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Transcripts For CNNW Anderson Cooper 360 20170727 00:00:00

will they get picked out? today, no answers to that question. sarah huckabee sanders could not or would not answer questions about whether current service members will be removed. >> the president has a lot of support for all americans and certainly wants to protect all americans at all times. the president has expressed concerns since this obama policy came into effect. but he's also voiced that this is a very expensive and disruptive policy, and based on consultation that he's had with his national security team, came to the conclusion that it erodes military readiness and unit cohesion, and made the decision based on that. the decision is based on a military decision. it's not meant to be anything more than that. >> at a white house event an attempt to get clarity from the president later went ignored. people in the military? >> she's very rude. >> so all we have on this policy change that will profoundly affect thousands of service member's lives are the president's three tweets, which mention the tremendous medical costs and disruption, having transgender service members in the military. what he means by disruption is really anybody's guess. but keeping them honest on the tremendous medical costs, last year a study commissioned by the defense department estimated those costs to be between $2.4 and $8.4 million a year. again, the high estimate is $8.4 million, and as "the washington post" points out, the military spends $41 million a year on viagra. as per sarah huckabee sanders' insistence this was a military decision and nothing more, keeping them honest, if that is true, why were the heads of the four branches of the military caught off guard? beyond that, there's a politics issue and perception issue that can't be ignored. politico reports the sudden transgender ban was in part an effort to save a house spending bill, a bill in jeopardy because of gop infighting over the issue of the government paying medical costs for transgender troops. and a political reporter quotes an official as saying the ban would force democrats in rust belt states to own the issue, defending transgender service members in the 2018 elections, which the white house believes would hurt those democrats. either motivation amounts to uses transgender as political pawns. and it's no coincidence the president did this when he's getting criticism from conservative supporters for bashing jeff sessions, essentially throwing red meat to conservatives. >> lbg strvegs stat is starting donald trump very much. you tell me, who's better for gays, tell me, who's better for the gay community and who's better for women than donald trump? believe me. the lbgt community, the gay community, the lesbian community, they are so much in favor of what i've been saying over the last three or four days. as your president, i will do everything in my power to protect our lgbtq citizens. >> as you know, president trump never served in the military. some lawmakers who did have weighed in, including john mccain who said regardless of gender identity any american who wants to and is able to serve should be treated as the patriots they are. earlier, i spoke with senator tammy duckworth, who was shot down in iraq and lost her legs and partial use of her right arm. senator, cnn is reporting tonight that the service chiefs who represent the four branches of the military were caught off guard by the president's twitter announcement. >> this is very, very typical of this president who blunders forward in areas where he has no expertise. i've said before, he is not fit to be commander in chief and his tweet shows that he has reinforced my opinion of him. >> when the white house says this was purely a military decision, having transgender people serve disrupts military readiness and unit cohesion, do you believe that? >> i do not believe that, anderson. we've had transgender people who have served in tens of thousands have served over the course of our military's history. i don't know why the president is doing this. if anything, what he's doing is disruptive to unit cohesion. >> is this about politics or just appealing to his base? >> i would think this is about appealing to his base, it's not about military readiness. and the facts and figures he quotes are blatantly wrong. he says it's going to be too expensive when the cost estimate for the health care of transgender people is around in 2015, 2016, $5.6 million. the pentagon spent $41 million on viagra in that same time period. so there are other places that you can cut if you want to talk about cost. >> white house has no answer to the question what's going to happen to transgender members currently serving. does that make sense to you? i would think that would have been something that was figured out before announcing this. >> well, isn't this typical of this administration, anderson? frankly, they move forward, they have not found anything out. they just come one these harmful for our nation.ually are and in this case, harmful for the greatest military on the face of the earth. our military men and women who are willing to die to protect the values deserve far better than this type of policy, especially one that's not been thought out. >> i want to play for our viewers something the president said just last night which was directed to veterans some remarks he made. >> you carried out your duty with honor, kournlgs acourage a devotion. and with your sacrifice, you earned our freedom. in my administration, we will always protect those who protect us, believe me. we will protect you, because you have protected us. >> is there some irony in that? he said that yesterday. is the president today protecting people who protected us? >> i think that his tweet today made a lie of what he said last night. >> you know, axios spoke to someone in the white house about this decision who said this forces democrats in rust belt states to take ownership of the issue, saying blue collar voters who might not look kindly in opposition to this move from the president, you're from a rust belt state. how do you respond to that? >> when i'm out in my home state of illinois, and i travel with people or talking about the promises that he has not kept, and they're not talking about this issue. they're talking about the fact that he's allowing the dakota access pipeline to be made with foreign steel, steel made in russia. they're talking about the fact that he spends $3 million a weekend to go to mar-a-lago at a time when we have counties in the southern part of my state that don't have enough sheriff deputies who are on duty. people are not talking about this issue. >> so to the thousands of transgender members serving now in the military, what can you say to them tonight? >> i will be fighting on their behalf. and what i'm going to say to them and to the american people is that when i was bleeding to death in my helicopter after that rpg ripped through cockpit of the aircraft, and an american came to save my life, it didn't matter to me if they were gay, straight, if they were transgender. it object mattnly mattered that the uniform of the united states military. if you're willing to serve this country in uniform and willing to lay down your life to protect it, you deserve to do that. and so many more americans, including our president, has never worn the uniform. i will stand up and fight for the transgender and all of our military men and women. >> senator, appreciate your time. thank you. joining me now is my panel. dana, is this just about politics, to try to either distract from the russia or jeff sessions or the health care news or feeding red meat to the base? >> it's almost impossible to imagine that it isn't. now, white house sources denied that today, but it does defy any sort of logic that there is any other reason. you know, there are some reporting that -- and some questions about whether it was conservatives in the house who were reaching out to the president to try to get him to do this himself, so that they -- because they felt like they were going to lose the issue legislatively as part of the budget. that is possible. again -- >> what they were focusing on was more medical costs, not a total ban on transgender people. >> that's right. and so that brings me to the next -- to the next point, is that even people who were reluctant to have taxpayer dollars pay for any kind of medical treatment for a transition, they did not expect that the president would just full-on reverse this -- allowing -- or put a ban on transgenders in the military. not anybody on capitol hill. according to barbara starr, the people, despite what the white house is saying, who are in charge of this, who wear the uniform, and so it was a real stunner. never mind the question of how he did it. just random tweets without any interpretation with that, without any explanation, without any -- never mind a policy paper explaining why. it was absolutely kind of impulse policymaking at its best. >> jeff toobin, legally, the president, can he do this? because a lot of people who were transgender in the military were essentially encouraged last year under the obama policy to come forward and identify themselves and now those who have come forward and identified themselves, i assume under this policy can maybe be fired. >> there certainly will be lawsuits, no doubt about it. the aclu has put out a call for potential plaintiffs who want to bring cases. the problem with challenging this change, and obviously we're going have to see precisely how it's spelled out and applied, is that courts give the military a great deal of deference in terms of how they organize themselves, what they view as militarily necessary deference issues like unit cohesion. there's a great reluctance of courts to second guess that. that's why most of the don't ask, don't tell challenges failed. it was only when congress and the president, president obama, changed the policy that the policy changed. the courts were not nearly as helpful as they were on same-sex marriage. so i think lawsuits here, they will certainly be filed but likely to be long shots. this is a political and military issue, more than an issue for the courts. >> matt, is this more about politics more than military issues? >> i think -- look, there is an argument, we've had this before with gays in the military about unit cohesion and whether or not we're focused on social engineering versus military readiness. but i don't think that's what this is. it's this was -- seemed to come out of nowhere, and the only rational is political. i think the most -- you listed a few of the scenarios. the most compelling for me is that you finally now have conservatives, people like breitbart and newt gingrich and others, who are pumping the -- saying lay off of jeff sessions. ann coulter, rush limbaugh. and now donald trump does something that's social conservatives, that cultural warriors would love. seems coincidental to me. >> the white house told the administration was thrilled that this was getting so much coverage from the media. does it distract whether it's russia investigation -- >> i think so. the sad thing is transgender people have become the new boogeyman for social conservatives. now i guess they've lost the battle on gay marriage. now they've moved on to transgender people. you can see in the way this came out that there was no serious argument the transgender people are causing any problems in the military. it's that the cost is too much. and yet, they spend -- the military spends less than 1% of their budget dealing with health care costs, of their health care budget dealing with health care related to transgender people. they spend five times as much on viagra. so even the argument they're putting forth is false. it's not that costly in terms of their budget, which is massive. >> i want to add to what you said on the politics side of this. that when you have a president who is 35%, basically he's got his base, that is still supporting him. and the fact is, and i was -- i spent a couple of days on capitol hill this week. you see the republican anger about what the president is doing to jeff sessions, who effectively brought donald trump, the conservative base, handed it to him, when he endorsed trump back during the campaign, and so now you have the president trying to reach out and say no, no, don't be mad about that, please, please. remember, i've got you on this. >> april, to kirsten's point, this was an argument made about allowing african-americans to serve in the armed forces equally in units that weren't segregated. it was made about gays and lesbians. and now it's on transgender people. >> you hit the nail squarely, anderson. in 1948, harry truman abolished segregation in the u.s. military. he abolished it. and the federal government, that was the first piece of the federal government to really start opening up to others. and for this to happen now, many years later, it's sad. this is a community, anderson, i'm sure as you know, there are many people who are very concerned. and i brought up a question today in the white house briefing room, that kind of played off of major garrett's question about health care for transgender military personnel. and there was a concern when president-elect donald trump was basking in the glory of his win over hillary clinton. many in the transgender community were concerned about aca changing over to trump care, what it would look like with gender reassignment. they said, if we got the top done now, how could we get the bottom done? we don't know what tomorrow brings. so this community has been concerned about this president for a long time. and now this just adds more fuel to the fire, and going back to your original point, it seems like it is red meat for his supporters, but it's also a deflecti deflection, i believe, from the big issue. this is a real issue, but it is deflection. he likes to throw things out there when something is bigger than he wants. >> we're going to continue the conversation next. also, the president publicly criticized his attorney general again in a new tweet that also mentions, you guessed it, hillary clinton. i'm ryan and i quit smoking with chantix. i tried to quit cold turkey. i tried to quit with the patch; that didn't work. along with support, chantix (varenicline) is proven to help people quit smoking. for me, chantix worked. it reduced my urge to smoke. compared to the nicotine patch, chantix helped significantly more people quit smoking. when you try to quit smoking, with or without chantix, you may have nicotine withdrawal symptoms. some people had changes in behavior or thinking, aggression, hostility, agitation, depressed mood or suicidal thoughts or actions with chantix. serious side effects may include seizures, new or worse heart or blood vessel problems, sleepwalking or allergic and skin reactions which can be life-threatening. stop chantix and get help right away if you have any of these. tell your healthcare provider if you've had depression or other mental health problems. decrease alcohol use while taking chantix. use caution when driving or operating machinery. the most common side effect is nausea. i'm so proud to be a non-smoker. ask your doctor if chantix is right for you. many insurance plans cover chantix for a low or $0 copay. when heartburn hits fight back fast with new tums chewy bites. fast relief in every bite. crunchy outside. chewy inside. tum tum tum tum new tums chewy bites. 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>> well, just like you said, they've been serving honorably. they've been in war zones, back and forth a few times. they're my friends. those are the people serving on our front lines of american freedom and liberty. and now they're going to be told they're going to be rejected and unworthy to serve? that's a huge slap in the face. and they have contracts. so there's going to be a lot of repercussions. you think it's expensive to pay for a few things for these individuals. this is going to get expensive really fast. >> the rest of my interview coming up later. right now, we're back with my panel. christine, is this just about politics, about kind of shoring up the base at a time when he's getting heat from the conservatives? >> i do think about it's about politics, and that is even sadder to me, because what we had this morning was the president of the united states, after he said in the campaign he would stand with the lbgt community, saying he would stand with the transgender community, to wake up this morning and say transgender americans are unfit to serve. they can't be in the united states military. so it's absolutely politics. it's to distract all of us from russia, to throw red meat to the conservatives. and that makes it even more un-american, to attack americans, to send a message to transgender children, who have one of the highest suicide rates, that they're not worthy. even if they're willing to die for this country, it's repugnant enough. but to do it for cheap votes makes it nothing short of un-american and disgusting. and before jeffrey lloyd raises it, it took barack obama way too long to do this. i was as opposed every year he didn't do this as i was against him and gay marriage. so i don't want to get some trump pivot that we were easier on trump and clinton, because we were not. and that is only more disrespectful to what he's done to transgender americans today. >> so jeff, we have thousands of transgender men and women who have come forward because they believe the u.s. had changed its policy. is it fair to them, for the president to just wake up today and suddenly it seems like any preamble or public discussion say they're going to be kicked out of the military? >> anderson, it sounds like he was having this discussion with his military advisers. i don't know, but certainly that's the way it sounds to me. >> nobody is say bring that discussion was. because it seemed like the four heads of each branch of the military were caught off guard. >> i don't know. but let me say this, i hate to disappoint my friend christine, but on a scale of -- >> low bar, jeffrey, low bar. >> when you -- wait, when you think of that rally in youngstown last night, the president didn't say this there. if there were a time to maximize this politically, it was right then and there when all the television cameras, including cnn, were on him and in front of thousands. he could have done that. i honestly don't think this issue registers with most americans. good lord, i saw a poll during the campaign that said abortion didn't even register, and that used to be the hot button issue of all hot button issues. >> you don't believe this has anything to do with politics, that it just happens to come at a time when conservatives are critical of the president for his treatment of jeff sessions, when health care is in doubt, and the russia investigations t? >> i don't think this resonates. while we're on the -- >> you don't think transgender are the easiest people to pick on in this society -- [ overlapping speakers ] >> these are human beings, jeffrey. why does that cease to matter to trump supporters? these are american human beings. and he just woke up and threw them under the bus. >> while we're on the subject, anderson, i want to make one point. i'm learning from you tonight that the federal government is paying for -- what do i want to say -- >> viagra? >> thank you, thank you. anderson, they have no business doing that either. what is the matter? and to hear people say well, it's not a lot of money. i used to work on the house budget committee staff for a congressman -- >> you're suggesting president trump should ban viagra in the u.s. military? does he have the backbone to ban viagra in the u.s. military? >> i hope he does. i would be with him. >> viagra is $46 million. all of the erectile dysfunction drugs come in at $90 million. that is not my greatest concern, erectile dysfunction, for a host of reasons. but i understand some of my brothers have challenges and i want to support them to live a full life. >> jeffrey, i'm joking, but i'm not. really, medical coverage is about medical need. and that's a medical need. people serve -- you know what, jeffrey? people serve, they risk their lives. some of them tragically die and they get medical courage and -- >> they don't need viagra. >> who are you to say a man in the military doesn't need via a viagra? i'm not going to say that. >> the american military got along for 200 years without viagra and suddenly this is a necessity? >> what you're arguing is back in the old days people were impotent and it was okay. [ overlapping speakers ] >> you're arguing that viagra is not something people should be prescribed? >> all i'm saying is pay for it yourself. don't have -- >> so the headline is jeffrey lord tells u.s. military, pay for your own viagra? >> yes. how about that? >> because you have nothing rational to say about the transgender ban. you have put yourself in a more ridiculous, anti military position, because there is no defense, no defense for the -- >> you're making it sound as if viagra is for social use, like going out to disco and popping viagra. there are legitimate reasons people take this. from what i've read. it just seems like don't you argue that our military members should get the best medical care they can get and have the best lives with their families as possible. >> or is the new trump care parcelling out what heroes get? >> we're in the business in america of providing the basics or people, not in the business of perfecting everybody's sex life. i'm sorry, it couldn't happen any way. >> this is an absurd argument and the real issue here is that donald trump, for no military reason, the department of defense secretary is on vacation. the pentagon admits they were blind sided. he woke up this morning, we don't know why, but if it's because he's a hateful man and hates transgender americans, that's enough. if it's for political reasons, it's even worse. this is a bad day for lgbt americans, but this day will not stand. and if donald trump thinks 147 characterks beat the transgender community, he is, again, wrong and doesn't know what he's stirred up. >> we've got to take a break. >> i'm not saying they shouldn't be allowed to serve. but if the premise is that the government pays for everybody's medical expenses, this is part of the problem. it goes for beyond the military and being transgender. >> the president is saying that they should not be allowed to serve. any way, we got to take a break. breaking news on health care. the senate rejects a full obamacare with no replacement after seven gop rejections in the vote. detail on that in a moment. onald i would always answer hispanic. so when i got my ancestry dna results it was a shocker. i'm everything. i'm from all nations. i would look at forms now and wonder what do i mark? because i'm everything. and i marked other. discover the story only your dna can tell. order your kit now at ancestrydna.com. we see their dreams. we see the things that built our nation. and we wonder, what would happen if everyone had equal access to education? what would they discover? what new worlds would they build? that's why we built a university for people. not for profit. repeal and delay bill in a 45-55 vote. cnn's ryan nobles joins us from capitol hill. we're expecting senate democrats to offer amendments. now chuck schumer has changed course. what do they plan? >> reporter: make no mistake, this is a pr stunt by democrats. they don't have the votes to pass these amendments, but it's an important part of the process, because it gives them the opportunity to get republicans on the record on a number of different issues related to health care. what we thought was going to happen is when the 20 hours of debate on this bill ends sometime tomorrow, that democrats would begin offering up hundreds of amendments related to health care, forcing republicans to take a vote on some of these issues. but late tonight, senate minority leader chuck schumer announced that's not what democrats are going to do. they're not going to offer any amendments until they see chapter and verse of what republicans plan to offer in this so-called skinny repeal, which would expect to be a scaled down version of obamacare repeal that they hope can get 50 republican votes and eventually get this bill to a conference committee. so we don't know how this is going to play out tomorrow, and how republicans will handle this situation, but this is certainly a much different course of action than what we expected from democrats. >> the straight repeal, the republicans tried that today of obamacare, that failed. what comes next? >> reporter: what comes next is this final eight hours of debate that we expect sometime tomorrow. and then it's going to be almost a staring contest between republicans and democrats. will democrats begin the amendment process, offering up this variety of amendments that they have at their disposal. or will republicans finally come to the table with their full skinny repeal? at this point, it's just conceptual, anderson. we've not seen any written language connected to this proposal. we just heard what republican aides are planning. we don't even know if it's been written yet, and perhaps we'll find out that tomorrow. >> ryan nobles, appreciate your reporting. joining me now is my panel. dana, this so-called skinny repeal, does that version have the best chance of passing? >> yes. it doesn't mean it's going to pass. but it has the best chance, and the reason is because it doesn't make significant cuts to medicaid expansion, to effectively giving help to millions and millions of americans who couldn't afford health insurance before. that is the primary reason you see opposition from republican senators like susan collins of maine, lisa murkowski of alaska, and on and on and on. so that is the reason it has the best chance. you know, the problem for the republican leadership is that by getting those senators on board, then you lose some of the conservatives who say wait a minute, this isn't what i signed up for when i promised to repeal obamacare. there's so much of it that would still be in play. so it's up in the air, but by far the best chance. >> kirsten, the question is what happens when it gets to the house? you have chairman of the house freedom caucus who said it's dead on arrival. >> this is a little bit of a kick the can situation, where they can get something passed and get it to the house to go into conference and go back to the table trying to hash this out again. because the skinny repeal just repeals the employer mandate and the medical device tax. so it's not really what conservatives want. that said, it will send -- if it did pass in the house, it will send the insurance market into complete turmoil, because obamacare doesn't work without the mandate. >> jason, does it seem to you like republicans are just kicking the can down the road with these votes? is there a clear endgame here? >> i think it's worse, anderson. the team player as a republican in me would probably say we need to pass this skinny repeal, which first of all, i don't speak skinny very well. but we have to go and pass something so that we can go to conference and come together and come up with some bill that we can pass both houses. that's not what is going on here. we're getting bamboozled. we have a president who will sign a repeal of obamacare. we have a president who will sign a repeal and replace of obamacare. and so the fact that we can't get a bill through the senate after all these senators ran for election, saying that they would repeal and replace obamacare is a disgrace. first they told us we had to have the house. so we give republicans the house. then we said the senate, so we give them the senate. now we have the presidency. this is a big shell game by the big government republicans who are scared to go and reduce the size of government. look, the exchange and the way the subsidies, the way we're paying for health care in the medicaid expansion, we can't afford it. it's distorting the markets and ruining our health care system. and the fact that republicans in the senate won't deal with this now is just absolutely embarrassing. >> there's a lot of democrats who will agree with what jason is saying. the republicans have been running on this for years and years and voted on this multiple times. >> and a lot of republicans agree with jason. having said that, and i think jason would admit this, if the skinny obamacare repeal and replace bill would actually pass the senate and somehow miraculously get through the house, you bet president trump would sign it, right, jason? >> well, again, let's assume they can get something through, because the conservatives in the house are saying it's a nonstarter on that end. but again, what we have to have here is something that's fundamentally going to go and change the way that obamacare is ruining the health care system. we have to do something about the medicaid expansion. we have to change the way the subsidies and get something if we're going to help lower income americans, get something to where it's more of a tax credit. we can't go into that much detail right now. but the system, as it's currently set up, just fundamentally won't work. premiums are going up. >> none of these republican plans address that. they just don't. >> i think there are some of these plans that do help. i think the ted cruz amendment is probably the best step in the right direction, where that will lower some premiums and lower some of the costs. i think that's the best step. but look, this whole shell game that we're seeing right now, as someone who works so hard to elect some of these problems, it's frustrating. the president launches another attack on jeff sessions. how president trump views loyalty, next. um... i'm babysitting. that'll be $50 bucks. you said $30. yeah, well it was $30 before my fees, like the pizza-ordering fee and the dog-sitting fee... and the rummage through your closet fee. are those my heels? yeah! yeah, we're the same size...in shoes. with t-mobile taxes and fees are already included, so you get four lines of unlimited for just $40 bucks each. for a limited time save 300 dollars on the amazing iphone 7. at the lexus golden opportunity sales event before it ends. choose from the is turbo, es 350 or nx turbo for $299 a month for 36 months if you lease now. experience amazing at your lexus dealer. with my moderate to severe 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infection. just managing your symptoms? ask your gastroenterologist about humira. with humira, remission is possible. hi..and i know that we have phonaccident forgiveness.gent, so the incredibly minor accident that i had tonight- four weeks without the car. okay, yup. good night. with accident forgiveness your rates won't go up just because of an accident. switching to allstate is worth it. will people know it means they'll get the lowest price guaranteed on our rooms by booking direct on choicehotels.com? hey! badda book. badda boom! mr. badda book. badda boom! book now at choicehotels.com you know, some of these people have like a 10% loyalty, meaning if they sneeze in the wrong direction, they're gone. >> well, many now believe the president now wants sessions gone. joining me now is michael dantonio, and jack pitney, who wrote an article called "trump the disloyalist." you write in your piece that sessions should not be surprised by trump's behavior toward him. >> trump is a guy who has betrayed contractors, customers, vendors, and wives. his wire careentire career is a train of betrayals. so why sessions should think he's different and special is a mystery. he should have been more aware of trump's history. >> michael, you wrote the book on trump. what does loyalty mean to trump? >> not very much. it falls in one direction, toward him. >> you have to be loyal to him. >> absolutely. and everything is transactional. so if you done one thing wrong, if you don't demonstrate a reversal the next day, you're out. if i were to channel the president, what i would say about him is that he's a back stabber. he's a fair weather friend. he's a coward. this is a guy who won't stand by the people he's made a commitment to and who have made a commitment to him. but this is nothing new about him. as jack said, he wasn't loyal to two lives. he's on his third. i think he's doing pretty well there. but he's stiffed thousands of bond holders who invested in trump casinos. all these contractors, the people who signed up for trump university. one after another. i mean, political parties, he was in the reform party, then a republican, a democrat, to you a republican again. where is the loyalty here? i think it all runs in one direction. >> jack, is this just politics? when push comes to shove, is anyone in politics loyal? suspect everything based on self-interest or furthering a political agenda? >> in politics there is a sense of loyalty. you stick with a party, you stick with commitments. and in the place where is i've worked in albany and washington, d.c., the highest praise you can give to a politician is that that person is a straight shooter. yeah, sometimes people fall off the loyalty wagon, but in general, you just don't see the kind of behavior, the kind of massive dishonesty and disloyalty we see with donald trump. >> it is fascinating, michael, in an interview with the wall street journal just yesterday or two days ago, president trump questioned sessions saying like it wasn't so much a loyal thing, he basically saw the size of my crowd in alabama and got on board because he just wanted to be amongst me. >> one other thing, the president is not loyalty is the facts. sessions won 97% of the vote the last time he ran. he didn't need any coat tails and he didn't look at these crowds and say, i want some of that. >> he had a secure seat and he had seniority as a senator. >> he had more of what donald trump wanted than what donald trump could give to him. so the president very eagerly accepted sessions' endorsement, paraded him around the south, really around the whole country, and i would argue that a lot of people voted for president trump because of the endorsement of jeff sessions. so now we see this playing out in congress with the former senator. and now the attorney general getting lots of support. >> michael, the irony is, jeff sessions not only early on was the first senator to support trump, but is more ideal logically connected to the president. the people that the president has around him now are campaign officials for other candidates. >> well, donald trump doesn't care about trumpism. he only cares about donald trump. the principles, the idealology, the policies, none of that matters. all that matters is his narrow, direct self-interests. that's what we're seeing with his treatment of jeff session, which from a policy standpoint doesn't make sense at all. >> thank you both. still to come, she was a navy s.e.a.l. for more than 20 years and left the military and came out as transgender. i'll speak to kristen beck about today's ban, next. when heartburn hits fight back fast with new tums chewy bites. fast relief in every bite. crunchy outside. chewy inside. tum tum tum tum new tums chewy bites. over the course of 9 days sthe walks 26.2 miles,. that's a marathon. because he chooses to walk whenever he can. and he does it with support from dr. scholl's. only dr. scholl's has massaging gel insoles that provide all-day comfort to keep him feeling more energized. so he even has the energy to take the long way home. keep it up, steve! dr. scholl's. born to move. i needed something more to help control my type 2 diabetes. my a1c wasn't were it needed to be. so i liked when my doctor told me that i may reach my blood sugar and a1c goals by activating what's within me with once-weekly trulicity. trulicity is not insulin. it helps activate my body to do what it's suppose to do, release its own insulin. i take it once a week, and it works 24/7. it comes in an easy-to-use pen and i may even lose a little weight. trulicity is a once-weekly injectable prescription medicine to improve blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes when used with diet and exercise. trulicity is not insulin. it should not be the first medicine to treat diabetes, or for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. do not take trulicity if you or a family member has had medullary thyroid cancer, if you've had multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if you are allergic to trulicity. stop trulicity and call your doctor right away if you have a lump or swelling in your neck, severe pain in your stomach, or symptoms such as itching, rash, or trouble breathing. serious side effects may include pancreatitis, which can be fatal. taking trulicity with a sulfonylurea or insulin, increases your risk for low blood sugar. common side effects include nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, decreased appetite and indigestion. some side effects can lead to dehydration, which may make existing kidney problems worse. once-weekly trulicity may help me reach my blood sugar goals. with trulicity, i click to activate what's within me. if you want help improving your a1c and blood sugar, activate your within. ask your doctor about once-weekly trulicity. we have no details from the white house about how the ban announced on twitter today will affect thousands of transgender military members who are currently serving. but we can speak to people who have served honorably and heroically. kristin beck was a member of the navy elite s.e.a.l. team. she later came out as transgender. we did a documentary about her journey in 2014. here is a quick clip. >> it's got to be so sad to think that for 20 years you have to -- that you have this incredible bond with these people you're fighting with. >> yes. >> and you want it to be the closest bond imaginable. and yet you can't really let yourself be yourself. >> it's definitely tough. and when you say, it's strength and honor, that's one of the ones we do, when we shake hands, we say "strength and honor." that's still what i gave true. i gave true brotherhood. i did my best. 150% all the time. and i gave strength and honor. and my full brotherhood to every military person i ever worked with. >> i spoke with kristin beck just before airtime tonight. >> kristin, the white house press secretary was repeatedly asked what will happen to those transgender members currently serving, will they be forced out, and she couldn't answer that question. i know you have transgender friends currently serving. what are they saying? do they know what's going to happen? >> i don't think anyone knows what's going to happen. you keep seeing all the heads of staff, every staffer, every branch in the military are totally blindsided. this is unusual for such a major policy shift. >> what is the impact, do you think, for those service members who are transgender, who are serving and have been serving honorably? >> just like you've said just then, they've been serving honorably. they've been in war zones, back and forth a few times, a few of them. they're my friends. those people serving on the front lines of american freedom and liberty. now they're going to be told they're going to be rejected and unworthy to serve? it's a huge slap in the face. and the ha they have contracts. there's going to be a lot of repercussions. you think it's expensive to pay for a few things for those individuals? this will get real expensive, real fast. >> the president tweeted, the military cannot be burdened with the costs. what do you think taking transgender military members of out of the service look like? you talk about disruption, to use the president's word. >> that's the word, disruption. one military friend in the army, she speaks farsi, arabic and five other languages. she's been in the war zone a couple of times, back and forth. she's immensely capable. how will you replace that person? i can give you dozens of accounts of people were that kind of experience. people like me serving in the military, you can't replace a senior chief, you can't replace all that experience. you're talking about huge disruptions. >> the president, according to the white house press secretary, that it erodes military cohesion. that's an argument that's been made, frankly, for, you know, whether or not to have african-americans serving in the military, and whether to have openly gay people serving in the military, gay and lesbian people. does it affect unit cohesion? >> you brought up the exact points. this is the 1950s, going back to segregation, you're going to the don't ask,l era. diversity makes us stronger. diversity is what we need. it's same thing. these are excuses. this is some kind of -- something's going on. it has nothing to do with unit cohesion, readiness, or their capability. it's nothing to do with that. >> undoubtedly there are members of the military who are not comfortable having transgendered individuals serving with them. when you were serving, you weren't open to your fellow s.e.a.l.s. what do you say to those who say, well, look, if some members of the military are upset about it, then it is going to affect cohesion? >> the thing they're overlooking is what really is at that lowest level, at the company or platoon level? once you start serving with folks, if you sit around me for a couple of hours, let's go out on the ranch, we'll do some shooting, you'll find i'm the same person. they're basing their data, they're basing their emotions on misinformation. they're basing their emotions on a fantasy of a person in a pink boa. that's one picture of transgender. but transgender is also me. transgender is this picture. don't base all your data on one thing. i'm transgender. i'm capable to serve. i can serve right now. i'll do it with great capabilities that would surprise you. they're giving up a lot. it's a catastrophe. >> kristin beck, i appreciate your time, thank you. >> thank you, anderson. up next tonight, the latest from the white house on the transgender ban, and more. so we sent that sample off to ancestry. my ancestry dna results are that i am 26% nigerian. i am just trying to learn as much as i can about my culture. i put the gele on my head and i looked into the mirror and i was trying not to cry. because it's a hat, but it's like the most important hat i've ever owned. discover the story only your 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Transcripts For CNN Real Time With Bill Maher 20240609

Geopolitics of the cold war through the lens of two double agents who were pulling the strings behind the scenes threatening, did he stabilize diplomatic efforts? >> all right i always i think the early version, at least from the agency who really had a pretty good understanding of how the kgb worked there are no other the powers our everyday was so for little black he'd write these studies. >> everybody would read them and say, oh, that's really great work, rick and then that would. be the end of it. you know, they didn't really send it anywhere and all new episode of secrets and spies, a nucleus and now, the hbo original series, "real time with bill maher". ♪ ♪ ♪ how are you doing? how are you doing? thank you very much. i appreciate it. thank you, people. thank you very much. i appreciate it. all right. good to see you. thank you. please, there's so much to get to. oh, wow. i feel great about that. yes, the big news this week is hunter biden's trial. let's get right to that. it led to absolutely fucking nothing, but let's get right to it. i know the republicans -- they are like, if you take down trump, we are going to take down hunter biden and the democrats are like, knock yourself out, we barely care about joe biden. >> [ audience reacts ] >> but, this trial is only about one thing in america which is very important, you cannot mix drugs and guns! seriously, we don't take a lot seriously in this country, but this is one we are very serious about, and hunter biden was buying a gun on crack -- i mean, at the moment, he was literally on crack and buying a gun, he almost had the gun in his hand. so, the prosecutor gets up and says, no one is above the law in this country, it doesn't matter who you are or what your name is and all the republicans stood up and fist pumped and went, yeah. and then they went -- oh, wait. yeah, that's -- [ audience reacts ] that's not what they were saying last week, was it? interesting. in april, they took a survey, 17% of republicans said it was okay -- only 17% -- okay for a felon to be president. now, they took the survey again, 58% said it is okay for a felon to be president. gosh, what happened? usually, to change this drastically in the space of two months, hormones are involved. i -- [ laughter ] but, if hunter biden does get convicted, this will be a historic first. it will be the first time republicans ever objected to somebody buying a gun. >> [ audience reacts ] >> and there was testimony from hallie biden, because she was married to hunter biden's brother, who sadly died, beau biden. and then, hunter went out with her. so, she is the ex-girlfriend and the widow. i know. she is -- she testified that when he was with hunter, she got her into crack, and she is ashamed and embarrassed about that part of her life. really? >> [ audience reacts ] >> you bang your dead husband's brother and the part you are embarrassed about is the crack? okay. but -- >> [ audience reacts ] >> she said she found hunters going at one point, she knew she couldn't have it, so she took it away and threw it away in the supermarket dumpster, perfectly. [ laughter ] so, when hunter throughout -- found out she threw away his gun, he called her insane, called her stupid, said, are you on crack? if you are, can i have some? we all saw this stuff from hunter biden's laptop, right? they did a reality show about hunter biden, it would be called "naked and afraid of running out of crack." and it's just -- >> [ audience reacts ] >> and it is just bad optics for the president. the jury is looking at sex tapes of hunter biden and the rest of us are worried about if his father can walk all right. kidding. well, actually, joe was doing the d-day thing. you saw that yesterday? he did very well. i thought he did very well. he was over there commemorating the 80th anniversary of d-day. in america, you know what they did? non-congressman -- oh, gosh -- nine congressman dressed up as military people. world war ii, you know, vintage stuff, and jumped out of a world war ii vintage plane to commemorate d- day. sadly, they were wearing parachutes. >> [ audience reacts ] >> [ laughter ] and george santos -- you know, when i do dress up, you bitches make a whole thing out of it. well, yes, it is pride month again, and the spirit of pride -- >> [ audience reacts ] so, listen to this. this is a pride month story, five dry greens in philadelphia did a children's books reading as they do, made a guinness book of world records for the fastest way to get trump re- elected. >> [ audience reacts ] >> not that there aren't still bigots in this country, but did you see this? this is the head of the colorado republican party sent out an email saying, calling gay people godless horrors, which in california is not even an insult. i get my hair cut at a place called godless groomers. we have a great show. we have matt welch, abigail shrier, but first up, the democratic senator from the great state of pennsylvania, john fetterman! welcome back, it's been too long! >> good to see you. >> welcome back to the show. it's been 13 years. >> it's an honor to be here. i am a fan boy, so -- >> right back at you. i have been badgering my staff for a long time now to get you on this show, and i will tell you why i have been badgering them, and eyeglass -- i guess they badgered you. when i have seen you the last couple of years, you speak so freely. you speak like politicians who i get on this show who aren't in politics anymore, the ones who are out of office, and they can be honest, that is the way you speak now, and it is a beautiful thing. >> [ audience reacts ] >> well, honestly -- and this is true -- you speak for a lot of democrats that are afraid to say a lot of that stuff. it is a lot of release for a lot of democrats who are like, thank god, somebody is actually platforming like that. >> no, i think we are very much on the same page. but, it is very rare -- i don't have to worry about being re- elected, except by the audience. >> [ audience reacts ] >> it is, i think, even more brave for you to do it. the question i want an answer to is, is this connected to some of your health issues? when you have gone through what you have, both physical and mental health issues, does it give you a freedom? like, what can you -- >> yeah, absolutely. there is a line from the first "batman," joker is like, i have been dead once already, it is liberating. that is not reckless, that is really just freeing. it is just freeing, in a way. and i think after being all of that, i would just be able to say the things that i really believe in, and not be afraid if there is any kind of blowback. >> and what about mental health in america, at-large? what is the prescription for this? because we are going to talk about it on the show to a degree tonight. it is certainly a big issue in this country. we have, what, 50,000 suicides in the last year? >> absolutely. >> this is an outstanding number, i think. what are your thoughts on this? >> well, actually, after i signed myself in to walter reed to get help, with depression, it is not really a big clinical winter, to talk about depression. and when i started to have that conversation, i realized that if i started to be honest, i have to talk about self-harm, you know, harming myself, because you pointed at the 50,000 americans who took their lives, and i started talking about that and said, hey, i have been in that place. i now tell people, i promise you, i am begging you, please, don't harm yourself. stay in the game. now, i am being contacted by people on the regular saying, hey, thanks to hearing this, i got help, or it even saved my life. i never thought that would resonate and that is why i decided to have that conversation, because i was lucky i got help and got better, and now i want to be the kind of guy that can say something, that could have helped someone like me, who was in that situation. >> [ applause ] >> so, let's talk a little politics here, because that is your game. pennsylvania is going to be -- probably, could be, come down to three states, pennsylvania will definitely be one of them. >> i have always said, pennsylvania picks the president and there really is no legitimate path for the president if he doesn't win, and i believe he will win, actually, because trump was able to flip pennsylvania and that helped deliver his first victory. but, joe biden carried it in 2020 because he has a really strong connection thereto pennsylvania and i believe he will again, but it will be close, and that is the same conversation i have been having with pennsylvania, that it is going to be very close, because trump has a strong connection in pennsylvania and it will be very competitive and all of that. i have also been saying, i don't think that whole trial is going to be anything meaningful with people who have already decided, that is my guy. i will never understand why somebody would say, i love that, or i want four more years of that. but, i do believe joe biden is going to carry pennsylvania and he is going to win. >> [ audience reacts ] >> but, as he was -- as he has not, yet, officially been nominated by the democratic party, is he really the best one to put forward? >> joe biden? >> yeah. >> yeah. he is actually the only american that has ever beat trump in an election, and i do honestly believe that he is actually the only democrat that could win. and let me just say this -- let me just say this, i know it might be provocative -- but the last time there was a hotshit governor with $2 million, thought he was going to beat trump, then trump through him in the wood chipper and he finished third in his own state, in florida. and again, trump is pretty tough, and that is what the republicans want and i can't imagine why -- how he is feeling right now, but trump has a very -- and i do believe joe biden has that ability to win, and we have a great bench. it is a distinct kind of situation right now. >> i'm surprised at that, but i will move on. i'm sorry, i'm not on the same page there, but okay. it is probably going to be joe biden and i will vote for him. but, you mentioned desantis. this is very curious to me, desantis wants to ban fake meat in florida, and you agreed with him. i don't get this? >> really, it is not so much about making it illegal, but it is also just talking about -- i really wanted to stand with american farmers and ranchers, and those kinds of things, and i don't believe it is helpful, and that is the direction i want to move in that. but, if somebody wants to consume that, that is okay. but, i think there are going to be states that are going to decide, i don't want to ban this, or i really want to invent and create that time, so the product stays the same. >> i wouldn't eat it either, quite frankly, but i wouldn't ban it. that is what desantis wants to do, so you can't get it. i thought that was the freedom part of this freedom country. if people want to have fake meat or fake anything, fake tits, fake anything. it is los angeles. >> [ audience reacts ] >> i don't -- yeah, i don't know about that, either, but i don't know if that is going to solve anything other than -- i don't get why that would appeal to anybody. >> you have been very up front about legalizing weed, marijuana. >> yeah, of course. i've heard that from you, too. >> [ audience reacts ] >> i heard that, john, that is just a character i play on television. never in my life -- look, i heard you once say, or maybe read it, a tweet, you said once, "i am not a progressive, i am a democrat." what does that mean? because i don't think i have used the word "progressive," i think i have said "woke." i know that word triggers a lot of people because it has a great beginning as a meaning, but words migrate and it went to something else. i think there is a difference between an old-school liberal and woke person, you say old- school democrat, how do you describe this? >> look, i agree and i have been saying that for years, actually. i didn't leave the label, it left me on that front. and after that happened on october 7th, i really knew that the whole progressive stack would be blasted apart and they are not going to have anyway for the democrats to reply to that, or respond to that, and i really decided early on that i was going to side with israel throughout all of that, and i knew that democrats would continue to peel away and kind of walk away from standing with israel on that, but that is where i decided -- >> how do you explain that, if you can, that the people who considered themselves the most liberal have abandoned israel -- which was always a liberal drawing -- for the terrorist organization, for the people who outwardly say that they want a genocide, who outwardly are the one side of this who is against the two state solution. so, now that they wound up with then, why do you think that is, and will this split the democratic party? >> well, it does, because there is an appeal there. and you talked about it, last week, you really hit it with the gender apartheid. talking about some of these issues, some of the most progressive and left parts of the democratic party are standing for the kind of side that has organizations like hamas, or these kinds of nations where there are no rights for women and they certainly don't embrace the lgbtq lifestyle, and even in philadelphia, the queers for palestine blocked the pride parade in philadelphia, and i never saw that on the bingo card. but -- >> [ audience reacts ] >> all right, well, it may seem lonely out there sometimes when you are brave like you are, but you have a lot of fans. you have a lot of fans here and a lot of fans all over the country. when i told people you were coming on, a lot of them were really excited that you are here, but they all have one question they wanted me to ask you, which is, what is the deal with the wardrobe? >> [ audience reacts ] >> people are very curious. it doesn't involve me, i'm just saying, people are saying, p please ask him. >> last year, i know this, you had a great joke, you really nailed it, you put up a picture of me, you said, she dresses like a guy where the airline lost his luggage. and it's true! it's funny, because it's true. and i know i dress like a slob and i am not making a statement or anything, but, i am into comfort, it is just comfort, and it is kind of like -- i don't have to iron, and -- >> [ audience reacts ] >> but, it is kind of hard to find suits and all of those things. but, i never understood why anybody thought that was interesting. and i want to be clear, i wasn't behind the changing of the dress code or anything, i really wasn't. but, more people seemed more concerned about me wearing a hoodie on the floor, as opposed to, we have senators taking bribes from foreign entities, and -- >> [ audience reacts ] >> but, i'm learning. i'm learning. i'm still a freshman. >> you seem like you are in a really good place. >> oh, well, i'm sitting across from a great person. but -- you know, having a near- death experience and going through that kind of a blowtorch of $100 million and attack acts and all of those kinds of things to emerge on a side where i am grateful to be sure, both with you and back with my kids, my family, everything, and i just decided, i really want to be the kind of voice that is consistent, and has a moral clarity on issues that may not be controversial for democrats, but i am not sure why any of that is democrat -- controversial for democrats, whether it is about israel, or the border, or -- >> because people just want to bitch these days, john. everything is controversial to everybody, but you keep doing what you are doing. i appreciate it. >> [ audience reacts ] >> all right. see you again, john fetterman. hi! all right, here is the editor at large at "reason" magazine, met -- matt welch is back with us. a journalist and author of the new york times best-selling book, "bad therapy", abigail shrier. great to see you. okay, so, this is the week where we celebrated the greatest generation saving democracy so we can learn about hunter biden smoking crack. i feel like that has been this week in a nutshell. i feel like this is one of those stories where both sides have a lot of wrong in their handling. i remember when the laptop came out, the left-wing media would not even admit it was a thing, it just had to be a hoax, or it had to be russian disinformation, it just didn't exist. they went right about it, that was wrong. and the right is wrong to pretend it means something, except possibly about joe biden's parenting. the question i want to ask -- because i know your book is about it, you have written about parenting -- okay, why do all of the political families have this fuck-up family dynamic? is it just because they are famous, and if we went into every family that had a billy carter, a roger clinton -- george bush himself was the ne'er-do-well. >> since the beginning of time, we have learned that children basically need three things, and these are essential. they need parental authority, they need to hear "no," they need independence, and loving community. kids with high profile families often get none of those. no one is willing to tell them "no," they don't get independence because they don't want anyone to make them look bad, and they don't have loving community -- they are raised in a political battlefield. unfortunately, too many american kids today also don't have those. >> the way you describe it, it sounds like everyone is from a prominent family, because i read in your book when kids go off to college and they have never heard the word "no," or the word "wait," then -- >> that's right. kids today are under a microscope, they are under a microscope, literally, because of the projection of social media and whatnot, but also because their parents are so afraid of traumatizing them, they have been told by mental health experts that saying "no," can be punishing and traumatizing, so they don't assert their authority. we basically have a generation raised with these kids that are miserable. >> and a link with your d-day tie in, which is that we understood that generation and others, but especially that one, to have a sense of stoicism. like, you are going to go through some bad stuff, you are going to fail, there is going to be unfair things that happen to you. the question is, what are you going to do with that? a 15-year-old and a 9-year-old, they are not teaching a lot of stoicism in the public school system, last time i checked. at some point, she starts to use it as an excuse to get out of chores. like, "that is not my journey." >> [ audience reacts ] >> [ laughter ] >> it doesn't make sense to fold the laundry, so they are making fun out of it, but there is something to that. but also, when you think about the greatest generation, they probably could have used a little bit more therapy than they got, right? >> yes, there is a happy medium. you mentioned d-day, but i couldn't help but think of it because the new york times said ptsd among adolescents is surging. ptsd. the fact that we have so -- >> [ audience reacts ] >> my father was in that campaign, he wasn't in omaha beach, but he was on that campaign. anyone who would allow kids to think they have ptsd? >> that's right, they don't have ptsd. kids raised gently in suburbs don't have ptsd. but, combat those -- our combat vets sometimes do have ptsd and they need treatment when they have it. >> always. >> it is real. but, that is not what kids that universities have. what they have, what i call in my book, "bad therapy", they have emotional hypochondria. they have focused so much on their own bad feelings that they magnify these feelings, they make them an organizing principle of their lives, then they have trouble escaping them. >> so, here is my thing, we had a reckoning of my sex in 2017, a racial reckoning in 2020. i feel like there is a parenting reckoning coming. a lot of rollback, pushback on gentle parenting. i think people are realizing that this kind of stuff has raised a lot of fucked-up kids who have -- >> [ audience reacts ] >> another statistic, but 49.5% -- so, let's just say half -- of adolescence, at some point have a mental health disorder. so, half of the kids in the country are diagnosable? either they really are that fucked-up, or we are over diagnosing. >> it is the latter. we are way over diagnosing them. this generation has had more mental health intervention in schools, more mental health treatment, 40% of them have been in therapy, they have had therapeutic parenting, and it is making them worse. these kids don't need therapy, they need less therapy, they need to be told, i love you, you will live, now get out of my house and have an adventure. >> [ audience reacts ] >> and it is worth pointing out that this generation, let's say 15 to 22, they got banged up during covid pretty bad and the more you were in places with schools and society bogged down, the more banged up you got, and also that is tied up with social media, and what you are doing on your phone all the time, like john hyde talks about. so, i think there is a legitimate mental health thing going on with teenagers, and especially teenage girls in this country. the question is, are we teaching them to get out of it, and also to have fun, and take some kind of initiative in their lives? or, are we encouraging them to think of themselves as victims? and i hope it is not the latter because you are not going to get much past your 18th birthday walking around and saying that it is somebody else's fault. >> [ audience reacts ] >> so, this is so obvious and we all agree, who is still defending this? >> i think the trauma industry is. >> the trauma industry? right. you are right. >> that is basically what we have now, we have convinced this generation any stress is trauma, now you have a disability and you have to live with that forever, and these kids are behaving like mental patients. >> right. [ laughter ] right. i mean -- and they are medicated, then. that, to me, is when it really goes off the rails, because a lot of them are on whatever psychiatric drugs they put them on. you know, when i think about the two big ones that i see always talked about that are now pathologist, shyness -- which is social anxiety disorder, as we pathologist isaac. and depression -- i mean, that is just being bummed out. my whole adolescence, my whole childhood, past college, was about those two things. i just had tons of both of those things and drugging me would not have helped. i discovered part when i was 19, that drug helped. organically. but, yeah, okay. so, i read about sel, and for those that don't know what this is, this is social emotional learning. this takes front and center -- this explains a lot to me, one, why they are so stupid. because this is the priority above learning, is that right? >> that is right. >> and what is -- obviously, it sounds like it is? >> reportedly, it is supposed to teach kids like things like emotional regulation, which we want them to have. but, how do you teach kids to handle bad emotions? because we are not worried about them having too much joy, we are worried about them having too much sadness, regret, bad feelings, so it always goes negative, it becomes a kind of group therapy, and it forces kids to ruminate, to pathologically focus on their bad feelings, on their pain, and those are the number one symptoms of depression. >> and it is interesting, 70% of very liberal students, they say -- this is from the american enterprise institute, so they are a little right- leaning -- reports feeling anxious 52% of conservatives. but, it does seem like the liberals are more in their own head, and are suffering from this. is that right, and why? >> i have seen that statistic and looked, the reason why i think so, that might be, is because those are the parents, in general, who are getting their kids more therapy, they are highly educated, and they are more anxious because they are highly educated, they are more anxious themselves, they are pushing their anxiety onto their kids. we know you can communicate anxiety. parents need to be tougher for their kids. they need to set an example here and they need to stop obsessing over kids' happiness and start worrying about making kids strong. >> [ applause ] >> all right. so, parenting is also involved in the other book you'll wrote, that book you wrote that was banned, "irreversible damage," which is about gender reassignment, as we have called it. now, we have the cast review from england which says, you must feel somewhat vindicated by this because america is now an outlier country with this. the scandinavian countries that were doing it, england that was doing it, they all pulled back. the cast report says the evidence of using puberty blocking drugs and other hormonal medications is remarkably weak. why is america so behind? usually, when we look at those countries, we say, this is what the liberals are doing, so we are just going to -- no, we are alone on this. >> yes, we are. two reasons, england had national, centralized healthcare, so they got into this faster, and they were also able to shut it down faster, and because our healthcare is obviously decentralized, it is harder to shut bad medicine down in this country, but there is something else but i have to say. they had something really special in england, they had a j.k. rowling, and she helped gender critical feminists pry away from the progressive left on this issue and stand up to the bodily integrity of girls, and stand up for the integrity of medicine. >> [ applause ] >> i think as part of that peer pressure element, it is worth pointing out to the extent that your audios -- audience might not, that abigail's book was targeted by people who work for the aclu saying, it will be the highest thing to do, to block the distribution of this book. it speaks to a kind of aggressive, illiberal conservative that takes place. not just on this issue, but many other issues, dealing with covid. i think it is kind of a new thing. the last 10 years, especially, there has been a semi-deranged moment, were people who were involved with journalism, or academia, or whatever, have said we have created a new taboo, you are on the wrong side of the taboo, we must attack this person, other people who have been working in this. yes, it hurts their careers, but we don't necessarily have to cry to them -- she is on bill maher, so she is doing okay. but, it hurts them. that is what people don't get. when you block off the information that is coming in, particularly on a contested subject, particularly that is affecting kids in life and death situations, and you are blocking off the information by enforcing a taboo, you are hurting yourself. >> it is one thing to critique, it is another thing to say, nobody should even be able to look at this, to even read it, as if you are some sort of crazy person. >> i will just say one thing, in the three or four years it took between the time i wrote my last book and talked about the same risks that are in the cast report, two until the mainstream media worked up the backbone to actually do some reporting, tens of thousands of american children were harmed. >> and what you are saying -- i certainly wouldn't be the one saying -- that there aren't trans folks who, we do need some transitioning, sometimes. what you were just saying is, there are no guardrails on desperate >> and these are children. this is not the bodies of adults, they can do whatever they want with their bodies. >> using children as cannon fodder in their culture wars, is what it looked like to me. i don't want you to move. i'm gonna miss you so much. you realize we'll have internet waiting for us at the new place, right? oh, we know. we just like making a scene. transferring your services has never been easier. get connected on the day of your move with the xfinity app. can i sleep over at your new place? can katie sleep over tonight? sure, honey! this generation is so dramatic! move with xfinity. i see this week's google has been caught doing something -- why did the tech companies do this? they have been caught collecting and sometimes leaking personal data of users, so you might want to erase that browser history. but, we thought it would be a good time because of this to do one of our favorite bits on the show, called "revealing google searches." >> [ audience reacts ] >> we believe here at "real- time," that when you look at somebody's google search, it does look a lot about them. for instance, melania trummp google, two felony convictions violate a prenup? rfk jr., where does brain work -- brain worm go? nick cannon, how many kids does nick cannon have? elon musk, "baby names that sound like license plates." oh, justice samuel alito googled "fit flags that mean not fascist, just pussy- whipped. " richard dreyfus googled "safe amount of opiates to take before a public appearance." wow. ben affleck googled "divorce lawyers that accept batman memorabilia." kanye west googled, "what to say when woman asks if anyone else at the party will be naked." rupert murdoch, "name of woman who recently married rupert murdoch." and lauren boebert, "could you get an std on your hand?" terrible. terrible, terrible. [ applause ] >> all right, airlines configure these first-class seats that feature a for curve the 22 inch screen for a cinematic experience but only if they are paired with those double-decker seats in economy. [ laughter ] on a new carrier called inequality airlines -- yes, inequality airlines -- there is something special in the air, it is just not you. >> [ applause ]. >> don't bring your kid to the office if your office is the united states congress. tennessee representative john rose did just that while making a furious speech denouncing trump prosecution, and look what happened? someone acted -- >> [ audience reacts ] >> yeah, someone acted like a goofy, childish more on, and this poor kid had to sit through it. [ laughter ] new rule, let's stop rewarding every family that has too many kids with a reality show on tlc. >> [ applause ] >> the latest one is the baldwin's. seven kids born in a 10 year span. wow. guess there were no blanks fired in that house. >> [ audience reacts ] >> well, they shouldn't prosecute him. that is the serious point. they should not. , now that a remote amazon tribe has connected to elon musk's starlet -- -- -- styling internet and become addicted to , i say, congratulations. oh, sure, the liberal inclination is to promote the encroachment of modernity on such an innocent, unsettling people, but that is not what the amazon tribes themselves are saying. they are saying, thanks, elon, it sure beats jerking off to this tree. [ laughter ] new rule, now that researchers say marijuana use has surpassed alcohol as america's drug of choice, they have to answer this -- >> [ audience reacts ] >> you're welcome. they have to answer this question. if alcohol use is declining, why is it still not safe to eat at a waffle house? i mean -- not to always be the marijuana advocate, but do you know what the stoners are doing while the fight is going on? eating their waffles! >> [ audience reacts ] >> and finally, new rule, someone has to look into the puzzling paradox of why it is that rape jokes are completely unacceptable, unthinkable, and totally out of bounds, but raped-in-prison jokes, fucking hilarious! never a bad time to do the one about how you drop the soap in the prison shower, better not bend over for it. and look, with all the talk now about trump possibly going to jail, we have all been doing it, i mean, it is not just trump. given the opportunity, it is natural to want to imagine him getting fucked in the ass. >> [ audience reacts ] >> i'm just saying, maybe we shouldn't. if not for him, then for the nearly 2 million people behind bars at any given time during this country. that is more people than 12 states. they should have their own two senators, and one can be bob menendez. america has a higher incarceration rate than russia, or china, or almost any of the other evildoer countries who we are always shitting our pants over, and for someone, everyone -- everything at walgreens is still locked behind plexiglass. but, for some reason, americans simply accept that not only do we lock up way more people, but that if you are a criminal of any time, yes, sodomy is the appropriate comeuppance. they say, if you want to survive prison, the first thing you do when you get there, what you have to do, is go up to the biggest, baddest guy, and punch him in the face, which i find also works if you are a passenger on delta. >> [ audience reacts ] >> as a prisoner here in america, you will either be alone, in solitary -- which drives you out of your mind -- or, completely on top of everybody else heard inmates in america are routinely forced to sleep on the floor and to fight for access to toilets and showers. of the world's 25 most dangerous prisons, four are here in the u.s., the san quentin, the super max in colorado, and the state pen in new mexico. where, for $45, oh, yes, you can tour the cellblock, where 33 inmates were killed in one of the worst prison riots in history. so, bring the kids, and don't forget to get that salt for the gas chamber. >> [ audience reacts ] >> here in california, the prison in dublin made headlines because it is where they sent lori loughlin after her college cheating scandal, but have since closed. why? because the rape club that the guards had going was so impervious and ingrained it was just easier to shutter the whole place. and prison in america is a place that forces the people in it -- forces them -- to become racists. if you are black, you are with the brothers, if you are white, you have to join the aryans in it. there is no "leave me out of it, i like everybody." let's just all get "coexist" tattoos on our knuckles. yeah. i mean -- >> [ audience reacts ] >> what kind of society is cool with all of this? we call them "correctional facilities," but that is like calling the nfl a brain development program. and look, i am not saying that it is not okay to lock people up. it is. of course it is. diddy does it all the time. >> [ audience reacts ] but, it is not okay to deliberately violate the eighth amendment's prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment. fake tough guys think, hey, if prison is bad enough, it will incentivize people to stay out of trouble after they get out, but they are long. it actually does the opposite. within a year of released, around 40% of prisoners are rearrested. within 10 years, it is 82%. and i don't think they want back in because they miss the toilet one. if we are trying to make inmates into criminals for life, it is working, because prisoners like linkedin for lowlifes, you can't beat the networking. it is a taxpayer-funded criminal mentorship program. but, here is the thing. around 95% of all inmates eventually to get out, so the question becomes, who do we want returning to society? some hapless broke dude goes in for selling drugs or passing a bad check and if you years later, he comes out a sexual predator with white power written on his neck. and we sort of just accept that light, that is how prison words. you go in bad, you come out worse. if you are lucky, when you get out, we will let you work the carnival, or the toll booth, or date britney spears. >> [ audience reacts ] >> jesus. it almost makes stealing catalytic converters not worth it. but, it doesn't have to be this way. we could change. there are even places in the world that offer a model as to what that would look like. norway's recidivism rate is 20%. prisoners there do yoga, they learn a trade, there is a playground for their kids when they visit, and the guards aren't maniacs who failed the police psych exam. and it is a place that looks less like our prisons and more like what you would find on an american college campus only, of course, with less anti- semitism. >> [ audience reacts ] >> of course, the big difference is that unlike here, scandinavian countries don't have private, for-profit prisons. that is what we have here. and corporations, it turns out, don't run prisons to improve society, they run them to make money, which means putting more people in the system, and the more prisoners, the more profit. this is why they lobby congress with three strikes rules and keeping weed illegal. they don't want them rehabilitated. they want to return customers. all right. that is our show. if you enjoyed this editorial -- we have more just like it for you, right up there! if that is not a father's day press, i don't know what is! june 21st and 22nd, with the music hall in boston june 26th. thank you, matt welch! now, we are going to watch "overtime" on youtube. thank you. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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