Trump destroys the Republicans' chance of winning | Richard Schiff

The Republicans are just as idiotic for allowing Trump to become the nominee because right now, after Biden performed the way he did, if they had someone else, especially a younger version of a Republican Party, you know, a candidate model, however unpleasant they may even be. Think about them

winning

in a landslide over Biden right now, yeah right, have you learned anything at any of these biohacking conferences that might help Joe Biden in this presidential campaign, um, yeah, he could certainly use an infusion of youth. feeling kind of biohacks um I just had one at the conference today which made me feel, you know, really energized uh, I should have done that before the debate um uh, but no, yeah, that's such a place. difficult situation we are in. in our country and apparently it's being reflected in some places around the world uh it's a scary time, but we're not in a good place and I'm a fan of Joe Biden or I was when you I know I campaigned with him in 2006, when he ran for election in 2008 and we are friends. um, it's safe to say and, uh, you know, I don't know how I feel about him showing up again and, you know, and here.

There comes the moral question of knowing when it's time to pass the torch and I think part of that is that the Democrats are very afraid of not

winning

this election and they felt that Biden, because he had defeated the other guy once before, was the best . I took a gamble and no one really came up, but I think that, you know, the incumbent has to say it's time, and then candidates could have come up that, um, winnable, I don't know, I don't know if it's too late and I don't know, The result is very terrifying.

What's coming in the next few months scares me a lot. Are you talking about a broken system of some kind? There is no better or clearer succession plan for this source. of the circumstances, um, yeah, uh, it seems like we discovered a lot of things, a long time ago, when this experiment started a couple hundred years ago and also, um, but you didn't answer all the questions correctly and the term limit is the limit of two terms. It certainly seemed to have addressed that after Roosevelt was elected four times and we fixed that problem so that we don't have any king like that person in the White House, but no, I don't think any.

I don't think the ancestors, the founding fathers. uh I anticipated someone so old uh ever being president or someone there is something in place when some when the president is incompetent I think it's the invocation of was the 25th amendment was the 25th um yeah, it's of course, it's what we I tried in the last regime, and it takes yes, the bigger, the bigger problem for me is not so much whether Biden can win again, the problem is that even if he wins, we are in the same position as In the situation in the one we find ourselves in today, Congress is hostile and the only time in American history where real progress was made in terms of domestic issues was when Congress was dominated by one party or another, so Roosevelt had a majority of the 60%.

Congress when the New Deal happened and LBJ Lyndon Johnson had a 60% majority and that 60% is important because it overrides the filibuster and laws can be passed without obstruction and there is so much obstruction now and it is so divisive and polarized that Congress This is has become inept and in a uh and you know, very soon we will see fist fights in the House of Representatives and we will get close to that, that to me is as big a problem as who is going to be sitting in the Oval Office, you know , because nothing will be done that is not by presidential order, you know, we have to avoid at all costs, in my opinion, Trump returning to the White House simply because he has already destroyed many of the pillars of the fundamental elements of our democracy and that's going to get worse and it's going to make it even more and the Supreme Court just backed up, you know, by ruling that the president is immune to certain crimes are pretty much what they said, um, it's, it's just not a good place, we're just not in a place that would be nice to have, uh, and the Republicans are just as idiotic for allowing Trump to become the nominee because right now, after Biden performed the way he did, if they had someone else , especially a younger version of a Republican Party, you know, a model candidate, as much as they are unpleasant to even think that they would win in a landslide over Biden right now. right, if there is someone in the middle who is somewhat intelligent and somewhat you know, presentable to the public, and their agenda is more hidden like it used to be in the old days because then they would win in a landslide, and in many ways, I think that we just pulled back the curtain, you know, this is who we are, this is who we have been and now the ugly truth is just apparent for everyone to see, you know, uh, it's another way of looking at it, but the Republicans.

They are stupid for not finding a candidate who is viable for a democracy. They would have killed in this election. I just do not get it. Both parties are stupid. What a place to be. You know, I was thinking about Richard. I mentioned invoking the 25th Amendment and obviously I started digging through my West Wing file and when that happens in the West Wing, Toby's colleague will describe it as an impressive act of patriotism which, obviously, in a different context, is something like , you already know. personal crisis for President Bartlett in the West Wing, but it's an interesting line, isn't it an amazing act of patriotism to remove yourself as president in the interest of the country?

Yes, you ask me if I agree? If you believe it? Do you think that would actually be an impressive act of patriotism? I mean, I think it's all relative to the circumstances, but you know, certainly, if the Republicans had voted along with the Democrats for impeachment and then 25th place wouldn't have been. It needs to be an impressive act of patriotism, of course. , it is, you know, I mean, you have someone who has now been convicted as a felon who was committing serious crimes in the Oval Office and, you know, when I grew up and I was. alive when Nixon was impeached and resigned rather than be convicted by the Senate, but the Senate would have convicted him.

Republicans would have joined Democrats in condemning the president, um for uh, for violating his oath, you know, and the fact that that's not even possible now is an indication of how Brook and we know that if Trump comes again being president he will have total immunity to persecute his enemies to enrich his own businesses and align himself with the nefarious interests of everyone like Putin and he just gets rich and wins the game because for these guys everything is a game, in reality there is no ideology, just one game and you know he'll win if he's elected again, you know he's already packed the Supreme Court with idiots and um, you know he can win and that's what we're going to allow to happen if we're elected, yeah, so?

Is it a surprising act of patriotism? Yes, eliminating someone like him, yes, is it an amazing act of patriotism? P patriotism for not voting for him in the first place, yes, that's my opinion, yes, very, what about Joe Biden? Would it be a surprising act of patriotism if he resigned now? I think it would be provided that we can find a viable candidate to replace him. I think that's the problem, yeah, I think people do I think if he has any inclination to say, admit that he might not be on top if he is. He's willing to do it now, he may not be willing in a year or two.

I think people are probably discouraging him from doing it because you know they're too afraid of what another candidate would mean for the issue you know. the likelihood of M keeping the Oval Office in the Democratic party um, you know, the side of things, I think they're afraid and you can't operate from fear and you know, um, you know you, me and I don't know who that would be. I know honestly, I don't know who Gavin Nome would be has too many weaknesses as governor of California, you know, Kamla is certainly not very popular, the vice president and any of them would have beaten Donald Trump in a debate, although you know. um certainly Gavin Newsome would have done it and you know you just wish he was there to fight uh in that scenario, but California is a mess so how do you do it?

I don't know, I'm not an expert, you know? I played an expert on TV, but I don't really have the answers and I don't have Aaron Sorin writing for me to give me the answers. I think you have more answers than you think. Actually, I really have them, uh, because. One of my thoughts is about the broken system you describe and you know I don't think the US system is the only one that has failed in recent years. I think you know there's some sort of broken system outbreak. systems, if I can put it that way, and I try to figure out why it's about the quality of the people or the ambition of the people and the priorities of the people are in the wrong place and what that fixes for a candidate that Can that fix a system or is it really just a fundamental change that needs to happen and how does that happen?

I don't know, it's one of those sadly, you know, humans have demonstrated the capacity for monumental change only after a complete, complete, total disaster, yeah, right, we won't really change our attitude toward the climate until a tidal wave knocks it over. the Empire State Building. You know, that just won't happen. We are making incremental changes. You already know. at the government level it will be eliminated as if Trump became president, for example, we have made some progress. In the past, Biden was able to implement certain policies in that regard that were useful, they are not solutions, but they are useful.

It will be reversed the day Trump takes office, you know, um, and I just think I don't know what to think. I, um, you know where he is, there's so much dissatisfaction that I think the world is coming out of the trauma of Co and and. and there are many disconnected people who were even more disconnected during the pandemic and have not regained their community's connectivity with the world. I guess you know, I just know that there's a sense of misery in my country or dissatisfaction or you know what about me ISM um, you know, and if you look at the numbers, they're not horrible, there's inflation, but unemployment has gone down to a 3% or something like that and you know the stock market is still skyrocketing and you know. um uh things are a little more difficult because of the environment, there are more homeless people, the cities are less violent, although the media promotes the fact that there could be more violence, but the numbers defy what you know and I think The most important thing is that we don't trust our information, you know, and we have to take sides as to where we get our information because we know it's biased and, if it's going to be biased, then we want you to know that we want this, we want it.

This is our source. because they will make it biased to make me feel good, you know, instead of looking for the truth, there is no dialectic anymore, there is no, you know, if you have it, I think the foundation of our legal system and the foundation of our democracy was compromised. , No? I'm not talking about the legal system, but it's two opposing positions, you know, two opposing ideas and they come together and then a better idea comes out of it and uh, that happened in some parts of our history of our country and it no longer exists now.

They are two, two opposing ideas or forces that come together and destroy each other, try to destroy each other and therefore destroy whatever has been built between them, you know that and we are witnessing it, you know, I think Ya You know, from the top down, the attitude and behavior of ordinary citizens in America have become Trumpism. You know, I want what I want and I don't care what it does to you or anyone else, and you feel like you feel that. the way you do business with people is like the people you meet there's no um there doesn't seem to be a lot of effort to serve the community and serve the best the betterment of everything um and it's all me.

What about me, ISM, and you know, and when, when the person who is the most famous and is in the most powerful position, the most powerful position in the world, they say, is the kind where you know that He doesn't care about the ramifications and consequences? of his actions as long as it serves him, then the rest of us, you know, tend to emulate that. I guess I don't know, yeah, I'm rambling because there's nothing to say about this stuff, it's just mind-blowing. I love the fact that Democratic pundits and policy people use as many peas as they can find, um uh, they're still hopeful and they're still working and they're still on the streets and they're still on the grassroots and they're determined to do something positive with this.

It's all this, I envy them, I don't know how they do it, but you know, and I'm going to end up emulating some of that the closer we get to the election, but no, I don't know how they do it. Well, with all that in mind, how about this to cheer you up? How's this for an uplifting conversation? I'm trying to find Redemption, Richard. I am, I also know myself well. If you find it, let me know. It's always good to have your thoughts, that's for sure, um, I don't know. I guess there is frustration and misery and hardship, but you still see people who are willing to serve.

You know, and maybe there is actually something historic here in what has happened before and therefore it can happen again that people put community first and public service first and all these things will disappear againand maybe this is just a cycle in which we happen. be living the right night, yeah, that's the hopeful way to think about it and that's something I'll remind you of, you know people if we're in a conversation, yeah, you know, because we're certainly in the Civil War. it was worse in terms of when our country was polarized at 196 in 1968, you know, um, and the war stuff in Vietnam that I was alive for certainly felt like it was an existential crisis for this country, um, and yeah , we've been there before. and uh uh and and you know, when Nion was elected it seemed like it was the end of the world when Reagan was elected it seemed like it was the end of the world and it wasn't, so you know, maybe we're stronger than us. than it seems, but now you have someone who is trying to break everything, just destroy everything, and that's the problem.

Nixon was bending the rules a little, but basically he believed in the principles of democracy, as did Reagan. Me, um, and Trump, don't you know? So that's the scary part: you have someone who could be at the center of power, who only knows how to destroy, he's never built anything in his life and that's scary, you know? I know it's much easier for an eight year old to step on a sandcastle and destroy it and it's much faster than building the sandcastle in the first place, right? It sounds like what you're saying is Bartlett for America, yes it would be nice if there were people in a position of power who really wanted to leave the world a better place than they found it and I think that's why people were drawn to it. for those characters in The West Wing.

They certainly had good intentions. They may not have accomplished much if you really look at what the Bartlett Administration was. You know, what they accomplished wasn't much. You know there was no peace between Israel and Palestine and Palestine. There was no peace between Pakistan and India, internal problems were still prevalent, there was still homelessness, Medicare hadn't been resolved, you know, and it was one of the best things for me about what we did and what Aaron Sorin wrote. It's just that we know that compromise was the best we could do and we often lost and that's the reality of government and um you know uh and he celebrated that um and if you have good intentions you can gradually improve certain situations and certain policies but you're going to lose a lot.

I think the moment that defined my character more than any other was a flashback for me as an actor, it was a flashback when we were filming in New Hampshire and I was in and Toby was in the bar. smoking a cigarette and drinking a whiskey and there was a woman at the end of the bar who said: You know, are you one of those political agents? and Toby says: yeah and she: have you ever won anything? And I remember that I, like Toby, made a big decision. A long pause trying to think about whether he had actually won anything or not and then I realized that he had never won anything and I said no, like it was a surprise to me and that defined who he was, he was someone. who was going to fight and winning or losing was irrelevant because he had to join the fight and if he won, which he did with Bartlett ultimately great, but that's not the main issue and I think that's why people love that character so much and to other people.

In the West Wing that's not the case now, winning is everything and, you know, I think that's why we're in this position. Going back to Biden is like winning is the most important thing and they are too scared to do it. go another route yes, me, my wife and I are in Helsinki, Finland. I had never been to the Nordic countries before. It's quite interesting and the people here are very friendly. I think I heard. I read studies about where the happiest people in the world are from Finland and it is not true, I can only point out that there are very friendly and very healthy people here, and they eat well and we have not had bad meals since then.

We've been here but we're here for the biohacking conference um uh organized by teu Arena and uh someone has asked me to do this program uh reality show for lack of a better word, non-narrative program about um longevity and it's called Richard chiff lives for as long as I live up to the title um the show will last a long time um and we're we're we're investigating. I am from the perspective of someone who is not a billionaire. someone who is not a PhD from MIT who is not a scientist and is trying to figure out and examine a lot of this new technology and information and tools and science related to which is helped by the presence now of AI uh that analyzes all of this information um uh which aims to help people live longer and have longer periods of health where they live healthier longer so it's just living longer hooked up to a tube in a hospital bed. but you live longer in Optimal Health, so in a fun way, we're trying to absorb all this information and spread it to normal people like you and me, who don't have a billion dollars or a team of scientists. and the doctors help you look, feel and be younger and we're having fun it's great so we were in Dallas and now we're in Helsinki and we've been to the British Virgin Islands and we're nice. from going around all the places we've been in Silicon Valley, uh uh, interviewing and talking to people with various new technologies and things like that, yeah, would you like to live forever?

Conversations with bioengineers, scientists and philosophers so far and the question arises, you know well, many people don't want to live forever and it's like no, I don't, there is an economic, moral question. you know there's an ethnic, ethical, moral ethical issue, and it made me realize that the baby boom generation, which is already very greedy, is accumulating an incredible amount of wealth relative to the other generations, it's certainly true in the United States. United, um, and now they're having such a good time that they don't want to go anywhere, they don't want to pass the torch, you know, and the scientists will say, or at least some of them have told me, that it's the death of the older generation creating new discoveries and creating new science, you know, and if it's that cycle, uh, and it's a cycle of life, and someone I just talked to recently said I believe in death, he said it goes and we should celebrate it. and not be afraid of him and we should celebrate him like we celebrate birth and he has no desire to live forever he is very happy living the life that is provided to him by whoever and um it's very It's a really interesting question.

I have not lived in a very optimal and healthy way because I came into the world very, very sick and I have noticed a lot of the leaders in this field. The people who have spearheaded this type of new industry are people who have been very, very sick at some point in their lives and their journey has led them to discover techniques to hack the way we can get healthy. I find it very interesting and then there are people who live, not who have not been so sick, who live a normal life and who do not have that much interest in the field, so it is interesting, there is an economy. and a moral question to the idea of ​​living longer than you know, your biology intended you to live, so we are exploring that, as well as the techniques.

I would certainly like to be healthier and more present in the world, you know. which I can accomplish when I'm acting, but otherwise, I'm busy. I think my physiology, my medical physiology, clogs up my brain quite a bit, you know, and it takes a lot of exercise and concentration to be in front of the camera on stage I can do that, but that takes a lot of work on my part. Anyway, it's fascinating and we're having a great time. It's so fun to research all these new things. Richard, thank you. You are very, very good to talk to, thank you for the time we received, we have to end on something positive now, yeah, well, what positive would you like to end on?

I was hoping you would. I was hoping you would tell me to do it. you want to find it I think we all came out of my head I had some before I don't know what they are now yeah that's what I do to people yeah. Welcome to my world like here why I try. I try not to talk. too much about these things, but here's the positive, here's the positive, if indeed this longevity thing works, we'll be here long enough for it to be accurate again, that's EXA, yes, very good point, even if it happens a disaster, somehow we will be close. for when everything, when all the flowers start to grow again and when democracy is reaffirmed as a good thing and in the meantime we could all work to make that happen and if we lose, we lose.

Be like Toby if we lose we lose but let's join the fight