♪ ♪
ANNOUNCER: Coming to you from New York City,
the only city in America,
it's The Daily Show.
Tonight,
Supreme Court leak,
Senator Amy Klobuchar,
and Bill Gates.
This is The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.
(cheering and applause)
What's going on, everybody? Welcome to The Daily Show.
I'm Trevor Noah. Thank you so much for tuning in.
Thank you for coming out in person!
Thank you for being here, everybody!
Take a seat, take a seat. Take a seat.
We have got a bumper show for you today.
Obviously, we're gonna be talking about the big decision
coming out of the Supreme Court,
and Senator Amy Klobuchar will be joining us live
from Washington, D.C., to discuss the big news.
And then, later on, here to talk about his work
defending reproductive rights,
as well as how to prepare for the next pandemic,
Bill Gates is joining us on the show.
-So that's gonna be a lot of fun. Yeah. And... -(cheering)
And get this.
And...
he's gonna give everyone in the audience a million dollars.
-(cheering) -And now that I said it on TV, he has to do it.
I said it. You got to do it, Bill.
You got to do it. So let's do this, people!
Let's jump straight into the big news of the day.
♪ ♪
All right! All right, let's get straight into it.
For the past 50 years,
ever since the Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade,
women in America have had the right to choose
whether or not to have an abortion.
And now it looks like that right is going away.
NEWSWOMAN: Bombshell-- the Supreme Court
poised to strike down Roe v. Wade.
That according to an unprecedented leak
of the justice's draft opinion overnight.
A decision would alter the nationwide battle over abortion.
NEWSMAN: The blockbuster story broke overnight
on the Politico website,
reporting that a draft of the Supreme Court's opinion
shows the court overturning Roe v. Wade in a blistering ruling.
NEWSMAN 2: Tensions flared
outside the nation's highest court
after an unprecedented leak.
-Choose! Choose! -Women! Women!
NEWSMAN 2: But the bombshell report comes as five states
have enacted strict abortion restrictions and sweeping bans,
many of them ready to immediately cut off
access to care.
NEWSWOMAN 2: If the high court does overturn Roe v. Wade,
over 20 states are poised to immediately ban abortion.
That's right, people. If the court's decision
is released officially,
abortion will be illegal
in about half the states in America.
Yeah. That means, all across the country,
women in places like South Dakota
or Missouri or even Texas
will have the exact same abortion rights
as women in Afghanistan under the Taliban.
Yeah. And just think about that.
We just evacuated people out of Afghanistan,
and now we're gonna have to evacuate them out of Tennessee?
And isn't... (stammers) isn't it amazing?
After all these years of the right screaming
about the threat of sharia law,
it turns out they were just jealous.
Now, to be clear,
Roe v. Wade hasn't yet been overturned, right?
This is a leaked draft from February.
It's not official.
For all we know, the opinion could change
by the time it's released.
Or the justices who signed on to it in February
could change their minds.
It is not likely,
but it's technically possible.
I mean, like, who knows?
Maybe Justice Alito will try ayahuasca
and come back with a totally new perspective on the universe
and how we're all connected.
Or maybe between then and now
one of these justices will have a daughter
and then they'll understand.
Wait. Hold on.
Oh, I'm being told four of them do have daughters.
Oh. Okay, well, that's (bleep)ed up.
But... it's important to remember how we got here.
Because keep in mind that poll after poll shows
that a majority of Americans
don't want Roe v. Wade to be overturned.
But the G.O.P. didn't care about that. No.
They didn't care about winning over the people.
They just cared about getting enough justices
onto the court to get what they want.
Basically, they used the same tactic
that that asshole friend of yours uses
when they're ordering pizza.
"Hey, what toppings does everyone want?
What do you want on the pizza?"
"Extra cheese and pepperoni!"
"Well, I'm ordering, so it's anchovies and pineapples."
(laughter)
Dick.
And that's basically how you end up
with a Supreme Court decision that amounts
to a hostile takeover of America's reproductive rights.
NEWSMAN: The draft opinion is apparently written
by Justice Samuel Alito.
The language of this draft is blunt, at times, scornful.
Justice Alito apparently writing that...
He calls it "an abuse of judicial authority," and adds...
NEWSMAN 2: Justice Samuel Alito says,
Yeah, believe it or not, according to this argument,
there actually is no fundamental right
for women to control their own bodies. Yeah.
Lawmakers could pass laws giving them that,
but that right is not part
of this nation's history and traditions.
Which is kind of true.
I mean, the history of this nation is
that men can control what women do,
and that's what we want to go back to, right? Progress?
Yes? Yes? Am I getting it right?
I mean, but then again, the right to an abortion
has also been around for 50 years now. Think about it.
You want to talk about history and tradition?
I think it's safe to say that that's tradition at this point.
Like, if you go without electricity
for a weekend, you're camping.
If you go without it for 50 years,
you're Amish, mother(bleep). That's just who you are.
(applause and cheering)
And most people... most people thought
the freedom to choose was just how America was.
No one ever thought the G.O.P. could just roll it back
by playing a reverse Uno card.
They didn't know it was a thing.
I mean, okay, for perspective,
for perspective, consider this.
It wasn't until the year after Roe v. Wade
that women in America got the legal right
to have a credit card without a man.
Think about that. Yeah.
And I think we would all agree it would be a little weird
if the court was suddenly like,
"Look, if the Founders wanted women to have credit cards,
"they would have said so. They would have."
(laughter)
And, look, this ruling is bad enough on its own,
but it also sets a new precedent
that can make things even worse.
Because if the right to privacy
that Roe is based on doesn't actually exist,
then all sorts of things could become illegal--
contraception, gay marriage,
-sex before marriage... -WOMAN: No.
-(laughter) -...adultery, masturbation.
I mean, everyone assumed that these things were here to stay.
Yeah, but give this court some time,
and you could just wake up and find yourself back in the 1960s,
except you wouldn't have hitchhiking.
Which is the best part of the 1960s.
Yeah, back then, everyone was an Uber driver.
And now, despite how it may sometimes feel,
the Supreme Court is not the only branch of government.
Right? There's still also the president and Congress
and the Illuminati. Wait. Sorry.
No, I didn't say that last part.
Sorry. Just the president and Congress.
And so, because of that, elected officials
from both parties immediately weighed in on the stunning news.
If we had to pick a word that our caucus feels,
it's "infuriated."
It's sweet because we're finally vindicating the Constitution.
This is a great victory.
Uh, it's a great victory for God.
I have seen the world where abortion is illegal,
and we are not going back.
ANCHOR: Republican Senator Susan Collins calling this decision,
"Inconsistent with what Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh
said in their confirmation hearings" and in her private
meetings with them before she agreed to vote for them.
Really, Susan Collins?
You're really gonna tell us that you didn't think
the conservative justices were gonna overturn Roe v. Wade?
You didn't think that?
That's their whole thing.
It's like letting Pac-Man borrow your dots
and then being shocked that he ate them all.
That's what Pac-Man does! How are you the only person on Earth
who doesn't know Pac-Man?
I mean, look, I will say, in Senator Collins' defense,
it is insane-- it really is insane--
that Supreme Court Justices can just lie in their job interview
without any repercussions. Right?
You couldn't even do that shit at Kinko's.
If you claimed that you're an expert at clearing paper jams
and then, when you get there, all you know how to do
is make copies of your butt, Kinko's is gonna fire you.
So, obviously, Republicans are ecstatic.
And Democrats are furious.
And technically, Democrats could legalize abortion
through Congress, if they get rid of the filibuster.
The only problem is they don't have the votes to do that.
Although, who knows? Susan Collins is so gullible,
you know, Chuck Schumer can probably get her to sign on
to the filibuster reform by just hiding it in a birthday card.
"Yeah. That's right. Just sign here. It's a group thing
"for the whole grou-- Everyone's gonna love-- It's a janitor's
"birthday. We're all signing. Just sign here. Yeah,
his name is Phil Buster. Sign here."
Now, what's really interesting about this story is that,
while many people are upset about the decision itself,
some people are only upset
that we're hearing about the decision.
I have never, as you said, seen a leak like this at the Court
in the years that I've covered it.
It is astonishing, uh, that somebody would release
a draft opinion outside of the Court.
This is as corrosive, as destructive to the Supreme Court
as we've ever seen.
This is an insurrection against the Supreme Court.
The Justices must be able
to discuss and deliberate
in an environment
of total trust and privacy.
It is not up to a law clerk
to decide when the decision of the Court
will be announced.
This should have never happened.
They should be able to make decisions in private, in secret,
and then, once they're ready to decide and let the country know
how that they have ruled, let it out.
Yeah. Yeah. I like that a lot. I understand why these people
are upset. You heard what they said. The conservative majority
on this Court has a fundamental right to choose
when they want to release a decision into the world.
Imagine having some random person violate your privacy
and make that choice for you. Who would do such a thing?
It's crazy...
it's crazy how conservatives always manage
to make themselves the victim in any situation.
I mean, they have just accomplished this thing
that they've been working towards for 50 years,
and their first reaction is,
"It's so unfair what's happening to us."
W-W-- I'm sorry, what-- you wanted your ruling to be
a big surprise and now someone ruined it? Yeah, I-I'm really
sorry this decision to colonize every vagina in America
wasn't given the respect and dignity that it deserved.
Yeah, right now you all sound like a serial killer
who's upset that your potential victim
busted you in the back seat.
"You weren't supposed to look here! You were just supposed to
"sit in the front and then I was gonna put a bag on your head,
and now it's ruined! (exclaims) I hope you have a happy life!"
(exclaiming)
So, look, man, understandably, today has been
a very frustrating and upsetting day for most people
in the United States. And we'll keep watching
to see how this develops.
But for now, though, let's check in on the weather
with our very own Desi Lydic, everybody.
(cheering and applause)
-Thank you. -NOAH: Crazy day, Desi.
-Yeah. -NOAH: What's happening across the country?
Well, as you can see behind me, Trevor,
in about half the states in this country,
women's rights are being burnt to the goddamn ground!
'Cause if this court decision becomes a reality,
women in these states are screwed.
And not just the normal, like, "I live in Texas" screwed.
Yeah, I-I have to agree, Desi,
because, like, it is a horrible day
for women's rights to choose.
Yeah, well, actually, Trevor,
women do still have the right to choose.
We can choose who to blame
for this mother(bleep) shit show of a travesty.
-(cheering and applause) -Yeah.
Like, for example,
I choose to blame Donald Trump
and Susan Collins and Mitch McConnell.
All great choices.
Thanks to them, every red state uterus
is about to be public domain again,
like a "Yankee Doodle Dandy" of reproductive organs.
You know what? I'm even choosing to blame the Democrats.
Yeah. That's right. For not being aggressive enough.
For not codifying Roe when they had the power to.
-(cheering and applause) -Yeah.
For not visiting freaking Wisconsin.
It is not that hard to get there.
I did it once by accident.
There is so much blame to go around,
it's like a raging blame gauntlet
or RBG for short.
Oh, goddamn. I see what you did there.
Oh, did you? Do you?
What? I'm just using that common phrase we all know,
-raging blame gauntlet. -Oh, okay. Okay.
I hear what you're saying.
Look, women truly have endless choices
when it comes to who to blame for this.
I blame the way society has made this a woman's problem.
I also blame the patriarchy
and sperm
and having gym teachers teach sex ed.
It does not look like a banana, right?
Well, I mean, sometimes it actually can with...
And you know what? I also choose to blame the media.
And what about those stupid pink pussy hats?
They didn't do shit.
I'm blaming evolution,
'cause why did we get the uteruses?
Or God. Why did he give us the uteruses?
And, yeah, you know what, I think it's safe
to say now God's a man.
And you know what else, Trevor?
I'm pissed at whoever leaked this.
Wait, you're upset about the leak?
Yeah, of course. We could have been living
in ignorant bliss for the next two months
before women legally become dystopian Diaper Genies.
The worse spoiler ever.
(sighs) But you know what, Trevor?
I-I just have to say the most important choice
that we can all make now is to not accept this.
We can choose to fight back.
We can choose to put pressure on our lawmakers.
We can choose to donate to abortion rights groups.
-(cheering and applause) -Yeah.
And...
-NOAH: I hear you there. -Yeah.
-I hear you there. -And most importantly,
I am choosing to take the rest of the week off.
-Wait, what? -Yeah. All women...
-All women... -(cheering and applause)
We're all taking the rest of the week off.
-That's cool, right? -Uh, Desi Lydic, everyone.
I feel like I can't say no to that.
All right, when we come back,
we'll be talking about what can be done
with Senator Amy Klobuchar, so don't go away.
(cheering and applause)
Welcome back to The Daily Show.
Today, everyone is processing the shocking news
that the Supreme Court is preparing to overturn
Roe v. Wade.
To discuss what that means and what can be done about that,
we're joined now by Senator Amy Klobuchar,
who's live in Washington, D.C.
Senator Klobuchar, thank you so much
-for joining us on the show. -Thanks. Thanks, Trevor.
Let's jump straight into it.
Everyone was shocked, appalled...
(stammers) just really, you know, blown away
by the possibility that this could actually be a decision.
Especially because, for 50 years,
people have thought that this was settled law.
Wh-Where do you stand now?
Where does America go from here, as a sitting senator?
Well, first, as a sitting senator,
let me say, I am mad.
I am pissed off.
These justices, these-- the nominees came before us--
of course, I voted against 'em-- but they said,
"Oh, this is the law of the land.
"Oh, this is a case that has been affirmed over
and over and over again."
And then what do they do when they get a chance?
Uh, they're gonna overturn it.
And we predicted this was gonna happen.
But what this means, uh, right now,
if this happens, over 20 states--
many of them have laws already in place--
will ban abortion.
We'll have a patchwork of laws across the country.
So the answer is not that.
The answer is that a federal law is passed
to codify Roe v. Wade into law
so it is the law of the land.
-So, with that being said... -(applause)
...how do you... how do you begin to do that?
Because I'm-I'm sure many Republicans out there right now
are going, "Well, that's why we voted.
"That's why we voted for Trump.
That's why we're happy that McConnell is in power."
Because however they did it, they managed to get it done.
And then I see a lot of Democrats
or people who voted for the Democrats saying,
"Well, are we going to get what we voted for?"
Are the women who voted for this party going to see
actions being taken or is it gonna be a case
of "we don't have the votes and we can't figure out
how to make it happen"?
Well, two, people have to show where they stand
and we have to have this vote.
It's critical. And as you know,
the vast majority of Democrats in Congress--
this has already passed the House-- support this bill.
So that is going to happen very quickly.
I agree with you. We should get rid of the filibuster.
I don't know if you know. There are over 100 exceptions
to that filibuster, where, like everyone else,
like the House of Representatives,
like democracies across the world,
we have majority votes.
They have majority votes on things like the Trump tax cuts.
They have majority votes on space accidents.
They have majority votes on things like arms sales.
And so you're gonna tell me that we have to get 60 votes
to change something that this right-wing Supreme Court
has put in place, uh, where, in fact,
they are against the wishes
of nearly 80% of the American people?
So if something's worth getting rid of the filibuster for
or making an exception to the filibuster, this is it.
And by the way, if that doesn't work, you know that old line?
"Don't get mad, vote"?
I say, get mad and vote. We have to do both.
(applause and cheering)
Let's talk a little bit about strategy, then.
There are two Republican senators
who have been on record
as saying that they are pro-choice--
Senator Collins And Senator Murkowski.
And they said, "Hey, we're pro-choice
even though we voted for these conservative justices."
Would this be a moment where you basically ask them
to put their money where their mouth is,
and say, "Well, if you said you are pro-choice,
"and now you see that these justices
have gone against what they said..."
Do you think you could get them to vote with the Democrats?
I can't predict what they're going to do, but I can tell you,
yes, this is a moment where people have to make a decision.
When you look at the history,
all kinds of exceptions to that filibuster.
And this is a moment where, one--
we have to codify Roe v. Wade into law,
especially if they have been betrayed
by these justices who they claim made one claim to them,
-and then voted another way. -Mm-hmm.
And then, secondly, they've got to make their own decision.
They're both independent thinkers,
and so, I don't rule that out.
But I also look to the fall as part of this strategy.
You can't just look at both things separately.
As well as the fights that are going to happen
in every single state legislature in the country.
Because this is going to be battled out
state by state by state.
Because I think when these judges said--
and we always thought they wanted to go back to the 1950s--
I think what we didn't realize
when they said the '50s, it was the 1850s.
And when one branch is screwing up so bad that they're...
in taking positions that reverse 50 years of precedent
and against 80% of the American people,
yeah, the other branch is supposed to...
of government is supposed to step in.
That's what our system of government was set to do.
And not make women get back-alley abortions
and travel across state lines just to exercise
their constitutional-- and I believe it's constitutional--
right to make decisions about their own health care.
-(cheers and applause) -Do you...?
Do you worry at all...?
Do you worry at all that the Supreme Court
has lost its neutrality as an institution in America?
There was a time when people said,
"The Supreme Court rules on the laws
that have been passed and the interpretation of those laws."
And, yet, now it feels very much like a seesaw.
Is there a way you can see America fixing this,
or is this just how it's going to be from now on?
First of all, I'll note, I take this personally,
because the justice,
who was a Republican president appointed justice--
that would be Justice Blackman-- um, was from Minnesota.
And he is the one that maybe surprised those
that had asked for him to be appointed
by writing Roe v. Wade.
So that kind of independence is not what you're seeing
with these conservative justices.
Now, you have seen it from time to time
with Justice Roberts who voted
to uphold The Affordable Care Act,
who has taken a number of votes.
And as if he's some radical liberal. Not really.
But it has gone so extreme that he has been siding
with some of the liberal justices.
Sadly, if this leaked opinion and what we're hearing is true,
that won't even matter if he did that
because it was 5-4.
So, as I look to the future, what do we need to do?
Well, I think the first thing we need to do
is to, um, make sure that we're putting judges in place.
And I will tell you, uh,
with the wonderful new appointment
of Justice Jackson to that Supreme Court--
she will be starting soon--
-that is a good beginning. -(cheering and applause)
And what a moment that was
when she got out of the dark and musky
Senate Judiciary cave that it was
and got out in that beautiful sunshine
on the White House lawn.
There was no Ted Cruz on that lawn.
And that was her moment. (chuckles)
But now, sadly, the Supreme Court has told us
we will no longer allow women to make their decisions
with their doctors, Trevor.
It will be Ted Cruz that can make those decisions.
But the bottom line right now is we are not gonna be able
to fix that court before the fall.
And I think your audience knows that right now.
What we have to do is push these votes,
show people where they are, show people where Democrats are
and where Republicans are.
And if we can't get this done
because we have a tied Senate at 50-50,
then we go straight to the ballot box.
We march to that box.
People turn out in record numbers.
That is how we beat this, Trevor.
That will be the last stand.
-(applause) -Well,
I know you took a window of your time
to come and talk to us. I appreci...
uh, appreciate you for that, Senator. Thank you so much.
-Uh, we'll see you again next time. -And you did a great job
at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.
-Oh, thank you very much. -Thank you
-for calling out Washington. -Appreciate that. Thank you.
I was there. It was amazing.
-We want you back. Thank you. -Thank you very much.
Thank you so much, Senator. Good seeing you again.
-Thanks. -All right, don't go away,
because after the break, we're gonna be talking
to Bill Gates. We'll be right back.
(cheering and applause)
Welcome back to The Daily Show.
My next guest is cochair
of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates.
He's here to talk about his latest book,
How to Prevent the Next Pandemic.
Please welcome Bill Gates.
-♪ ♪ -(cheering and applause)
Thank you.
-Welcome back to the show. -Thank you.
So everyone gets a million dollars? Yeah?
-(chuckles) -(cheering and applause)
Oh, man. What...
I mean, you hear the cheers.
Maybe a book.
-Maybe a book? Wow! -(laughs)
Wow.
Before we get into the book, let's talk
about the news of the day, um, reproductive rights.
This has been something that people have been fighting for
in America for decades.
It feels like now America's really rewinding time.
I know that you have been one of the biggest donors
to women's reproductive rights in America.
When you look at the work you're doing
and when you look at what we can do to keep improving that
and-and create that bastion,
what are some of the things we can do?
Well, first of all, this is a worldwide struggle.
Uh, there's a lot of countries that,
you know, have never had these rights.
It's strange to have the U.S. go back.
But, uh, our foundation does a lot
on getting contraceptives out.
-Uh, some people even fight against that. -Mm-hmm.
Uh, you know, my dad ran the...
chaired the local Planned Parenthood.
Uh, so, you know,
the idea of choice seems pretty basic.
Um, mostly, you-you'd think it's forward progress,
not-not one step backwards.
Not one step back. Wh-What is it,
one small step for the Supreme Court,
one giant leap back for all women in America?
-Um... -(applause)
Let's talk about the book.
Bill Gates, How to Prevent the Next Pandemic.
Why are you saying there's gonna be a next pandemic, Bill?
Uh...
-Why are you putting that juju on us? -(chuckles)
Well, the risk is always there.
We actually were pretty lucky
that we went 100 years without a really terrible pandemic.
-1918, Spanish flu. -Mm-hmm.
Now, COVID.
And we shouldn't expect it'll be that long next time.
Uh, it's not that hard to get ready.
Um, you need to drill,
-like you do for a fire. -Mm-hmm.
Uh, we've got, you know, 300,000 firemen in the U.S.
We've got nine million fire hydrants.
Uh, and a lot less than that
would make it so we wouldn't have to suffer,
uh, another pandemic.
Before we get into the...
you know, the future of it all, let's talk about the past.
Uh, you know, I-I like how you lay out in the book
what to do to prevent the next pandemic.
You gave a TED Talk a while ago
talking about basically what we just went through
over the past two years,
and then people blamed you for creating it,
-'cause that's how things work. -(chuckles)
If you say it, it happens. It's the Secret.
I've-I've read it. Um...
And-and, you know, I-I found myself reading the book
and I was fascinated. But I was going,
"But shouldn't we also be interested
in how this pandemic came to be?"
Like-like, it-it's still shrouded in so much mystery.
It's like, how do we prevent something
where we don't even understand how it came to be?
Like, you know, are there labs where they need to do better
at-at, you know, enclosing the work that they're doing?
I understand that they have to do the work,
but how do we figure that out
and how do we move forward in-in that realm?
Well, we sh-should be careful about lab safety.
It's quite clear in this case
-that it came across through animals. -Mm-hmm.
And almost all our diseases-- Like HIV crossed over
from chimpanzees in Africa quite some time ago.
Ebola came from bats.
Uh, this also, with one step in between, came from bats.
So it's going to keep happening,
particularly with climate change,
where we're invading a lot of habitats.
And you want to catch it as soon as you can.
How do we do that?
Well, you see people getting sick.
You see elevated deaths,
and you go in there, and you actually take
and you sequence it early on.
-And then you have a global group... -Right.
that is ready to go, kind of like a fire squad,
comes in and very quickly, you diagnose people.
Some countries have had a tenth the deaths
of the United States
because they were a little bit more ready.
-Right, right, right. -Uh, and, you know.
So, boy, we learned a lot in this pandemic.
I mean, in 2015, yes, the warning was there.
But now, we... we know a lot more.
And it's obvious, pretty obvious what should be done.
You talk about this global squad, in the book,
I think you've referred to it.
-It's... Could you say the name? -GERM.
GERM. G-E-R-M. Global Epidemic Response and Mobilization.
Why would you call it "GERM," though? Why...?
If, like, if I need help,
I wouldn't call, like, GERM to come and help me.
-Why call it "GERM," though? -That might... Okay.
I'll-I'll give up the name as long as it gets funded.
-Okay, fine. All right, fine. -(laughter)
So explain it to me a little bit, you know.
Because it seems like what you're trying
to create is almost like a...
you know, like, an interplanetary space force,
but you're trying to do that for Earth, for our diseases.
Isn't there going to be a limitation
in how much can get done
because the governments themselves may get in the way?
Like, China was a perfect example.
They knew before people knew.
They tried to do their best, and they were like,
"We're gonna handle this." They couldn't handle it.
And that was crucial time that the world lost
in trying to prepare themselves.
So, wouldn't GERM be at the mercy
of any particular nation?
Yeah, we may have lost, you know, two or three weeks,
if China had both domestically and globally talked about it.
-Mm-hmm. -Um, you know, some countries, even so,
that was enough time because they had practiced,
-and they did diagnostics very quickly. -Ah, okay.
Um, the next outbreak is, I'd say, equally likely
to come out of a country in Africa
where you don't have a very strong health system.
So, they won't try and cover it up,
but unless you have a little bit of data gathering
and a group to fly in, you may take even longer
to get the alarm bells ringing than we did this time.
So GERM will help the poor countries a lot,
which is where a lot of the risk is.
A lot of people have asked this question
I mean, through the pandemic. Don't get me wrong.
There were crazy takes, but some people asked,
what, in my opinion, was a valid question.
They said, "Well, why is Bill Gates the one
who's talking about this?" I mean, if we want help
with computers, we know we're going to call you,
but why are you the person who's writing books about a pandemic,
or talking about a pandemic?
Is it because you're a billionaire?
Or what gives you that right?
-(laughter) -Uh...
Yeah, my full-time job is at the foundation now,
and we work on infectious diseases all the time.
And pandemics, you know,
you have to have people who know about vaccines
and diagnostics and therapeutics and communications.
Well, I was lucky enough for the last two years,
as we put an extra two billion
-into trying to stop this pandemic... -Mm-hmm.
that I was listening to them and understanding.
"Okay, we should have done this. We should have done that."
So there's-there's amazing experts
that I love working with.
There's no one who kind of could make it simple.
Uh, and so my goal, like with my climate book,
was to elucidate it
in a way that would be quite straightforward.
I see. So, you talk to the experts,
and then you go like, "You guys speak gibberish.
I'm gonna write it down in a way that people can understand."
-It makes sense. It really... -That's the goal.
I mean, that's like the graphical user interface.
That's the whole idea. Get us away from it.
-Um... (chuckles) It really is. -(applause)
That's what it is.
We are barely coming out of this pandemic.
What are some of the small things,
just tiny things that we could put in place
that would help us prevent
or delay or eliminate altogether
another situation that decimates the entire globe?
Well, it's too bad that we don't have
trusted people we're seeing raise the vaccination level.
I mean, this pandemic could still surprise us
-with another variant. -Oh, boy.
And, so, getting, uh, particularly elderly people,
uh, to not only be vaccinated but to be boosted,
you know, that can't be said loudly enough.
Um, one thing I'm excited about
is we will be able to have diagnostic machines
to very rapidly test people.
That... We really bungled that this time.
-Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. -Uh, and once those first 100 days go by,
it's hard, uh, to make up for that.
Uh, and, so,
one of the cheapest things in here is getting
those amazing breakthrough diagnostic machines out
not just in the U.S. but, uh, in the entire world.
And that's a big thing that you've been an advocate of,
is, um, creating a fairer system
of getting technology and resources out to the world.
I mean, you were one of the first people
who complained about vaccines not going to Africa
and not getting it out to the people who needed it.
How do we change perspectives on that?
How do you convince European or Western countries
that they need to spend some of their money
getting some of this equipment to help test people in Africa?
Yeah, the inequity on this has been quite severe,
whether it's within the country who suffered the most
or globally.
Uh, you know, who was last in line for the vaccines?
The-the poor countries.
If we, you know, can make it cheap enough,
if we can have the capacity, uh, put those factories
in more places all over the world,
uh, then we'll have equity.
You know, I was a little surprised during the epidemic,
people are like, "Oh."
You know, saying, "Hey, we didn't get the vaccines there."
Well, we have health inequity with all sorts of diseases.
-Mm. -This isn't...
You know, this is day in and day out we have inequity.
But it's nice that this reminded them about infectious diseases.
-Ah. -So, you know, I'm talking to governments all the time
about, "Hey, let's give more, uh, and help out
and lift these countries up."
Uh, there's a lot of distractions out there.
Budgets are super tight.
I hope that cause,
uh, keeps in people's minds and remains a priority.
But, uh, fighting for those budgets
will probably be tougher in this next year
than ever before.
Well, it's a fascinating book. Thank you so much
for joining us on the show again. Good to see you.
Great to see you. Thanks.
Bill's book How to Prevent the Next Pandemic
is available now. We're gonna take a quick break,
but we'll be right back after this.
Thank you again.
(cheering and applause)
Well, that's our show for tonight.
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Now, here it is, Your Moment of Zen.
♪ ♪
This country has a long tradition
of resistance to being told what to do by government.
This is about government mandates.
This is about the government
telling you what to do with your own body,
and government does not tell me what to do with my body.
Overwhelming government mandates sweep people up
that otherwise should be able to make a choice for themselves
and be responsible.
I mean, that's what free citizens do.
That's our right as Americans,
and we should not be coerced by our government.
What happened to "my body, my choice"?
I always thought it was "my body, my choice."
My body, my choice, right?
Americans don't like to be lectured
about giving up their freedom.
My body, my choice.