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Aug. 27, 2018 - Real Coffe - Scott Adams
23:06
Episode 197 Scott Adams: My John McCain Story
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Hey everybody.
Come on in here.
Hello Kitten.
Hello Martin.
Somebody named Jesus or Jesus?
I can't tell. And, Nicholas, and the rest of you.
Well, it's good to see you.
It's been a long weekend.
It's time for morning coffee with Scott Adams.
And, hey Garrett, grab your mug, your vessel, your container, filled with your favorite beverage.
I think coffee is a good choice.
Your mileage may vary.
It's time for the simultaneous ep.
Yes, so the news today is that Mexico is getting ready to sign a new trade deal with the United States.
Okay.
And do you know what happens when Mexico signs a trade deal with the United States?
Well, then we start negotiating with Canada.
And do you know what happens when Canada signs a trade agreement with the United States?
Well, then we've got two trade agreements done and the dominoes will start to fall.
Hello, November.
What's the biggest thing people are worried about in terms of the economy?
Trade agreements.
What happens when they start coming in and people start signing them and they do look maybe a little bit better than they looked before?
Now, I don't know what this Mexican trade agreement will look like, but I wonder if it will be the kind of thing, I just wonder, just maybe, I wonder if the Mexican trade deal will be the kind of thing that Trump supporters say is a big win and Trump critics say, oh my God, look what he ruined.
He ruined another agreement.
I've got a feeling it's going to be one of those things where everybody can see whatever they want to see.
But I'm going to think that it's more win than not win.
And that when the dominoes start falling, China might be the last domino, but it will get embarrassing to China if they're the only ones that can't make a deal.
Think about it. Think about the impact of the prior deals on future deals, because it's all connected in our minds.
If China and everybody else is holding out, well, it's easier to hold out if everybody's holding out.
But as soon as the friendlier deals get signed, then China's going to start getting isolated.
There'll just be a few people holding out.
And then what happens when the world is looking at this situation and sees that everybody can sign a deal with the United States except China?
What's wrong, China?
China, why can't you sign a deal with the United States?
So it should make an impact to get these other deals signed first.
Now you're seeing some chatter out of North Korea about the fact that Pompeo canceled his trip because there wasn't enough progress.
And it looks like they've come down to sort of a who-goes-first situation.
Now, you have to be a little careful about the reporting out of that part of the world, because you never really know if you're getting the real story.
But if it's true that the obstacle right now is that both sides are waiting for the other side to make a big move, sort of a big first move, that feels like something that could get solved.
It doesn't feel like something that can't get solved.
Now if I had more details, I might be able to suggest a way to get past that.
But I don't quite know what the variables are that are in play right now.
So let me tell you, now that you're all here, let me tell you my John McCain story.
So it's a good day to tell a good John McCain story.
So it was 2006, maybe?
And I think it was 2006.
And I was on a trip, the biggest, longest trip I think I've taken anywhere outside the country, and I was in a tiny little island in the Pacific called Turtle Island.
Now, Turtle Island, you can only get there by a rickety old seaplane.
And it's a very exclusive little island.
It's where they filmed the movie Blue Lagoon.
Just a little bit of historical note.
And I think there might have been only 15 guests staying at the island that week.
You know, something like that. 15 or 20.
And I think there were about...
Maybe 30 employees on the island.
So there were more people working on the island than there were guests.
Everybody had their own little bungalow and it was sort of a special place.
So one day my ex and I were in a little golf cart sort of a thing that they used on the island to transport you from one side of the island to the other side.
And the Fijian gentleman who was driving, I'm thinking he was in his late 30s or something.
So it's a Fijian local man and he's driving my ex and I across the island as they did to transport people there.
And he's making conversation and he says, so are you following the elections?
Or whatever was happening in the politics.
And at the time, I wasn't really following them.
But I made some conversation.
And then just out of nowhere, this Fijian driver of this cart says, do you know John McCain?
And it was a funny way that he put it.
Do you know him? And I thought, no, you know, I don't know him.
But, you know, I'm watching politics, blah, blah, blah.
And He goes on to tell me that he knows John McCain.
So I'm literally in the middle of the Pacific on Turtle Island, and one of these Fijian employees is saying, oh yeah, John McCain and his wife, they vacation here all the time.
And he said, yeah, it's the regular place that they go.
I don't know how often, but it sounded like they'd been there a number of times.
Enough so that the small staff on the island knew them quite well, knew them personally.
And here's the story he told.
He said, yeah, he's here a lot.
I got to know him over the years.
And he said that if I'm ever in the mainland, I should come look him up and stay with him.
Just picture this.
So John McCain, one of the most powerful politicians in the United States, and therefore in the world, is on this tiny little island It's called Turtle Island in the middle of the Pacific.
He gets to know this Fijian guy who works there and says, hey, if you're ever in the United States, why don't you stop by my house?
Now, if you hear something like that, don't you tell yourself, well, he doesn't really mean that.
He doesn't actually mean stop by my house.
Because this is just the employee on the island, right?
So then the guy on the island goes on to say, and then, you know, I planned a trip.
I wanted to visit some family or something.
So I went over and I looked him up and I stayed with John McCain for a week.
That actually happened.
So he went to the United States.
Took him up on his offer.
I don't know if he has text.
What did he do? Did he text him and say, John McCain, I'm in the neighborhood, can I stay at your house?
And McCain said, sure, come on over.
He just stayed with the McCains for however long.
So that's my whole story.
This story sounded much better in your head.
Somebody said that. Hey, I only have one John McCain story.
This is the day to tell it, right?
So that's the best I have.
The guy was high on kava.
That's funny because they did do kava and they tried to get us to take some of it.
But I think I tasted a little, but it was not a tasty mix.
All right. Somebody else has a John McCain story?
So, there's a headline here on CNN Politics, or CNN, the site, and it said, I forget where it is, but the headline said something like, McCain and Hillary Clinton, some time ago, years ago, they had a drinking contest in some Eastern European country.
So it's a famous story in which they claim they had a drinking contest of doing shots of vodka.
And the way the story goes is that Hillary won the contest They did four shots of vodka each, and then they just sort of gave up.
She didn't really win, but they declared her the winner.
It was in Estonia, somebody's saying.
And the title of the article said, you know, what does this tell you?
What does it tell you that John McCain and Hillary had a drinking contest?
And I thought to myself, oh, it tells me how happy we are, or should be, that we have a president who doesn't drink.
That's where my mind went to immediately.
I was like, oh wow, I see where you're going with this.
How great it is to have a leader who's in charge of the nuclear weapons who doesn't drink anything.
And I thought to myself, you know, if you have a drinking contest in front of other people, you like to drink.
You're a person who likes to drink.
So I'm not so sure that CNN's point was the same point that I came to.
Their point was that in those days, the left and the right could sit down and have a drink, And reach across the aisle.
And I think that was true, and that's a good point too, but all I heard was two leaders who drank too much.
So that's the filter I put on it.
Drunk politics. - Do I think Cindy McCain will be appointed to the office?
I don't know how that works.
I could see why they might, but I don't know if that's being seriously discussed.
I just saw some speculation about that.
So I don't have an opinion on that.
Both 36.
What?
What?
Interview Clay Travis of Fox Sports.
Why him in particular?
He's interesting. Am I going to see Comey in Walnut Creek with Dana?
No, I don't know what that's all about.
But the answer is no.
All right, so I noticed that Adam Schiff, who is famous for being a critic of President Trump, is saying that he doesn't see at this who is famous for being a critic of President Trump, is saying that he Think about that.
After everything that we've seen and done and been through, the biggest critic of the president came out and said he doesn't see grounds for impeachment.
Holy cow. Now, of course, everybody says, yet, yet.
So let's do a little pattern recognition here.
The people who are anti-Trumpers say to themselves, there are so many avenues where we might find out something about the president that's bad, that surely we will.
So people are saying, well, if it isn't Michael Cohen, it's going to be something that Mueller kicks up, or it's going to be the doorman, or it's going to be David Pecker at the National Enquirer.
But one thing we can be sure about is with all these balls in the air, there's something that's going to get this president.
We're going to find out something about him.
It might be the IRS. It might be something.
So that's That's one way of thinking.
And then the other way of thinking looks like this.
Are you freaking kidding me?
You haven't found anything yet?
As hard as everybody has been looking for something?
The best we have is some payments to an old girlfriend, which was already baked into the election, because we kind of knew what, you know, people knew what they were voting for, right?
Nobody was really surprised by any of this stuff.
So, somebody says, you're being a rube.
Well, maybe you should wait till I get to the point.
So the point is this.
Which of those patterns is more predictive?
The fact that there are so many avenues that something might be discovered, does that tell you, well, with all that going on, something will be?
Or are you looking at it and saying, with all that looking, after three years, all of that looking, and we've got basically nothing?
Doesn't that tell you there's nothing there?
If you can look that hard and not find anything, that kind of tells you there's not much there to find.
So which of those is a more predictive pattern?
We don't know. But here's what I will tell you.
The people who look at the pattern and then say, therefore I know what's going to happen, they haven't been right yet.
So here's how I look at it.
I look at it that we're basically at scratch.
That what we can predict about the future of this president in terms of things that might be kicked up that are problematic, probably just the same as any president at this point.
If you had said to me on day one of Trump's presidency, if you said on day one, do you think if people look as hard as they can for two years, do you think they'll find anything bad?
I would have said, well, I hope not, but if you look hard enough, you could probably find something with any rich person.
So I would have said, just the fact that he's a billionaire with lots of businesses, there's probably something there.
But two years and pretty much nothing?
That surprised me.
I think we may be exhausting this line of attack.
Have you seen the file of all the things that people have called this president?
It's a funny long list of insults.
All right. Why would, oh let's talk about, so there's somebody named Lionel, I don't really know who he is, who has something to do with the Q phenomenon, who was photographed with the President in the Oval Office.
And people say, how could that be anything but confirmation that Q is real?
And the answer is, easily.
I think most of you know that I also got photographed with the President in the Oval Office.
So being photographed with the President in the Oval Office is sort of business as usual for the President.
People who are supporters, people who come in with groups, you know, get their picture taken.
So it's just sort of routine.
So would the President know everything about the people that he is photographed with?
No, not really. There is no part of the process of getting your picture taken with the president That involves a deep look into your past.
Or at least, I'm not aware of one.
You know, I had my photograph taken with the President, and as far as I know, nobody did a deep dive on my politics or my personal life or anything else.
You know, I'm sure they Googled me, or maybe not.
But I don't think anybody did a deep dive on me, and I don't think they do a deep dive on anybody else.
And if he came in with a group of people and then they said, hey, let's get our picture taken, there's nothing unusual about that.
So he probably, the president has probably got his picture taken with lots of people who if you look deeply into the background, you'd find at least one thing you didn't like.
Now the other interesting thing, speaking of that, so people ask me, well, why wouldn't the president disavow Q if it's not real?
Or why would he be seen with a Q supporter if it's not real?
And the answer is, look at his pattern.
The president's pattern is pretty clear.
He tends to be supportive of his supporters, and he goes hard against his critics.
The only exceptions are the racists.
So when asked about the racists, he disavows them.
So I think that's the only exception that I can think of.
But other than white supremacists, who he disavows about once a week, while people tell him he doesn't disavow them, I think he just always supports his supporters and he always goes hard against his critics.
In other words, he's a politician.
It's not the worst thing in the world.
Would you admit defeat if Q is real?
Well.
Would I admit defeat if Q is real?
I would admit to being amazed alright trying to see if there's anything else we need to talk about It's going to be a strange news period because the John McCain stuff...
We'll push everything off of the page, and if you're like me, you don't want to say anything negative about him, especially now.
So there's not much to say that's interesting because complimenting people is just no fun.
So Q says there are 45,000 sealed indictments.
What does that even mean?
What does it mean to have 45,000 sealed indictments?
About who? About what?
For what? I don't even know what that means.
The Florida shooting is not a topic I'm going to talk about for all the good reasons.
Don't talk about idiots, because I don't want the next idiot to get famous.
But I can say an idiot did something in Florida.
And that's all I want to say.
Tiger Woods comment.
Well, sounds like Tiger Woods made a comment.
What was it? Let's see if he's in the news today.
News, Tiger Woods.
That he's just playing poorly?
I don't see anything on there.
He wouldn't slam the president of the United States.
Is that it?
Well, he's just smart.
Alright, that's all I have to say for today.
Not very interesting.
Today is just a day to pay respects to Senator McCain and to veterans in general, who he represented in his way.
And we'll get back to other business at a more appropriate time.
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