-(APPLAUSE) -We're back...
And, uh...
here are the questions from people:
Kara do you agree with Joe Biden that Mark Zuckerberg
is a quote "real problem"?
Uh... I don't know quite what he meant by that.
I think there's issues around Mark
-and leading of Facebook... -(BILL CHUCKLES)
...you know, and I think there's regular--
I don't know if he's a real problem,
but he's definitely making decisions that are problematic,
um, including the political advertising,
micro-targeting,
that others have spent more time being more thoughtful about.
But-- You know, I kinda defended him on that.
He's saying, "We're not gonna correct lies,"
but, you know, it's such a slippery slope.
What is a lie and what is not?
I don't know-- Of course, I know when Trump is lying,
but other politicians have lied, it's by degree.
It's the difference between paid advertising and free speech.
And I think they're talking--
Paid speech and free speech are two different things.
-BILL: Right, okay. -Facebook's kinda conflated them together.
-And they're not the same thing. -That's a great point. Right. Okay.
Cable networks have said that they'll actually
take responsibility if a paid ad is verifiably false,
so if a cable network can do it, I don't see how Facebook,
with vastly greater levels of resources, can't do it.
Andrew, do you have any thoughts on the...
(APPLAUSE)
Do you have any thoughts on the new Iowa caucus rules
that could result in three different sets of winners?
I'm not up on that yet, you'll have to...
-Hit me. -Yes.
-Uh... -What does that-- What does that mean?
JON JON: Everybody gets a trophy?
(LAUGHTER)
ANDREW YANG: Well, they we pushing toward a virtual caucus
and they pulled back on that, and so this time
they're including vote count, which is unusual,
so you might win a vote count,
-and then there's a delegate count, and... -BILL: Wait, wait.
They're counting vote count? What were they doing before?
Before... So, it's a complicated system
where you have to be viable in a particular area
and then you get delegates assigned based upon proportions.
But then they're also including raw votes.
So, it's, in theory, more transparent.
It's going to be a little bit confusing.
-JOE JOE: It could be messy. -It could be messy,
but we're excited. I'm flying right from here to Iowa,
I have a 17-day bus tour.
Your friend Norm McDonald is gonna come rally some Iowans.
Oh, he's one of the Yang Gang?
-He is one of the Yang Gang. -Oh, cool.
-JOE: Dave Chapelle. -KARA: Dave Chapelle. -BILL: Dave Chapelle, yeah.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
-Yes. The gang is getting bigger and more vibrant all the time. -BILL: Bigger.
Uh... But the Iowa caucus, um, it's--
And the senators can't campaign there,
-because they're at the impeachment trial. -KARA: Right.
So, you have less competition out there at the diner.
Yes, the bus traffic will be a little bit lighter.
(LAUGHTER)
-(LAUGHS) -JOE: Bus traffic in Iowa. -(LAUGHTER)
Joe, what do you think should happen to Devin Nunes
now that we know about his association with Lev Parnas.
-JOE: Oh, my God... -BILL: You served with-- with--
-Yeah. -You must know Devin quite well.
He's a meathead. I mean...
-(LAUGHTER) -...I'm serious, Bill.
-BILL: Joe... Joe, he was like... -(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
-I think he's... I think he's in some trouble. -KARA: Yeah.
-He's clearly... -BILL: Legal trouble?
I don't-- I don't know. Possibly.
But he and Parnas were like best friends
communicating on this deal.
He was part of it, he denied he even knew the guy,
-he's in some trouble. -BILL: All right.
Jon, were you surprised to read that Trump
called his generals... (SCOFFS) ...dopes and babies.
-Surprised about anything? -Yeah...
Or are the revelations in A Very Stable Genius
just more of the crazy old Trump.
This is the... book I referenced there in the...
JON: Yeah, Phil Rucker and his colleague.
BILL: Right.
I just ordered it. I haven't read it yet, but...
I've asked Andrew actually, to see if he would mind having
a lapel pin that says "Non-fiction hardback books,"
-as opposed to "Math." -(BILL CHUCKLES)
-But... -Sure.
JON: I appreciate that. Yeah, if you win we'll do it.
BILL: Good for your thread count.
I think that, uh-- Yeah. I think...
What the book will tell us, I suspect,
is what a lot of these other books have told us,
which is, they give us... It's like The Wizard of Oz,
we know the black and white, and then they get to Oz
and it's in color. Right?
There are details that fill it out.
-And... -BILL: But how do we know it's true?
-I mean... (STUTTERS) -(PANELISTS CLAMOR)
Of course, it's believable, anything about--
KARA: But these are some amazing reporters.
-JON: Yeah... -BILL: So what?
But they weren't in the room. It's always--
They're probably getting it from Rex Tillerson,
he seems like the hero.
I feel like I've seen this movie with Bob Woodward.
Like, we read a book of his, and it's really--
Because he had Colin Powell.
So, I'm not saying Colin Powell is a guy-- I love Colin Powell,
but you're getting his story.
It seems like we're getting Rex Tillerson's story.
But when everybody around the guy says he's a moron...
BILL: Well we know he's a moron.
-I know. But even beyond that. -BILL: Right.
KARA: And they have more than one source,
these are not reporters that go with one source.
Yeah, I don't publish stuff unless I have two people.
-Two or three, yeah. -BILL: Right, okay.
Well, again, extremely believable that he would say that,
but I think the bigger issue is that he has,
I keep saying, he suffers...
Everything comes from the fact that he suffers
from narcissistic personality disorder.
Only a narcissist who cannot project anything in the future,
anything... would say to his top brass,
"You're morons, I wouldn't go to war with you."
JON: Yeah.
That's so self-destructive in so many ways.
Well, no, actually, it's entertaining.
He's doing this as entertainment.
And one of the things that was in the book...
-BILL: Entertainment? -...is that this is a show.
-He said that... -BILL: But nobody was there--
There was no audience there, how could that be a show?
The entire thing is a show for him.
BILL: A show? But this was a private meeting with his brass.
JON: I don't think it's any different.
But he's playing it in his head, this is a--
I mean, I feel like I'm the-- I feel like I'm the only pers--
I watched every Apprentice,
if you watch all the Apprentices,
and I did, I swear to God...
-BILL: 'Cause you liked it? -I did like it.
It was your guilty pleasure show?
Like Temptation Island for me.
-Okay. -(LAUGHTER)
-KARA: But you do begin to see... -JON: Or the--
Or the impeachment trial for the rest of us, yeah.
...that it's entertainment. It's entertainment for him,
and then he... then does Twitter and it's a call and response,
then he calls in to Fox, it's all... it's all an act.
And he's bull-- It's also just bullying, right?
The one thing that did surprise me is he likes the way that generals look.
-Uh... It's fascinating to me... -BILL: Central casting.
-JOE: Yes. -Yeah. And so, to turn on them, uh, it must have been
a particularly-- -BILL: He's done it so many times.
-JOE: He's all.. -BILL: I mean, starting with, I mean, when-- when...
the whole thing I knew was gonna go to shit
when he, at the beginning of the campaign
said, "McCain, not a war hero,
I like heroes who are not captured,"
-and then they did not react. -KARA: Well, and he--
They did not throw him out of that race.
He likes the rage. It's lather, rinse, repeat.
And really, lather is--
BILL: But that was the real test.
Like, were the republicans gonna say, "Oh, my God,
that is against everything we have ever stood for
and believe in, and this is one of our heroes,
and I'm sorry, but you are just persona non grata
in this party," and it didn't happen.
And I was like, "Oh, now he's gonna do--"
KARA: But what are they gonna do?
-What do you expect them to do, carry him out? -JON: And who is "they"?
He could not have won the nomination after that,
that's how it always would have happened before.
Why?
If somebody had said John McCain is not a war hero?
-KARA: They did... -Who?
-...but it doesn't matter. -A Republican said that?
A lot of them did. A lot of them. Much more than you'd think so.
And it just gets exhau-- The whole thing is dying...
BILL: Who said that, I'd love to know. Maybe I don't.
Over and over again, people are shocked by this behavior,
and they go, "I can't believe he said that," and at some point, I was like,
"Believe it, he says it all the time."
He does. But nobody else does.
JOE: Right, just him. Bill, he's a demagogue
and it worked. Because a lot-- As Andrew said,
a lot of people wanted to believe
in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania,
he was gonna deliver, baby.
He was a demagogue and people bought that.
BILL: You bought it!
-No, no, no! -You said...
-...you were gonna get a musket. -And Bill...
ANDREW: Do you really have a musket?
-No! -I mean it was not that long ago
you were gonna get a musket!
What would I do with a musket?
BILL: If he fair and square lost the election!
KARA: Who has a musket here?
-He does! -He says he doesn't!
No, Bill, at home!
-BILL: You still have it? At home? -At home.
But what am I gonna do with a musket?
He has a musket.
-I go squirrel hunting. -Jon's got a musket.
-So, how's the campaign going?
Are you getting any traction from people who...
Yes, we're polling at 14% in-- in Florida
You've got 14% of the Republican vote?
A poll came out yesterday, we're at 14%.
That's pretty encouraging. Let's leave on that note.
-(APPLAUSE) -(KARA LAUGHS)
-Thank you for a great show. Thank you very much, audience. -JOE: Thank you.