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The Ballpark Extra Innings: Erich McElroy’s Imperfect Guide to the US Presidential Debates
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- [00:01]
Eric McElroy
1, 2, 3.
- [00:06]
Denise Barron
Hello and welcome to Extra Innings at the Ballpark, a podcast from the US center at the London School of Economics. I'm Denise Barron and in our last episode you heard a little bit from a comedy night that my co host Chris Gilson and I had the pleasure of stopping by. This wasn't just any old comedy night. It was Eric McElroy's imperfect guide to the US presidential debates. Basically, it's a combination of a debate watch and stand up comedy.
- [00:42]
Eric McElroy
Hi, I'm Eric. Thank you very much for coming. This is going to be a fun and interesting night. We all know what tonight it is.
- [00:47]
Denise Barron
Yes.
- [00:49]
Ola
Sunday. Well done. There we go.
- [00:53]
Denise Barron
And that's Eric McElroy, a combination of the MC, a comedian and a very insightful political commentator.
- [01:01]
Eric McElroy
Does that sound like fun? Fun being a loose term for people that are hopefully political as geekish as I am. So I'm guessing. So let's find out a little bit. As I said, we're not going to pick on you. It's not that kind of night. You guys gracefully came and sat in the front row. Give me a cheer if you're from the uk.
- [01:19]
Ola
Yeah, okay. That's very good.
- [01:21]
Eric McElroy
And give me a cheer if you're American. See, you hesitated the right amount for living in this house. You've clearly been here long enough not to go UK holder.
- [01:33]
Ola
Have you guys lived in the UK for a little while? Just a few months.
- [01:36]
Eric McElroy
Just a few months and you've already sussed out? They're not keen. Is that. Which part of America are you from?
- [01:41]
Ola
From Seattle.
- [01:42]
Robin Perkins
You're from Seattle?
- [01:42]
Eric McElroy
I'm from Seattle as well.
- [01:43]
Ola
There we go.
- [01:44]
Eric McElroy
Very good. And are you from Seattle too? I'm from Texas. You're from Texas. Look at you guys, little mixed race couple.
- [01:49]
Ola
Wow.
- [01:51]
Josie Long
Dangerous.
- [01:54]
Eric McElroy
That could be a line that goes wrong sometimes.
- [01:58]
Robin Perkins
Texas.
- [01:58]
Eric McElroy
And are you, I mean, can I ask where you fall on the political spectrum? Because this is the Republican debate we're watching tonight. Ladies and gentlemen, from Seattle. Are you cheering that because it's more fun?
- [02:09]
Ola
Yeah.
- [02:09]
Eric McElroy
The Democratic debates are boring. They talk about policy, legislation and the future. Boring. Nobody calls each other fat. That's why the Republicans are fun. So Seattle, that's probably left wing, I'm guessing.
- [02:21]
Ola
Yeah, I don't really affiliate with party.
- [02:23]
Eric McElroy
Okay, there we go. That kind of independent Northwest spirit. More on the liberal spectrum. All right, cool. And how about yourself? Texas.
- [02:30]
Denise Barron
Yeah, I'm a Bernie supporter.
- [02:31]
Eric McElroy
You're a Bernie supporter. At some point, when Hillary decides to, she's going to swap his meds. And he's going to die. No, I like if you don't know who Bernie Sanders is. I like the time delay on that. Bernie Sanders is kind of like if Jeremy Corbyn had a New York accent that was going around that was going to lose an election. I mean, he's fascinating. But we'll talk about Bernie later on.
- [03:00]
Denise Barron
After the comedians had a chance to do some stand up and loosen up the crowd, they discussed the state of the U.S. presidential race. And it was an incredibly interesting conversation that was one part comedy and really two parts insight.
- [03:12]
Eric McElroy
I am very excited about this race. I'm probably, I am kind of leaning towards Hillary. I like a lot of Bernie's policies, but I'm leaning towards Hillary just because I want to see Bill Clinton as First lady. For those of you not from America, you may not realize this, but one of the main jobs of the first lady in American politics is to entertain foreign dignitaries, wives. Bill Clinton is going to be all over that.
- [03:41]
Denise Barron
Three comedians joined Eric for the discussion, including Ola, who is actually an LSE aluminum Robin Perkins, who you'll hear is in fact a New Hampshire native, but they don't let her vote there anymore. And lastly, the very funny Josie Long, who is a Corbyn supporter turned Trump fan. Just kidding. But this was recorded at the end of January right before the Iowa caucuses. So it's sort of like traveling back in time to when we didn't exactly know how things were going to shake out in the first few primaries. Of course, we're much wiser now. And without further ado, here's the panel discussion from Eric McElroy's Imperfect Guide to the US Presidential Debates.
- [04:29]
Eric McElroy
I think I've tried to sell mics equally, but I don't know a lot of sound engineer. Before we get started on this, there is something about the debate that many of you may not realize or may know. And we've locked the doors now, so you can't leave. Anyway, we're not chewing the undercard debate because that'd be an hour of your life, that is, you would want back. And that was with Carly and the rest of them. Bless, I know. Such a shame.
- [04:52]
Ola
And.
- [04:53]
Eric McElroy
But the main debate actually this time does not include Donald Trump. There is less comedy in this show.
- [05:03]
Ola
Than there would have been.
- [05:04]
Eric McElroy
Now, the reason is I'm going to give a little backstory. To kick us off on our little chat about the state of affairs in America is Megan Kelly, who's moderating this debate on behalf of Fox News. I'm sure we all know Fox News. Yeah, Fair. Fair and balanced, I think is their slogan.
- [05:17]
Ola
Notice.
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Eric McElroy
Yeah, they're like a written word. They're like the TV version of the Daily Mail. So in the initial Fox News moderating debate, that was where basically Megyn Kelly was moderating and she kind of came after Donald Trump and she said she called him up on some things he said about women in the past, some things like you've called women you don't like fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals. And he did not like that line of questioning. He was not a happy camper. And his response was only Rosie o', Donnell, which got laughs and cheers from the audience at the time, which was nice. But he basically started complaining about this immediately, this treatment, unfair treatment, being asked questions as if he's trying to be president of the United States or something. So he started complaining about it on everyone that could. And he went on the media the next day and he was. Because it really made him look bad in the moment. And Donald Trump does not like being.
- [06:07]
Ola
Made to look bad.
- [06:08]
Eric McElroy
He's a billionaire and he likes being the biggest boy in the room. And so he went on the news and he basically said that he went after her, of course, Megyn Kelly, for asking him this line of questioning. And he said, clearly she was upset, clearly she was angry. And he said, quote, I don't know what's wrong with her. She was clearly upset. She had, quote, blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever.
- [06:34]
Ola
Oh, yeah.
- [06:35]
Eric McElroy
He basically said she was on the rag. So that was his response to that.
- [06:40]
Ola
Right?
- [06:40]
Eric McElroy
Megan, bless her, now she's in Fox News. She's, you know, not somebody I'm normally a fan of. She didn't say a word, she didn't respond at all in kind. And basically, as the run up to this next Fox News moderated debate, Donald Trump started complaining that she was going to be the moderator again, complaining that she was nice to him, complaining that he didn't treat her fairly and he didn't want her to moderate the debate. He wanted Fox News to pull it, which they refused to do again, making these strangely like Fox News, which is a very uncomfortable feeling for me. So he demanded that she be kicked off the debate.
- [07:12]
Ola
Right.
- [07:12]
Eric McElroy
And he decided to put it to a vote to his 5.5 million Twitter followers if he should do the debate or not. And basically once he did that, Fox News released the following statement. We learn from a secret backed channel that the Atolla from Iran and Putin both intend to treat Donald Trump unfairly when they meet with him if he becomes president. A nefarious source tells us that Trump has his own secret plan to replace the Cabinet with his Twitter followers to see if he should go to these meetings again. Unblocked, liking Fox News people, what is going on in the world? So this was quite funny and basically Trump saw that and said, f you, I'm not coming to the debate. I'm going to set up my own rival event that's going to happen at the same time. So Basically, the last 48 hours before this debate in America was all, will he or won't he turn up for the debate? And he did end up running the other event that was going on simultaneously. So there's no way for us to watch the debate and watch Trump at the same time. Go online and watch the Trump speech invade. It's surreal.
- [08:13]
Ola
The. And speak.
- [08:15]
Eric McElroy
It's all odd, but I thought it's more important to watch the actual debate to see who actually might run for president on the Republican side because hopefully it's not going to be Trump. So that gives you some background about why Trump isn't in this debate. So to kick things off, I thought we'd start. I'm going to throw a question to Ola first and put you on the spot. Would you agree with Donald Trump that most women are pet pigs dogs law.
- [08:39]
Ola
Oh, God.
- [08:42]
Eric McElroy
Is that, is that a good place to start? Although, how does that make you feel? Are you disappointed?
- [08:51]
Ola
I wasn't hesitating.
- [08:52]
Josie Long
By the way, are you going through.
- [08:54]
Eric McElroy
The list of winning? You know, well. ROSIE o', DONNELL, I wish I had.
- [09:00]
Ola
That level of timing. His timing was good on that. When he said only ROSIE o', DONNELL, I was like, I don't agree with you. But as a comedian, the comedian in me respects that that was pretty funny.
- [09:10]
Eric McElroy
The problem is he is funny more times than he's anything else. And it is, I mean, it's, I've never seen anyone run for president that. It's more, it's just about them and their characters, about who hurts his feelings, whether he's going to run his poll numbers. That's all that matters to us, of course.
- [09:24]
Ola
And that's, that's more of a reflection of us than it is of him because you have to remember he's been around for a while and he's like, throat it. The idea before. And he sort of, I think at one point he did start an exploratory running campaign thing. And I guess we were still more like, let's clean up after Bush kind of Thing we were more in like a serious place. Now I think we just, we are that group of people that wants to see the entertainment. We want to see a show. He's giving us a show. Look how dejected they are. They're all silent now. You told them he's not going to be on now why did we. It kind of kills it for people. And, and I think, I think the media knows it. I think he knows it and keeps giving us show.
- [10:07]
Eric McElroy
Yeah, because all he talks about is that, well, the Fox News only cares about the money, which might. I mean the thing is, what's amazing is he does kind of, he does like Mitt Romney was not lost a lot of credibility because he was the billionaire and everything else where. But then Trump goes on and goes, I am a billionaire and I just buy these people left and right. And people are like, yeah, that makes sense. Just been that hard time indeed.
- [10:27]
Ola
But yeah, but that's the thing. M romy messed up cuz he tried to, he tried to act folksy. Like he, he, like he, like his role is his, his cuffs up, but they'd be like too even. It just looked like you never rolled your cuffs up before. Why are you trying to do this? And, and he was just weird as well. He had like loads of kids and most Americans were just like, what's wrong with you? Like why are you trying to be what you're not? Whereas Donald Trump up, you just at least get the sense that he really believes what he says, even if you don't agree with it, you know? And I think it's Chris Rock that says the crowd can smell.
- [11:00]
Josie Long
I don't know whether I agree with you that he seems to believe what he says. I feel, I don't feel like he completely believes what he says. I feel like he's, there's always, you know, his face where he's kind of like smirking and sneering. Exactly. I always feel like there's a bit of that with anything. I almost feel sometimes when I hear him, he's like he's going to. Can you believe I just said that? And he doesn't even really believe it.
- [11:21]
Ola
You know, I think, I think if you do that long enough, that becomes who you are.
- [11:25]
Josie Long
Yeah, that's true.
- [11:25]
Ola
I think he is that person that's like, well, I think I've said something about the Mexicans, blacks, women, disabled people. And he's just like sitting there thinking like what's gonna really spark off next?
- [11:41]
Josie Long
And I think, and I also have no doubt that he would still, if he got into power, like, he'd still be. Like, he would murder you unironically.
- [11:51]
Ola
Why?
- [11:51]
Eric McElroy
Did you hear what he's murdered?
- [11:53]
Josie Long
I mean, like, he'd be like, well, I. I said I would shoot to kill anyone that opposed me, so I.
- [11:59]
Ola
Guess I'm gonna do it.
- [12:00]
Josie Long
See how far this goes. Do you know what I mean? Like, I feel like once he is a fascist effect, word of detective. Like, once he's a real fascist president, he'll run with it.
- [12:08]
Ola
Well, you heard what he said, though, about how he was. He could shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue and not lose any support. Like, he said that out loud.
- [12:18]
Eric McElroy
Then he said, I was joking.
- [12:21]
Ola
But.
- [12:22]
Eric McElroy
So Robin's from. Because basically, Iowa is. The conference is tomorrow. And then. So historically, if you don't know, of course, Iowa and New Hampshire have been first in the nation for a long time. And just to get an idea, basically, these two states that are. It'd be kind of like if we were on the race to elect the new prime minister in this country. And the first two states were. The first two areas of the UK were Cornwall and the Shetlands. So not the most diverse, not the most populated, and sort of farmer folk. But you're from New Hampshire, so you're. I mean, normally they're supposed to be the state. New Hampshire's supposed to be the state that smells that bull and rejects it. But Trump's leading there.
- [13:00]
Denise Barron
Yeah.
- [13:01]
Robin Perkins
No, he's not. Well, for Republicans, he's leading, and he's leading by lots.
- [13:06]
Ola
That's. I mean.
- [13:06]
Robin Perkins
Yeah, I know. And it blows my mind. Although my parents are now not. I'm just outing my parents. I think they're actually not voting for Trump, which is. Or Republican. I think they're switching their views because of it, which is amazing.
- [13:22]
Eric McElroy
So they're traditionally. Your parents are traditionally Republican.
- [13:24]
Robin Perkins
Yeah, which is crazy, because my sister's massive socialist, like, and it. It makes sense. Holidays, very tense.
- [13:35]
Ola
Yeah. So is that what made you want to date in Nigerian?
- [13:39]
Denise Barron
I don't.
- [13:41]
Robin Perkins
And so I was. I was telling them backstage, basically every year there's a massive family fight.
- [13:47]
Denise Barron
Because.
- [13:47]
Robin Perkins
Yeah, because a lot of southern New Hampshire, at least, because northern New Hampshire is all, like, farm folky. And then southern New Hampshire has just, like, a lot of money. And so they're educated, but they're Republican for monetary reasons, 100%. And it's almost like they just believe stereotypes and they don't want to hear it. They're just like, well, I like my money, so I'm just gonna do it no matter what. And they'll just blanket vote Republican and then they'll use excuses. So like we have good family friends that are 100% voting for that reason. And I come home and like make some off comments about the NHS and they're like, that's why Obamacare is awful. And you're like, just. But no, you can't.
- [14:27]
Denise Barron
What?
- [14:28]
Robin Perkins
They'll just take one statement because I didn't like a doctor and they were like, no, the whole thing is gonna blow up. But what I say when I go home over Christmas, so there's always like this massive family fight. And my brother in law sat me down very seriously and was like, robin, every year there's a family fight on Christmas Day. It ruins Christmas. This year you're dating a black Nigerian man. Take the family fight.
- [14:50]
Ola
All right?
- [14:51]
Robin Perkins
Just take it. All right, I tried. I tried really hard and it didn't work. And yeah, then it happened anyway. But no, that's not why. He's just really cute.
- [15:02]
Eric McElroy
All right, we've taken it.
- [15:04]
Ola
I know.
- [15:06]
Eric McElroy
So if you were voting in New Hampshire this cycle, you'd just be going for the cute one?
- [15:10]
Ola
Is that what you're saying?
- [15:10]
Eric McElroy
Or if things. No, it kind of is.
- [15:12]
Robin Perkins
Like, well, Carson's not that bad.
- [15:16]
Denise Barron
Have a type.
- [15:17]
Eric McElroy
No, I think New Hampshire will go for Trump because he's leading in the polls there now.
- [15:21]
Robin Perkins
Yeah, no, I think, yeah, I think he will. I think for as the Republican.
- [15:25]
Denise Barron
Yes.
- [15:25]
Eric McElroy
Because they've generally been the more sensible. McCain I think won New Hampshire. That saved his campaign. Bush, I think 1. I know we got some politicos, they might remember these things better than I.
- [15:35]
Robin Perkins
The thing is, is that because they're voting Republican for monetary reasons, I think they're leaning more towards the we just need new management. It's as a business. And so because they're all business oriented, they are looking for a business leader and think that that's the answer for the country, which is why he's doing so well there. I think they won't let me vote there anymore. They're very protective about it. I tried to go back a vote and they were like, so you've been in England for how long? And if you're out of the country for more than six months, then they don't let you vote there.
- [16:05]
Ola
Wow, such a sweet state.
- [16:07]
Eric McElroy
It is.
- [16:08]
Robin Perkins
And it's because there's a lot of universities there, so they don't want students voting.
- [16:12]
Eric McElroy
So, so, so that's generally what. So that business sense, that's what drives a lot of media, I'm sure.
- [16:19]
Robin Perkins
Yeah, I, I think, I mean that's.
- [16:20]
Eric McElroy
A good way to run like a, a country company. I mean, no, running a business.
- [16:27]
Denise Barron
That'S.
- [16:27]
Robin Perkins
Not how I look.
- [16:28]
Ola
Okay. That is not.
- [16:29]
Robin Perkins
In fact, I illegally registered in New Hampshire to vote Obama.
- [16:32]
Eric McElroy
Cuz New Hampshire, known for its efficiency, it's a well run state. Everything else, do you realize, are not efficient.
- [16:38]
Ola
Sorry. No, no.
- [16:41]
Josie Long
I think we're going to say the same thing.
- [16:42]
Ola
Okay. I was going to say, have you watched like Capitalism and Love Story, Michael Moore documentary film?
- [16:47]
Eric McElroy
Oh, Michael Moore.
- [16:48]
Ola
No way. Okay, well the one thing he points out, the one thing he points out is we're all these bastions for democracy here in the West. We're like, oh, pro democracy, the world needs democracy. Democracy is the way forward. But when we go to business, we throw away everything we believe about democracy and go straight into a dictatorship. We go to where a CEO tells other people what to do, we tell other people what to do, we tell the underlings what to do and all the money goes to the top and blah, blah. We completely forget everything we believe about valuing each other and other people getting a say and so on and so forth. And that's why running the country as a business is terrible. Because it's going to create the same sort of. You're just going to have CEO Trump and he's going to tell his middle management what to do, you're going to then tell us what to do. And we on minimum wage asking ourselves what happened to democracy and Iran's laugh now.
- [17:37]
Eric McElroy
Is this run more fairly in Iran?
- [17:39]
Ola
Probably.
- [17:41]
Eric McElroy
They're a nice open society.
- [17:44]
Josie Long
You have to aspire, you have to try and hope that there might be some way to walk towards better handling things. Which is why I like phony sounds so much. But like, you know, obviously certain elements that the government needs to have a foothold in can't be run in the business way. Like hence, you know why our railways are more expensive than anyone? Because privatizing the railway is a bad idea. That's why on the continent, you know, the Germans and the French don't mind privatized, I hope, I think services in the way that we do because as a run by the, you know, run by the Germans and the French national ones, there's so many elements that government needs like education. You can't run education like a business because people suffer and it doesn't work. The whole notions of competition and efficiency don't work with healthcare because people's illnesses aren't competitive or efficient. So you know, and that's really, really to me, what government is. Government is about, you know, education, healthcare, housing and all these things that really are nothing to do with business. Business should be about luxury things.
- [18:51]
Eric McElroy
Ideally, I guess on the ideals of the Republican Party, I mean, they're not exempt, they're not exemplified by these current crop of candidates. Really is embracing some level of government but running it more efficiency, I mean, I guess. Is there, I mean, is there any element of what you've ever heard from a Republican that you can see?
- [19:08]
Ola
Of course, definitely. And I feel like if you write off everything a Republican says before they say it because it's too conservative, you're missing the trick. And it's a sure fire way to become exactly what you hate. And if you do look at it, there are situations in which government waste does ruin things and does ruin our ability to move forward and progress and so on. But what we have to realize is the waste way that it's often, they often present. It is as though it's binary. It's very like unfettered capitalism. And anything that goes against that is socialist and socialist is communist and communist is bad. And that's, you know, that's the level of thought that's put into it as opposed to looking at it and going, you know what? We can benefit from efficiencies here, but we have to have a humane aspect to this. We cannot treat people as products. We do have to treat them like human beings. But if we're going to run a service, like we're going to run the trains, for example. Just because it's a government run service does not mean inefficiency is okay. Like people still need to be on time, people still need investment, people still need, you know, safety standards, all these things. So yeah, you have to take both.
- [20:18]
Josie Long
But also it's a values thing, isn't it? Like you can hear lots of values that are Republican values, like central self sufficiency, that's great. Hard work, that's great. And then what it translates into then is so different from what the values are. I always find that really interesting talking to conservatives or like, you know, you can totally agree on something very basic and then the split of where they then take that as to how things should be run. You're like, how, how could you possibly.
- [20:45]
Ola
That's always the problem with it. Like the Ted Bundy situation.
- [20:48]
Josie Long
Ted Bundy, the same.
- [20:49]
Ola
No, it's not Ted Bundy.
- [20:55]
Josie Long
I've seen two.
- [21:02]
Ola
The one that was, that was grazing his cattle on federal land. Yeah, yeah. If you're so against, you know, if you're so for self sufficiency and not relying on the government and you're against all these social care programs that's supposed to help people and you feel like they should get off the government teeth, how can you use federal land for free and, you know, feel like that's okay. Yeah. And, you know, if you're so for.
- [21:25]
Eric McElroy
Because it's not federal land, it's God's land.
- [21:30]
Ola
But this is what I'm saying. So it's like it's the. Even they contradict their own principles sometimes. And so that's, that's where the problem is. The principle's not wrong. It's the execution of it. And if you look at it quite a lot of time, you end up seeing Democrats espousing quite conservative concepts and vice versa. You know, Mitt Romney had romneycare before Obama had Obamacare. And, you know, it was the same concept really. So these, the principles, I think in general are good. It's just, you know, it's how people interpret them that tends to mess it up.
- [22:01]
Eric McElroy
So with this debate, because Trump's out of it, basically, the other frontrunner is Ted Cruz, who, I mean, have you had a chance to. Have you guys seen Ted Cruz in action before? He's like Trump without the bluster. I mean, he's is a level of extreme conservatism, which is in a way more frightening than Trump. Trump isn't conservative. Trump is about Trump. But I mean, I mean, do you think that's. That's one of the things to watch this. Because they kind of focus in on this debate on proofs. I don't know if you've seen. I mean, do you have a favorite of all of these Republicans? Is it Robin? Have you seen enough of them in a sense of favorite?
- [22:34]
Robin Perkins
Oh, God, I know.
- [22:35]
Ola
There's no judge.
- [22:37]
Robin Perkins
Yeah, I like, I kind of just want to take bits of.
- [22:42]
Ola
Of all of them.
- [22:43]
Robin Perkins
You know, like on one hand, some of at least how Christy claims to be. Environment aside, he's awful for the environment, but on his other personal, like human rights, is it bad? And then you have aspects of Rubio that aren't bad. But I figure. And not Cruz, though, in a way. Like, if you. And I don't mean to keep going back to. I mean, but three years ago he was a Democrat and I think that it like a.
- [23:12]
Josie Long
So he was.
- [23:15]
Eric McElroy
Donald Trump in 1999. There's an interview of him. He's pro choice, he's pro. He's indifferent on gay marriage, he, the list that he basically thought that Hillary Clinton a few years ago would be a strong president. He said all of these things and.
- [23:28]
Robin Perkins
I almost said what he's doing right now is just a PR stint to get that much publicity so people know his name. And then if he becomes the report candidate, then he'll actually kind of tone down and actually have more reasonable views.
- [23:43]
Ola
So which.
- [23:44]
Robin Perkins
But I'd say from the side.
- [23:46]
Eric McElroy
Yeah, so a little bit of Christie. So how about you have a. I mean, you haven't seen this debate yet. You've been waiting. So I don't want to give anything away. One of the things I think is fun to watch this debate is when Rubio does talk, he's like a wind up doll and he just builds in his own builds and shouts. It's amazing to watch, see if you've noticed that. But do you have a favorite?
- [24:07]
Ola
I don't know if he's released or he's fallen to the undercard, but I really had a weird affinity for Rand Paul. I feel.
- [24:13]
Eric McElroy
No, he made it back in. He was in the undercard debate and he's battled his way back in.
- [24:17]
Ola
Okay, I like him. I like his libertarian approach. I feel like he's gone to the dark side in many ways. You know, he was, he was very sort of anti war machine, anti military, industrial complex. And then as soon as he announced, he's like in front of a Navy ship, like, we need to build our army strong again. I'm like, okay, I can't really get with that part. But you know, his views on civil liberties and, you know, being anti snooping and so on, I respect that.
- [24:47]
Josie Long
I'm convinced that Trump is a Democrat mole.
- [24:50]
Robin Perkins
Now, I know.
- [24:53]
Ola
There'S a lot of.
- [24:53]
Eric McElroy
People saying that and he did have a long conversation with Bill Clinton before this all kicked off, before he declared. They had a little chat, but I'm guessing it was probably mostly about Rosie o' Donnell because both of them have issues with women.
- [25:06]
Ola
So.
- [25:06]
Eric McElroy
Rose, wait.
- [25:07]
Robin Perkins
Can I ask a question? If you should probably know this, but if Trump then just like gets the Republican vote and then all of a sudden outs himself and is like, I'm actually a Democrat, at what point can the Republican Party revoke their nomination and put somebody else forward or are they screwed? And all of a sudden we got a Democrat versus Democrat, he's not nominated.
- [25:27]
Eric McElroy
Until the convention in July. So I think what will happen before that?
- [25:32]
Ola
Can they like.
- [25:32]
Robin Perkins
But if he outs himself in August, then what happens?
- [25:35]
Josie Long
Are we excited?
- [25:36]
Eric McElroy
It's going to be a hefty outs himself. I'm a Democrat. Sorry. But I mean, I suppose they, I mean, I think, I mean, I think this, I mean, I think the Republican Party should accept the fact that they push themselves into this position by making themselves so anti Obama and so the hyperbole of Fox News and Glenn Beck and all of it, and they brought themselves Trump. And what they need to do is basically say, you're not actually Republican, you're just for yourself. We're going to kick you out of the Republican Party. We know you'll run as an independent and we know that we'll lose. But the way for a Republican to be actually conservative and maintain the values that they actually have, which there's an argument for some of their values, is they're gonna have to go through this. He will destroy the Republican Party and then it will rebuild itself again. I think that's kind of the inevitable path.
- [26:21]
Ola
That's a three day theory.
- [26:24]
Josie Long
It's a three film epic.
- [26:28]
Eric McElroy
So they've brought Trump on themselves and it's the ruin of the party because all of them now, I mean, not in this debate, but Chris Christie, who seemed kind of reasonable but also seems, seems sort of shouty. But Trump makes him a lightweight.
- [26:39]
Ola
I like how you say that. He brought Trump on themselves like it's a punishment. It is like little kids are gonna grow up if you don't eat your greens. Get some drum.
- [26:48]
Eric McElroy
He can't be on every appearance on Fox News, which he almost broke Fox News with this as well, and say that Obama's the Antichrist essentially over and over again and not manifest something like Trump. And I think that's kind of what they've gotten. But.
- [27:02]
Josie Long
Ted Cruz trying to hug his daughter and he's like, give me it. And it's obviously like campaigning and she's getting off, off of the campaign van. He's like, give me a hug. And she's like, like, go away. She's like flicking his head. He's like, no, no, give me a hug. And she's literally going, ow, ow. That's his daughter.
- [27:22]
Ola
Just ask one thing about Ted Cruz, because it's more factual and I've never checked it out myself. I probably should have deal with this. How is he, how is he able to run for president? I thought he had to be like born in America.
- [27:35]
Eric McElroy
He did revoke his Canadian citizenship, but the question is, is he a natural born citizen? This is a question that's never been tested in the Constitution yet. Because being born in Canada, generally every president's been born in America, so are you. The question is, which has not been decided if having just an American parent makes you natural born or if you're American and then you become, you know, you have a right to become an American, but you're not natural born, what that means. And there's loads of controversy on that. So it is a risk for him being elected. And Trump's been hitting it hard on that. The Republicans though, apparently the latest, the last poll that came out because Trump, Ted Cruz has gone down in the polls. And I thought maybe it was the Canadian thing, but it's actually other things that people are kind of going off cruise because of course they were the same people, the birther people, that were against Obama and didn't like Obama because they thought he was not born in America, which he was. They thought he was Muslim because his father was.
- [28:25]
Ola
And.
- [28:26]
Eric McElroy
But they're not holding Cruz to that same level of criteria, even though he was known to be born outside the United States. And the cynical part of me could be saying maybe it's because Cruz is white. That would probably be why they probably a little bit. I'm sure America's better than that.
- [28:45]
Josie Long
Dignified and cool. Cuz if that was, if I was Obama, I'd be like, why are you. Would you g me so much you.
- [28:52]
Eric McElroy
I think Obama just said so much. Fun to watch. Just quickly, we've got time for maybe one or two questions if anybody had one or you don't have to, but we can. I don't know if anybody's burning. You guys are all schnumbled up.
- [29:04]
Ola
You look great. Help.
- [29:07]
Josie Long
Help us out with the percentages.
- [29:08]
Eric McElroy
So all the candidates. Yes.
- [29:10]
Ola
What?
- [29:10]
Eric McElroy
Whose ranks where as of. Well, in Iowa, which does the first caucus tomorrow night, which is amazingly weird. Complex system. Donald Trump is in first place on the Republican side, followed by Ted Cruz, followed by Marco Rubio and apparently saying in Iowa. And I just learned this because I've been observing podcasts, there's three tickets out of Iowa and that means there's the first three places in Iowa. You've got a ship, a shot, and that launches you into New Hampshire and then and then into South Carolina, which is the next primary. So those are the three likely winners. There's a few people that are kind of absurd, you know, coming forward. But Kay Staple is one of the more sensible Republicans. He's given up on Iowa because a very conservative Christian side of things generally. Jeb Bush has no chance in Iowa. He's counting on New Hampshire. Chris Christie, again, those are the more northeastern Republicans, the more city Republicans they're hoping for, for a chance in New Hampshire even if they don't win, if they just can place in the first couple of spots, that's the hope. And then on the Democratic side, Hillary is just ahead of Bernie Sanders in Iowa, which she's desperate to win because Obama beat her there last time. And I think if Hillary wins Iowa, she'll be the nominee, I think because if she, that's because she, because New Hampshire's a write off for her because Bernie's a neighbor and so he'll win New Hampshire and then she'll do well in South Carolina because of the history of her relationship with. And then that's it, she's the nominee. So if she wins tomorrow night, it's done. That's my guess.
- [30:33]
Josie Long
I'm sad, but I'm mostly like, just beat Trump. Just beat Trump.
- [30:37]
Ola
You can.
- [30:39]
Eric McElroy
So.
- [30:39]
Ola
But yeah.
- [30:40]
Eric McElroy
Question. We got a couple minutes. Anything else, Bernie?
- [30:45]
Ola
Yes.
- [30:46]
Eric McElroy
Oh, sorry, you're right on the light.
- [30:47]
Ola
Who's Ros, Sorry, Ros. Ros.
- [30:50]
Eric McElroy
Who is Rosie o'?
- [30:51]
Ola
Donnell?
- [30:54]
Eric McElroy
She is the most hideous. No, she's, she's an actress and she does a TV show now. So she's more famous for the TV show than she is for. She does a, I don't know what the name of the show is, but like a daily talk chat show. Kind of like Oprah.
- [31:07]
Josie Long
She's like Ellen but kind of more abrasive. Yeah, she's like Ellen but not fun.
- [31:12]
Eric McElroy
I think she was a stand up originally and then she was an actress.
- [31:15]
Josie Long
She did this special that I watched on plane quite recently about heart attack. So I have a great deal of sympathy for her. She's very nice.
- [31:22]
Ola
Yeah.
- [31:22]
Eric McElroy
So she has a long history of having a feud with Donald Trump and he's said some nasty, I mean he says nasty things about everybody.
- [31:27]
Josie Long
She's got like a long term view with him.
- [31:29]
Eric McElroy
Well, that's why he brought her up. That's why when she went to that, that's why he went to Rose McDonald. Because there's this long term thing going on with them. I don't know.
- [31:37]
Ola
Don't know. But I will.
- [31:40]
Eric McElroy
Yes, but sorry, translate these things. Doesn't everyone know all the American references? USA number one. Right. Any other, anything else we want to add?
- [31:49]
Ola
Any points? Anyone? Commentary.
- [31:52]
Eric McElroy
So the thing is you're talking about Cruz and a weird hug with his kids. Two things on Cruz. One, because some of the people giving money to the campaigns in America called Super PACs, they can't actively work together legally with the campaigns. So they kind of side work together.
- [32:08]
Ola
Right.
- [32:08]
Eric McElroy
And one of the things they do is they make commercials on behalf of the campaign, the candidates they support. So what Cruz did is he filmed about six hours of himself hanging out with his family and just posted it on YouTube for anyone to use, but it's completely unedited. And it's got some of the most awkward moments where he's like, okay, I hug my mom now. Okay, all right.
- [32:27]
Ola
Yeah.
- [32:27]
Eric McElroy
All right, Mom.
- [32:28]
Ola
Yeah.
- [32:29]
Eric McElroy
You mean a lot to me, Mom. Is that good?
- [32:31]
Ola
Are we done?
- [32:32]
Eric McElroy
Okay, we're done. It's awesome to watch. And the other thing is at the very end of this play, I don't want to give it away, but there's a moment where they mill around on stage after they've all been standing there calling each other names and stuff. And no one likes Ted Cruz because he basically. He always tries to go against everything to make himself a Washington outsider. And he steps down to tap Jeb Bush on the shoulder and Jeb blanks his. And it is brilliant. It's in like the last second of the footage of the video. So it's an amazing moment. No one likes to. Including his children.
- [33:05]
Ola
And also with the footage because he put footage out there and the Internet isn't the way it is. Some people have just taken a footage and made their own adverts. And there's one really good one which like Ted Cruz thinks about things and it's just like all the bits in the five hours of footage of him just kind of going, I didn't tie it. That's really good.
- [33:28]
Eric McElroy
So final note.
- [33:30]
Robin Perkins
Who would your person be?
- [33:32]
Eric McElroy
I. I mean, of this group. I mean, I think Jeff Bush can manage to. Which I couldn't do. Managed to string a sentence together. He still, he comes across. I think I've previewed most. I've watched most of this debate as the most sensible boy in the room. That grown up. He looks. I think of it because the key thing in America we. We choose, I think viscerally who feels like the president to us. That's why Clinton did well. That's why even George W. Bush did well. You know, it is very much a human connection, you know, and Jeb struggles with that and being. Sounding human. That's what Hillary struggles with. But I think he seems the most. Casey actually seems kind of. He's getting a lot of money at the moment, but he's really awkward, I think. So I would, I would probably. Of these. This lot, I would choose Jeff, which is terrible for other reasons.
- [34:15]
Josie Long
The Bush brand has been historically popular.
- [34:18]
Eric McElroy
It has, but he makes George W. Bush seem kind of coherent. She's saying something. So for those of you who manage to get on the WI fi in this room, if you want to, we're going to have the hashtag running usdebateuk. So if you want to comment and chip in, so what I found we've done this a couple times. We won't be talking over the debate because if you're here, you want to watch it and we want to hear what they say. I'll chip in during if anybody else wants to chip in during the ad breaks and then we'll let it run through. So we're going to take a 11 minute break and I'm going to start this promptly at 8:30. So if you could, before we go on that break, give a round applause to everybody that's come up and shout out.
- [35:01]
Denise Barron
So that's it for extra innings here at the Ballpark. Thank you to our featured comedians, Ola, Robin Perkins and Josie Long. And of course, a big thank you to Eric McElroy who organized the evening and welcomed us. The Ballpark is produced by Denise Barron. That's me. With contributions from co hosts Chris Gilson and Sophie Donzelman, and also with help from the LSC's High 5 bid fund and the US embassy. Our theme tune is by Ranger and the Rhea Rangers, a Seattle based gypsy jazz band. Look them up@rangers swings.com we love them. Tune in next time when we're talking about American power and foreign policy. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast do not represent those of the US center or the London School of Economics. Well, as Yogi Berra would say, it ain't over till it's over. And now it's over.
- [35:58]
Ola
Play ball.