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The Daily Show - Season 31 - Episode 50: Ben McKenzie
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00:03From the most trusted journalists at Comedy Central, it's America's only source for news.
00:10This is The Daily Show with your host, Michael Kosta.
00:26Oh, yeah, babies. Whoa, what a show. Welcome to The Daily Show.
00:30I'm Michael Kosta. We've got so much to talk about tonight.
00:33Pete Hegseth rocks the boat. Donald Trump declares war on windmills.
00:37And the Navy is about to make sure that witches get stitches.
00:41So, let's get into the latest on the war in Iraq.
00:46Nothing bad can happen. It can only good happen.
00:51All eyes are still on the Strait of Hormuz, which we can now all agree is the most important narrow
00:57waterway in the world.
00:59Look, no offense to the Panama Canal, but if I were you, I'd f***ing kill myself.
01:06Anyway, as part of Trump's efforts to pressure Iran to open the strait,
01:10the U.S. Navy is blockading all Iranian ports along the coastline,
01:13which is a very complex, difficult task.
01:16But luckily, we've got the steady, stable leadership of U.S. Navy Secretary John Phelan
01:23to get the job done.
01:25U.S. Navy Secretary John Phelan ousted from his position effective immediately.
01:31What?
01:33You're in the middle of a major naval operation and you're firing the guy whose job is to be in
01:39charge of major naval operations?
01:42Just because what?
01:44He looks like a high school principal who's always asking the girls for hugs?
01:49How else are you going to say congrats on sophomore year?
01:55There must be a reason.
01:58Tensions between Phelan and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had been mounting,
02:02according to multiple sources familiar with the relationship.
02:05The approach Phelan was taking when it came to shipbuilding appears to have been the main reason for the firing.
02:11Yeah, yeah, that makes sense.
02:12I, um, I can't tell you how many friends I've lost arguing about shipbuilding.
02:17It's actually kind of sad.
02:22Tim, Gary, Todd, I know we haven't spoken since our big fight about whether a displacement haul is superior to
02:29a semi-displacement haul,
02:31but I still think that a semi-displacement offers better balance of range and speed,
02:36but I wish it hadn't torn our friendship apart, especially since none of us were actually building a ship.
02:43Also, sorry for banging your wives.
02:47In retrospect, that was childish and uncalled for.
02:53Okay.
02:54I think that'll do it.
02:59But this firing is a little concerning,
03:01especially because we're losing all of the military expertise
03:04that I'm sure John Phelan had been bringing for the job for, I assume, years.
03:09Before taking the job just 13 months ago, Phelan was a Florida businessman
03:13and a major donor to President Trump's campaigns.
03:15He had never served in the military.
03:17Holy shit, that's it?
03:20They put a guy in charge of the U.S. Navy because he's good at being rich?
03:25Secretary, six incoming torpedoes.
03:27Quick, throw some money at him.
03:28I mean...
03:31But still, Trump hangs out with lots of rich people.
03:33There must have been something more about John Phelan that he liked.
03:37John Phelan is named on a flight manifest indicating that he flew on Jeffrey Epstein's private plane in March 2006.
03:45God damn.
03:47That plane was like a LinkedIn for creeps.
03:51Someone on there must have been like, yeah, I diddle kids, but only for the networking.
03:56So maybe it's not so bad that Hegseth isn't Phelan Phelan anymore, but who's taking the helm from him?
04:04Replacing him as acting head of the Navy will be Undersecretary Hung Kao,
04:08a combat veteran who ran unsuccessful campaigns for the House and Senate in Virginia.
04:12This is a great gentleman.
04:15I love his name, Hung Kao.
04:16I love that name.
04:17Okay, sure.
04:20I'm sure he loves that name now.
04:23But how long until Trump forgets Hung Kao's name and starts trying to get close?
04:28Hey, the carrier's under attack.
04:29Where's Fat Dong, huh?
04:32Hey, anyone seen Chubby Wang?
04:39By the way, Hung Kao was my nickname in high school.
04:49That's right, ladies.
04:50I was well-endowed, and my farts cause climate change.
04:53Now, to be clear, Kao does have some things that you want in a Navy secretary,
05:00like 20 years' experience in the Navy.
05:02But in case you're worried that Trump accidentally hired someone normal, not so fast.
05:07For example, he seems very concerned about Christians being persecuted,
05:10even when it's a bit of a stretch.
05:13There's a place in Monterey, California, called Lover's Point.
05:17The original name was Lover's of Christ Point.
05:20But now it's become, they took out the Christ, it's Lover's Point.
05:23Oh, okay, that's very interesting.
05:25So that's actually just like Orlando, originally it was called,
05:28Orland, Don't You Love Jesus?
05:32Is changing it from Lover's of Christ Point to Lover's Point that big of a deal?
05:37I mean, if they change it to Rim Job Lover's Point, yeah.
05:41Fine.
05:42That might send a signal.
05:44But they didn't, and that's why I have no interest in going.
05:51But sorry, I interrupted.
05:52You were talking about how all the Christians were driven out of Monterey, California.
05:56So what happened next?
05:57And it's really, Monterey is a very dark place now.
06:00A lot of witchcraft and the Wiccan community has really taken over there.
06:05And we can't let that happen in Virginia.
06:07Yeah, no, yeah, we can't let, we can't let Virginia be taken over by witches.
06:12Also, I have a, I have a follow-up question.
06:15What the f*** are you talking about?
06:18Why?
06:20I mean, why is everybody they appoint so f***ing crazy?
06:27Can they just find a normal person with a normal head on his shoulders who believes normal things?
06:32What kind of sailors does this guy even want to recruit?
06:34When you're using a, you know, drag queen to recruit for the Navy, that's not the people we want.
06:40What we need is alpha males and alpha females.
06:44Alpha females, right.
06:46So, so drag queens.
06:55Maybe he's right.
06:57Maybe he's right.
06:58Maybe we need alpha males who will beat the s*** out of our enemies.
07:01And alpha females who will mock their insecurities so precisely they'll never leave the house again.
07:06But what exactly will the alpha males and females do that others can't?
07:11What we need is alpha males and alpha females who are going to rip out their own guts, eat them,
07:16and ask for seconds.
07:17Those are young men and women that are going to win wars.
07:23You want alpha males and females who eat their own ripped out guts?
07:30Maybe I don't know what war is.
07:33I mean, I guess it might freak out the enemy if they see the alpha soldiers pulling out their own
07:38stomachs and eating them.
07:39But that's only going to work once.
07:44Also, not to be nitpicky, but if you eat your own guts, where do they go?
07:53For more on Hung Kao and his new leadership at the Navy, let's go live to Jordan Klepper in Arlington,
08:00Virginia.
08:04Jordan, was there no one else who could have filled the role?
08:07That wasn't a Trump donor or insane extremist?
08:10Nope. Back to you, Michael.
08:11But, come on.
08:14Surely there was one person who was a little more qualified.
08:17You know, I've seen the entire list of candidates, Michael,
08:19and Man Afraid of Witches was indeed their best option.
08:24You know, there were really only two types of candidates for this, donors or the loonies.
08:29I mean, all the more experienced candidates were hesitant about committing war crimes
08:34or holding Pete Hanks' hair back after happy hour at Ruby Tuesdays.
08:38Okay. Okay.
08:40Well, then who else were they considering?
08:42Well, for example, they looked closely at this guy.
08:45His name is John Trunk.
08:47Okay. And he served in the Navy?
08:49Well, not the Navy per se, but he was patient zero on that cruise ship where everyone got dysentery.
08:56Um, does he have any military experience?
09:00It depends.
09:01Would you consider funneling crypto to Barron Trump's offshore bank accounts to be military experience?
09:08No. No.
09:09Then no, he does not have military experience.
09:11But, uh, if he doesn't float your boat, little maritime humor there,
09:16then the administration also considered Carson McDougal.
09:20Oh. Okay. He looks like a sailor, at least.
09:22Uh, yes. He was the admiral of the January 6th amphibious fleet.
09:27They, uh, they tried to storm the Capitol by sea,
09:30but failed to realize the reflecting pool is more of an inland pond.
09:34Okay. No. No, no, no, no.
09:37Go back to the Trump donors. Who else do we have?
09:40Sure. Trump also considered mega-donor Steve Richman.
09:43Uh, that's him right there in the middle.
09:46Yeah, I...
09:48Jordan, I refuse to believe there wasn't a single candidate who wasn't a Trump crony or right-wing extremist.
09:53Well, there... I mean, there was one other in the mix.
09:56Uh, an expert at sea-based warfare, a strong negotiator with no ties to Donald Trump or Jeffrey Epstein.
10:03Well, where have you been hiding this guy? He sounds perfect.
10:05Well, not a he, Michael. She. Her name is Ursula, and she's...
10:11She's, um... She's promised to put Iran's naval fleet under the sea.
10:15This is... This is so stupid. I don't want Ursula the sea witch commanding the U.S. Navy.
10:20Oh, well, well, well. You don't like witches either, huh?
10:22Well, sounds like somebody's ready to board the USS Hong Kong.
10:27Ah, fair point. Jordan Klepper, everyone.
10:29When we come back to find out how Trump defeated the wind, don't go away.
10:51Welcome back to The Daily Show.
10:53Yesterday was Earth Day.
10:55You might have spent it admiring nature or finally putting down that pathetic ficus in your bedroom window
11:00that's been whispering,
11:01Kill me.
11:03But Donald Trump's relationship to the environment is a more complicated subject.
11:07For more, we turn to Desi Lydic in our ongoing segment,
11:10The Art of the Altercation.
11:19We all know Donald Trump has a long list of enemies.
11:22Iran, Democrats, the far-left radicals known as the Catholic Church.
11:27But there's only one opponent that Trump hates so much
11:31that when he goes after them, he actually becomes them.
11:34You know, the windmills.
11:35Boom, boom, boom.
11:37Windmills.
11:38Wee.
11:39Windmills.
11:40Rear.
11:44That's right.
11:45Whether it's a person from another country or an inanimate object,
11:49Trump will do the accent.
11:51And you might be saying,
11:53Wait, Desi, aren't those wind turbines?
11:56Yes, they used to be, but Trump calls them windmills,
11:59so they're windmills now.
12:01You know, like how this is now the Gulf of America.
12:04This is the Trump-Kennedy Center, and these are healthy ankles.
12:12And boy, oh boy, Trump has gone after these windmills with a vengeance.
12:17The president signed an executive order on his first day in office this term,
12:21bringing federal wind projects to a halt.
12:24There are windmills all over the place, and they are losers.
12:32Total losers.
12:33And you know what?
12:34While we're at it, hey, pinwheels, right off, okay?
12:37Okay?
12:40You're not even that whimsical, you glittery bitches.
12:44But keep in mind, all of that took place before the war with Iran.
12:48Trump's obviously got more important things to worry about than some silly windmills.
12:54During a global energy crisis and his war in Iran,
12:57the Trump administration is paying a French energy company nearly $1 billion of U.S. taxpayer money
13:04to cancel its plans to build two offshore wind farms.
13:08How could you do that?
13:11In the middle of an energy crisis, windmills should be our backup plan.
13:15It's like I always say, windmills are the morning-after pill of the Strait of Hormuz.
13:21I always say it.
13:23I do.
13:25I always say that, right before the person next to me on the subway changes seats.
13:30And for spending a billion of our tax dollars to stop a project is insane.
13:35If I want to pay a fortune to get nothing, I'll buy season tickets to the Mets.
13:40Oh!
13:44But also, oh.
13:48And he's hated windmills forever, ever since 2012,
13:51when they hurt the thing Trump loves the most.
13:54No, not that.
13:57Not that either.
13:58I'm talking about his golf courses.
14:01The focus of his outrage, a proposed wind farm off the coast,
14:05and an eyesight of Trump's Aberdeen golf course.
14:08It's one of the most serious problems that Scotland will have or has had.
14:13They're horrible-looking structures.
14:15They make noise.
14:19So you've said.
14:20But I'm not sure that windmills make noise was a very effective argument to Scotland.
14:25It's the bagpipe capital of the world.
14:29They love noise.
14:32Have you heard the Scottish version of the Headspace app?
14:46Almost fell asleep there.
14:48But Trump wasn't going down without a fight, and he took it all the way to the courts.
14:52You're in litigation.
14:54Who are you suing?
14:54We're suing essentially Scotland.
14:56Nobody sues a country.
14:57We are.
14:58We're suing a country.
14:59We're doing very well.
15:00Oh, shit!
15:02Nice knowing you, Scotland, because when Donald Trump goes to court,
15:06it always goes exactly the way he planned.
15:09In a unanimous judgment, the court rejects both challenges.
15:19Yes, the U.K. Supreme Court said, we think this is f***ing stupid, and we wear these things to work.
15:27So, obviously, Trump moved on from this defeat with his usual grace and humility,
15:32by which I mean he held on to this grudge like it was a Nobel Prize made of boobs.
15:37And windmills went from being a nuisance to, um, hmm, I guess the source of all the problems on planet
15:45Earth.
15:45If you're in sight of a windmill, watch the value of your house go down by 65%.
15:52They got these big, ugly suckers hanging down.
15:55They're all rusting and disgusting-looking.
15:57They are so unattractive.
15:59They kill the birds.
16:00You want to see a bird graveyard?
16:02You just go.
16:03Take a look.
16:03A bird graveyard?
16:04And they say the noise causes cancer.
16:07It drives the whales fricking crazy.
16:10You know what it is?
16:11I want to be a whale psychiatrist.
16:18Whale psychiatrist might be the one job Trump would be worse at than president.
16:22I mean, he wouldn't listen.
16:25He'd fat shame them.
16:26And God knows what he tried to do to that blowhole.
16:31Don't picture it.
16:32So that's Trump's war on windmills.
16:35And right now, it feels like he's winning.
16:37Which means that as the rest of the world embraces alternative forms of energy, America is falling behind.
16:43And if that makes you feel powerless and stressed out, remember, no matter what Trump is doing to the country,
16:49you always have the power to take a beat and center yourself.
17:00Thank you, Desi.
17:05When we come back, Ben McKenzie will be joining me on the show.
17:08Don't go away.
17:17Welcome back to the show.
17:18My guest tonight is an actor, author, and director of the new documentary, Everyone is Lying to You for Money.
17:26Celebrities have always shilled products.
17:28Ever since there have been celebrities.
17:30Even my wife has done it.
17:32There's nothing wrong with that.
17:33But this isn't a sandwich or skin cream.
17:37This was a financial product.
17:39Crypto will really be the future.
17:41If you aren't a licensed financial advisor, you're not supposed to offer people financial advice.
17:46It's literally illegal.
17:47It's the new wave.
17:48It's what everybody's doing.
17:49As an actor, I'm a professional bullshitter.
17:52And my gut told me the guys selling people on crypto were full of it.
17:59Please welcome Ben McKenzie.
18:13What's that?
18:13That's how you enter.
18:14That's how you do this.
18:17That's how you enter a late night show right there.
18:24You guys excited for this movie?
18:26You excited for this movie?
18:28Hell yeah.
18:30Cryptocurrency.
18:30Very exciting.
18:31You're pumped about it.
18:33I don't mean this to be insulting.
18:34I actually don't know you from the OC.
18:37Okay?
18:37And I know you from crypto.
18:39Wow.
18:40Isn't that crazy?
18:41I could kiss you right now.
18:41Okay, great.
18:42Is that...
18:43Can we do that now?
18:43Is that what we want?
18:46I mean, you know...
18:46I mean, look, people want to...
18:48OC, Fantastic, Southland, which was a fairly good show for...
18:53There's like...
18:54There's like...
18:55There we go.
18:56There's like two dudes in the audience super happy about that.
18:59Gotham, you know, look.
19:06Much like you, Michael, I contain multitudes.
19:08That's right.
19:09That's right.
19:09Why crypto?
19:11What struck a nerve for you on this?
19:13The movie's great.
19:14Your book is great.
19:16You really know what the shit you're talking about.
19:18Yeah.
19:18Which, uh...
19:19I was like, whoa, this guy's not just an actor.
19:22He's got a...
19:22This guy's got a brain on him.
19:23You know what I'm saying?
19:25Why crypto?
19:26I have an undergraduate economics degree.
19:28It was the pandemic.
19:29I was bored as...
19:31Can I say f***?
19:32I was bored as f***.
19:32Whatever you want.
19:33Yeah.
19:33I was bored as f***.
19:34And, uh...
19:35And a buddy of mine came to me and said,
19:36I should buy crypto.
19:37A lot of people have had this experience.
19:39But my buddy has given me terrible financial advice before.
19:43And I was like, Dave, I'm not going to do this.
19:44But, uh, what is it?
19:45And he was like, it's a cryptocurrency.
19:47What is that?
19:48It's, uh...
19:49So I was like, it's money, right?
19:50Right.
19:51So you can buy stuff with it.
19:53Uh, not quite.
19:54Not really.
19:56You know?
19:56And so I just got obsessed with it.
19:58I-I-I...
19:59I saw this...
20:00Your obsession comes...
20:01And the movie...
20:01Man, your obsession comes through.
20:03Yeah.
20:04Yeah, I bet.
20:05No, I mean that.
20:05And, like, I mean, you really dove in.
20:07I did.
20:08I did.
20:08And I was really frustrated originally by the celebrities selling it.
20:11Because, of course, like, if there's one thing that I knew, it was that Matt Damon doesn't know s*** all
20:16about blockchain.
20:17Yeah, exactly.
20:18Exactly.
20:20No offense to Matt.
20:21Great actor.
20:22Probably not going to get cast in one of his movies now.
20:24That's okay.
20:25We all suffer, uh...
20:26Well, I actually really, really, really, really appreciate you speaking up.
20:30Because you have a public's...
20:31Um, you are a public figure.
20:33And to just sit around passively when you know something is wrong...
20:37Yeah.
20:37...is bullshit.
20:38And I'm sure it maybe has cost you.
20:41I don't know.
20:42I mean, uh...
20:42But-but you really believe that this is a scam.
20:45Yeah.
20:46And, I mean, I think we all are...
20:47So many of us feel lack of agency.
20:49Yeah.
20:50And we want to know what we can do.
20:51Yeah.
20:51This is a weird thing for me to have done.
20:53Right.
20:53But I do believe in it quite a lot.
20:55Yeah.
20:56And what's wonderful is to get the response from not just you and not just the folks here,
21:01but, like, audiences.
21:03Um, people are ready for this.
21:04Yeah.
21:05They're tired of being told, uh, what's true and what's not true.
21:08Even...
21:09Their time...
21:10Yeah.
21:15They're tired of being lied to for money, if you will.
21:17Right.
21:18Right.
21:18Yeah.
21:19And, uh...
21:21And they can't control us.
21:22We get to determine, uh, what kind of country we want to live in.
21:25I love that.
21:27Um...
21:32You ready for a tough question?
21:34Let's hit...
21:34Hit me.
21:35What is money?
21:38Ah!
21:39Love this question.
21:40You spell it out wonderfully in the book and in the documentary.
21:43But, I mean, isn't all of this a little bit bullshit?
21:46We're all just kind of agreeing on this paper?
21:48Yeah.
21:48Yeah, yeah, yeah.
21:49So money's made up.
21:50Right.
21:50It's all made up.
21:51It's all fake.
21:51It's all real.
21:52Yeah.
21:53Uh, so it's a social construct, just like government or religion.
21:56Right.
21:56And it's only as strong as the social consensus that, uh, underlies it.
22:00Right.
22:00And, obviously, at this moment in history in America, the social consensus is quite fragile,
22:05which has given crypto, you know, quite a lot of, uh, room and latitude to sort of infect
22:10the public, if you will, or a small segment of it.
22:13Yeah.
22:13But, um, at the end of the day, it's all made up.
22:16Now, the distinction here between crypto and, and our money, our dollar, is that, um, if
22:22money's made up, what is it?
22:23It's trust.
22:24Right.
22:25You take a dollar from me, not because you trust me, but because you trust that you can
22:28use that dollar for what you want, uh, to use.
22:31Crypto says we can replace all of that pesky human interaction with computer code.
22:36Right.
22:36All you have to do is trust the code.
22:38Well, that's a lie.
22:39Uh, uh, it's a fundamental misunderstanding of what money is.
22:42And, um, uh, and the social construct nature of it.
22:45To give you a specific example, Sam Bankman-Fried.
22:48Yep.
22:48Now doing 25 years in jail.
22:50I mean, you, you sat down with him in maybe one of the more awkward documentary interviews
22:56I've ever seen in my life.
22:57Wow.
22:58I appreciate that.
22:58That's my phrase.
22:59Well, I mean, it was, it was apparent that he thought it was going to be an easy, chill interview,
23:05and all of a sudden, he's talking to someone that knows some shit.
23:08Boom.
23:08Yeah.
23:09Ryan Atwood, that guy up.
23:11Right, right.
23:11Exactly.
23:12Uh, yeah.
23:13He's now 25 years in a federal prison for fraud.
23:16So how did he run his scam?
23:17Yeah.
23:18He, he instructed one of his employees to change a single line of code, which allowed him to
23:22borrow his customers' assets.
23:24Mm-hmm.
23:24So I, I can't, I can't think of a more vivid illustration of the intellectual fallacy that
23:29you can trust code.
23:31Code does not fall from the sky.
23:32People write code.
23:33Right.
23:33Right?
23:34And in this case, he, he changed the code and he stole the money.
23:37Right.
23:37So, Bitcoin is full of lies.
23:39It's full of misinformation.
23:40It's full of lies.
23:41It's also full of criminals.
23:43Right.
23:43Um, Jeffrey Epstein funded Bitcoin development in 2015, secretly via the MIT Media Lab.
23:49Right.
23:49Um, he was a convicted sex offender.
23:51Um, the guy who the New York Times thinks is Satoshi, uh, Adam Back.
23:56Okay.
23:57Um, his company, Blockstream.
23:58Satoshi is kind of what started all this.
24:01Satoshi is like the mystical cult-like figure.
24:04Wizard of Oz.
24:04Yeah, the Wizard of Oz.
24:05Exactly.
24:05Exactly.
24:06And so you peek behind the curtain and it's this guy, well, it's, New York Times thinks
24:10it might be Adam Back.
24:11Adam Back's company, Blockstream, received funding from Jeffrey Epstein.
24:14Wow.
24:14Okay.
24:14So Satoshi, potentially.
24:17Right.
24:17Getting funding from the world's most notorious pedophile.
24:20Well, that's what we're talking about.
24:21Um, I sold my Bitcoin after watching your documentary.
24:25Good for you.
24:26So, good for me.
24:27Well done.
24:27Um, but I made some money.
24:29Great.
24:29Made some money.
24:30Good.
24:30And also, before I bought it on Fidelity, I had to check all these boxes.
24:36Right.
24:37I had, this is a high, this is high risk.
24:39I may not really know what's going on here.
24:42Are you sure you want to do this?
24:43I, exactly.
24:44I mean, there was a lot of boxes to check.
24:46Yeah.
24:46So, to push back on you a little bit, is, I mean, I was aware that this was a high
24:52risk
24:52venture.
24:54I, I made a little bit of money.
24:56Good.
24:57Hey.
24:58Um, but what's this say, okay, there's criminals in this field, there's scammers, but people
25:03are going in knowingly.
25:04What's the big deal?
25:06They're not being treated properly under U.S. law.
25:08Um, the cryptocurrency industry does not want the cryptos to be treated as investments.
25:13Uh, my buddy Dave, who's putting money into it, hoping to make money off of it through
25:16no work of own.
25:17That's, that's, that's literally the definition of investment under American law.
25:21Um, but the cryptocurrency industry doesn't want to be regulated like securities, like,
25:25like investments, because, of course, securities laws are predicated on disclosure.
25:29You need to know who you're giving your money to and what they're doing with the money.
25:31Right.
25:32Crypto doesn't want that.
25:33Right.
25:33I think that's very, very telling.
25:34So, look, I am not arguing that people can't gamble on cryptocurrency.
25:38I am not saying it should be outlawed.
25:39I am simply asking for it to be regulated properly.
25:41And I'm also asking politely for the criminals to go to jail.
25:45Right.
25:46Well, yeah, and...
25:50Um...
25:50Including, including, including, perhaps, our president, who has...
25:57Right.
25:58Who has benefited...
26:01Who has benefited, he and his family, to the tune of billions of dollars in cryptocurrency.
26:06Right.
26:06Sorry, real money via cryptocurrency.
26:08Yeah.
26:09In a year and a half.
26:11Wow.
26:11And, you know, you bring up the celebrities.
26:14What did they get paid in for these endorsements?
26:17Crypto?
26:17You'll never, you'll never guess.
26:18You'll never guess.
26:19Yeah, no, they were paid in real dollars to convince you to take your...
26:22Right, right, right.
26:22...real dollars and turn them into something else.
26:25What, why, why, what, you know, you brought up boredom, and I think about boredom a little bit,
26:29too, with crypto, and some of that stems from COVID, possibly.
26:33We were sitting around, we were bored as hell.
26:35Yeah.
26:35Whether you're making sourdough bread or sewing machines, bicycles, you know, we all didn't
26:40know what to do, but this was also a time that crypto really took off.
26:43Absolutely.
26:44You got a lot of young guys, so crypto is really a phenomenon amongst young guys.
26:47Why is that?
26:48Young guys are...
26:50Switching to gender now, Ben.
26:51Well, let's do it.
26:53I, uh, I was once a young guy.
26:54Yeah.
26:55Uh, uh, our, our, our prefrontal cortexs are not, are not developed.
27:00Right.
27:00No, I mean, I'm, I'm...
27:03Okay.
27:04This is...
27:05Yeah.
27:05It's science, you know?
27:06Yeah, right.
27:07Uh, and so young men have always had, uh, let's say a higher risk tolerance.
27:12Sure.
27:12Uh, smoking more, drinking more, drinking and driving more, uh, doing all sorts of stupid
27:17stuff.
27:17Um, but right now we're barraging them with ads, telling them that not only should they,
27:22you know, they should engage in this, but if they don't, I mean, to paraphrase Matt Damon's
27:26ad, what are you, a pussy?
27:28Buy crypto.
27:29Um, you know, so we're really, like, hammering them in a way that is, that is exploitative.
27:34Yeah.
27:35And, and young men, and men in general, are better marks than women because they have
27:40a sense of, sort of, like, shame and pride.
27:42They don't like to, they don't like to talk, we don't like to talk about our feelings as
27:45much.
27:45Yeah, yeah, yeah.
27:46Uh, and, and so it was really telling.
27:48I mean, in the movie, I, um, I interviewed many victims of a scam called Celsius, and,
27:55uh...
27:55It was one of the more, you know, moving parts of the film because you literally, in such
27:59a kind way, talk to these men who just lost a shitload of money.
28:04And I asked them at the end of the movie, do you still believe in crypto?
28:07Yeah, that blew me away.
28:09And some of them, um, well, all of them said yes.
28:13Yeah, yeah.
28:15Um, so look, I say this with love, when, when people, the industry, so the industry, the
28:19crypto industry doesn't give a shit about its customers, right?
28:21They're, they're perfectly willing, otherwise they would regulate it properly, right?
28:24So they're totally fine with these guys actually losing their money.
28:27They'll do a little performative, like, wah, wah, wah.
28:30Right.
28:30So sorry.
28:31Uh, D-Y-O-R, do your own research.
28:33It's your fault that you lost the money.
28:35That's the, like, the neatest trick of crypto, the cruelest trick is to turn the blame back
28:39on the, on the mark themselves.
28:41Um, but I genuinely do care about these guys.
28:44Yeah.
28:45Um, and I genuinely want to protect them.
28:47Yeah.
28:47And the industry is not protecting them.
28:49I, I, I really, really appreciate you.
28:51If, if more people with, with, who are public figures speak out, it just, it's helpful.
28:56And, you know, men are so shitty at connecting with other men.
29:00And when you get swindled for money, that's even a worse time to connect with another man
29:05because you're embarrassed.
29:06Of course.
29:06So, uh, I just, I found that really powerful.
29:09What do you say to people who are still considering crypto or for the millions of Americans who are
29:14still in it?
29:15Sure.
29:17There's a movie playing in theaters.
29:20I knew it.
29:26Okay.
29:27Besides, see the movies.
29:29Besides, see the movies.
29:30How should they approach this, this gamble?
29:33Let's call it that.
29:34Uh, only, uh, five to six percent of the population is really, really into crypto if you look at
29:39the polling.
29:40And there's another about 10 percent that are sort of playing around with it.
29:42Um, if you're part of the 84 percent of the country that has never f***ed with crypto.
29:46Yeah.
29:47Congratulations.
29:48Right.
29:48Uh, well, you, even those numbers are helpful, yeah.
29:52Yeah, yeah, we, we are, we are the majority.
29:54I made the movie for, for, for, for you.
29:56Yeah.
29:56Uh, to tell you that, uh, it's not you.
30:00Right.
30:00It's them.
30:01Right.
30:01They're lying to you for money.
30:03Right.
30:03That's it.
30:04It's a perfect name for the film.
30:06Thank you for being here.
30:07Everyone is lying to you for money is now playing in select theaters.
30:10Ben McKenzie.
30:11We've got a quick wait right back after this.
30:12Thank you, man.
30:13We're going to appreciate it.
30:14Appreciate it.
30:22Hey, that's our show for tonight.
30:24Now, here it is, your moment of zen.
30:27It's take your sons and daughters to work day.
30:29And so I want to welcome our very special guests who are here.
30:33We got a question there.
30:34Um, why do voters do Democrats so poorly?
30:40Did your dad give you that question?
30:44Sorry.
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