Bill Press: The Case Against Trump

welcome bill foe right we decided not to wear  our masks that's it maybe we'll just Koff well   well kind of engineer right sorry Oh head yeah  I stopped at three places on the way here to buy   a mask and couldn't find one they were all sold  out I have one for $25 so bill in 2004 you wrote   a book called Bush must go ten reasons today  we're here to talk about it book effectively   titled Trump must go and there's a hundred reasons  so there's something exponential I think in those   two numbers so I thought we would start is for  you to give us a sense of your your title speaks   for itself but some of the highlights of the  reasons why you feel that our presidency one way   or another has to turn over glad to thank you let  me just first of all say thank you all for coming   out today it's great for me to be smoking all  here in San Francisco for one thing I wrote a   memoir earlier this year called from the left  where I talked about I got my political start   my media started here in San Francisco teaching I  started out teaching high school at Sacred Heart   high school I came here to start a new life  running away from the seminary word I've been   studying for the priesthood and so California  is my home we saw the house in Inverness I was   teaching school high school here volunteer in the  McCarthy for president campaign met my wife Carol   up at Fox Plaza that's where the headquarters was  and we were married here I had our first son here   so San Francisco I really feel is my home it's  great great to be back and great to be back here   at the Commonwealth Club I have to tell you for  a voracious reader like me and a book collector   like me and an author like me it's great to get  out and meet people who love books and read books   mm-hmm and maybe even Bible yeah so so it's good  to be with you all yeah the thing about the book   Bush must go I was disappointed that not enough  people read that book it was published in 1984   I was hoping it might make a difference maybe  it did but not enough of a difference so he was   reelected yeah that was ten reasons with Donald  Trump the discipline was to hold it to a hundred   reasons I could add a lot more and I will leave  or burrow through and you could add a lot more   so we decided we'd do the top 100 reasons and  these are just in the first 18 months the book   was obsolete the moment it was published it was  further obsolete yesterday after his trip to after   his trip to California but I guess to sum it up  I mean I really think that Donald Trump is the   worst public official since the Roman Emperor  Caligula you may remember Caligula appointed   his horse the consul of Rome were the Roman people  were luckier than we are they got the whole horse yeah and you know we normally and I'm a policy  wonk I was Jerry Brown's policy director his   first his first term of office from 75 to 79 and  in Washington I mean in my show I talked about   policy interview congressmen and Senators about  public policy so in your when you're looking at   any president you've got to really look at the  president's policies and and certainly there's   lots of that disagree with but I think with Donald  Trump you have to start there's something else you   have to start with was this Donald Trump the  person and I really think it's not that I want   anybody to hate Donald Trump but yeah because  I don't like I don't have any hate in my life   try not to in any rate but he's a person you  must profoundly dislike the more you look at   him and get to know him and hear what he says  and see the things things that he did he does I   mean we've never had a president sink so low in  his public discourse and I and and so the first   thing I look at in the book is the fact that he  is without doubt in my opinion a racist he is a   sexist he is a sexual predator he'd misogynist  him you can go down the list and we have never   had a president who's brought that much disgrace  to the Oval Office which as an American I really   find troubling because I mean you mentioned George  Bush I would take George W Bush back today in a   partner over Donald Trump because at least the man  was an honest man with dignity and with respect   for the office and tried to do what he felt was  best for the United States of America of course   I disagreed with him on a lot of issues but  Donald Trump shows no no respect for the office   and I find it hard to have respect for a person  who calls women dogs who calls african-american   players sons of [ __ ] who last week told one  african-american reporter to sit down and shut   up told another african-american reporters that  she asked a stupid question as told her another   one she asked of racist question so all in all I  think we deserve better we are better than that   and we deserve better than that and so the final  point I don't want to drone on and on but I ice   when I wrote this I sort of saw this when it came  out it came out the same day by the way as Robert   would words as Bob Woodward's book fear and I  think this is sort of am I putting myself up on   his level kind of maybe a little bold of me but  I see that like companion books in the sense that   Bob Woodward showed there's a lot of disarray  in the White House I wanted to show the result   of that disarray which is make the case for why  Donald Trump is dangerous for the American people   and he has already done enough damage it'll take  us decades to recover thank you we'll weave in   audience questions as we go along but right now I  will simply accumulate them and get a sense of the   theme our themes we say that or you say that and  yet there is a significant percentage of people   in the United States who support Trump if you were  to try to dunk at what's the term I want describe   or categorize the reasons why people are so behind  what Trump is doing notwithstanding the misogyny   or the racism or so forth that you describe what  is that what is the dynamic that's going on you   know it really puzzles me in it and it troubles me  there is there is no doubt and we always hear this   well that may sound crazy but his base likes it  you know and I keep saying I'm tired of talking   about his base I mean I think we have to accept  the fact sadly that there are 35 maybe as many as   40% of Americans who are going to be with Donald  Trump no matter what he does just says I think   the truest thing that Donald Trump ever said was  that Herron could walk out on Fifth Avenue and   shoot somebody and get away with it because his  base wouldn't care mm-hmm I mean that's stunning   but true I believe so I almost think we have  to kind of write them off and we're not going   to change them they're gonna be there until the  last dog dies but in terms of analyzing them I   think they're did fall into two camps one camp  is let me back up in the 2016 primary I helped   in a very little way by denigrate I help Bernie  Sanders get started because I really did not want   to see a coronation and I did I and Bernie and I  talked about this and he felt that somebody had   to stand up and talk about progressive issues  in the Democratic primary and address people   who really felt left out and left behind by this  economy and didn't share the fact that all boats   had been lifted by this economic recovery yeah  and speak to people in the heartland who speak   to working-class Americans and that Hillary would  not on her own do that so somebody had to raise   those issues that's why I supported Bernie and the  primary source of courses toward Hillary in the   general thousand percent so Bernie spoke to those  issues so did Donald Trump mm-hmm very effectively   right and I think so part of that the Trump errs  are people who really are left out and there are   a lot of American millions of Americans again  particularly the heartland blue-collar Americans   working class jobs working two or sometimes three  jobs and still finding it hard to pay their bills   at the end of the month they don't trust they  don't like the establishment Republican Party   they don't like the establishment Democratic Party  they don't like Washington they want an outsider   they want somebody who's going to shake things  up Bernie would have and Trump would have I mean   I know labor leaders that I talked to told me they  were afraid of releasing the polls some of them of   their members because their members were telling  them I'm for Bernie in the primary yeah but if he   doesn't win I'm gonna vote for Trump and they got  that what you can't do that but for those reasons   and then maybe that's I would hope 60% or 70% of  those people but there's another 20 or 30% who   are who are as racist as Donald Trump and Donald  Trump is just saying out loud what they're being   thinking they've been thinking all along and those  are the people who you know I really do not think   certainly represent the best of America and they  see in Donald Trump somebody who who makes it okay   you know to either gets women or people of color  or LGBTQ Americans and they feel that they're not   they're second class Americans they don't deserve  the same rights we do and Donald Trump gives them   all the encouragement that they've ever more  encouragement than they've ever had I mean when   Donald Trump last week said I'm a nationalist and  I'm proud to be in nationalist David came out and   said blood for him because we know when he says  nationalist he means white nationalist there and   Donald Trump never condemned him or corrected him  or said no no that's not what I meant so you know   the dog whistles mmm Donald Trump there more than  dog whistles there yay team yet it's like picking   up mercury because whenever you write you talk  to somebody and they'll say oh well that's not   quite what he meant I'm talking about people  like Kellyanne Conway or senator Sanders or   other spokespeople for Trump they always have a  way of sliding to point over to ambiguity well   I am a member of the White House press corps I  still have my hard pass they have not taken it   away from me Jim Acosta is a good friend and I  suggested to levy a noxes that power president   now if the White House Correspondents Association  that we should have a we should all gather on the   front lawn of the White House and burn our hard  passes in solidarity with Jim Acosta but wisely   then they don't have to have press conference  well they don't have them anymore they don't   have any way anymore right what's it like but I  was just gonna say boots here would be Sanders I   I really find it difficult because she's so just  ugly and mean it's it's it's like it's so tense   in those press briefings they start and I went to  every single one of them during the eight years   of Barack Obama for me and I didn't agree with  everything Obama did either I'm a I'm a lefty but   I actually wrote a book about my disappointment in  an Obama called buyer's remorse because praising   him for all the good things he did but saying you  know there's a lot of stuff he didn't do at any   rate but so but with the press briefings for the  Obama they were like an hour long you didn't get a   lot of information but every day you got something  and you could push and press and that's a there's   there's always attention there right sure hoarders  are trying to find out as much as they can and   the White House is trying to tell you as little  as they can mm-hmm that's the name of the game   and everybody knows it but with with with sarah  huckabee sanders the briefings start very late   later in the day they're always a half an hour  later than at least a half an hour later then   they're called for so you sit there for a long  time waiting for her and she comes in and a site   basically on the attacks you start out attacking  the media attacking the fake news and anybody ask   a question you know she doesn't like it she'll say  if that's stupid question and then won't know then   if I follow through it's really and I I I find  it hard to sit there without a couple of times   I found myself Schaben out no I thought I better  be careful they've got to drag me out of here so I   don't know how we got off on that it's not really  a part who said about slippery parts watching her   you know usually everything every question tough  question she converts into an attack on the media   you're not talking about all the good things  we're doing right and then doesn't answer the   question I mean that's been true of the news as  long as I know right that's what news is about   about problems and issues and what we're gonna  do to solve them it's not about there it's a   wonderful sunny day today I mean if you go back to  George Washington complain to pop the media yeah   you know so so famously said that Thomas Jefferson  jana dwight eisenhower talked about this in safe   sensation-seeking columnist right Spiro Agnew the  nattering nabobs of negativism right great phrase   but so there's a long history yeah you know John  Kennedy famously got along with the press so well   and they loved him but still you know he was I  mean the Bay of Pigs right he really felt that   they had not served him well and then he admitted  later that he had not served them well but no   front so there's always this tension but now it's  out right hostility when you call members of the   media the enemy of the American people first of  all it's Stalin esque they used the exact same   phrase hmm and without that probing members of  the media to hold our government officials feet   to the fire and to tend to tell us the American  people what's going on I mean our democracy is is   seriously undermined civics 101 we set up Congress  the executive the judiciary and the press right   under the First Amendment nor the Bill of Rights  and those are they're supposed to be a healthy   tension Congress is a check on the president the  president tries to get around Congress tries to   be an executive and judiciary it if you believe  Marbury vs. Madison is still good law well has   its own rule and if you're Matt Whittaker you  don't believe well that's my subtle reference   look the Fourth Estate I believe is as important  as the other three that's my point absolutely and   without the Fourth Estate yeah these three don't  work they all need the Fourth Estate and they're   not always be great and then it's gonna be right  they being the press they're gonna make mistakes   they're gonna report things with a slant but  that's better than not having a press the other   thing I'm I'm always thinking ahead to like the  next book right and and I think what would make   a good book would be to do a book on the things  that we know about this administration thanks to   the New York Times and The Washington Post hmm  or maybe you know others too yeah The Guardian   and BuzzFeed has some good stuff HuffPost I mean  they're all good that we know thanks to them that   we would not know mmm never know from the through  the official channels take the famous June 9   meeting at Trump Tower mmm that Donald Trump jr.  called right there wasn't that was never reported   it never recorded you know so the New York Times  found out about it and then Donald Trump himself   wrote the memo saying you know it was all about  adoption do you know it and if I just point out   sorry too but here's a problem so we go to the  press briefing and Sarah Huckabee Sanders told   us over and over again looking at right in the eye  Donald Trump knew nothing about that statement had   nothing to do with it he was up front on Air Force  One it was written in the back of Air Force One   and the president no knowledge at all and then it  comes out that he wrote it and then you challenge   her about that and she denies it and says well  maybe he saw it but he didn't write it or you   know just got it just lies just lies what are  you doing a case like that you know you have to   report it you can't ignore it and then you get  called fake news because your report right the   news the same thing with the payments to stormy  Daniels the President himself on therefore Swann   told us I wasn't in that on that flight that  he knew nothing at all of the fact that Michael   Cohen had arranged these payments hush money to  stormy Daniels and then Rudy Guiliani by the way   whatever happened to really Giuliana you know  suddenly you could not turn on the television   without seeing him and now he's disappeared right  but some rudy goes on hannity and says oh yeah the   president arranged for that and knew all about it  and proved it and even had it he said oh I didn't   know that do you think that was really clever  or was it incompetent Rudy well no that whole   kind of flip you know just all of a sudden you  go in Hannity and say that all of a sudden well   I think it was gross incompetence on the part  of Rudy Giuliani my father I'd never hire him   as my attorney oh yeah but Ron the thing is Donald  Trump didn't hire Rudy Giuliani as this attorney   he hired him as a as a TV talker right and you  know he's good at it doesn't always tell the   truth but I mean he's glib and then tip hmm that's  another book I didn't take it Wow the people that   Donald Trump was hired because he saw them on TV  yeah it doesn't always work out right but Rudy is   one matwood incurs one right look at this story  about Matt Whittaker Matt Whittaker was where was   he out in the Midwest somewhere and he even got a  job in Washington yeah and so we asked Sam Clovis   who was the campaign chair at one time so what  you do is head clubs said get a job on TV as a   commentator yeah and Trump will see you on TV say  all the right things and Trump will hire you he's   Attorney General of the United States Jesus  right fact that you're acting you're acting   yeah that's how he got the job there's a I don't  know it's wrong with me I've been on television   I think we could the there's a part of the title  of your book in parentheses Donald Trump must go   and one reason why he shouldn't right so let's  go to the parenthetical qualification well I   would point out that first of all that's not a  plea to save him and anything in any way yeah   there's not I don't know I don't want to step  on the main message there there but there could   be some people would say the one reason is better  to have him there is because well for those of us   in the media while we complain about his attacks  he's good for ratings yeah right - no doubt about   that CNN MSNBC near times record sales record  subscriptions so he's good for the media that's   one reason another reason might might be that he's  good for the Democratic Party there are California   here we go so at one point in my career I was  the state chair of California Democratic state   chair of California for three years a great  great fun great time and we did I think a lot   of good built a base that now is yeah you know  basically there's no Republican Party there's   just a Democratic Party in California but they're  in in my day Orange County was very trump country   didn't call it that well it was right in country  that was Reagan cry it was John Wayne Yeah right   we called it we used to have been joking and in  the party about going behind the orange curtain   mm-hmm that's what we called it when you went to  Orange County the seven congressional districts   yeah there are still seven congressional districts  today they are all blue they're all Democrats all   seven which is incredible and I just read this  morning the person who ran like I think three   or four of those campaigns for the Republicans  did not have a good night said that all of them   would be read today if it were not for Donald  Trump hmm said Donald Trump is the reason why   all those districts went from red to blue now  he may have been exaggerating maybe been a sore   loser but I guess my point is he has been done  in many ways to Trump you can talk about the   midterms it has really helped help look I was one  of the biggest after the anti-war marches here in   San Francisco when I was just getting started in  politics mm-hmm the greatest political experience   my life was the March with the women's march on  Washington the day of the inauguration and that   that energy that we saw there has just kept going  and and and has brought so many women particularly   to run for office get involved in campaigns you  know really the resistance was born there and it   hasn't stopped so but my reason is yeah Mike Pence  because I'm afraid that Mike Pence were he too   however Donald Trump might go whether he criminal  indictment and he resigns or he's impeached or   John Trump jr. gets indicted and they make a  deal I'll step down if you don't send him to   prison whatever however he goes we'd get stuck on  my Pence and pence may look like a reasonable guy   but he I think first of all he's a true believer  Donald Trump does not Don Trump doesn't believe   in anything Mike Pence is a true believer and we  saw as some of the things that he did when he was   governor of Indiana and he's a former member of  Congress he's got better relationships with people   in Congress he's a you know wheeler dealer in that  sense I think of Mike Pence for president we'd   have the money for the wall because he would've  been able to I don't know make some deal maneuver   give them something that I wanted I think he could  be more effective getting bad things done mm-hmm   so I'd be afraid of him Mike Pence but I must say  I I raised that issue with Maxine Waters nobody's   been more and spoken about impeaching president  than Maxine and I said like yeah but Maxine what   do you say and Maxine here's what I say let's get  rid of Donald Trump then we'll take on Mike Pence   yeah yeah this is one way to think about it but  the long-term strategy you mentioned the election   and I that takes us there because the Democratic  strategy in winning the I'll say winning winning   the house in a couple of weeks ago was to stay  away from the kind of demagoguery and the caravan   and the health and to stick with the health care  issues and the jobs and the economy and so forth   and so I'm wondering if that strategy is something  Democrats are capable of internalizing as a party   and continuing to behave in a controlled fashion  like that yes but let me get any that but first   let me say there's a reason why but personally  when we're talking about the house mm-hmm that the   house was on message and on the right issue and  had the resources to win the right message to win   and the resources to win and the right candidates  to win and that reason is Nancy Pelosi okay and   our Nancy bows yeah people people don't give her  enough credit and I just wrote a column about   this I mean first of all I've known NC a long time  but I've seen Nancy operates seeing her work and   she just just not been a leader like her ever I  don't think and I'm I'm amused more than anything   by this rump faction and again I've sort of Bernie  against Hillary I like debate in our own and and I   like I think primary challenges are good I'm not  saying they're doing anything wrong in running   against Nancy I'm just saying they don't really  have their [ __ ] together if I can say that here   no on the radio there's dead I have their stuff  together correct myself you're not said it there's   17 of them or so and they don't have a candidate  there's not one of them who's willing to stand up   and say I'm running against a Nancy there's a sign  they'll all sign the letter saying we won somebody   else well who you know I mean I'm not the only one  who's use this phrase you can't beat somebody with   nobody right and I had congressman dan Kildee from  Michigan on my show the other day and Dan said   he's the Nancy supporter but he said okay they're  saying we need new leaders what does it say about   their leadership if they're not even willing to  announce as a candidate that's right so having   said that I I think Democrats were very very  successful this time this year in keeping their   eye on the ball particularly talking about health  care and isn't it funny Donald Trump has succeeded   in doing something that Barack Obama could never  do Donald Trump has made the Affordable Care Act   popular now people like Obama yeah yeah but you  know why cuz they've had it for like five years   it's not perfect I thought Obamacare was a sellout  because it leaves the insurance companies still in   charge I'm a single-payer guy so okay and and it  didn't do anything about prescription drugs it was   at best I think a weak compromise but it gets us  closer to the to the universal health care of them   we've ever been and it's a good programs got some  great advantages it just needs to be made in my   opinion stronger give States the option of doing  a single-payer thing and and and build on that but   Nancy and particularly when the Republicans are  out there right now they're in court trying to   get rid of the protection on pre-existing country  existing conditions now Don Trump says we're going   to protect them the Trump administration is in  court supporting twenty I think it is Republican   attorneys general to try to get that measure so  they're totally against it no matter what they   say Nancy focused on that Democrats vote on that  they focused on jobs they focus on the minimum   wage mm-hmm and it worked at the same time they  didn't have to make the election about Donald   Trump he was he was the overall presence I think  I mean this was also having said that this was a   referendum on Donald Trump he made it that they  didn't have to which was it really I think it   boomeranged on him that he would go out to these  rallies 53 rallies by the way yeah well he was he   was very very busy he didn't have time to go to  Arlington National Cemetery on Veterans Day yeah   because he's so busy he had 53 rallies he's played  golf 160 times since he's been president he didn't   have he was so busy it's at the white longer think  she'd get from the White House to Arlington right   I mean you've been there five minutes particularly  the presidential motorcade didn't have time so he   made it because he would go out to these rallies  and What did he say I'm not on the ballot in a set   of you know technically but yes I am and a vote  for X X if he could remember the name right of   the candidate he was in support a vote for X is a  vote for me so he made it a referendum on himself   and so it was funny I think we had the benefit of  being able to run against him without having to   run against him directly he yet yesterday on it  first Wallace's interview you must have watched   it they were talking about that and he said but  I won the Senate because I went from 51 to 53   and that's what I mean about you can never quite  it's like picking up mercury can never quite pin   things down usually and I get into this so much  so um I guess I should shameless plug but I do   a show every day radio TV from Washington DC it's  at the ungodly hour of 7 to 9 a.m. in Washington   which is even more I'm gonna hear yeah but you  can you can watch it any time a day either live   if you're crazy to get up that early any time  of day just bill press show calm it's 2 hours   I think it's good show you'd enjoy it or you can  watch this little snippets of it or bits of any   interview you want and we got a lot of members  of Congress and Senators but we always talk about   this is when so many times when Donald Trump says  something really outrageous there's just a little   kernel of truth in it that makes it not mm-hm 100  percent yeah phony or JB nineteen nine point nine   but where it's attributable people tell me yes  but for example the news conference said this is   so classic drop the news conference that he had of  the famous Jim Acosta news conference the morning   after yeah and I I was not there because I know  I was I was on NPR that day so I had to do it's   hit on NPR and but he said that first of all they  exceeded expectations in the house mmm-hmm really   it's like going to end up forty seats right  right that's the biggest pickup for Democrats   since Watergate I wouldn't call that exceeding  expectations so he said it was said like a near   total victory and on the Senate he said we're  going to end up with fifty five and they were   projecting given the map this year 55 or 56 I'm  not going to spend it Democrats did not win the   Senate Republicans in the Senate but it's going to  be 51 52 which is almost where they were when they   started then Mississippi is and then then you  look at seven governorships where governorships   in Trump territory Michigan Illinois Wisconsin  or Kansas and then holding on to Pennsylvania   that's a blue wall in the heartland right seven  governorships a seven state legislative chambers   flip blue red to blue that's where Hillary lost  the election yeah they're absolutely and 300 in   the truck country if you people are starting to  say it looks like and 372 state legislative seats   those are very very key in the governor's in the  state legislatures for 2020 and reapportionment   mmm-hmm right so when you add all of that up  I mean I'm calling it anything but a route for   Republicans and for Donald Trump I think is just  not yeah not not not true well it's like Ohio   State gets to say they beat Maryland because they  won by one point in overtime right so it's however   you want to perceive it let's talk about where  the Democrats go from here to the 2020 election   because that's probably if the options you  present in the book the most realistic way that   will change the presidency what yeah we just thank  you sure I had one thing to the to Donald Trump's   post-election analysis yeah which is of course  the the fallback position always is on fraud oh   that's what happened that the Democrats stole they  like I mean it's so cheeky pretend that's a fraud   when you look at what happened in Georgia where  the Secretary of State was the candidate and he   closed polling places I mean they I think was 200  fewer polling places there were 53,000 people who   had registered that he would not certify because  there was some little glitch in in in in the in   the registration form and they shortened the  early voting to just a few days right I mean   doing everything they could to disenfranchise  people and to make it harder for people in   Georgia to vote and the same kinds of things  happen in Florida was I was getting to to me the   craziest thing that Donald Trump said last week  is he accused two people of Florida of going in   to vote and then going out to the car and putting  on a different shirt or a different hat and I got   and going back and voting again yeah I was at the  Miami Book Festival yesterday and there was a big   room about 500 people there and I asked them how  many show of hands did the quick change in your   car be no hands went up so yeah but so I knew we  were going ahead where do we go for it to 2020 if   you want to finish this yeah although I'd say that  would be a good Saturday Night Live skit oh yeah watch this week yeah we have time left and I  think were interested oh thank you very much I   hadn't even noticed these yeah Wow okay I'm not  doing my job here Oh we'll get five I'll make   sure their answer isn't a mic no no but all right  Mike my question was obvious that there has to be   a strategy because it just let me lay a predicate  as you said that a lot of the support for Bernie   Sanders came from people who felt the system was  ignoring or neglecting or prejudicing them they   same with Trump how do the Democrats reach out  and get that group into their tent I would say   they've got a great opportunity with a house you  cannot you cannot be in my opinion exaggerate them   the significance of Democrats having control of  one house at the Congress I prefer they had both   but with the house because with the house first of  all come the very important powers constitutional   powers of oversight only Congress can appropriate  money and then Congress has a responsibility laid   out in the Constitution to make sure that money  is well spent Oh Donald Trump says that's an   attack on the presidency no it's not that's a  job of Congress mm-hmm I mean and by the way   Republicans are going to complain about too many  hearings to which I have one I want to ask one   word Benghazi yeah right or Hillary's emails yeah  so and I think again with Nancy Pelosi they're not   going to overdo it but they are gonna do their  job of oversight investigations appropriations   even subpoenas if necessary but that's one side  of it but here in direct response I think what   you're going to see is that the Democrats  they've already been talking about this they   have an agenda of tackling those issues right  that will address I think the vast majority of   the Democratic base particularly working-class  middle-class Americans and it's going to be but   the things we talk about minimum wage and health  care the famous infrastructure you know Donald   Trump has held I think five times infrastructure  weird there's never any bill there's never these   programs everybody money infrastructure he just  calls it the wind that if I can interrupt that's   one of the that's kind of a no-brainer right now  yeah yeah if he had started with health care I'm   sorry sorry yeah the operator with infrastructure  right instead of health care yeah instead of   trying to repeal Obamacare sixty five times they  voted in the house five times in the Senate if   they had started with infrastructure they would  have had he would have had a huge legislative   bipartisan victory right now I made onto helped  us but he would have had it he could have had it   so I think you're going to see this this house  in the next two years with a very great loan   prescription drugs when infrastructure on waiting  minimum wage on maybe a V&O middle-class tax cut   they may not get them all but that's going to  be they're gonna put that agenda out there they   will run on that agenda they will have thanks to  some court decisions better districts to run from   by the way that's also and some governorships who  can the governor ships have the state legislature   yeah that's just a little casting back those  40 wins this forty two seats one this year   were with the old gerrymandered gerrymandered  districts a lot of people said Democrats could   never win the house back until they until  after the 2020 census 20 new lines right so   they did it regardless so now that even a better  playing field in for 2020 and there are by last   count my count I did this on my show this week  with one guest we went through everybody who's   talking about running in twenty twenty senators  celebrities governors whatever also-rans 30 yeah   30 candidates so off to the races guys interesting  debate stage another thing about 2020 is there I'm   quite a few Senate seats up and I looked it  up and it's 2/3 of them are Republicans know   the map in it you know is much more favorable to  Democrats and much different than this time yeah   yeah so I'm gonna start integrating audience  questions many of them are on the themes that   you've been addressing particularly towards  2020 one of the obvious questions is do you   see a natural selection right now for I'm  not time that Darwin I'm talking about it the Democratic convention a selection for the  candidate uh let me put it this way the one   thing I know about looks like that in 2020 for the  Democrats I also want to jump at put this I also   I hope there will be if Donald Trump was still  there mmm-hmm may not be if he's still there   and he definitely wants to run for reelection  I hope there will be a Republican with enough   balls to stand up and run against Donald Trump for  the primary and I don't know where there will be   Jeff Flake or John Kasich who's been here I saw  it earlier but or or a Mitt Romney that's a yeah   just throwing it out I'm not sure they're gonna  want it retread you know with Mitt Romney who   knows or Ben's ass but that's let's not forget  that that's a possible challenge I think the   Democrats remember the Republicans in 2016 they  there were so many candidates they had to have   the varsity debate and then the JV debate yeah I  think the Democrats are gone to the varsity debate   the JV debate and the middle school debate yeah  I mean thirty think about it right they won't all   fit on the stage yeah and so it's going to be it's  going to be lively i boy I don't have a candidate   right now yeah I think that's the point of the  question is that doesn't seem to be an obvious   there are a lot of great people I mean you look at  it aside from I tell you okay it's not going to be   Michael avenatti yeah I don't want to disappoint  anybody here but okay so I think maybe it's easier   to start scratching people off and then you narrow  it down to 25 I don't know but I hope it will be   I think we need somebody who is good at those  issues we've talked about those are real kind   of can speak to the Democratic base not just a  wall street speak to Main Street I was somebody   who's good on television somebody who's authentic  the way I think it was one thing going for Bernie   Sanders if I had to sum it up I'd like to see a  younger maybe female Bernie Sanders on and who   that is right now but there is a theory among a  lot of Democrats that well look at what happened   with Trump so now we need a middle-of-the-road  white male right with a Twitter account yeah   yeah you know I don't buy that no I had buy that  at all so I I think I want to see how they perform   and how they shake I love Joe Biden I love Bernie  Sanders - I'd love to Lizabeth I like to I like to   many of them so of course Kamala Harris we have  and then our let's not forget Cameron Harris who   by the way I in Washington people used to become  a real rock star already yeah and then everybody   says well she's only been in the Senate two years  and then people say yeah you remember a guy named   Barack Obama mm-hmm or about Abraham Lincoln  another theme of these questions is and this is   kind of a jump shift on you but the effect on our  formation of beliefs about what is true but based   on which cable channel we choose to watch our news  on this whole new industry of opinion television   and as an eponymous member of the press yeah you  know it there's really been in our lifetime a   great evolution in the in the media of course and  I mean I remember okay I started in television and   talk radio in Los Angeles on channel 7 kabc-tv  and I also used to do a lot here on kgo in San   Francisco when kgo was a great station don't think  it is anymore from what I know I used to do Ron   Owens show a lot I filled in for Ron Owens a lot  and in those days there again wasn't that long   ago right on the same station you'd have somebody  like me it was on the left you'd have somebody is   on the right you'd have a Michael Jackson or Ron  Owens who was sort of like in the middle a little   maybe left-of-center but not way but you'd have  a whole variety of voices you don't have that   anymore at all and part of it is there used to  be something called the Fairness Doctrine which   Ronald Reagan got rid of and so that was also true  on television you had to have a mix of voices and   you could no be all right or all left and you had  to have some public service kind of programming   Fairness Doctrine got rid of all of that and and  so now we have in the media two armed camps and in   terms I've wrote a book about this called a toxic  talk just look at talk radio there were some 2000   news talk radio programs stations in the country  and progressive stations at the most there were at   one time almost a hundred out of 2,000 and today  they're probably 40 left yeah so and then you look   at Fox News right number one in cable television  terms of the ratings and you never hear a discuss   I could give me a home where the buffalo roam  where the skies are closet and I never heard a   discouraging word right you never hear that on Fox  News and then MSNBC except for Morning Joe sort of   the other side mmm on CNN isn't sure what it wants  to be I think you know kind of somewhere somewhere   in the middle but not quite I don't think that's  necessarily good for Larry that's the point so   I'll tell you what I mean I think today in terms  of what I consider maybe the best sources NPR   mm-hmm and not as far left as I'd like to see it  but still very very good program very honest very   good reporting I do a show there called here and  now everyone thought which I which I write I think   it's a very good program and the PBS Newshour  and Judy Woodruff III also I must said Carol and   I watch a CBS and NBC news every night to a nice  it's mmm isn't amazing that yeah with everything   going on we still have only a half an hour of  news when the network's like it's all you can   we hit and can't bother with all that stuff  would just give it a half an hour of which   maybe 20 minutes is news and 10 minutes is today's  news and the rest is kind of soft specials button   weather yeah yeah yeah I think the point of the  there side of course it's just that I think the   print reporting today mm-hmm is better than  we've seen it since the days of Watergate Road   to think the investigative reporting today the  New York Times and Washington Post in particular   is outstanding you know and I'm I I wonder  whether the adjectives print is even going to   be appropriate because so much of what we read  now on the New York Times we've finding on the   website the day before the paper comes out well  most people don't you I think we don't all know   I mean most people get their news from my house  and that's my phone in the green yeah this is the   longest I've been without my phone yeah a little  insecure yeah I want to check in there because I   get the headline you know the worst part about my  vote is that I'm I get Trump's tweets all right no   only because I need them for my show not because  and but so when I wake up the first thing I do it   I don't worry as I grab my phone and inevitably  by that time there are two or three tweets from   Donald Trump and I sort of feel like because we  live on Capitol Hill and he's at the White House   I sort of feel like you know they're direct yeah  shots to me but most people get their news online   yeah social media that's my point and that's  pretty scary because there's no there's really   no quality control on that I mean I I put a lot  of stock in Politico which is very good site the   CNN site I think is very good The Huffington Post  site and the hill newspaper those the ones that I   check every morning before I do my show yeah I  think they're trustworthy but then you've got   the Daily Caller and you've got bright part and  you've got Fox and a lot of stuff up there for me   that people just throw [ __ ] against there we go  again against the wall and think it will stick and   there's no journalistic you know the guidelines or  or double-checking at all it's standing back and   watch other than criticizing this in the abstract  I I worry the consequences over we becoming just   little bubbles of information where we go to the  of the candy store that tells us the information   we want to hear and predictably will reinforce  our own predispositions and how are we going to   get a dialogue going if that's what's happening  you can't you can't know and that's what I said   I think the earlier version of talk radio was  better because you might hear something I used   to follow on KBC then I moved to KFI radio in  Los Angeles but but it's still the same format   I used to follow Rush Limbaugh mm-hmm I mean you  talk about being yang right yeah so people were   driving in their car they might really like what  Rush was saying but then they get their hate fix   off on me right but at least they got yeah they  were exposed to do to two different points of view   yeah not today and a lot of people that's that  that's the success of of conservative talk radio   is that they know they'll never hear anything they  disagree with hmm and they don't want to mm-hm and   I don't think again I don't think that serves  as well related I relate this that last week   I went to a little book signing by man used to be  ubiquitous on on television as a commentator isn't   it Stephen Hess he's a Republican now 85 at the  Brookings Institution he wrote a wonderful little   memoir called bit player he worked in the eyes and  for eisenhower he worked for for Richard Nixon for   Jerry Ford he was on PBS's Newshour there is  a point here again as a commentator during the   days of Watergate and he started out arguing  that Richard Nixon he was sure he knows I know   Richard Nixon this this happened this break-in  and all the kind but Richard Nixon didn't know   about it had nothing to do with it I could not  have that's not the Richard Nixon I know and   when the tapes came out the truth came out he  said on know if he was with on the mcniel near   lose our started he said this is my last night  and I was wrong I feel I mislead the American   people hmm I was lied to and I've repeated those  lives on television and this is my last broadcast   I'm not coming back tomorrow well and I thought  yeah and you know what a act of courage but he   said something it's I was a Republican he's very  dismayed with Donald Trump and you know they did   an observation which I thought was really profound  he said my worry is our week when he's gone are we   aren't going to be able to get the poison out of  the system or has he so debased the presidency   and American politics that this is the new norm  that we will accept people now a guy who calls   women dogs I mean yesterday did you see this  yesterday I couldn't I was at the book fair of   Miami and I look at my phone or you go again and  it had this tweet from Donald Trump call calling   talking about little Adam [ __ ] it's what he  tweeted not shift at SCH iff but deliberate and   by the way they didn't say oh that was a mistake  he misspelled it they didn't write end all right   there was a fake he actually put that out about  a member of Congress so and and Stephen has this   thought was I think we get we can get the poison  out if it's only for years not if it's eight years   yeah it'll be pretty scary Reconstruction era  number two which that questioned I mean that   point segues into another fairly consistent theme  and these questions and that is the support of   the evangelical for Donald Trump as a political  phenomenon disgusting unholy this is a it relates   to a bigger question that I think as bad as Donald  Trump will look in the history books the people   who will look worse are Paul Ryan Mitch McConnell  and all of the Republicans in Congress who opposed   him in the primary Lindsey Graham ought you go  down the list who said really terrible things   about him in the primary we all remember and and  yet once he was in the White House now he's their   new best friend they did showing no backbone no  courage no soul I mean and everything that they   had everything that they had preached and four  years right they just you know threw it out the   window all right and went along with it on Trump  I mean even though Access Hollywood tape for a   minute Paul Ryan said I don't want him to be  killed I don't want to be campaigning with him   but and among that crowd right I think the worst  are the evangelicals because I think it this is   really unmasked them for who they are that they're  not really religious leaders or Christian leaders   they are anti-abortion activists anti-gay marriage  activist that's all they care about and Donald   Trump again he could shoot somebody on Broadway  or he could he he he did have stormy Daniels at   the White House frolicking in the White House pool  with him whatever naked they wouldn't care as long   as he pointed concern I should say one other  thing Supreme Court that's been their entire   agenda so if he's appointing conservative judges  particularly Supreme Court people who will vote to   overturn roe v-- wade right and undo the Supreme  Court ruling on same-sex marriage they don't they   don't they don't care and they mask it on well we  are people of forgive you know we're Christians   and we believe in forgiveness right yeah ask  Bill Clinton about that or anybody else you know   know their total hypocrites I believe and and  I don't I don't really feel strongly about this but the worst is Franklin Graham Billy Graham's  Billy Graham's son he's not the only one but I   think he's a Ralph Reed you know Gary Bauer all of  them so what is it what do they stand for I mean   how then they how can they read the Gospels and  and know anything about the life of Jesus Christ   and support Donald Trump I mean I can see there  are crisps good Christian Republicans I'm not   saying but I mean these evangelicals who are  way out there and who wear their religion on   my sleeve and pretend to be that spokespeople for  anybody of faith it's going back to your extension   of that question into people like Lindsey Graham  why has the virtually the entire Republican Party   subordinated itself to the for example immigration  policy and deficits and things that are   traditional conservative issues they're they're  afraid to actually if they're afraid of Donald   Trump they're afraid of this base yeah right  and they're afraid of a primary challenge and   take Lindsey Graham how could you be John McCain's  best friend one day and Donald Trump's best friend   the next mm-hmm I mean this is the man who said  that John McCain was not an American Hero and he   was a phony because he was a prisoner you know I I  don't like people who I don't like people who are   captured who are captured yeah so but and when you  so Lindsey Graham in the in the Cavanaugh hearing   you had to I think realized what was going on he's  up in 2020 and South Carolina's the reddest of the   red states mm-hmm and he's not going to take a  chance that he'll be a primary challenger I also   think they're wrong I mean hasn't been tested but  I I think you could stand up to Donald Trump and   say yes I'm a Republican but I'm not that kind  of rigor again I mean you can have differences   inside of a political party mm-hmm right these  people it's it's amazing to me huh there is no   longer a Republican Party it's the Trump party  it's not the party of Lincoln this is a party in   the Trump it really is and and you know it didn't  just also this important time doing it didn't just   happen overnight all right this has been building  yeah and there was always this element in the   Republican Party and you look at the Tea Party and  it certainly sense that Tea Party the precursors   of Donald Trump John Boehner let them rule role in  the house he wouldn't stand up to them right all   of those phony town meetings that they had against  Obamacare paid for by the Koch brothers then Paul   Ryan takes over he won't stand up to the that's  now the freedom caucus right so these were the   sort of closeted Trump errs who kept kept getting  more and more and more power and now they've that   then comes down on Trump just taken over and the  others just ran for the hills yeah and I think   also the normalization as you described it earlier  of racist misogynistic attitudes were starting to   creep into our dialogue before Trump came on the  political scene yeah and I mean we've always had   the fringes of for either party right but now I've  heard some of this stuff all the time I've been   involved in politics particularly on the far right  mm-hmm Pat Buchanan was Donald Trump before Donald   Trump was Donald Trump yeah yeah yeah you know  and I I know Pat and I saw up attack I saw that   last Saturday they're bringing back the McLaughlin  group no we're trying to yeah and I was a guest in   one of their early shows and I I mean Pat feels  vindicated yeah oh because he was talking about   the same kind of but on the border remember oh  okay yeah yeah Pat wanted to build a fence not   a wall yeah okay fact he told me said again yeah  I should have thought of a wall yeah he said I   was I settled for a fence and left about it right  the wall he thought he might have done better and   he also so on that issue and on the trade issue  mm-hmm that was burned all the trade deals that   we've ever made so he didn't he's he and Donald  Trump are but that but again Pat was the fringe   right yeah I remember the the establishment party  came in and said no no we're not going there but   now that is the Republican Party you mentioned  trade and another thing we really haven't touched   on week and the questions touch on it is the  dissolution of all geopolitical alliances as   though that's the destiny of America where the  world is going the other way and well the this   is one of the things that I mentioned with Stephen  has last week and and and I know two of them but   the same day I I heard Stephen Hess I went to a  little small gathering for a remember guy named   Robert McFarlane mmm-hmm of iran-contra affair I  heard him speak to and both of them were lamenting   the fact Stephen has said about McFarlane that so  many of our alliances that have been that we've   over the last 70 years mm-hmm that have really  served us well particularly the European alliances   post-world War two host World War two everything  that we've built up and and in so many different   areas starting with arms control or just being  shattered by this president you know I think and   I talk about those who force in here pulling out  of the Paris climate Accords we're the only nation   on the freaking planet it was the United States  Nicaragua and Syria now Syria and Nicaragua have   join uh even the Solomon Islands is in it yeah  right where the and and then the Iran nuclear   deal yeah you had seven nations and Iran signed  a deal where they're not going to make they're   gonna agree they they agreed to do what Donald  Trump is trying to get North Korea to do is to   get out of the nuclear weapons business North  Korea is a lot farther along than Iran was but   Iran did it and we had a deal with them that they  signed and everybody says they were living up to   that deal destroyed their centrifuges got rid of  all that nuclear material and yet we punish them   now by putting work by trashing the agreement yeah  and and and putting putting more sanctions on well   I wonder if that's an issue and Jerry Brown and  I've remained really good friends and I talked a   lot about this one of the things he's going to  do post governorship is he is now head of the   he's on the Sam Nunn and Richard Lugar have this  group about working on the nuclear proliferation   because there are a lot of loose nukes out there  particularly and the nuclear material after the   breakup of the of the Soviet empire still and also  he's going to so he's on that board that's this is   an issue that he really wants to spend a lot of  time on he's also the chair of this organization   that has the Doomsday Clock mm-hmm but he and I  were talking the other day he for I'm not talking   about nuclear proliferation anymore really as  an issue I remember marching you know I'm sure   on the on that issue you know here about anymore  it wasn't talked about the 2016 campaign other   than you had a a madman now close to having his  finger on the nuclear button but that's an issue   I think we got to get back in the public in the  public discourse and North Korea is a nuclear   power I'm gonna go just a few minutes over because  there's several questions into what you said you   used the term shattered and the questions say  are we shattering those treaties are we simply   marginalizing ourselves by pulling out of them  and strengthening people like she in China and   creating different alliances in Europe so that  the United States ends up kind of not sitting   at the table well I would hope that the just  speaking about the Iran the Iran nuclear deal   would continue and survive without us I would  hope that the Paris Accords would the nations   involved and thus our states are picking it up yes  but it's hard without the leadership first of all   sure it's sad not to have the leadership of the  United States it's also hard to accomplish them   without that leadership the resources the skills  of the United States so our our absence from them   will profoundly impact I think if they're the  ability get them done we also are strengthened   China and you know and other nations and that's  why McCraw said to a certain extent hey if we   want the United States be with us but if they're  not and true della said the same thing we're just   we'll just go without them right so I would hope  I would hope that would be the case but I think   and particularly you in terms of now Trump is  saying that he wants to trash the first nuclear   arms agreement signed between Russia Russia with  Russia Putin Ronald Reagan and yeah Khrushchev   right the old Soviet Union doctor I think was like  87 something maybe had to be in there whatever   yeah well if we trashed that deal right and then  the the president says he wants to increase our   nuclear arms arsenal by tenfold we're back in a  nuclear arms race so in that case without us yeah   yeah it's a different level well I'm not positive  note you have the pleasure of obtaining this book   outside bill is agreed to talk autograph them  for you and when thank you for giving us the   benefit of your experiment and it's so good  to see you thank you so much thank you so much

Channel: Commonwealth Club of California

Views: 608,733

Keywords: Bill Press, Trump, Politics, Bill Press Show, CA Democrat, Trump Must Go, Commonwealth Club, San Francisco, ANDREA BERNSTEIN: THE TRUMPS, THE KUSHNERS AND AMERICAN GREED, The Kushners, trump 2020, trump vs biden, biden 2020, trump in the news, trump press conference, trump poll numbers, trump family, jared kushner, Invanka trump, trump for president, Mar a lago, Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr

Id: m2usi6n6CdE

Length: 70min 5sec (4205 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 20 2018