C (8:42)

Nice to meet you.

A (8:43)

Thank you. Thank you for having me.

C (8:45)

Hi, everybody.

A (8:49)

I know everybody wants you on their show.

C (8:52)

They do.

A (8:54)

You know they do. And you came here. I can't tell you how much I appreciate that.

C (8:59)

Oh, really?

A (8:59)

Well, thank you. We know this is true. I mean, to say your book is a phenomenon is an understatement. I mean, this is an era where people don't read anymore.

C (9:12)

I know.

A (9:12)

You know? Yes. Somebody said to me the other day, oh, you know, Barnes and Nobles? I always see people there. Yeah. They're buying a cat calendar.

C (9:20)

And the let them theory.

A (9:21)

Yeah, and the let them theory.

C (9:23)

Yes.

A (9:24)

I mean, the numbers are just off the charts. If I went into the bookstore, would it be under self help? Is that still a term that they use? Do you not like that term? Do you not care? Is it still self help?

C (9:37)

Let them. I don't care what they call it, as long as people read it, let them.

A (9:43)

Okay, but I mean, that is one of the more popular sections in the books, and there's a lot of people in that. Why did your message resonate so much more than all the other people who were working that side of the street?

C (9:58)

Well, I'll tell you why. There's a number of reasons. First of all, it's a great freaking book. Like, as you read it, you can get through it in a day and a half. It's hilarious and profound.

A (10:07)

Right.

C (10:08)

And it works. And you don't need to Buy the book. I'm going to tell you how to use the theory. The theory is so simple. It basically is this. The fastest way to lower your stress and to have more peace and control in your life is stop trying to control everybody else. Let them have their opinions, their behavior, and take all the power and time that you've been wasting on other people and bring it back here and let me focus on my thoughts, my actions, and the way that I want to live my life. And life gets very simple and a lot more peaceful and you feel more powerful and in control. And so that's how you use it. Four words, let them and let me. But here's why it works. It reduces the number one source of stress, Bill, in everybody's life, and that's other people. Other people are so annoying, right? Their opinions, their close talking, their judgments, their expectations. And the more you try to control them, the less control you feel. And it's much easier to say, let them. It is. And it's also the other reason why this thing is spread around the world is when you start to read it, I'm the villain in the book. I'm the control freak. That's really irritating. You're either gonna see yourself or somebody you love. And so you start to read it and you feel better about your boss, who you hate, and you feel better that traffic isn't getting to you. And then you start to go, oh, my God, my mother needs this, my sister needs this. And so everybody is not only reading it, Bill, they're giving it to their families. And here's what I love. We all love saying, let them. There's an Irish version of this. I'm not gonna say what it is. F them, right? Right.

A (11:45)

I could say that on basic TV now, right?

D (11:47)

That's true.

A (11:47)

That's true. This is fucking hbo.

C (11:50)

So, you know, fuck them is the Irish version of this. And when you're like, let them, let them, let them. You feel superior. But then what happens is you now have to figure out, okay, what do I do? I realize my siblings never call me back, and I make all the effort, let them. My friends always go out without me and they don't invite me. My boss is rude to me and I don't like my job. Let them, let them, let them. But now what? Now you say, let me. Let me choose how I'm going to respond to the reality that I'm dealing with. And that's where you take your control back. And what I love about this, Bill, and I love about people using it is that you first start using it because you are annoyed with other people. I mean, we have families. Because it teaches you how to love people you hate sometimes. And that's also why people get married. It teaches you that. But as you start to say, let them, you're forcing yourself to learn how to accept people as they are and as they're not. And you have to confront how judgmental you are of the other people in your life and learn how to let them be who they are. Let them have the dignity of their own experience. And you start to recognize how much time and energy you burn up over the headlines, over people's expectations, over traffic. And it's stupid because your time and energy.

A (13:05)

But not everything is a let them case. Right?

C (13:08)

Everything is.

A (13:10)

If you're being sexually harassed at the office, that's not a. That's a let them.

C (13:14)

Okay, well, here's what it is.

A (13:15)

Let them do it.

C (13:15)

Well, no, because they've already done it. So when you say let them, you're not allowing it. You're forcing yourself to recognize the situation you're in and that you're not going to change what's happening by trying to change them. You have to take the power and go, okay, well, let me recognize this is a situation I'm in. Let me stop gaslighting myself and making excuses and, like, sticking around and beating myself up. And let me remind myself that I get to choose what I do next. Am I going to hr? Am I leaving this job? Am I hiring an attorney? All of the energy that you're spending, complaining about it, worrying about it, beating yourself up, telling yourself there's nothing you can do. There's always something you can do.

A (13:55)

But that would be more like stop them.

B (13:58)

Yes.

A (13:58)

And then let them. Well, there are things sometimes let them has to be stopped them.

C (14:01)

No, of course, in situations where it's dangerous or discriminatory or somebody's getting hurt.

D (14:06)

Of course.

C (14:07)

And stop them if that's your values. Because the number one rule is you can't change another person. People only change when they're ready to change for themselves, period.

A (14:19)

Oh, yeah. I've learned that the hard way.

C (14:21)

Yes, we all have, though. We all have.

A (14:24)

Yeah. Well, I mean. I mean, your life was the hard way. I mean, I mean, you came from places that most people haven't been deep in debt. Drinking day. Drinking.

C (14:37)

Well, wasn't that what you were doing today?

A (14:43)

Not drinking? And I don't. People think I smoke before the show. I don't smoke. Right. Before the show.

C (14:50)

I was gonna say that's a huge disappointment.

A (14:52)

Everybody. That's key. That would be wrong.

C (14:58)

Well, my husband was like, okay, Mel, I know, let them, but don't smoke before the show, smoke after. I don't want you to embarrass yourself on television.

A (15:05)

Killer Mike's here. Trust me, it's going to happen. Okay, but before we run out of time, let's get to the other part of it, because it's not just let them, it's let me. Yes, and you are very adamant in the book. Over and over, you make the point. One does not work without the other.

C (15:25)

Correct?

A (15:26)

So let's make sure people understand what the let me part of it is, right?

C (15:30)

So once you start saying let them, and you protect your time and energy from other people, and you also force yourself to accept people as they are. You're never gonna change your mom or dad. You gotta learn to let them be who they are. It'll reduce so much pressure in your life. Now pull it back here and say, let me, like, take the holidays. If you're gonna go home and spend time with your family, stop gripping the wheel, hoping it's different. These people have been the same their whole lives. So when you start going, let them, right? You are forcing yourself to recognize they are who they are. They have their opinions. I'm just gonna let them be. Now, let me remind myself, I get to choose what I think about this. I get to choose how much time and energy I spend here. I mean, you can get up from a dining room table, you can get out of a text chain. You can divert a conversation away from a topic. You're not a victim here. You're in control of what you do in response. And if you look at. This is how you take responsibility for your life. This is how you change things for the better. And responsibility, Bill, is the ability to respond. That's what that word means.

A (16:32)

I mean, I feel you're doing my work here. For me, this is like a theme show. Because again, this is. I mean, again, this is gonna be the end of my show. It's every year at Thanksgiving, I have to do basically the same theme, which is telling people, don't cut off your family. No, it's just terrible. And, you know, and I said this a few weeks, a few months ago, we did an editorial here on the show where I talked about Trump and the fact that there are things that really still I am very adamant about and I will never stop talking about. There are other things where I just. It's like in meditation where they say, just Let the cloud pass. You know, like, I see so many people are upset about him building a ballroom. I could give a fuck. I don't give a shit about it.

C (17:16)

Because we're paying for it whether you're or not.

A (17:19)

No, we're not paying for it. It's private. First of all, even if we did, you can't.

C (17:23)

Well, it's already bulldozed. So any time you spend burning up about it, it's already happened. You have to decide what are you going to do in response to it.

A (17:31)

And it's like not the thing I want to concentrate on. There's so many bigger things that are consequential that I don't like him doing. And they would try to gin everybody up about, well, they're knocking down the White House. They've changed the White House before. And the White House does actually need a ballroom. You know, we're a big country. We were having state dinners and people were like under a tent. I've had better parties than that. So I am not. But I still do think you have to choose your battles. You have to pick what you get upset.

B (18:08)

Yes.

C (18:09)

So if this were the dining room table and you're saying something that pisses me off. Right, right. I'm not suggesting that that pisses me off. But you're at a dining room table with your family. You get to choose how much energy that opinion takes up up here. You get to choose whether or not you allow it to burn you up inside. You get to choose whether or not you're going to engage. And so what I love about Let Them and Let Me is all day long you have this slice and dice that you can do where you force yourself and allow yourself to recognize what's in your control and what's not. And when it comes to opinions and families, I agree with you. The thing that's separating us is our inability to sit with each other and allow each other the dignity of their own experience and opinion, even if it offends us. Instead of leaning away, we have to learn how to sit with our upsetness and lean toward each other.

A (19:04)

Yeah.

C (19:05)

And go, well, why might you believe that?

A (19:07)

Right, exactly.

C (19:08)

Help me understand that.

A (19:10)

So I think I have a self help book in me. I'm never gonna write it, but I was reading about Gen Z and their. And I don't blame them for they are full of anxiety and this article was, well, AI, they think it's going to take all the might take all their jobs, the robots might kill us all. You know, Trump, there's Going to be no jobs left, nuclear stuff, climate change, like my book would be called. It's not going to be that. Because then what's it going to be, 70? What I've learned in life is whatever you think the future is, it could be shitty. It's not going to be what you think it is. So stop with the anxiety and just live your life, because it's not going to be that.

C (19:59)

Well, here's what I believe.

A (20:00)

That's life's trick on you always.

C (20:02)

Well, here's what I believe. I believe that we don't know what it's going to be. We don't. And if you're going to bother going, what if, what if, what if? You might as well also go, well, what if it all works out?

A (20:10)

Yes, exactly.

C (20:10)

What if I'm more capable of what I know, Right?

A (20:13)

Exactly. Anyway, again, I know everybody wants you and you came here means so much to me. It's perfect for our Thanksgiving show. I hope you do it again. Congratulations on the biggest book ever. Mel Robbins. Great to meet you. I hope I get to came in to clean up after your routine. I appreciate that. Thank you. All right, let's meet our panel. Okay. Oh, my. Here they are. All right, he is an entrepreneur and Grammy winning, I'll say. Musician, best known as one half of Run the Jewels and host of the Conversate with Killer Mike podcast. Killer Mike is over here, and she is an ABC News contributor, veteran political strategist, and former chair of the dnc. My girlfriend, Donna Brazile is over here. How are you?

B (21:11)

Hey, Bill.

A (21:11)

Okay, here we go. I love it, baby.

B (21:14)

And the first time you really acknowledged our relationship, I mean, it's, you know.

A (21:21)

I couldn't hold it anymore.

B (21:23)

I mean, that self help session really allowed you to have a breakthrough. And if I'm invited over, I'll. I'll bake and roast your turkey. And you know what they say, Once you go black, honey, you'll never go back. I'll put something in your stuffing that will keep you lit up a lot.

A (22:03)

Mike.

B (22:03)

Okay, tell them what happened when a black woman put her greasy hands in a bowl. And what comes out.

D (22:09)

When I took him to the Blue Flame, you were all he could talk about.

A (22:12)

Ooh. All right, okay, look, I know I'm not really needed here tonight. You know, I do understand that. But just until next season when we have the new owners here. Let them. Whoever's gonna. Whoever's gonna buy this network, let them think I have some place. Peter.

B (22:30)

Jobs. Look, you know, we know all about Job Security. We gonna help you, baby.

A (22:38)

But it is our finale for the year. We will be back January 23rd. It's the one time I get to thank my staff. You know, we're a very no to the grind zone group here. And we don't. I probably should do it myself better. But we somehow are easier to say we appreciate each other. And I do appreciate them so much in what they do and how brilliant they are. Somehow it's easier to say it on the air than in private. But I want to ask you too, since we are looking now to 2026. We will not be on again until 2026. That is going to be. I keep saying Democrats are going to win big. The party in power. They always do it. They get drunk with power. And then people. It creates this backlash. Certainly this administration has done that. So let's just go through who might be the front runner, because we are going to, in 2026, be pretty. By then, I think know who was going to be the Democratic nominee. Who do you think the Democratic nominee should be for president? And who do you want it to be?

B (23:42)

I'll let this young man go first. Get your ass in trouble.

D (23:47)

Yeah, yeah.

B (23:50)

I'm going to party. Come on, shank it up. Shank it up, Mike.

D (23:55)

I'm gonna just bring the old Jewish guy back up, but he's never gonna run again. Shouts out to Bernie. If the Democrats were the party that truly say they aspire to be, Nina Turner would be the first black woman president. First woman president. She would be the most progressive president that we've seen in the last 20, 25 years. I've lost a lot of my faith in what we say we want versus what we actually want. And I see the Democratic front runner probably being a white man, probably coming out of the Midwest. What's my guy in Illinois?

B (24:23)

J.B. pritzer.

D (24:24)

J.B. pritzer is probably gonna be. I think that America is leaning toward white maledom. I think that there's something.

A (24:28)

Why do we have to put it in terms of that?

D (24:30)

Cause I'm black. And it all comes down to that, to be very honest with you. If you wanna see.

A (24:38)

Yeah, now we're getting.

D (24:39)

If you wanna see a litmus test for how this country is gonna bend, look at any given moment how it's treating black or working class people. A lot of times white working class people forget they're black, too. Then they get a black moment. They say, oh, shit, we're all in the same boat together. What I mean by that is when I was a Kid, I thought that you couldn't put U.S. army and ICE and shit in American neighborhoods, yet here we are. What's your fucking name? Santiago. It's my middle name. And I'm just like, I promise, my mom just got off a wine bottle. I'm not from south of the border. But what.

C (25:09)

Okay.

D (25:09)

I think that this country. Sandra said at the end of his last campaign, we need to pay attention to the white working class. A lot of people in my community took that offensively, as though he was ignoring us, and he wasn't. What he saw was the white working class was going to turn the tide, and they did, and they went to the wrong side. And that being realized now, I think that they're going to be looking for another white man. I think he's going to have to identify with some working class.

A (25:29)

So the Democrats just. We can't just pick the best person. We have to. Because I feel like when they get into this box checking thing, it just leads them astray because, like, Kamala was like, okay, we had to have someone of color. We had to have a woman. And then when she gets the job, then she has to go the other direction and pick, as vice president, a lame white guy.

D (25:52)

We. Super lame white guy.

A (25:54)

Okay. So we're always balancing it out.

B (25:57)

Instead of just as someone who's probably worked on more campaigns than I like to admit, we don't really pick candidates. We don't go and look in the crayon box and say, ooh, I can't wait to get that little one. No, we actually have a very rigorous exercise that involve taking candidates through the early stage.

D (26:20)

And Trump made it through that.

B (26:23)

Trump could make it through anything. Okay, we know that. But on the Democratic side, yeah, we're going to have a vigorous primary. It's an open season. And you know what happens in open seasons? We get a large number of people who are interested. So, of course, we're going to have about eight or nine governors, including Mr. Shapiro, possibly Mr. Moore, and maybe Mr. Newsom, we don't know. But there are many governors who are interested. Gretchen Whitman, because I want to mention some of the women. Women are not going to sit back and wait to be called. We are going to continue to march forward. We might also look at members of Congress. ALC is interested. Maybe Ro Khanna is interested. We have United States senators, some who've run before, like Klobuchar, like Booker, like Chris Murphy, who might also decide to run. It's going to be an open season. We will have plenty of time to really go through it. But I agree with one thing you said. It's going to be a great year for Democrats because the American people are tired of. They're tired of the overreach they're tired of. And they are going to look for alternatives, not just any Democrats. And let me say one last thing. I'm going to get myself in trouble. Please help me out. We're going to have a generational shift in our country. Democrats have been for years. We like the candidate with the most experience, most gray hair. Bullshit. We want somebody who is forward looking, who's young and restless, searching for tomorrow with one life to live. Because the American people want something different. Did I put it all together for you, Bab?

A (27:57)

As you always do.

B (28:00)

And I'm open. Look, and I'm open to dating a young man. I can date anybody now. Okay, you know, bring it on. My pot is big enough. Well, I'm not talking about that stuff you gonna do late. I'm talking about.

A (28:17)

Oh, I know, I know.

D (28:21)

I've never seen you blush this much.

A (28:23)

I.

D (28:25)

Are you gonna smoke weed with us later and keep talking like that?

B (28:27)

Well, is it legal?

D (28:29)

Nah.

A (28:29)

Yes.

B (28:29)

No, but I still.

D (28:31)

I'm from Georgia. I'm still scared. What's up with them trying to ban marijuana now? Like Trump, we thought more of you. Yeah, like what's they gonna get rid of it?

A (28:39)

Well, he talked about both. He's also said we're gonna change it. It's not gonna be a Schedule 1.

D (28:43)

Yeah, let's do that. I like that one.

A (28:45)

Well, this is again why it's good for people like me to talk to him. Yeah, I agree. I agree.

B (28:54)

And you have an open invitation, right? You have an open invitation to go back to the White House?

A (28:59)

No.

B (29:00)

Are you sure?

A (29:02)

I mean, it depends on the week. I mean, you know, he still yells at me. Oh, yeah. I mean, he doesn't.

B (29:09)

He yells at everybody.

A (29:10)

I know, but.

B (29:10)

But he's never called you Piggy? Because I know he wouldn't call you piggy.

A (29:13)

Oh, he's called me. Are you kidding? I have a list of 56 insults that he has called me over the years. I brought it to the White House and he signed it. Yeah, I mean, it's an amazing document, but I mean, that list of people, what do you think of somebody way outside the realm? Because I think, I mean, you say they want somebody younger. I think we're like post politician era. I actually think Stephen A. Is kind of realistic for president. Yeah, well, he talks about it or people talk about it.

D (29:47)

No LeBron fans are going to vote for him. It's not going to be. He's going to. He's. I love Stephen A. He'd run great as a Republican, I think, but I don't think he'd run well as a Democrat.

A (29:56)

Oh, I do. I think the Democrats need somebody who doesn't give a shit. And that's him who will say the thing.

D (30:03)

I like him. He talks cash shit.

A (30:04)

Yeah, he does. He's. And also, you know what it is good to have in a Democratic Party? A black person. Because they can.

D (30:13)

But why you gotta talk about nigga shit.

A (30:20)

I'm just breaking you off.

D (30:21)

I'm just breaking you off.

A (30:24)

I'll tell you why. It's the way Obama was able to be a centrist. Yeah, it's able to be more of a centrist, a black guy in the Democratic Party because Democrats are very. The white Democrats are very afraid of being called racist. That's why we wind up with open borders and stuff like that. And they can. I mean, Stephen A. Smith can go, have you all lost your goddamn mind in a way that Pritzer cannot?

B (30:49)

Well, maybe he would add to the sauce. I don't think he has all the necessary spices.

A (30:57)

I think you got to think outside the box at this point.

B (30:59)

I am thinking as far outside as I possibly can. And I like him. I like him, especially on ESPN when he talks. Just leave my damn New Orleans Saints alone. I know they're shitty, but that's nobody's business but our business.

D (31:12)

All right?

C (31:13)

It's our business.

D (31:14)

He does. He does bring in. And I wore this today just to show solidarity with the working class in this country. I think he resonates with the working class. And I think. I do think. And the reason I say, specifically, I think that Americans are going to want to lean into someone.

A (31:26)

He's willing to call Democrats on their shit too.

D (31:29)

Charlemagne. Tha God would make a great.

A (31:31)

We need that.

C (31:32)

All right, so this episode is brought to you by McAfee swimsuit passport phone with VPN activated VPN cell phone service is going to be spotty on vacation, so we'll be using public wi fi.

A (31:47)

Sounds sketchy.

C (31:48)

Exactly. The networks can leave your personal info like credit card numbers exposed to hackers. McAfee's secure VPN lets you browse and.

A (31:56)

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C (31:59)

Learn more@mcafee.com Online Protection Meet the computer you can talk to with copilot on Windows. Working, creating and collaborating is as easy as talking. Got writer's block? Share your screen with Copilot vision to help spark inspiration and use copilot voice to have a conversation and brainstorm ideas. Or maybe you need some tech help with copilot vision.

A (32:22)

Copilot sees what you see.

C (32:24)

Let copilot talk you through step by step guidance so you can master new apps, games and skills faster. Try now@windows.com copilot.

A (32:36)

As a raider scavenging a derelict world, you settle into an underground settlement. But now you must return to the surface where arc machines roam. If you're brave enough, who knows what you might find. Arc Raiders a multiplayer extraction adventure video game. Buy now for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S and PC rated T for teen. We always do this before we have a break. People rely on us to get the news. We're not going to be here for a couple of months, so we do the future headlines. We actually can tell you what the headlines are going to be. Wobbleroff, would you like to see? These will be the future headlines that we'll be seeing. For example, President Trump demands Nobel peace promises for ending war on Christmas. You will see that headline. Billionaires admit they were bullshitting about leaving New York. Yes, that is absolutely true. They're not going anywhere. Zoran Mandami speaking fee Quadruples embraces capitalism. Ah, yes, I can see that. AI Actress blows AI Director on AI Couch for role in AI Movie. Trump demands South America change name to South North America. Ice agents raid nativity scene. Oh, wait. Makers of Ozempic admit it's just speed. Tylenol unveils tylenol light with 50% less autism. And Trump claims dog ate the Epstein files like a dog. All right. Oh yeah, those are great. Let me throw one more name out there that you didn't mention. And she was in the news this week. Michelle Obama. She has a book out. A coffee table book.

D (35:05)

Yeah.

A (35:06)

What?

D (35:07)

I like her. I mean she said no though.

A (35:09)

She said, well, that's what I wanted. I mean, she said she think the.

D (35:12)

Country was ready for.

A (35:13)

Well, that's what we have to talk about. I mean her statement, I was rather shocked by it.

B (35:17)

Yeah.

A (35:17)

She said, as we saw in the past election, sadly, we ain't ready. Okay. To me this is logical fallacy 101. Just because we weren't ready or didn't like the candidates Hillary and Kamala, that's, you know, doesn't mean we're not ready for a woman. Maybe that's why I'm like, don't even look at me about running because you are all lying. You're not Ready for a woman you are not. So don't waste my time. You know, we've got a lot of growing up to do and there are still sadly a lot of men who do not feel like they can be led by a woman. I think it's a bad attitude. I do. I mean, we said we weren't ready for a black president and someone, I can't remember who, maybe she remembers, Said maybe it just has to be the right one.

B (36:10)

So maybe we should stop talking about it and just do it right.

D (36:14)

I vote for Don. You talk cash shit in the White House like you out here. I'd love to have you talking to foreign countries.

B (36:20)

Can I tell you something? I can't stand the White House, man. They got an iron gate, you know. I gotta let loose.

D (36:24)

You gotta let loose.

A (36:26)

I gotta let loose.

B (36:27)

There's some things you can't have, I gotta let loose. First, first of all, Bill, America is 250 years old. For 125 of those 250 women did not have the right to vote. Let's start there. So we had to. It's taken us longer to get to the starting line. I do believe that Hillary, what she did in 2016 with 68 million votes, along with Kamala, which she did with 75 million votes. We are ready. 80% of the American people say they are ready. In fact, over 84% of young people under 30 say they are ready. So the idea that America's not ready is bullshit. They may not be ready for this one or that one.

A (37:08)

But, but let me zero in on that second half. A lot of men who do not feel like they can be led by a woman. Now let me. That's what she said.

B (37:21)

Okay.

A (37:21)

Okay. Trump won the Hispanic vote by 1 point this last time.

D (37:26)

Right.

A (37:26)

And yet when Biden was the guy there was a 34 point margin for him.

D (37:33)

Correct.

A (37:34)

Okay, so that's a big swing from voting for a man, Biden, for not voting for a woman, Kamala. And then similarly There was a 35 point difference in how Black men voted in 2024 versus the 2020 election with. But. So I think this is what she's saying. Partly.

B (37:57)

Yeah, yeah.

A (37:57)

Is like there are certain people, certain.

D (38:00)

How did white Southern women vote? Black guys are kind of tired of being in this debate. We usually vote within points of black women. So like when that stat gets thrown out, we take the blame in our community. But white Southern women are a very peculiar voting block. They'll talk the women's liberation thing and then their Daughters are Confederate soldiers will be the ones who get statues erected in your town. So I would look at the Southeast in particular, and I would look at white working class women versus looking at the Hispanic vote overall and black male vote. I think that the white working class in this country is going to have to get comfortable with women leadership. And if you're looking at white male podcasts and blogs now, it is a shit show of shitting on women. They, you know, whether it's your tapes or your fresh and fit guys who are of the darker tone, but all of them are taking time to point and say women are not leaders. So there's a growing weird sentiment in this country that seems to be against women leadership. But I come out of a community where everything is pretty much matriarchal anyway, so I trust a woman to lead. The question is, can you convince white working class people to do the same?

B (39:02)

To your point, in the last election on November 4, women won gubernatorial. We now have 14 female governors, which is the largest ever. So the American people are showing that they are going to support women candidates. And by the way, the first lady said this the day after election, when you saw a woman become the mayor of Detroit, Motown got some kick. Now, Syracuse, Albany, women were winning all over the country. So I think the future is women. We need to encourage more women to run. We need to get more women in the pipeline. And like Mexico, Sri Lanka, Namibia, Japan, we're gonna see a female president. And guess what, Bill, I'm gonna make sure you get invited to the inauguration.

A (39:47)

I'm sure you will.

B (39:51)

You can, you can be my date. Because I'm gonna tell you something. I know the dates you will bring can't last as long as I do. I pour some.

A (40:03)

Mm.

B (40:04)

Let me stop. Cause I don't want to bring you home right now. I got my dog at the hotel. I don't know if I want to. Zora's particular.

A (40:13)

You think that would be the deal breaker, huh? The dog. Okay, so let me ask you about education. It's going to be a big issue. Linda McMahon, who's the Department of Education Secretary, she was talking this week about. Now we know the Republicans have wanted to shut it down since 19 when it was founded. So it's not been there forever.

D (40:36)

Not long.

A (40:36)

Okay. She said it's mostly a pass through for funds that are best managed by the states. This stuff does not sound too unreasonable to me. She does. It would not mean ending federal support for education funding for low income students, students with disabilities. That predates the education and that would continue, as would protecting students civil rights. New York magazine had an article. It came out today. It's called the Big Fail. Here's the quote that had on the COVID Student achievement has fallen off a cliff and neither Trump nor the pandemic is to blame. Why do we need the Department of Education if it has done such a shitty job? Kids don't come out of school, first of all, they can't read or do math anymore and they don't know anything. I mean, if we went to the Blue Flame tonight, we let's.

D (41:35)

All those girls working their way through college, they deserve some monies for their education.

A (41:42)

But don't ask them about the three branches of government. But I mean, I really do feel like the Democratic Party, this has been their portfolio for a long time. Education. Education, Right. Okay. So they. I feel like they. If they're going to get back into office, they have to own this issue a little because a lot of the states that are doing better now are like the Southern states.

B (42:03)

Really?

A (42:03)

Which one? Mississippi.

B (42:04)

Mississippi's getting better than Louisiana.

A (42:06)

See, you're in a bubble. I'm in a bubble. You get that story?

B (42:10)

Well, I'm glad. I'm glad Mississippi is doing better and I hope Alabama. But look, I don't believe that this is a Democrat or a Republican problem. This is a whole of society, okay? I mean, we have put a lot of weight and a lot of pressure on our teachers to do the job that our parents and our community should also be doing. I am a proud graduate of America's public schools. I'm grateful for the support. It's the great equalizer. Have they fallen short? In some areas, yes. But to dismantle a huge federal department and to create all this confusion that the labor department is going to do, this Interior is going to take over indigenousness. We still don't know what. What is the next step with dismantling education. All I know is that we've made a lot of improvements, but we have a long way to go before we have a society where everybody get a head start and an equal start in life.

A (42:56)

What an improvement.

B (43:01)

One. We gotta fund them and we gotta give teachers the money they deserve. We need to stop shortchanging teachers.

D (43:07)

I like Donna. I'm a product of public school education. And uniquely in Atlanta, I'm from a city that's majority black. Majority of the schools are named for and inspired by black revolutionaries, black educators. I went to Frederick Douglass High School. Our rival high school was Benjamin E. Mays High School. Benjamin E. Mays. Was president of Morehouse College, of course, the famous college doctor King went to. These schools had a great rivalry because you had working class kids at school with working class kids, poor kids and rich kids. All these kids are black, but they have to sharpen their skills against one another. It was a spirit of competition. Before 79 and before education went strictly to test taking and reading, writing, arithmetic, they also had trades in their school. At the time Dr. King went to Booker T. Washington High School, he not only had to learn read and write and arithmetic, he had to learn how to poster a chair or how to build something with a hammer. Our educational system needs to look back into when we were successful. And prior to 79, you had everything from archery in schools to track. Physical fitness was there. You had art and music, which Reagan snatched out in the 80s. So both sides have done. But you have to look at Democrats, I think on a local level and say we need to do a better job. And that starts by saying we fucked up. We fucked up by becoming test taking centers. Well, no Child left behind left a lot of kids behind. School choice pulled the best premium kids out of public schools and left them alone together. And then you got a bunch of kids who were aspirationally wanted to be better, but they didn't have a kid next to them saying you can do it who already understood calculus. So we failed our kids. And as adults, we need to say pay teachers more, give teachers the lowest home loans you can possible to live in their districts. Teachers, policemen and firemen. I believe because these are some strong civil surgeon cornerstones, our principals need to stay there for longer. 10 years. When Frederick Douglass High School only had two principals and had been in existence 40 years, they were a national school of excellence putting out kids anything from athletics, academics. The minute they went to see seven principals within 11 years, they started to fall. So we are failing public schools in this country. Both parties, we need to recommit on a very local level. We need to stop being test taking centers. We need to re enter trades back into the schools and prepare our children for real life, including financial literacy as young as fifth, sixth grade versus what we're doing now.

A (45:20)

Sounds like he's running.

B (45:24)

And I support that. I mean, we need apprenticeship program. I was talking to my brother and he said, I'm gonna tell my son if he can't, you know, finish up the math, go and get a trade. So we needed my son's Caribbean trade.

D (45:36)

School shouts out to Ponyboy, but you're.

A (45:38)

Saying we shouldn't test. Is that what you said in that.

D (45:41)

No, we testing should not be the There was an amazing.

A (45:44)

They stopped testing and it got worse. No, no, no, no.

D (45:47)

Testing has become the only thing that teachers worry about because it determines how much money comes in. So the administration is pressing them.

A (45:55)

There was a huge colleges don't some colleges now a lot of the ivies have gone back to testing, but before they did.

D (46:00)

Yeah, they ain't told that the black kids yet. My baby still had to take the ACT and the sat. Okay. My accountant, though God bless his soul, had this child deemed autistic and he didn't have to. So he was smarter than me. I wish I would have known that earlier. I would just told my child, just say you're crazy like your auntie, we'll get in. But shouts out to my baby at Hampton University. But what I'm saying is that no child left behind and the focus on Are we meeting Test marks did away with education. True education is when a teacher has a classroom of children and they're determined to find the talents of those children. After meeting our base writing, reading and arithmetic things and saying what talent will send you to the next level. And we are not doing that anymore in this country.

A (46:39)

Okay, well, we're going to do it here starting again next year. But right now, it's time for. For new rules, everybody. The final new rules of the year. Okay, new rule. The next time the Russian tech company Idol tries to showcase their AI powered humanoid robot, they have to try and make it look a little less like every drunk girl who's ever passed out at the club. This is not the way of the future. This is the way to make your Uber driver say no, sorry, and drive off. New role. Pete Hegseth has to explain why all the names of his military operations sound like gay porn titles. Operation Rough Rider, Operation Midnight Hammer, Operation Southern Spear. Those don't sound like attack plans. They sound like the awkward pay per view charges on Lindsey Graham's hotel bill. Instead of coming up with endless new flavors for Doritos, think about this. Take the existing flavor of Dorito and make every Dorito in the bag taste good. Unlike now, when every eighth one has flavor and the others you just eat because they're already in your mouth. How hard can it be? It's Paprika not changing the quotas at Harvard. New World Respect where respect is due. The kids wanted to come up with something that just fucked with adults for no reason, and they knocked it out of the park with their stupid, pointless, meaningless catchphrase. Six, seven, even getting Dictionary.com to say it's impossible to define. And we're all struck still trying to figure out exactly what it means. Hey, Dictionary.com, you're. You're a dictionary. Telling us what words mean is the whole point of you existing. It's like if you turned on the GPS in your car and it said, shit, we're lost. New Roll. You can't put a headline that reads, jelly roll is unrecognizable after 200 pound weight loss right above a picture that makes me say, hey, look, it's Jelly Roll. He's still 350. No one's mistaking him for Ariana Grande.

D (49:43)

Oh, man.

A (49:45)

Oh, please. Daddy's working. If you really want to fool me with a celebrity I won't recognize, show me Kanye's wife with clothes on.

B (50:07)

I'll focus.

A (50:10)

And finally, new rule. Happy Thanksgiving. I can't believe that even that now is a political issue. It is a real shame what's happened to this holiday, which used to be all about the good Fs. Food, friends, family, football, fun. And now it's fuck you. You're not even invited because you voted for the wrong person. I'm so tired of liberals ghosting half this country. Conservatives do it too, but not nearly as much. Look, whoever's doing it, it's got to stop, because we're at a point now where politics has broken up more families than letting your wife see your phone. Now, on the liberal side, there's two camps. The we need to keep talking to people wing and the Go no contact wing. That's what they call it now. Go no contact. This belief that Trump voters, even if it's your own parents, are too deplorable for human contact and must be cut off. You know, like Scientologists do to suppressive people. A former speechwriter for Obama named David Litt wrote an op ed this year called is it time to stop snubbing your right wing family? Where he admitted he'd had a change of heart and that was the wrong approach. So, of course, then the woke wing tried to banish him for breaking ranks on their policy of hating people who don't agree with you on everything. Because what fun is life if you're not cutting somebody off. Mr. Litt asks the question, what has all this banishing accomplished? Oh, I know, I know. A second helping of maga. That's what. Molly McNerney, Jimmy Kimmel's wife and head writer, went public on this topic recently. So I feel it's fair to Comment respectfully in public. She says she's lost relationships with relatives because she wrote them an email before the election with 10 reasons why they shouldn't vote for Trump. And some still didn't obey. So, you know, 10 reasons. I could think of a hundred, but I would never present it to someone as an ultimatum. Ultimatums don't make people rethink their politics. They make them rethink you. Somewhere along the way, my values became code for I'm the only one with the moral compass. You know what would have been a better exercise? Write a top 10 list to yourself. Or you try to imagine 10 reasons why 77 million Americans didn't want to trust you with taking power. And I say that as someone who votes Democratic, As I like to remind my very pure friends, we voted for the same person. You're just why she lost. Can we please try to remember, especially at this time of year, that most people don't decide their politics, they inherit them. It's about where you grew up in America, what your parents taught you, your life experiences, your religion. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia was here recently, and I was amazed by the number of people who reached out after the show to say, wow, I kind of like her. Yeah, that's been my line for a while. Everyone's a monster till you talk to them. On our overtime segment that night, someone asked about the alien spaceship. Maybe you've been reading about it. The 31 Atlas Comet that's headed to Earth and will arrive on December 19th to wipe out all life as we know it. It's a joke, don't worry. And when I quoted people in our own defense Department who had said, well, hold on, what you think might be aliens actually could be fallen angels or demons. Marjorie agreed, saying, absolutely, she said, I'm a Christian conservative. Angels and demons, that's what we believe. Okay, I think that's nuts, but you know what? So is. Is this a girl or a boy? I can't tell by its penis. I'm not going to go through wokeism's greatest hits now, but, you know, the safety ism, the open borders, queers for Palestine, whatever this was. I mean, I could go on, really. There's a lot of stuff. The other side has their top 10 list, too, and some of it's pretty hard to argue with. And I know, I know the President of the United States called a woman piggy this week, and you're a better person than me because you hate it more than I do, but I hate it, too. Really? As well as a thousand Other things about the Trump administration I never stop pointing out on this show. But I'm an adult and in the real world, there's some people you just can't stop talking to. Like your spouse or partner after a bad fight, tempting as that is. Like your dick of a boss, like your family and like the President of the United States. This is so childish, so purely emotional. The people who got all butthurt because I had dinner with them, you know, cuz he's Hitler, except he's not so unhelpful and dumb. Trump is the most supportive President Israel and the Jews ever had. You know, every year I used to ask Larry David to do Real Time and he'd always say, bill, I can't. I'm not smart enough about politics to do your show. Yeah, I get that now, Because there is no argument here. There's just the sugar rush that the no contact people get from never coming in second in a I hate Trump the most contest. Really? That's your strategy? To go full high school and tell the guy with all the power he can't sit with you at the lunch table? To borrow a phrase familiar to hbo, are not serious people. I mean, what exactly is the argument that by talking to Trump, I'll elevate him? Oh my God, don't tell me he could become president. Well, I guess, ma', am, Donnie is going to elevate Trump because he went to the White House today and look who's getting along now. This. This guy. Hi. MBS was at the White House this week. Biden thought he could cut him off, but a year later he found out he couldn't. There's no perfect way to deal with Trump, but not engaging is for sure nothing. Axios wrote a column in August entitled 11 Ways to Influence Trump, based on many interviews with people who have done that. Number eight, get face to face. The trick is getting in the room, away from cameras and social media. Trump will say or write horrible things, but rarely in person, one on one, where he comes off kinder, more interested, less erratic. Exactly. And there's a bunch of examples of this. Most recently the CEO of Intel, who Trump was hating on, but then he met in person, and now he's a great guy. Trump was gonna send the National Guard to San Francisco, but somebody talked him out of that. Kim Kardashian, for fuck's sake, convinced him to sign legislation. Don't you get it? Do you really not get it at this point? Everything with him is done through personal relationships. He's a people guy. Trust me. He's not at home at night poring over the briefing books. This is government by people is saying. If anything, we need more people like me having dinner with him. You complain he's surrounded by ass kissers, but your strategy is to make sure no one but ass kissers are around him. You are not serious people. Hey, Rachel Maddow went to Dick Cheney's funeral yesterday. We can do this, people. It's Thanksgiving. Do yourself a favor, get over yourself and go have it with your family. Thank you very much for a great season. You are the best audience every week these days. I appreciate it so much. Thank you HBO, my wonderful staff. We're back after the holidays on January 23rd. I want to thank Killer Mike down in Brazil and Mel Robbins Club Random drops every Monday while we're off on YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcast now, go watch Overtime on YouTube. Thank you people.

C (59:57)

Catch all new episodes of Real Time with Bill Maher every Friday night at 10 or watch him anytime on HBO on Demand. For more information, log on to hbo.com.

A (60:07)

Hey, Ryan Reynolds here wishing you a very happy half off holiday because right now Mint Mobile is offering you the gift of 50% off unlimited. To be clear, that's half price, not half the service. Mint is still premium unlimited wireless for a great price. So that means a half day. Yeah, give it a try@mintmobile.com Switch upfront.

C (60:31)

Payment $45 for 3 month plan equivalent to 15 per month required new customer offer for first 3 months only. Speed slow after 35 gigabytes of network's busy taxes and fees extra. See mint mobile.com.