S18.E05: Amy Klobuchar, Katie Couric, Pramila Jayapal, Van Jones, and Bret Stephens

[Guest]

Airs February 14, 2020

Quote

Guests: Alan Dershowitz, Amy Klobuchar, Katie Couric, Pramila Jayapal, Van Jones, and Bret Stephens

 

[Medicine Crow]

I don't give a rat's ass about any of his guests, so ...

[Broderbits]

Apparently Dershowitz is NOT going to be on tonight's show. Instead, they're listing Amy Klobuchar along with the other 4 scheduled guests.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Broderbits said:

Apparently Dershowitz is NOT going to be on tonight's show. Instead, they're listing Amy Klobuchar along with the other 4 scheduled guests.

I guess he's too busy getting a massage or something.

I'll update the thread title!

[Victor the Crab]

8 hours ago, Broderbits said:

Apparently Dershowitz is NOT going to be on tonight's show. Instead, they're listing Amy Klobuchar along with the other 4 scheduled guests.

A huge upgrade.

[Caseysgirl]

I wish Bill would stop obsessing about Trump refusing to leave the White House if he loses - for one thing, the way it looks now he won’t have to. But should a miracle happen, giving Trump ideas isn’t going to help. It was nice seeing three rational people on the panel trying to talk Bill off the ledge. Haven’t seen Katie Couric in a long time, but she was refreshing. Now, if they could just find someone to replace Bill.

[sistermagpie]

The thing about him leaving, as someone here said recently, is it's pretty hard to expect the candidate to really have an answer. Someone who's not in charge of the army isn't going to want to start talking about how they're going to use the army in this type of situation.

Still, it does seem like a train wreck waiting to happen to have everyone just keep 1) putting it on the voters and saying how we have to win by a landslide or else the Republicans get to keep the White House and 2) our systems will take care of anything inappropriate he wants to do, unlike the way they've just failed us in a major way.

Also again frustrating how he keeps preemptively blaming voters that care about things like Civil Rights for losing the election. I did like when Van Jones pointed out that black voters have just as much right to hold grudges as white voters. Bill acts like it's just desserts if voters refuse to vote for any candidate who supports trans rights but people associating Bloomberg with the many times they were harassed on the street because that was a policy he championed (and Trump still champions!) are just being oversensitive over a slip of the tongue.

[Pike Ludwell]

I don't share Bill's big concern about Trump not leaving office, though it is a possibility if the election is close. Nevertheless, I like the question as a way of looking into the personality of the candidate, and seeing if they "get it". So far the responses have been tantamount to Dukakis's lame answer on the death penalty if his wife was murdered. Milquetoast gets these people nowhere. They need a sense of theater and when to use it. Bill's question is an ideal hypothetical where they could answer along the lines of Van Jones and even go into more detail. Have fun with it. Use Bill's show or MTP or whatever as a theatrical device. Score points. That's what it's all about. Don't try to be as milquetoast as you can get away with. You should LOVE to get a question like that, for what you can do with it!! Bill's giving them a gift and they don't even realize it.

Edited February 15, 2020 by Pike Ludwell

[Cyranetta]

I would think that the best answer to the what-if-Trump-won't-leave question is something like, "There are several options, but if I mention them now it gives the opposition room to counter them, so you'll just have to wait and see."

[Caseysgirl]

With Trump’s need to punish every grievance, I would be hesitant to suggest any kind of solution because if you lose , he’s coming for you and your family. It’s all very fine to chide candidates for not standing up to him, but they have to live with 5he consequences.

[Pike Ludwell]

It's possible to be overly fearful and cautious. Then Trump has won.

[Victor the Crab]

No Bill, you fucking bunghole. The election was lost because there are far too many racists in America who don't know any fucking good. But keep on booing your audience, you triggered snowflake. Your day of reckoning WILL come.

I would think Bill would be more appreciative of sex robots, given how his sexist misogynistic outlook makes him far less attractive to the vast majority of women out there,

[kicksave]

7 hours ago, Victor the Crab said:

No Bill, you fucking bunghole. The election was lost because there are far too many racists in America who don't know any fucking good. But keep on booing your audience, you triggered snowflake. Your day of reckoning WILL come.

I would think Bill would be more appreciative of sex robots, given how his sexist misogynistic outlook makes him far less attractive to the vast majority of women out there,

Amen to everything you said...Trump won because there was the underlying hatred of minorities and the fear that "white" America was going to be the minority in the near future...add to that all the wealthy people who voted for him so they could get that big tax cut they feel they deserve. And your point about Bill's misogyny is spot on...this is a guy who spent a lot of time at the Playboy Mansion back in the day banging "bunnies" and Playboy Magazine models...he has said in recent interviews that he only dates much younger women...what a cliche he is. He's no feminist that's for sure. 

[ShuFace88]

I'm surprised the candidates who come on the show don't have a better prepared answer to Bill's question about Trump not leaving. He asks it every show. I would say something along the lines of "Once John Roberts administers the oath of office, the Secret Service and US Marshalls now work for me. They don't take too kindly to unauthorized people in the Oval Office".

[dosodog]

My answer would be:

Have someone go to the nearest McDonald's, buy a bunch of Big Macs, place them on the floor leading out the front door......

 

[movingtargetgal]

7 hours ago, ShuFace88 said:

I'm surprised the candidates who come on the show don't have a better prepared answer to Bill's question about Trump not leaving. He asks it every show. I would say something along the lines of "Once John Roberts administers the oath of office, the Secret Service and US Marshalls now work for me. They don't take too kindly to unauthorized people in the Oval Office".

I would imagine that any passwords and secret codes Trump has will automatically transfer to the New President as soon as Roberts administer the oath of office.  The military would be under the authority of their new Commander and Chief.  If Trump refuses to leave the White House, I think his Secret Service detail will gladly carry his obnoxious ass off the property.  

[Broderbits]

7 hours ago, ShuFace88 said:

I'm surprised the candidates who come on the show don't have a better prepared answer to Bill's question about Trump not leaving. He asks it every show.

Since Bill doesn't seem to be capable of letting anything drop, I don't think it much matters what answers he's given. "Trump won't leave" is part of his shtick now and he's probably will keep it in rotation along with the infamous Berkeley outrage. Paranoid and predictable, that's our Bill.

[Pike Ludwell]

I agree that the military, etc. would be on the side of the new prez, in the unlikely event... I think the candidate should throw red meat to the base and say something along the lines "I would hope it would be done without bloodshed, but if Trump or his SS agents draw, shots would have to be fired and there would be bloodshed. I would hope we could extricate Trump without too much physical damage to himself." Attention would be gotten, the reaction would be sympathetic. Win Win.  Candidates should be having fun with it, not running scared to death, finger to the wind, or hyper cautious.

Edited February 17, 2020 by Pike Ludwell

[seltzer3]

Felt that Maher and Bret Stephens were rude to Jayapal.

[sistermagpie]

12 hours ago, movingtargetgal said:

I would imagine that any passwords and secret codes Trump has will automatically transfer to the New President as soon as Roberts administer the oath of office.  The military would be under the authority of their new Commander and Chief.  If Trump refuses to leave the White House, I think his Secret Service detail will gladly carry his obnoxious ass off the property.  

Bill's question is probably off the mark anyway because the whole discussion on the show centered around Trump openly declaring himself president and literally refusing to leave the house. But lawyers sounding the alarm think if anything like that happened it would be the same way everything else has--he'd just claim "irregularities" that had to be "investigated" and the Republicans and his judges would support him--this is all before the inauguration.

So Bill's fears about Trump leaving could be true but still total fantasy.

 

 

[Sam Spayaid]

I wish Bill would drop that "what if Trump won't leave" nonsense. Come on! This is a democracy, not some banana republic! Of course he'll leave....HE HAS TO!!!! That's how it works when you lose an election. I don't think even Trump, in his vast delusions and narcissism is that stupid. Then again.....

[12catcrazy]

Re Trump refusing to leave if he loses the Presidency - just shut down the White House kitchen and only bring in Vegetarian Indian takeout food.  He'll pack his bags within 3 days! 

[UYI]

8 hours ago, UpTooLate said:

Whether or not the oath is administered, the new President becomes President at noon on January 20th. The oath is theatrical, but unnecessary. (I remember this from when Justice Roberts messed up the wording while swearing in Obama, and there was some question about whether Obama was legally President. He was, and would have been, even if he and Justice Roberts had recited The Pledge of Allegiance together.)

So at 12:01, the military, etc., comes under the control of the new President and Trump would become a squatter. That's what I'm waiting for someone to tell Bill when asked.

Chris Matthews said this very thing  about a year or so ago to Bill when the question was asked, so I'm guessing that Bill realized he got his ass handed to him on that and has been looking for a "cooler" answer ever since? I don't know, maybe.