Overtime - Episode #462: Media, Midterms, Prejudice

Charlie Sheen is an icon of decadence.

I lit the fuse and my life turns into everything it wasn't supposed to be.

He's going the distance.

He was the highest paid TV star of all time.

When it started to change, it was quick.

He kept saying, no, no, no, I'm in the hospital now, but next week I'll be ready for the show.

Now, Charlie's sober.

He's gonna tell you the truth.

How do I present this with any class?

I think we're past that, Charlie.

We're past that, yeah.

Somebody call action.

Aka Charlie Sheen, only on Netflix, September 10th.

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Welcome to an HBO podcast from the HBO Late Night Series, Real Time with Bill Ma.

Okay.

All right, Natasha, how can we combat the systematic undermining of media institutions and the gross disregard for facts and truth?

Yeah, in three words.

Just keep reporting unapologetically, keep speaking the truth, fight disinformation with facts, and every time the president lies or tells a demonstrable falsehood, as some people in the media like to characterize it, call him out.

Okay.

We'll do that.

Paul Bogala, what are your thoughts on this year's Democratic candidates?

Yeah, the roster, the bench, how they do it.

And are you happy with the direction the party is going in?

Yes, first I think they're great.

I'm out of the business of running campaigns, but I volunteer a lot of these.

I've been all around the country campaign

for some of these folks.

I know, you got a lot of money out of me in 2020.

I did, yes.

You helped re-elect our president when I was working for him.

It's amazing.

I was so scared of Mitt Romney.

Yeah.

I gave Obama a million dollars, and now

I would give Mitt Romney a million dollars to take over.

I would.

But we have more women running, more people of color, more veterans, sometimes all three.

you know, women of color who are veterans.

This is the best crop of candidates that I've seen in my life.

So my follow-up question is, how are the Democrats Democrats going to blow it?

Actually, I have a good three-word slot.

You talked earlier with Bernie about what's the slow.

I think for the midterms, this is not for the president.

For the midterms, it's really simple.

Vote them out.

You know who came up with that?

My friend Willie Nelson.

Willie came up with that.

Willie was speaking at a rally, and they were screaming about this and that.

He said, well, if you don't like it, vote him out.

Not that that guy is way better political consultant than I am, and he's Willie Nelson.

So vote him out.

That used to work before the Russians were rigging elections.

Yeah, I used to.

The other answer is don't talk about impeachment.

That's just going to drive Republican turnout.

I mean, I don't agree with Sanders about it a lot, but at least he's talking about issues that matter to normal people.

And it should not be a campaign about the

anxiety and anger of the kind of media class in LA and New York, because that's a way to lose.

You've got to start appealing to people who voted for Obama, then voted for Trump, and now have to be brought back.

No, I agree.

You can't be anti-Trump.

You got to be pro-people.

Lauren asked, Charlemagne, since your next book is about fear and anxiety,

what do you think is the number one issue we as a country have to fear?

The easy answer would be Donald Trump, but I would say just prejudice in general.

You know, Martin Luther King Jr.

once said he wants to live in a country where people are judged by the content of their character, not the color of their skin.

I think we need to broaden that out and say not just the color of your skin, but your sexuality, your gender, your religion.

If we can just eliminate prejudice across the board and really just treat people as people, the country will be a better person.

Can you do that politically?

I think so.

Is that a...

Yeah, I think so.

Like,

I've only voted.

How do you legislate that?

I mean, more than obviously than we have to do.

I mean, we mostly have laws in place already.

But

as a person that is governing, you have to be humane and you have to want justice for all, right?

I think you have those two simple attributes.

It's pretty easy, regardless of what side you're on.

I know.

I just think that it's very tough when you get to that level where people just don't vote for the right people.

Well, I think it's going to be easier after

this presidential term is over because so many people have been exposed.

Like, that's the beauty of this presidential term.

Like, nobody's being covert with their racism and their bigotry no more.

A lot of people are being overt with it.

So now we know who's who.

Yeah.

Okay,

what effect will Trumpism have on future presidential...

Let's not talk about that asshole anymore.

Good.

Do you think the NFL, no, that's about him too.

That's a fucking

problem with this guy is that, you know, he takes up all the oxygen.

It's just.

Should the Democrats be making the case that they, rather than the Republicans, are now the party of law and order, the Republicans certainly don't care about lawlessness anymore.

You can add that to the list of things they used to care about and don't.

I was struck that's the first thing Senator Sanders said to you.

And, you know, he's a democratic socialist.

He's all about

Medicare for all and jobs for all.

He didn't open with that with you.

That's a tell.

What he said was something you and I have talked about.

The real threat of this president is not even any of the issues or ideas.

It's that he's a wannabe autocrat.

He wants to cripple any checks on his power, whether it's the free press, the federal judiciary, the FBI, the CIA, the opposition party, the Congress.

It's really telling to me that somebody who's been so focused on democratic socialism sees actually democracy as the greater threat from Trump.

I think he's 100% right.

You've been on that a long time, Bill.

I know.

Slow-moving crew.

We said it before the election.

All right.

Thank you, everybody.

Thank you, Wadiam.

You were terrific.

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