn it into a contest turned it into something that makes more attention and then if you can give some kind of a national consensus on the best approach and you probably can't maybe you can get it down to the top three but you should let the public do what the government apparently cannot do and the reason the government cannot do this

[13:30]

the reason the government cannot do this is that as soon as the politicians get involved you have no first problem they don't know enough politicians are not the experts on health care and you really need smart people to know enough about that area it's just not it's just not a realm for politicians they wouldn't know how to handle it and then you add on top of that the political pressures on them and then you you know the lobbyists and the money and and you have a mechanism a system if you will they can't work so remember I talked about the Golden Age which we're entering being a time when we don't have shortages of anything we have systems that aren't perfect and as we fix our systems then everybody's going to get enough of everything so the system that's broken with healthcare is not here's the trick it's not the health care system that's broken although that's also broken what's broken is our decision-making process and because health care is so complicated and so much money involved it breaks our

[14:32]

much money involved it breaks our government our government was not designed to handle this kind of question it's too big and there are too many people with too much money trying to influence it the government's the wrong tool so you need a new tool and as it happens we don't have to invent it so much we just have to use the tools we have a new system if you will and that system is to get the government now I'm sorry to get the public directly involved and educated enough so that they can form some preferences based on what the experts put together maybe let's say three good packages and and each of them subject to further tweaking but I think we should have a system where both the Congress and the United States wait for the good part here it comes in which the Congress and the United States commit in advance to two things having a full year of public public public debate on health care public public public meaning the public not the politicians behind closed doors

[15:35]

not the politicians behind closed doors not the lobbyists the public that's the important part regular people just experts citizens people who care and try to get them over the next year to come up with their three best plans it could be two Democrat plans One Republic it doesn't it doesn't matter but just this very best and then commit in advance the Congress and the president to be let's say you don't want to over commit because you could get three bad plans but that they would commit to trying to get the top one whatever is the top most popular one legislated so once the public decides then we hand it over to the government and say check it for two things one to make sure it's you know all legal you know you've you've just done the little work the legal work to make sure that you've you've got something you can execute and it's practical and all that but also to make sure that the majority did not steamroll the minority right that's one of the main purposes of

[16:35]

that's one of the main purposes of government is to make sure that just because something got the most votes it's now some discriminatory horrible things so you need a you need a a a parental check if you will on whatever the public does but I'd love to see the government commit to letting the public work it out and then the government being a supporting role instead of the leading role because they can't be the leading role that just won't work alright so the first thing I'd like to see in 2020 is a revised decision-making process all right it might not look exactly like I described it but look in 2020 for something that's a smarter way to decide and let the public get involved that's the health care goal in a perfect world we'd see somebody suggesting various tests where they could test different things let's talk about the homeless situation as you know

[17:38]

about the homeless situation as you know the probably the most productive voice on the homeless situation right now is dr. Drew and one of the big questions it really focuses on this question I think the question of involuntarily taking people off the streets if they need drug or mental health some kind of counseling or support now the problem is that people are free well and if they say I do not want to go into your support program they don't have to and then they die on the streets and they make things worse for other people as well so the the big decision that needs to be made is how if at all can authorities be helpful in sort of forcing people to do what's good for those people so that conversation is going to get really loud in 2020 so I'm gonna help help push that one and you won't know here's what we mostly need to

[18:41]

won't know here's what we mostly need to fix the homeless problem you ready I'm going to tell you something you've never heard so as men as long as you've been hearing about the homeless problem and now you're a little bit smarter because you know it's not about homes it's not even about the cost of the homes for the homeless it's about their drug problems and their addictions I'm sorry their addictions and their mental problems primarily so here's another thing that you've never heard all right the the reason we can't solve it is that we don't have project managers that's the thing that's missing here's what I mean do we have enough billionaires and/or government funding to test some different solutions for the so-called homeless problem that really is a really a people problem and the answer is we do we do have we have billionaires who are literally saying I got billions of dollars if you can give me one good idea I'll give you some

[19:42]

me one good idea I'll give you some money to test it that's easy believe it or not the money part and remember that's that's the mark of the Golden Age we don't have a resource George what we have is a system problem and the system is lacking a project manager I'm using a project manager very loose for somebody who can who can put together a plan maybe it's a plan informed by dr. Drew's ideas maybe it's a plan informed by in locally here there's a Delancey Street Delancey Street project Delancey Street anyway it's a rehab facility that works really well maybe somebody could say hey that one works really well I'll be your project manager I need a billionaire or a government fund to fund it and then that will be my job to try to implement this in a new state and it will be a test and I'll make sure that we're measuring everything so we know if it worked and then there are a few other project managers getting other money

[20:44]

project managers getting other money from other billionaires and they they do their separate project they say hey we'll take these blocks in LA we might need some help from the government suspending some you know regulations or something because we're just going to test give us a year and we'll tell you what happened now until you see something like a project manager profession form around trying these social goods and until you hear the names of people and see them on TV saying hey yes I'm running something let me tell you about it you know I already have the money from a couple of billionaires so that's what you can see with the so called homeless problem that's not a homeless problem you can see people stepping up and saying I will be your project manager you know and I've got this experience who can fund me and then the funding will happen I can almost guarantee the funding even people that I know personally I probably

[21:44]

that I know personally I probably personally know enough people to fund some studies on on fixing the homeless problem that's not really a homeless problem let's talk about nuclear as I said before I think that we've made tremendous progress we meaning all of you watching and the internet mark Schneider especially Michael Shellenberger also especially the people who were sort of our experts helping us spread the word that nuclear technology is not the old nuclear technology that was relatively unsafe compared to what anything that we have today and that the even newer the newer generations the generation four will eat nuclear nuclear waste and they're far safer and could be less expensive and all that so I would like to see that here's the goal for 2020 for 2020 I want it to be embarrassing for any public person to

[22:45]

embarrassing for any public person to say that nuclear is not part of the solution it should be it should be something that they know not to say out loud anymore we're almost there because I think something like half of the Democrats that are running for president are pro nuclear or at least open to the conversation which is the same as being Pro if you're a Democrat and you're saying in public well I'm open to listening about nuclear energy that's as that says yes that means you've looked into it and you know it's part of the solution because some people aren't gonna want to go strong on that because of their party affiliation but I think 2020 will be the year that when you talk about climate change you have to talk about nuclear power let's agree on that 2020 is the year that any public conversation about climate change and its risks has to include that the solutions include nuclear it'll also include solar and other green energies

[23:46]

include solar and other green energies but I think this 2020 blue the year that everybody just understands that that's part of it and that's a big big big deal
let's talk about North Korea North Korea is a funny little situation because we're we're having well here's the problem we're taking what I would call a military filter and putting it on North Korea and that's the problem there was a time in our history when North Korea was a military problem and the right filter to put on it was a military filter hey they look dangerous we've to put our our military forces on there to counter them military military but much has happened you know decades the past president Trump is come into office there's a whole different understanding with North Korea in terms of what we want out of them what they want out of us today our reasons to be to have a

[24:49]

us today our reasons to be to have a military filter with North Korea are largely gone because it's turned into a psychology problem that we're using a military filter on you can't solve a psychology brought well sometimes you can solve a psychology problem with the military but not this time you can definitely change people's thinking by attacking them but in this case you have a psychology problem and the psychology problem is we don't trust the other and that's a hard place to fix right if you don't trust the other then who can go first and that's been the problem you've observed right so North Korea is saying we don't trust you United States but if you go first and of course we say we don't trust you North Korea but if you went first so and that apparently has no chance of working because there's not enough trust you have a psychology problem so how do you deal with something that's a psychology problem that we're dealing with with a

[25:50]

problem that we're dealing with with a defense filter well the first thing you have to do is get out of that filter you can't you know you can't get rid of your military but you can certainly talk about it differently you frame it differently approach it differently and here's the way I would do it now this is just brainstorming all right I would say to North Korea directly or indirectly privately or not privately you know the reasons that the United States and North Korea were ever military adversaries just doesn't exist anymore that's that's the high ground you just say to North Korea we are a military you know let's say military flooding with each other and it used to make sense but would you agree Kim jong-un that it doesn't anymore the the base reason for us to have any military conflict with them whatsoever completely gone is there any chance that we want to attack North Korea none

[26:52]

we want to attack North Korea none there's no chance we want to attack North Korea not any chance at all is there any chance that North Korea really wants or thinks that they're gonna take over South Korea now none there's not a chance in the world that they think that would be a good idea to try that but what is a genuine risk for Kim jong-un because I don't think the United States is any more I mean we don't want to be in there for we're not China maybe Russia but China don't you think that North Korea has more long-term risk Hong Kong more long-term risk being on the front steps of China doesn't China want to control everything that touches their border of course they do of course they do
do don't you think China if they had an opening would try to get more control of North Korea of course they would I think

[27:52]

North Korea of course they would I think that we could make a deal with India and North Korea and the and the fun part would be to throw it into the same deal so you're look at the diversion I'm using notice I just threw India in there India what's India got to do with North Korea nothing except there a nuclear power who also doesn't trust China right think about this think about the productive combination of India an advanced nuclear power and North Korea also advanced nuclear power in their own way suppose you said to India and North Korea you know India and North Korea and we basically do say this daily I would I would think in essence you know in the coming years and decades wouldn't you rather be on our side North Korea if you had a chance a choice of being our friend and actually being somewhat protected by us and here's the offer we

[28:54]

protected by us and here's the offer we can make we could say North Korea not only should we not be pointing our weapons at each other because the reasons have all gone away but maybe we can help you be a little safer from China and here's how you could do it you could say we will protect you maybe not directly militarily because we wouldn't want to I don't know that we'd want to have a military to agreement that we protect the territory of North Korea with our military against China that might be too much but we could say there will protect you
you economically will protect you politically and if you can maybe work with India to have India make sure that your weapons are either safe or pointing in the right direction that would make us feel a lot more comfortable because you know North Korea United States maybe you don't feel too comfortable with us yet but maybe maybe India could come over and if India if India tells us that

[29:55]

over and if India if India tells us that they've looked into it you're nukes are secure and they're not pointed at us we've got something to work with we'll help your economy you know just don't counterfeit our money and stuff like that so that would be a reframe in which we would reframe North Korea all the way from being a military enemy that just doesn't even make sense to a hybrid kind of a special military ally without being full military ally in other words just somebody that we commit to protecting the way they are and just say look we'd rather protect you it's cheaper fighting you is expensive protecting you from any potential future Chinese you know impropriety is kind of cheap let's do the cheap one and indeed if we can invest over there well maybe we make money also in 2020 I

[30:57]

well maybe we make money also in 2020 I think that you're going to see more people using the word decoupling and strategic decoupling in particular I believe that there is a small but grow voice of which I'm part of to encourage American companies not to do business with China because in the long run it's just to our detriment and even in the short run now I don't think that there will be a massive sudden unwinding of existing business and we'll probably need some tariff agreements on the little stuff over time agricultural especially but I think that in 2020 it will be a common opinion in the United States right now it's a sort of a niche opinion but it'll be common opinion that we should be decoupling with China at the same time we're being nice to them yeah and pushing hard and the things we have to push hard on but as long as they're using the salon room for body parts which they are killing them for body parts as long as they've got concentration camps they're suppressing

[31:58]

concentration camps they're suppressing hong kong and sending fentanyl to us by the by the boatload we can't we can't further our relationship with them we can only decrease it and I think that'll be happening and I think I'm expecting some kind of more aggressive action against the Mexican cartels now the other thing I'd like to see I'd really like to see let's push for this in 2020 I'd like to see a test of someplace in the United States where it makes sense fully legalizing drugs for maybe a year or a few years whatever it takes to test it how many of you would agree on a test not the entire country but just some county or municipality saying look we have two tests and things that we wouldn't normally be able to test we have to temporarily just give us a full suspension of all drug crime laws for

[32:59]

suspension of all drug crime laws for this municipality and let's just run it for a year might be worse might be better maybe we learn something but here's the thing I'm starting to lose patience with talking about it are you are you all having the same the same impression talking about the big drug problem and all this stuff coming for China the gusta Mexico that comes here that kills all our people by tens of thousands I'm kind of tired of talking about it if we're not testing it our government is broken now maybe those tests need to be primarily private enterprise things but you still need the government to suspend the laws and so maybe what we need is not just a drug czar but a drug czar whose specific job is to temporarily suspend the laws in places where you can test some stuff now another place you might need to temporarily suspend the laws is about what I was talking about the the dr.

[34:01]

what I was talking about the the dr. drew approach which is as in the in the worst cases people need to be involuntarily let's say taken care of and that would require a changes in the laws so perhaps we need some kind of a federal czar who can at the let's say the request of the local governments because they'd have to be in on it can suspend all the laws just for the purpose of testing and just temporarily so that's what I'd like to see in 2020 couldn't make a gigantic difference somebody says the entire country would be Skid Row well we have examples in Portugal for example in the comments you see a lot of people mentioning so Portugal tried making drugs legal and it all the reporting is that it helped a lot not even just a little apparently helped a lot so if you want things to look like skid row keep doing it the way you're going if you want it not to look like skid row then try something that's

[35:03]

like skid row then try something that's worked before see if you can figure out what it was about that that worked and then duplicate it but if you're not doing that if you're not testing you're not doing anything right if if the government if our government can't tell us oh we've got three trials going on and we're testing various variables and seeing what works and what doesn't if they're not telling you that then what they are telling you is we're not doing anything and we're not capable of doing anything because they're how hard would it be to test right it shouldn't be there all right
prohibition is the cause of this problem well that's why we were test so you can certainly take out the cartels by taking their money away but I suppose they would just turn to other forms of crime
its portugal what could go wrong somebody says oh somebody wants me to do

[36:10]

somebody says oh somebody wants me to do a how to smoke weed episodes I'm actually I've got a lot of planning in that I have thought about doing a periscope on the topic of how to smoke marijuana if your doctor says that you should now as you know I'm a big proponent of marijuana under certain circumstances one of them and the most important one is that you're an adult marijuana and children bad combination bad combination want to want to avoid that marijuana and some people who are adults bad combination the thing with marijuana I'll give you a little preview of it now the thing with marijuana is that there are lots of different types and they affect you in lots of different ways and then there are also lots of different people with different personalities and different bodies and stuff and they all have a different reaction so it would be the height of let's say irresponsibility for anybody to say that you should smoke

[37:12]

anybody to say that you should smoke marijuana that would be the most irresponsible thing anybody could ever say because I don't know you're completely different than me and if you do it wrong and my tongue might not turn out well for you now in my case I have an actual legitimate believe it or not medical benefit and it's extreme in my case the benefit is fairly extreme so luckiest is an easy easy peasy thing and I don't do it as a party drug I've never enjoyed it as something to do with friends you know except in college but it's not a party drug it's something that's has to do with you know your larger health situation that said I will do I think I should commit to this in 2020 I'll do a a demo of how to do the basics so if your doctor says you know maybe this would work for whatever condition you have that you'll have a place to start that your doctor isn't gonna tell you because your doctor won't tell you

[38:12]

you because your doctor won't tell you how to do it your doctor will probably just say do it or don't I will give you this one piece of advice don't use edibles don't use edibles every bad story I've ever heard about marijuana was from edibles edibles you can't control how much you're getting or you can't know and so that's the dangerous part but if you're smoking it's almost impossible to smoke too much because you just feel it as it happens and you say well that's enough now somebody says if Trump has a super persuasion why did he lose the popular vote yeah that's a good question and let me answer it so the question is if Trump is the best persuader in the history of the world which I claim how can he lose the popular vote it means he didn't he did not persuade most people and that's to do with the context so the question you're asking is if the best baseball player could hit a homerun and it would

[39:13]

player could hit a homerun and it would go along as a homerun 100 yards I have no idea why isn't why can't some people hit a ball 5 miles and the answer is nobody can't hit a ball 5 miles so when you say why doesn't Trump convinced you know the half of the country that is already sort of aligned with Republican stuff you know can he also persuade the people who were vehemently against all of that stuff the answer is no the best persuader in the world cannot persuade people who are that entrenched that's not a thing so you shouldn't ask why he can't do it because it's not a doable thing right it's not within the it's not even on the sporting field it's it's outside it's a hundred miles down the road somewhere so the summary of that is that the only persuasion that matters these days is persuading your own base to get up and

[40:13]

persuading your own base to get up and do something and to think and act the way you want so everybody's only persuading their persuadable that's what the game is there's no such thing as persuading the other team there's this thin slice of people who call themselves independents usually but even they are not real independence if you looked at their voting patterns there's some segments of them this they say oh I'm independent I would vote for anybody but they always vote Republican and they will again and same you know some that say yeah I'm totally independent but I always vote Democrat and I'm gonna do it again so there really are not many people who even you know in play to be persuaded but if you've got a president who has a 95 percent support within his own party and you can see that he's changed every part of the political process think about how many things we think about differently and act differently because of this president from North Korea to China to trade to the economy to Isis to

[41:17]

China to trade to the economy to Isis to everything I mean immigration there's no topic that he hasn't changed or moved the needle on everything he's just changed everything he's changed how we see the media he's changed well just everything so sometimes his influence is directed such as getting Republicans on the on the same page other times it's just his effect he's a walking box shaker so everything around him is all getting shaken up even if he's now focusing on it because he just has that effect so your question is actually an excellent one but it is not in play to persuade all the people on the other team best you can do is your own team and if and if there's a strategic element to that meaning winning certain States in the electoral process Trump did it better you won the ones that mattered and keep in mind that when you talk about losing the popular vote you're really talking about losing California and he didn't really try for California California has such a big population as

[42:19]

California has such a big population as does New York state that as long as those are solid blue Republicans have to win by getting fewer votes and just winning in the electoral process all right those are the things that I thought I want to somebody says Scott's has made Dilbert toxic well thank you for coming all the way over here to scream that in all capital letters so we'll delete you so you don't have to ever experience it again it's funny that's exactly the kind of troll that know that actually that's role look like a sincere person who's just probably elderly and yells and all caps but the ones who just come in with the insult and leave I think they're gone that one actually looked like a real person who was just a Democrat who didn't like Trump I think that's all I was yeah all right do I favor

[43:21]

was yeah all right do I favor eliminating the electoral college you know I always talk about fairness and how fairness is an illusion meaning that it's completely subjective what is fair to you is not fair to me the thing with the electoral college is that there's no place to get to fair fair doesn't exist you could get to this solution or this solution but half of the people would say it's not fair because the people who thought it worked against them whatever the change was would say well that's not fair and other people would say well what's more fair than a popular vote and then other people would say well there's a reason there's a electoral college so there is no there is no objective standard by which to say fair and so therefore it's more of a power play so when you're talking about the electoral college versus the popular vote where that ends up will be wherever the power

[44:22]

that ends up will be wherever the power pushes it it won't be because it's fair writer simpler it won't be any of those things and right now the you know the weight of power is that it's hard to change things you know I think you need a two-thirds majority or something to change the Constitution or two thirds of the states whatever the process is it's hard so that's why you don't get a lot of constitutional changes so I don't think you'll see one because it's too hard and half the country likes it just the way it is because they went that way
yeah the founders wanted a balance of the states versus federal yeah the reasons are all good but I don't know that anybody cares about the reasons it's just whether it's good for their team I'm just looking at some of your comments somebody says that must watch the thousand of your periscopes well you know if they're it's given this the end of the year and I enjoy a lot if there's

[45:23]

of the year and I enjoy a lot if there's anybody else it was gotten anything meaningful in terms of helping their life and in my books or periscopes please tweet at me and let me know because that determines what I do in the future for example my decision to write another book or now write another book would be greatly influenced by what people think of the last one that's the way it always goes
somebody asked me in the comments can I dump wherever it says fine for dumping can you dump that's the way I plant if I see a sign that says fine for dumping I think well good I wouldn't want to dump it anywhere where it wasn't fine to do it somebody says Lincoln only got 42 percent of the vote well you know Lincoln needed the electoral college like he needed all in had somebody

[46:25]

like he needed all in had somebody saying that the idea of deciding to get something versus merely wanting it was big for some of you I would say that was one of my biggest biggest changes in my life is always just making a distinction between things I wanted and things that I was just deciding to do I told you the story early on about getting my voice back that was a decision that wasn't just something I wanted I you know I was deciding that whatever that took I was gonna do it all right um no wedding date set no we'll worry about that I didn't want to talk about that the first week of being engaged because that sounds like work all right I think we've said enough and I will talk to you all tomorrow maybe we'll get some real news next week there's like no news happening now talk to you later