Joe Rogan podcast. Check it out.

>> The Joe Rogan Experience.

>> TRAIN BY DAY. JOE ROGAN PODCAST BY

NIGHT. All day.

>> Come on. What's going on? [laughter]

>> For people who don't know, you and I

have been friends for god more than 10

years.

>> How many years has been?

>> I think it's I think it's the year we

got here,

>> which is 14 2012 when we moved from

England. We met in Hawaii on the beach

with our kids.

>> Okay. So, what's your memory? I was just

thinking about that cuz I have a very

particular memory of that.

>> Um, my memory was uh that my children

and your children were playing on the

beach.

>> Exactly.

>> That's how we met.

>> Mhm.

>> It was just they were like digging in

sand. They were real little. They were

the same age.

>> And uh then we just said hi.

>> Yeah. But I remember Okay. I have a

slightly different memory. Okay. What's

your

>> which is like that's exactly right about

the kids.

>> Yeah. Two girls for you, two boys for

me. And your wife was there first before

>> Yes. I think I was in the gym and then I

>> And I just remember

just like remember I've just moved from

England and it's a whole different world

and a different culture and I just

remember you walking down the beach and

I remember I I've never seen anyone like

this before. Just like the it was just

an amazing cultural moment. And then

>> you'd never seen anyone.

>> Well, just like the way, no, just the

way you were, you know, you, you know,

just the way I remember thinking, who's

this guy? I remember I'd never heard of

you. And then I was explaining

um to people I'd Oh, Joe, Joe Rogan. You

met Joe Rogan? It was just an amazing

thing.

[laughter] And then the other thing that

makes me laugh doing this is that

>> we then did the the podcast.

>> Yes. at some point around then.

>> This is before you had any aspirations

of running for governor or anything like

that. That was a long time ago.

>> I just moved I was teaching at Stanford

just very normal kind of

>> lowkey life and I really remember doing

the podcast not knowing what a podcast

was. I literally didn't know. So we came

in and I again I my experience was I'd

been in England um you know I'd worked

in business run a restaurant or two that

kind of thing but most recently I'd been

in politics and government and so I'd in

the media I was aware of all of that and

so you know it wasn't like I was

completely naive but I didn't know what

a podcast was and I literally thought it

was like a radio show or something. I

remember coming in, this is back in LA,

and we sat down and we were chatting for

a few minutes and I literally was

thinking, when's the next guest coming?

[laughter] Like, this seems to be going

on a really long time. And it's like 10

minutes and then 15. Wow, this is a long

time. Normally, you get like 10 15

minutes maximum, right?

>> Half an hour. What? An hour? [laughter]

3 hours.

>> I couldn't believe it. Well, back then

>> I really didn't know.

>> No one knew what a podcast was, right?

>> So, what year was it that Steve was on?

>> On episode 509 20 was June July 3rd of

2014 somewhere.

>> 2014.

>> Yeah.

>> Whoa.

>> Okay.

>> 2014. Episode what?

>> 509. So, we're already

>> 509.

>> Yeah.

>> 509. So, we've had 2,000 podcasts since

then.

>> Incredible.

>> And

wow. The other 12 years that's 12 years

ago. That's crazy.

>> It's crazy. The other thing just

remembering, you know, I'd never really

done anything public.

>> I was like a behind thescenes guy,

>> right,

>> in politics and government and I just

come out of that and I was very kind of

cautious about everything and and and

you were just talking like you do which

again I didn't really know. Um, and you

were it was I remember thinking, "God,

this is like we talk about sex and you

were cursed and like, wow, what is

[laughter] this?" Like, this is so

different to anything I've ever

encountered before. But there we are.

Yeah. Nobody was listening back then. It

was nice. [laughter]

You could get away with so much more.

You could just talk and not worry about

it. And also social media is not a

thing. I don't think you worry about it

when you're talking.

>> Well, I don't pay attention. That's the

key. That's the key to my success,

right? This is like don't listen to

anybody what anybody has to say about

you.

>> Just keep moving.

>> Keep moving and don't pay attention.

>> I think that's obviously works

>> well. I think there's a lot of people

out there that are crippled by other

people's opinions. I think there's a

genuine benefit to having a bunch of

other people's opinions of you and you

get to see feedback, but there's just

way too many bad faith actors on the

internet. There's way too many people

that have the least charitable takes on

everybody. the worst the worst like

public narration like public narratives

that they they want to promote about

anyone or anything about any subject.

There's far too many people like that

and it's a poison well.

>> Yeah.

>> It's like if you went to a restaurant

and you knew that 20% of their food

would literally kill you, would

you ever eat there? No. Well, that's

like Twitter.

>> Yeah. to 20% of the people there are

poisonous. They're they're like

a coral.

>> I know. But it's so funny because like

now I've just you know been so when we

met I was just you know like kind of a a

regular citizen teaching at Stanford or

whatever. Then I started a business then

I got more public. I went to Fox hosted

a show there. Now I'm a candidate. And

as that's happened you get more

prominent. And so you look at these

comments and I never know whether to

look. But the the thing that I really

just makes me laugh now. It's like I'm

always tempted to do it and I never do

it. Like the really idiotic just pure

abuse like go I don't know like I do I

put something out there and now there's

a lot more of this and my account is

like go back to England you

[laughter] or you bald whatever. And

like I always I always want to write

good point [laughter]

because it's just so tempting and I

never have. Maybe I should.

>> Well, there's a lot of it just makes me

laugh.

>> There's a lot of sad angry people out

there that are just lashing out and

unfortunately those are overly

represented online because those are the

type of people that have the time to

make comments. But then you also have to

take into consideration whenever you're

involved in anything political, as you

obviously are because you're running for

governor of California, there's a lot of

the people that are engaging with your

content that are not real people. They

are

>> You mean actual bots? 100%. Okay. That

part I never have in my mind. That's

>> You don't?

>> No, I should. I But I I It's a good

point. Keep going.

>> Oh, it's a tremendous amount. It's not a

small amount.

>> It's a huge amount. Does Elon

>> there's nothing you can do about it. It

was point of contention when he was

buying Twitter. So when he was buying

Twitter, Twitter was alleging that there

was only 5% 5% of Twitter was bots.

>> But see if you can find that article

again. There's a a former FBI um God he

wor did something with digital

intelligence and he did a forensic

analysis of Twitter and he said it's

probably 80%.

>> 80 80

>> jeez

>> 80. So it's a bunch of bots yelling at

you and by bots. Okay, some of them I

think now and this is at the time. So

this is 2022.

What when did he buy Twitter? 2023 2024.

2024

>> I think older than was it

>> was it 24?

>> I can't remember.

>> I think it was like

>> somewhere in 23 24. Yeah.

>> Yeah. Okay. So back then AI was not as

much of an issue,

>> right?

>> Like AI is you could automate anything

now.

So the claim that 80% of Twitter is

originates from a 2022 assessment by

cyber security expert Dan Woods. While

official company filings have historic,

>> excuse me, historically claim fake

accounts represent under 5% independent

estimates and security specialists

suggest real figures are higher. Those

an exact 80% total remains heavily

debated. It's very debated, but um if

you read the article,

>> he goes over it's uh it's very

meticulous like the way he's describing

what it's not like he's pulling it out

of his ass. He's he did it. So what they

did what Twitter did to come up with 5%

was they just grabbed a random 100

tweets, but also they're trying to sell

it for billions of dollars.

Think it's

>> what was it like 40 billion?

>> Yeah,

>> something crazy, wasn't it? I don't

remember the number.

>> Wasn't it $40 billion?

insane amount of money for this

what is now just chaos, you know? It's

funny.

>> So, there's that. And so, this guy's

saying 80%. So, again, this is a few

years ago, so you're dealing with actual

humans who are doing it. So, you have

these uh state sponsored groups um that

are there's these bot farms. And what

these bot farms are, you I don't know if

you've ever seen them.

>> Um, but pe people have like gone inside

and filmed them like whistleblowers. And

what they literally have is like rows

and rows of Android phones that are all

connected to like keyboards. Yes.

>> And

>> they'll type one thing and that one

thing gets tweeted by hundreds and

hundreds of phones. And there's many of

these places. And this was back before

you could get AI to automate things for

you.

>> Now that you could do a thing where you

can essentially start a campaign online,

like say Steve Hilton's a Pass it

on. And literally they will you could

hire a company and this company has bots

that will go out there and promote that

Steve Hilton is a and they will put

it everywhere. They'll they'll hire

people. They'll pay. This is another

thing. There's a bunch of like really

bad actors, really bad faith actors on

Twitter that are paid to post things.

And these people have been called out

many times by other people that are

independent journalists that say, "Isn't

it crazy that all these people use the

same verbage?" Exactly. They're getting

paid. They're getting paid quite a bit

of money. Israel pays people. They've

been pretty pretty open about it, you

know, and they were saying that we have

to win the digital war against what they

what they they call it the woke Reich,

which is hilarious. Um,

>> so there's that. So, so you you have to

like when you're engaging like I know

real people on Twitter. I know real

people that I I I read their posts and I

know there's real independent

journalists, but there's a tremendous

amount of just utter horseshit.

>> Yeah.

>> I don't have time. I have no time for.

>> No, I I mean I look at it um so because

you know like you're running around,

you're doing all these things for the

campaign, whatever. So I don't have too

much time. It's the one I look at, but

there's all the other, you know, there's

Instagram and all the rest and I don't

even look at those.

>> But one X, you know, for a few hours,

you know, if you add it up probably half

an hour in the morning, maybe half an

hour in the middle of the day, half an

hour at the end of the day, and you look

at it then and you just find out what's

going. I think it's pretty good for

news, like things that are happening.

>> It's the best thing in the world for

news.

>> So, I that's why I check in with it. You

kind of see what's happening.

>> I do that. I go to the front page like

what's going on? What are what are the

what are the news stories? But as soon

as it gets to people's opinions on

something like blah blah blah, not

listening.

>> I just think it's fun. Honestly, the

abuse stuff, it just makes me laugh. I

think it's so kind of

>> That's good. Well, you've always been

really good digitally. Like for people

that don't know, like I said, Steve and

I have known each other for a long time.

Uh I mean we're we're good friends. Like

we've taken our families to Disneyland.

Yeah. Like we've slept over each other's

homes. This is again way before you were

running for governor. We I know you and

you know me and you know my family. We

know each other. And you've always had

no phone. You were always impossible to

reach. I used to have to get a hold of

your wife to get a hold of you. Exactly.

It was hilarious for a while. I don't

even know if you've had a email

for a while.

>> I have email. I always had email.

>> Yeah, you but you never had anything on

you to check that email. So like I

remember that one time in San Diego. I

always said it's fine. Nothing ever goes

wrong. ARE YOU GOING TO

>> WHAT [laughter] WENT WRONG? YOUR WIFE

WAS SO MAD at you cuz she couldn't get a

hold of you. You vanished.

>> But this was the thing is like you were

well aware that it is a toxic element in

your life and it's distracting. It keeps

you from being present. It keeps you

from being in the moment. And it's very

hard to have discipline and just put it

down. And I'm really good at it, but

then I'm not. Then some some days I'm

not. I just find myself on the toilet

for 20 minutes watching murder videos

[laughter]

>> cuz my Instagram it's actually really

good right now. Um,

>> well actual what you mean like true

crime stuff?

>> Oh, horrible things. So, one of my best

friends, Tom Seagura, he and I have had

this tradition over the last few years

of sending each other the worst

that we find online [laughter]

to each other just to freak each other

out first thing in the morning. Like,

first thing in the morning, I wake up

and Tom sent me like the other day I

sent him these two guys were trying to

rob an ATM machine and uh the guy's

pulling on it and they wrapped a chain

around it and they had a car. It sounds

like a movie particular scene in

>> movie. Yeah. So the the the car was

pulling the the ATM machine out and the

guy got trapped under it and dragged

[laughter]

>> with sparks and blood. I mean it's

horrific.

>> And I mean I've seen so many people get

executed. Uh hundreds. Instagram is

terrible at removing that stuff. I don't

know if I spend far less time on X

because X is so much opinions.

So much of it is just text. Instagram

for me, it's a lot of it is very

interesting. Like I find interesting

historical facts, interesting scientific

discoveries, cool stuff. There's a lot

of

>> it seems to be just generally when I'm

around, you know, I'm on planes a lot

and like all the time and you see people

so just ane just watching people

Instagram seems to be the thing, you

know, I'm not watching what they're

looking at. You can see the logo and you

can see that seems to be what people are

most consuming. Yes. On the go.

Instagram. I think it's probably the

biggest one. Maybe Tik Tok's probably

the biggest.

>> Yeah. And Tik Tok.

>> I don't know what's the biggest, but

they're all they're both pretty big. And

it's it's just my

>> Tik Tok's probably younger.

>> Yeah, I think. But there's a lot of

older people on Tik Tok, too, now. It's

just very addictive. Tik Tok when you

open it up, it immediately starts

playing you something. Yeah.

>> That's different. You know, like

Instagram, it opens the page and you go,

"So, what's going on?" And you you have

to like put in a little effort. Tik

Tok's like, "Gotcha." [laughter] Like

immediately as soon as you open up the

app, it's like, "Gotcha. Here's another

one. Here's another one. Here's another

one." Next thing you know, an hour's

gone by and you've wasted it.

>> I remember [snorts] when I first read

about it like years ago. Tik Tok. I

think maybe even wasn't called Tik Tok.

It was bite dance were doing it and it

was music video. It was something to do

and that's how it started.

>> It started with

>> you could make your own video to music

or something to do with music was the

focus.

>> Well, the original Tik Tok was a bunch

of people dancing.

>> Yeah. That's right. It was exactly

>> Yeah. They were dancing and lip-syncing

>> and I remember reading and and they were

talking about how viral it's gotten and

this thing is going to take over. So I

was like, "Oh yeah, that can't be that's

not going to happen." And then now look

where we are. Amazing.

>> Well, what's really interesting is China

where Tik Tok originated, they have a

completely different Tik Tok. Exactly.

>> Their Tik Tok is curated to um

>> like martial arts demonstrations,

scientific discoveries. It's all

athletic achievements doing music,

violin, all that stuff.

>> Exactly. It's all like enriching.

>> It shows you can do that.

>> Yeah. And kids aren't even allowed on it

after 10 p.m. So like you have to put in

your age when you do it at 10 p.m. it

bricks you

>> go to work, Go to sleep, get up

in the morning, and now

>> Tik Tok does that or the I can't

remember. I've read that

>> the Chinese version of Tik Tok. So the

Chinese version

>> the government makes them do that or

they

>> Yeah, they're smart. Like it's not good

to censor people, but if you want to

have a society that's not captured by

horseshit, yes, that's the way to do it.

>> So I remember back, so I'm Hungarian. My

parents are Hungarian. When I was a kid,

we'd I was born in England, but we'd go

back to Hungary. And this thing I always

remember

being really pissed off about when I was

a kid. Um, not that the TV, this is

before anything, it was just TV. So all

you had was television. But on Mondays

in Hungary, there was no television

because they wanted people to do other

stuff

>> just on Monday.

>> Yeah. It was something maybe I'm getting

this wrong. It was and it was like go

out, talk to each other, do stuff,

sports, whatever.

>> It was just and it was communist regime

so they can do whatever they want,

>> right?

>> But you think, you know, they were

thinking

>> I prefer freedom. But

>> well, that's what I think all about all

of this is so hard. Like even when you

look at [snorts] like just today there's

the um this massive trial this Meta

trial going on. What's going on? Meta

there. It's a lawsuit. Today's the first

day of the trial.

>> What is the trial about?

>> They're suing Meta for $1.4 trillion

dollars.

>> Trillion.

>> Trillion. Trillion with a T.

>> Whoa.

>> I mean, they're not going to get that,

but that's the claim. It was just today.

>> Claims it addicted children to social

media.

>> And they're doing this through lawsuits.

and the and I'm just so torn over this

because I've got a very strong point of

view about all of this and kids.

>> Yes.

>> But there's something about this doesn't

feel right in terms of just going after

these big platforms because in the end I

think it's the phones. It's the

>> that'll be something else if it's not

meta. It'll be another thing.

>> Yes.

>> I mean I wrote about this year like

2015.

So soon after we did that show, I was

probably working on at the time I had a

book called I published a book called

more human designing a world where

people come first and the kind of

[snorts] main thing in the book was

everything's too big and bureaucratic

and centralized and we got to get back

to the human scale. So it's mainly about

other kinds of policy areas. But I did

write about this thing of kids and tech

and I said at the time we you know kids

under 16 I I said then shouldn't have

smartphones. You can give them other

phones to stay in touch, but

smartphones, bad idea, is the screens.

And so I see all this going on and I

think, yeah, have a go at Meta or

whatever WhatsApp or YouTube. I think

they're coming for as well.

>> They're coming for YouTube. That's

interesting.

>> Definitely. Yeah, they are. There's

already been a couple. And

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>> Well, that's like coming for television

though.

>> I know. It's

>> user created television.

>> I think it's the screens though,

>> right? But the screen's the problem,

right? It's not the content creators.

>> That's what I'm That's what I'm

>> And then if they are coming after

YouTube, then they're going to come

after me, right? Because like I'm making

people addicted to listening to people

talk.

>> Exactly.

>> Well, how you going to say that that's

bad? Uh the four states seek substantial

financial penalties. Reports differ on

the precise figure with recent

reportings describing the state's

position as roughly 200 billion. While

Meta has cited a possible exposure as

high as 1.4 trillion, the ultimate

penalty if Meta loses would be

determined by the court. They also want

court-ordered changes to Facebook and

Instagram, potentially including

parental verification for teen accounts,

changes to recommendation algorithms

characterized as dopamine manipulating,

removing or limiting like counts,

infinite scroll, autoplay, appearance

altering filters, multiple accounts, and

disappearing content such as stories.

What people love that

>> I know. So, they're trying to really

micromanage. Yeah, but disappearing

content such as stories is kind of

interesting sometimes. Like my friend

Adam Greenree.

>> Yeah.

>> He's a bow hunter and he goes uh hunting

and he's his Instagram stories like

depict each day of these hunts and it's

really fascinating because he takes

these crazy adventures where he goes

deep into the Colorado Rockies by

himself for like 28 days and he's like

camping out in the snow and it's it's

cool. It's cool to watch. So it's not

all negative.

So, our AI sponsor, Perplexity, who is

uh we've pulled this information from,

is saying that a loss could mean not

only a very large financial judgment,

but also mandated product redesigns

affecting how miners and potentially all

users experience Instagram and Facebook.

The See, the problem is, as soon as the

government gets involved in mandating

product redesigns, we're because

they're not going to make it good for

us.

>> I totally agree. There's not a chance in

hell.

>> Yeah.

>> It's just

>> manipulating. It's it's they get

involved and they'll probably get them

to give them some money

>> and then and then when you start getting

and you could just imagine these

bureaucrats sitting around microman I

mean they've got too much of that

already.

>> 100%. Yeah. One of the things that we

>> So I get it's a problem but this isn't

the way to go about it.

>> No. No. You know there's a relaunch of

MySpace that is Yes. And so MySpace is

apparently attempting to relaunch and be

algorithm free. And this is their idea.

They're they're thinking the algorithms

are designed to keep you engaged and get

you dependent and get you hooked. And

they're doing it by making you outraged

for the most part, right? And what they

want to say is, look, why don't you just

find what you want to find and we'll

have it on here.

>> Okay? which is probably a lot better

because you know my feed would be all

things only that I'm interested in, not

things [clears throat] that piss me off.

>> Well, that was the big change they made

to the the the news feed versus what you

were doing

>> and incredibly conf um incredibly like

>> potent in its impact on children in

particular and me. I'm a child. I'm a

little kid. I I get get hooked.

We all get hooked. You get hooked on

nonsense and just paying attention to

stupid things and it just eats time and

[clears throat] that's what is that's

the commodity. The commodity is your

attention.

>> Yeah. Exactly. But you've got with with

I hear actually all the time it's not

discussed like a political issue like we

talk about gas prices whatever. But then

I I've done a lot of events the last

whatever year and a half like really a

lot thousands and thousands of people

sometimes big events small round tables

you hear a lot of people and they

the first set of things they talk to you

about are what you might because they

think you're a candidate this is

politics let's talk about taxes and gas

prices and the kinds of things that you

think they you know are sort of assumed

to be part of the political conversation

but then when you raise something like

that like the kids and the screens that

totally changes the conversation and

suddenly they're like intense and kind

of really kind of angry in a totally

different way.

>> In what way?

>> It's like what are we supposed to do?

It's it's like for parents it's like

we've it's the screens and the social

media and then the video games and now

it's AI and they're talking to AI and

then the AI is doing the homework. Like

what are we supposed to do? Well, I'm

glad you brought up video games because

video games are far more addictive than

social media.

>> Yes,

>> video games are insanely addictive and

no one's trying to get rid of them.

Exactly. It's because these things can

change the way people think. They can

change public opinion and they can move

people in in certain directions. I

attribute it to the rise of, you know,

the democratic socialists. I attribute

it to the rise. I mean, it's a lot of

this manipulation, these ideas like

people are really getting, oh, maybe

being socialist is cool. Like, this is

all coming out of social media 100%.

It's not natural that people are sitting

around, you know, reading marks and

going, "What a great idea." Like, let's

implement this. They're not doing that.

Very few of these quote unquote Marxists

that you find on social media are even

aware of the consequences, the

historical consequences of these these

[snorts] strategies and what it

ultimately leads to, which is like

checkers. It's like real simple. Like

you're going to have a military that

controls everything you do. As soon as

you give up everything to the state,

well, the state has the guns and you

have nothing and and then they tell you

what to do. It sucks. It doesn't mean

that that's the way to do it because

capitalism is brutal. Yeah, capitalism

needs some guard rails. That's

>> for sure. Everything needs to be but

you've got like No, I totally agree.

Like I always joke about it, but it's

kind of true is like Mani with the

state-run grocery stores. Like we had

that when I was a kid. I literally went

to them in Hungary. It was a communist

state. There was only state-run grocery

stores. I saw them. There's one like at

the end of the block where my grandma

lived and I would go there in the

morning to get the whatever it was and

it's just terrible, you know, like it's

really I'm very torn [clears throat] on

social safety nets. Um I think we should

have them because I think a person who's

down on their luck where things go wrong

like a a woman who has children and her

husband dies and she doesn't have an

income and now oh my god I have to feed

these children.

>> Yeah, we should have social safety nets.

I also think social safety debts

encourage people to rely on them and

have zero ambition. I think both those

things are true.

>> Well, that's why I'm so um I've always

been against I can see the argument for

but I've always been against this

universal basic income type thing. Um

there's an argument for it where it's

like quite a low level and there that's

some the original guy I think that used

to argue for that was on the right

Milton Friedman. Yes. And Charles

Murray, I think, also argued for it,

coming from the right, but their version

of it was to replace everything else.

>> So you wouldn't have any other benefits.

You wouldn't have any other government

services,

>> right?

>> No Medicaid, no nothing, just an amount

of money.

>> Uhhuh.

>> Based from it's very simple, less

bureaucratic and that's it. But this is

not what's being argued.

>> No, I think that would actually probably

be like financially more efficient

because you would radically reduce the

amount of government.

>> Exactly. In the bureaucracy.

>> Yes. radically reduce the amount of

people that have control over other

people and you would say, "Listen, we're

going to cut out the middleman and just

give the money to people."

>> That's not a bad idea.

>> So, I had a I got and it was very funny

in that like you say these things before

you ever imagine being a candidate and

they come back and and it gets sort of

twisted.

>> Part of the problem with welfare is and

this is going to sound completely like

I'm contradicting myself, but it's not

enough money. You barely live. Well,

this is what I was exactly what I was

saying. So, I was it in that book? I

think in that book, the 2015 book, More

Human, I had this idea based on what

you're talking about, which is actually

for a lot of people, things like like

the minimum wage, for example, is just

you can't live on it, especially like in

California now, right?

>> But in a lot of places, it's so low you

the costs are so high can't live on it.

And there's a lot of people working

really hard, like not lazy on the couch

playing video, seriously hardworking

people, often two jobs, who can't live

on what they make. It's like really

wrong. I think if you work so hard, you

should be able to live on it.

>> So I had this idea which was the

businessfriendly living wage. And the

idea was you

increase the minimum wage to a living

wage, which is calculated.

>> What do you think that would be? Well,

in in in Cal it's by area it's different

everywhere. You know, in in California

and a lot of places it would be

incredibly high. You know, 304, you

know, a lot of really high level

>> $30 or $40 an hour.

>> Well, because you've got now in certain

counties in California more than I think

it goes up the whole time. The official

government level for low income is

$100,000 a year. Low income.

>> Isn't that crazy?

>> It's crazy cuz cost is

>> when I was a kid, if you made a

hundred,000 bucks, you were killing it.

>> I know. My dad makes 100 grand. Like,

whoa.

>> Okay. So, when I in my in my campaign, I

had this like one of my first things was

no state income tax under 100 grand. I

called it the workingclass tax. A lot of

people nationally said, "That's so high.

Why are you rewarding rich people?"

Actually, the feedback we got in the

primary was that's too low. And there's

a ton of people in California making, I

don't know, 120, that sort of thing, who

can barely live because everything's so

expensive if you're in LA or somewhere

expensive. So we've raised it to 150

taxfree. But going back to the living

wage thing,

>> that's obviously really tough for a

business to pay that kind of level.

>> I used to run I ran a restaurant. You

know, you'd be killed by that kind of

high thing. But at the same time as

>> you've got businesses paying people for

full-time work that they can't live on,

the businesses are also paying taxes,

>> payroll tax, all this stuff. they're

paying to the government and then the

government is taking it and handing it

back to the workers in benefits and

welfare. So my thing was why don't you

just cut out the middleman and and have

the businesses pay the workers not the

government and then the net effect for

business is about the same. Well that

would be the goal. So they're paying

their workers more tax [clears throat]

the same amount like are they liter that

doesn't make any sense cuz like what is

minimum wage in California right now?

Well, it's just it's just gone up. It

depends what where you're looking. So So

>> $15.

>> No, 16 and a bit. And then for fast

food, it's 20 and they wanted it for

>> that was a recent work. Right. And a lot

of people pushed back against that and

it wound up they wound up cutting a lot

of jobs.

>> Yeah. That went through. So it's $20 for

fast food workers

>> and then it immediately cut a bunch of

jobs.

>> Exactly. And put in automation. And

>> I feel like there's got to be some jobs

that are entry level jobs for kids.

>> Yes. And that's the problem is you're

not supposed to make a living off of

that. You're supposed to be a kid that's

learning how to work. You show up on

time, you know, you get your paycheck,

you realize the taxes get cut out of it.

You're like, "What?"

>> Exactly.

>> All that stuff. Like, it's good for kids

to have, but once you get past

entrylevel jobs, then okay, like if

someone's a landscaper, if someone's

like doing this is a job, you work 40

hours a week.

Paying someone $15 an hour to work 40

hours a week is kind of brutal.

>> Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

>> It's horrible.

>> Exactly.

>> You barely can get by.

>> But the but because we've built all of

this bureaucracy,

>> certainly in all I really know is

California and just the level of the

government in all its forms is so big.

You're paying all these taxes and the

taxes are coming out in all these hidden

ways. gas taxes, housing taxes that they

don't call a housing tax, but it's the

everywhere you look, they've got these

things that they're charging you,

>> right?

>> But which makes everything more

expensive and what what do you get for

it? This bloated bureaucratic government

that's not actually helping any actually

making it harder to run a business,

harder to build anything.

>> And so I think that's

and this is the I used to call it this

doom loop that the Democrats who are in

charge even they they get it right. They

get that people are really struggling.

People can't afford stuff. So what's

their response? Oh, we got to, you know,

make give them more welfare benefit. We

got to take put taxes up in order to get

more money to redistribute. But that

just makes everything more expensive.

They never think about, well, why don't

we just cut the costs? Why don't we just

reduce the amount that we're taking so

that people can have more?

>> Yeah. But then they would have to cut

out their slush fund because that's

really what it is. It's a big ass big

ass slush fund. One of the things that

we pointed out was that the number of

people that uh moving to California and

then even living in California, it

shrank, but government doubled.

>> Yes. It's there's so many insane facts

like that,

>> right? When they say, "Oh, we've created

so many jobs." Like,

>> really? Have you

>> have you really created created an

actual job or have you figured out

another way to increase the government

and make more taxes work for whatever

the NGO you have or nonprofit you

have or like

>> someone pointed out that there's this

guy this guy these really funny reels on

Instagram and how much things cost

versus like what you could get for and

you know he was talking about like some

new uh thing they're doing for the

convention center. It's like a $5

billion renovation. And he was like

listing all the different things and one

of them that you could give like every

single person on on Skid Row some

preposterous amount of money.

>> And it's you just realize like, oh, they

don't want to fix any of this. Like the

people that are working for the

homeless, he was talking about the

average salary was like $800,000.

>> There was just one last week. Uh this

woman runs a homeless nonprofit, 1.6 $.6

million [laughter] salary. Homeless

nonprofit.

>> Nonprofit.

>> Exactly. That's

>> She's killing it.

>> Exactly. There's another one.

>> She's a millionaire.

>> There's another one. Yesterday he's like

I don't know some business like it's

again it's a nonprofit. 2.6 million a

year. You know, it's just

>> And here's the most important thing. The

homelessness only got worse. Like if in

the private sector, imagine if you were

a CEO of a company that was just losing

insane amounts of money and never

completing its tasks, never doing the

thing that it set out to do.

>> This is the main thing I think is like

the more I look at it, the more insane

it is. And everyone just looks at it and

I don't No one's ever pointed this stuff

out like they all just the government

just makes everything so expensive in

California. Everyone says, "Oh, it's so

expensive. What are we going to do? We'd

better give them more welfare benefits

because we better have a billionaire

wealth tax.

>> Billionaire wealth tax.

>> Steal money from the most the richest

people without addressing fraud and

waste at all.

>> But by the way, the richest people

already pay about half the income tax,

the top 1%.

>> Yes.

>> So,

>> there's a small number of people in

California alone that are responsible

for an extraordinary amount of the tax

base.

>> Yeah.

>> Just a very small number of people. and

you're scaring them away and

>> but they just they they don't have that

mentality of cutting costs like every

normal business

>> get paid no matter what. This is what I

said during co I said I think the mayor

should get paid dependent upon the GDP

of the city.

>> Yeah.

>> So like if the city like if you lose 70%

of the restaurants which like Los

Angeles did during Yes. Garcetti should

have lost 70% of his paycheck. You

should if you lose like 70% of

businesses, you should lose 70% of your

income. And I guarantee you they would

be more friendly to business if that

happened. But this but Exactly. And they

don't care. And this is what happens, I

think, when you've got this one party

rule thing that's been going on for 16

years now. They've run everything. They

don't care because they think they'll be

in power forever and it just doesn't

matter.

>> And it seems like they will. Look, look

what they did to Spencer Pratt. I know

it's crazy.

>> What they did to Spencer Pratt was so

transparent that even Democrats admit

there's something weird about the fact

that Nithia Ramen all of a sudden got

way more votes than Karen Bass. Way in

the in the mailins and people voted for

an increase in taxes.

>> I know it's just

>> that doesn't make any sense. Nobody

votes for an increase in tax.

>> And actually in in recent years in

California, anything like that has been

voted down,

>> right? And just gen in the last

>> it was only the mail-in ballots that

turned it.

>> Well, look, they this is the I always

say

dirty

>> people. Well, people bring it up the

whole time and I say, "Yeah, whatever.

This is the it's they've made it legal,

right? This is not illegal." And and the

scam is so bad. We've looked into a few

of these. Uh

we would just, you know, through the

year we've been looking following some

of this money. Um, it's just everywhere

you look. So, cannabis, right? They

legalize cannabis, Prop 64 in

California, and there's a tax and the

tax is part of the selling it to the

public was we're going to have the tax

and it's going to pay for substance

substance abuse prevention. Isn't that

nice?

>> Yeah.

>> So, then they So, we looked into it.

$350 million of that goes to this

nonprofit with some nice sounding name

about health. And then you actually

track the money. They give out these

little grants, million each, million

here, 750,000 there to 500 or so other

nonprofits. And then you look at what

they do. Voter registration, ballot

harvesting, all of this I mean,

this is what they do.

>> Stealing money.

>> And it's and we're paying for it. And

there's so many example. We've just

found a few of them. I mean, remember,

they've doubled the budget of

California, more than d in the last 10

years. These are the numbers. This year

the budget is just over 350 billion the

total budget. 10 years ago it was 170

and everything's worse.

>> Crazy.

>> It's so bad there. My other favorite

example is that and there's so many. I

just every day you learn about these

crazy things. Prisons, right? They've

been shutting the prisons which I

totally disagree with because whatever

that's a different story. But in the

time they they basically cut the prison

population. It's not quite half, but

nearly. The budget has doubled.

I mean, it's just [laughter]

>> Well, I mean,

>> what is that?

>> It's so transparent. Like, look what

they did in Los Angeles with the fire

relief money.

>> Yes. Yeah. Fire aid. That was

disgusting. So disgusting. You had

people, good-hearted people wanting to

help their own money that's supposed to

be charity. Yes.

>> And it's going into this political

party.

>> It went all of it into nonprofits. Yeah.

>> And not just one nonprofit, like 200

different nonprofits. Spencer Pratt laid

it all out like how they do it and what

they do. And no money went to anybody

who lost their home.

>> None. And and

>> which is should be illegal.

>> That's not legalized all of this. That's

the point. And so I always say, yeah,

we've got this system, but there's only

one answer in advance of being able to

get in power and do something about it

is we just got to get every vote. We've

got to get every vote. And I know I

people look at this race and say, "Well,

you're never going to win. It's

hopeless." I don't think that's true. I

think that actually people are really

pissed off if you give them a sense that

we can really this is not a hopeless

cause. And I think we're showing that

we've just got a I mean, he's I've got

this guy running against me who's just a

complete joke. I mean, he's

>> Who is it?

>> He's called Javier Bera. He was Biden's

health secretary.

He was I mean I I want to say one thing

before I say the most important thing

about him but since we've been just been

having a go at him telling the truth

about what he did as Biden's health

secretary his score has been coming down

with not that much effort from us and we

don't have money. We're a scrappy

startup right they've got this big

machine the government unions they just

you know roll on. He's he's like the

first poll that came out in the in the

race was just after the primary. It

looks it's over. What's the point? You

know, 6136. He had 61. I had 36. The

next one is like 55. This is just the

other week. 55. I think I had 37.

There's one we just heard about where

the gap's under 10%. So, no one wants

this to go on in California. There's a

majority who want to get rid of this,

but it's just been this sense that it's

impossible and we just have to put up

with it or leave. And I think we got to

if we change that attitude, I think

people are going to vote these this this

regime out. It's so bad. Anyway, the

thing

>> well, we've seen the the map, the

electoral map that they put out from

2020 versus 2024, and the difference

being you look at all the counties that

went red.

>> Yeah.

>> That used to be blue, where people are

freaked out. The problem is these high

population urban areas where people live

in these liberal bubbles,

>> which is Los Angeles, is the craziest

version of that. And Los Angeles County

is 23% of the vote in all of California.

>> Let's put this into Perplexity. Ask

perplexity. How many people in Los

Angeles are on SSRIs?

>> Okay.

>> I didn't think that's where you were

going.

>> I would like to know.

>> Okay. I well I think there's a lot of

people that are they're medicated and

it's it's part of what helps them agree

to this nonsense is that they're in this

zombie catatonic state from

anti-depressants and anti-csychotics and

anti- this and anti- that and anxiety

medication and they're cloudy.

>> They don't see things and they're

surrounded by this echo chamber of

people that only agree with them. No

reliable public count of current SSRI

users specifically in Los Angeles, but a

reasonable rough estimate for Los

Angeles County is on the order of

500,000 to 700,000 adults. Not a precise

head precise headcount. Now, how many

people are in Los Angeles?

>> There's 10 million in the county.

>> Okay. I think that's way low. I think

that's way low. I bet it's 10 times

that. [laughter]

I bet it's everyone. I think No. No. All

aside, I I bet there's a few

million. Los Angeles County has roughly

7.8 to 8 million adults. If about 11 to

17% take anti-depressants, roughly 60 to

70% of anti-depressant users t take an

SSRI. The implied range is 530 to 950.

So maybe a million. I think it's

probably a few million. I know a lot of

people that are on them, man. A lot. I

think it's like more represented in Los

Angeles. There's also this idea that you

need a medication because you have an

imbalance. You need medication.

>> This over medic, it's really bad.

>> Well, also the imbalance thing has been

disproven. It's not real. That's not

what it is. And then there's also

there's a reality of your physical

being. Okay? If you live a sedentary

lifestyle, you eat terrible food, your

physical body is going to feel like

and you're not going to be happy. That's

just how it works as a human being.

>> Totally right.

>> That's it. It's like if you're feeling

down or pissed off, let literally go do

some exercise.

>> My friend Asan Amad who's uh you'll see

him tonight at the Mothership. Hilarious

comedian. He has a great bit about like

the people that are in these commercials

that are playing basketball. They take

the medication now they're playing

basketball and drinking water and having

fun. He goes, "Yeah, that's the actual

solution to depression." Yes.

>> It's not take the anti-depression. It's

do something athletic,

get active, drink water, have a

community that you enjoy hanging out

with. Like, that's what keeps people

from being depressed. And they've

[clears throat] been sold this bill of

goods that you have a chemical imbalance

in your brain. Well, that that narrative

>> was never supported by science and has

now been completely dismissed.

>> That's not true.

>> But we're just doing it still. I mean,

funnily enough, that was what I I I I

one of the chapters in that book 2015

book more human was about health and it

was all that that's what I wrote about

which is this is crazy. We've got and in

fact when I was in 10 Downing Street you

you know you I was that senior adviser

of the prime minister and you're getting

and mainly I focused on domestic policy

that's what I focused on and you're

there you're at you know in 10 Downing

Street you get meeting you can have

meetings with kind of everyone will come

in and have a meeting and I was really

focused you got the national health

service which is what the left want here

the Medicare the singlepayer healthcare

whatever that's what there is in the UK

and it's funded by the government, by

taxpayers 100%. And so it's part of the

budget, which is one of the problems.

It's always competing for money against

everything else. And so there's a real

reason to try and get the cost down

because you're funding it out of the

budget for everything else. And so

health promotion is or should be a

really big part of it. And I wanted to

really do much more on that that you

should actually use the National Health

Service to try and make people healthy.

instead of all the sickness stuff. So I

had all these meetings um trying to

understand you know the royal college of

this the royal college of that all the

cancer people all they all came in it

was so hilarious after kind of months of

these meetings of like what do we need

to do to make people healthy it's the

simple basic things in the end

>> what you just said it's like diet

nutrition exactly eat healthy

>> take exercise

enough

>> um moderate water exactly all of those

things like all [laughter] these

geniuses of science and whatever and I

said honestly it's so basic. Um but then

I I was just seeing today there's this

awful story about the mother who killed

the children

>> awful story the mother and and she had

really bad depression after postpartum

depression and was asking for help and

all this and they just kept giving her

this medication and she was saying I

think there are texts to her mother

saying this new medication they've got

me on is really making me feel even more

anxiety and I don't know what's going

on. Help, help, help. And they and they

they showed all the medication she was

on in the run-up to this. It's shocking.

Like so shocking just the amount of

stuff they're loading her up with that

must have

>> sent her over the edge. I mean when you

look at the commercials for these things

and then you see the possible side

effects

>> like who

>> in their right mind would take something

for depression which has side effects

which causes suicidal ideation.

>> What I thought you were curing

depression

>> your side effect is I might want to kill

myself. Like it's like this is a cure

for depression too. Blow your brains

out. No more depression. Yeah,

>> like

it's uh it's a cartel. It's a cartel in

the United States. I mean, it is a a

sanctioned

>> tax. It's a it's publicly traded. It's a

cartel.

>> And they buy off politicians and they

pass through regulations.

>> The thing I see,

>> not just on this, but on on everything,

again, it's just an eye openener. I kind

of suspected it, but when you see just

how cynical it is, this kind of corrupt,

I don't know what you want to call, you

know, m machine politics, this, I don't

know, in Sacramento where they literally

buy what they want. They buy the

legislators that pass the bills that

help their interest, whatever it is.

>> And that's why

nothing really changes and no one knows

what's going on. No one follows it.

There's all these laws they pass that

end up with things happening in the real

world that a normal person would say,

"How how the did that happen?"

>> Exactly.

>> Well, that's, you know, three years ago,

someone put in a bill that was probably

written by the lobbyist for whoever it

was that even the legislator who put

their name on it probably never read it.

And then suddenly it's the law and all

these bad things happen. And that's

what's going on. Now, what could you do

differently if you get in office? Like,

how much of this

>> crazy entangled machine can you unwind?

>> Not, let's imagine. Yeah. Yeah. Not

people wake up, they go, "Steve Hilton's

making a lot of sense. Let's vote him

in." And then even the liberals like

secretly run out and vote you in. It's

got to be too big to rig. Because that's

the thing because the the mail-in

ballots,

>> by the way, can you did can you believe

and I will get into it, but did you see

Kla Harris the other day?

>> No,

>> she was at some conference or whatever

doing her sort of maybe I'll run for

president again.

>> Yeah, good luck. [laughter]

>> She's I know

>> the last one was pretty successful for

only spending $1.4 billion.

>> She's very um

>> she lost every single swing state.

She's my It's very funny there. I sort

of talk about a lot because um my guy

Basera, he was asked the same question

that she was asked. Do you remember when

she went on the view?

>> Right. Right.

>> And it was like

>> what would you do?

>> What would you do different? She said,

"Oh, nothing comes to mind. [laughter]

Just really, you haven't thought." So he

was asked, "But Sarah, my opponent, and

the guy, it was on CNN. The guy says,

"Look, it's obvious things aren't going

well." To be fair, the se and the

interview said, "Look, we got the

highest I can't." He listed a few of the

things. Highest unemployment rate in

America, which by the way, no one can

believe, but we have the highest

unemployment rate of all 50 states.

Highest poverty rate, cost of living is

a nightmare. You know, what would you

have done differently?

Um, he says, well,

it can't be that bad cuz people are

still coming to Disneyland and the

beaches. That's what he said. And then

says, "Well, so no policy changes." No.

>> Anyway, Carla

was at this thing the other day and she

starts talking about the election and

how and I don't know if she wasn't aware

that Trump and MAGA had this slogan that

was a massive part of their thing, too

big to drink. So she starts saying it as

if it was a completely new thing. She

said it the other day. You know, the

thing that we have to do is make sure we

get a really, you know, we got to get

every vote. You know, to coin a phrase,

we have to make it too big to rig. Like,

she said it.

>> No way.

>> She said it.

>> No way.

>> Yeah.

>> So, she's alleging that it was rigged

the last time.

>> I have no idea what she's talking about.

>> Like, I don't know what amount of

election fraud there is, but it's not

zero.

>> It's not zero.

>> It's never been zero. And the real weird

one for me was how many more votes Biden

got in 2020 than any other president

ever. We have a lot of work to do

because you know these folks are

cheating. They're trying to rig the

system. They're trying to draw maps. All

of it. What you mean stuff that the

Democrats have already done?

>> It's so hilarious. This is crazy. We

have to make it too big to rig. We have

to turn out in big numbers, jump all

over these obstacles they're trying to

throw our way. We have to make it too

big to rig. What are you saying? Like,

how are they cheating? Like, how how is

she alleging they're cheating?

[laughter]

>> The idea that that's the best they can

do is so insane. It's so wild.

>> It's so wild. And it's because if you

want to run for politician, they will if

you don't follow their narrative and

their their plan to a tea,

they're going to come for you and

they're going to destroy you. And it's

usually some creepy sexual thing or you

they're going to find someone who says

that you did something to them in

college or high school or whatever it

is. They and they'll come up with as

many things and throw them your ways as

many things as they can find and they

get rid of you and they get rid of all

of them.

>> Well, we'll see. I mean, lucky they

don't think I've got any chance of

winning. I think that's why they haven't

done that. But just that just on that

though, it's it's interesting. It makes

me think this this whole system, this

corrupt thing that that I've encountered

and I don't want to lose your question

about um what I would do because I've

thought about that a lot. But

>> it just it's a it's sort of amazing but

not amaz I knew it was like this but to

see it is something else.

>> The scale of it.

>> Yes. So even things you might not

imagine like um okay a couple of so

there's the chamber of commerce right

it's called Cal Chamber in California

and it's all the big businesses and look

it's a running a business in California

is an absolute nightmare that's why

they're all leaving that's why Elon left

that's why so many companies leave

>> lost in and out

>> and every day there's a new one that's

announced and then every day I meet

business owners ers big, small, medium,

all say who say we're just hanging on to

see if you can make it and if you don't

we're out right every day. Chief

Executive Magazine has an annual survey

of business conditions but like yet I

think it was out in April California

50th out of 50 states. Okay. And I think

it's been like that for 12 13 years. So

it's like a disaster that what's going

on. The Bera who's running against

>> 50th out of 50 states for business

climate.

>> So

>> Alaska is better.

>> Every state in America is better.

>> North Dakota, South Dakota, Florida,

Tennessee. [laughter]

>> All right. So So you would think

>> you would think that when you've got a

choice between two people, right? One of

whom explicitly says I'm not going to

change anything. That's Bera. and me

who's someone with business most of my

career has been in business when you do

the ballot you you're allowed three

words to describe yourself and I

actually wanted to do it fairly because

I've done a bunch of different things

and so I went through every year since I

left Oxford 1990s 36 years and the

majority of my career has been in

business and most of those years running

my own businesses so I I put small

business owner [cough] that's the three

words small business owner and

Like in a choice between that, you would

think the California Chamber of

Commerce, which represents business,

would obviously want the guy who's pro

business instead of the guy who's going

to keep up this.

Anyway, we have

>> there's the money is still there for now

and they're getting that money.

>> Well, there is this kind of it's all of

that crowd, right? And we have these

endorsement meetings and then they pick

him. They they endorse the other guy and

then they say, "We think their statement

was so full of It was like, oh, we

it's time for unifying blah blah." Some

completely political thing. No,

of course, because I went in there and I

said, "We got to change direction. These

policies are hurting business,

whatever." I just said what I think and

they went for him because they all they

actually care about is the power and

they think he's going to win and so they

want to be in with him.

>> Yeah.

>> And then the other one that was like

that that was in a way even more

shocking was the police. So the police

whatever it's called police poor act the

police officers association something

their union

same kind of thing they you you go to

them and you you know try and get their

endorsement. I by the way I said at the

beginning of this whole process it's a

waste of time because they they they

will only care about their thing that

they want to get more money for whatever

it is and so I don't want to give them

that cuz that's wrong and so they won't

endorse me. I'm just telling you. Sure

enough we have this meeting and I'm

completely on the side of the law and

order thing. It's gone crazy. the defund

the police, um the insanity of how they

deal with crime. We got to reverse all

that, prison closures, all these things.

Um and he's not said anything about

that. He just more of the same insanity.

They endorse him. And then they told us

why because he promised to deliver on

the one thing they really cared about,

which is some bill that would increase

their pensions.

>> Why don't you agree to that bill?

because we the the the pension one of

the reasons that the taxes are so high

and the and and the everything is like

for example you look at schools um

everywhere I go parents are saying

what's going on we pay the highest taxes

anywhere like state income tax property

tax all these taxes and then we we have

to pay the schools are asking us to pay

for like basic supplies

like paper, books, like cleaning

materials and and the lottery money is

supposed to go to schools as well and

they're saying what is going on? Parents

are really furious about it. One of the

reasons is because of the way they've

done the pensions for the teachers. You

know, you want people to have good

retirement. That's true. But like a

fifth, I think it's about a fifth of the

money before it's even spent in the

schools goes to the pensions. It's a

really really bad situation.

>> I'm torn because I think they deserve

pensions, particularly the police.

Um, and I think I'd like to know what

percentage of the budget I mean, think

about listen, let's let's talk about

money that's gone to places where it

vanished,

>> like the homeless.

>> $24 billion.

>> Yeah. At least

>> at least. And uh even though they've

tried to get an audit of it, Newsome

vetoed that, stopped them from vetoed

it. Exactly. Twice. Right.

>> And and and in LA, there was a parallel

in LA. There was a lawsuit that ended up

with the judge demanding a similar audit

and the estimate was just for LA. It was

2 billion and Karen Bass vetoed the

audit in LA.

>> Let's imagine that 2 billion instead

went to fund the police. Yes.

>> Better training, you know, better

conditions, better morale, better

pensions, higher quality of people that

you're hiring.

>> Totally agree with that. We need to

massively increase the numbers of police

>> right now. Imagine what an impact that

would have on the encampments on

enforcing these laws. Like you already

have laws. They're just not enforcing

100%.

>> You're not supposed to.

>> The homeless encampments are illegal.

>> They're illegal.

>> That's always saying my first point on

my plan is enforce the law. They're

illegal.

>> Well, imagine what it's done to real

estate in downtown. You know,

>> it was the downtown real estate group,

business group that filed that lawsuit

that I was talking about for LA.

Exactly.

Los Angeles is the only place in the

country that has a useless downtown.

It's one of the biggest cities in the

And

>> I forgive I mean, forgive me if you have

a great business in downtown and you

love the funky aspect of being

>> there's wonderful restaurants in

downtown. I've traveled to them, but

it's sketchy. It's sketch. I

took my kids once to get donuts in

downtown and we were walking on the

street and like every step of the way

you're like, "Uh, is this guy going to

attack us? Is that guy crazy?

>> I literally had it the other night. We

got in from somewhere

down. We're staying downtown right by

city hall. Um, and got in quite late. I

wanted something to eat. The hotel

didn't have anything whatever. And so I

just walk around trying to find it's

it's a Saturday night about it's not

super late. It's like 8 9:00 p.m.

>> It's just unbelievable. Zombies.

>> Like zombies. The stink of like

and piss. I mean, it's disgusting.

and piss everywhere and it's a

public health problem.

>> And you walk around and you think

possible. It's the second city of

America. We're the richest country in

the world. This is and we're the richest

state. I mean, you're being ripped off

like that. And and this is what we end

up with.

>> Let's talk about just

>> But I agree with you on the on the

police the I mean LAPD is saying that by

the time the Olympics is two years away,

they will have half the number of

officers that they should have. Half.

And yet our taxes are the highest in the

country. That's correct.

>> They've just they've just increased the

taxes in LA. Local sale sales tax gone

up.

>> What I was getting to was imagine Skid

Row. So Skid Row is roughly 50 something

blocks, right? So 50 blocks where no one

wants to buy a building. 50 bucks where

no one wants to put up a business. No

one wants to lease a building for 10

years if if it's you've got encampments

right in front of it. Like what? You

can't even clean them up. You can't tell

them to move. You can't ask them to not

on your porch. It's

>> just unbelievable.

>> There's nothing you could do. So, just

think about all the tax revenue that's

being lost, all the business being lost,

and all of those areas in downtown that

are just completely unsafe and

contaminated.

>> It's it's it's just unbelievable. The

last time I went, I've been a few times,

we went with this

>> I don't I they they've sort of destroyed

the word nonprofit now. I don't even

want to say that. Like an actual

charity, like a really nice

>> a real one.

>> A real one who' done beautiful work. It

started off they were trying to save the

dogs and what they're doing with the

dogs is just unbelievable. Using the

dogs to test their drugs.

>> They use the dogs to make sure the drugs

don't offend.

>> It's disgusting. Anyway, so they started

off with that. It was just a a woman

who's driving by and saw a dog in

distress. This is a few years ago and

around that has built this beautiful

charity is going there. We were there on

a Sunday. They're giving out clothes and

stuff trying to help people and she

knows all the people. But this time, for

some reason, I was even more infuriated

than before because it's like, if you're

the mayor of LA or the governor of

California and this is going on, what

are you doing? How can you do anything

else

>> before cleaning this up? It's so

>> Well, it was there when they got there

and it's sort of accepted that Skid Row

in particular is always going to be

there.

>> So bad.

>> It's been bad for a long time. You know,

I did Fear Factor in downtown LA. We we

filmed a lot of our episodes in downtown

LA because there was a lot of abandoned

buildings because of Skid Row. That's a

big part of it. But also, Los Angeles

lost a lot of its manufacturing. It just

kind of like evaporated for whatever

reasons.

>> So, uh, one time I was driving home and

I took the wrong turn and I was like,

"What the is this?" And it was just

an entire street filled with people in

cardboard boxes and tents and garbage

everywhere. Just piles everywhere. And I

was like, "This is crazy." And this was

like 2004.

>> Yeah.

>> 2005, maybe. Yeah.

>> It was bad back then. It's just tucked

away into this old place. And we looked

at it. Um there was a documentary about

the Cecil Hotel because there was a

woman who drowned in one of the tanks.

And apparently they thought that she was

murdered, but then when they got the

surveillance footage, it it seems like

she had a schizophrenic episode and she

stopped taking her medication and she

jumped into the tank and and drowned in

there. So, it was this whole thing of

what the Cecil Hotel used to be like and

that these people that come from other

countries, they go, "Oh, we're going to

rent this hotel in downtown LA. Must be

nice. It's a historic [cough] hotel.

[clears throat] It's been around since

1835 or whatever the it is." Like,

"Oh, this should be great." And then you

get there, you're like, "Holy

you're in the middle of Skid Row." And

it was part of the documentary was

explaining how bad this area got. It's

so bad. And and it's the also there's

something about the the just the

squalor, the filth, the the just just

the total disrespect.

>> They have medieval diseases that are

emerging that we haven't seen in like a

hundred years.

>> It's unbelievable. And I just think that

it's it's amazing to me. It's truly

amazing that that this just rolls on and

like nothing happens,

>> right? It's not a state and national

emergency.

>> A scandal of the highest proport, you

know,

>> but no one goes there. That's the thing.

As long as it stays contained, this is

this was what this documentary was

alleging is that the practice of moving

people to Skid Row started a long time

ago. And what what it was is to clean up

Los Angeles and Beverly Hills. They'd

find vagrants, they grab them, bring

them to downtown, drop them off there.

>> No, that's how it got started.

>> And then they kept them there. They

literally contained them there.

>> Yeah, but not anymore. I mean,

everywhere.

>> Well, they don't have to because now

they know this is the place where you

can go and you can get drugs and you can

get food

>> and you get drugs from the government. I

mean, that's the point. You

>> The government gives them drugs.

>> Yes, they do. From this what's called,

you know, this harm reduction they call

it.

>> What do they give them? What drugs?

>> They give um the opioids. They give them

opioids as a substitute for fentinyl.

Less less dangerous. or what kind of

opioids are giving them like methadone

or which is not really technically an

opiate?

>> I can't remember. We went there. Um they

wouldn't let us in. Actually, we tried

to film inside. There's a guy just uh

did get inside. Christopher Rufer from

Manhattan Institute and and he got in.

He made a film about the crack pipes

they're giving out or whatever.

>> They give out crack pipes.

>> Yeah, he did a little I mean I don't

know if that was a

>> he made a I don't know myself

>> caring for those people.

>> But it's just ridiculous. You've got but

it's everywhere. It's not just Skid.

That's the thing that's so like this. I

mean, I'm on the road the whole time. I

see the whole state like probably not

many people do. And just there's

something about the degradation, the

squalor in so many. Not everywhere, of

course. It's beautiful. I love

California.

>> Beverly Hills is gorgeous still. There's

still a lot of Yeah. But a whole lot

more breaking and entering.

>> Exactly.

>> A whole lot more home invasions. The

home invasion is a huge thing. I mean,

that's why we one of the things again,

we're just trying to make a difference

here. You know, you've got um one

particular thing with these home

invasions, they're all wearing masks

now. It's like a really big part, which

that didn't used to be the case. And so,

we've been working on a plan that if you

you get in enhancements for your

sentencing just for covering yourself up

because we've got to try and there's

just there no there's no interest in

trying to

>> Not only that, There seems to be an

interest in letting people out of jail

who've committed violent crimes, which I