00:00Good evening, once again, I'm Stephanie Ruhle, and we've got brand new reporting from the New York Times tonight about
00:06the likelihood of a justice.
00:08Hi, yes, in case you forgot it, the gazpacho police, another example of the comedy coming off Capitol Hill these
00:16days.
00:16As our next guest writes in his new book, quote, afraid to answer that question, so I would like to
00:21bring him in.
00:23New Yorker Sat joins me now. Andy, as I start, you're a satirist.
00:28Right.
00:28Given our current political climate, given how off the rails we are, has your job gotten harder or easier?
00:35Way harder. It was just early, and that wasn't really my job, so it's harder. It's harder now.
00:40But let's stay on that fake news. Given the amount of misinformation out there and how politically absurd things are,
00:47how often do you...
00:49To Moses, so there's a lot of confusion about that, about whether she knew what that was. It happens pretty
00:55much every day.
00:55Some of the most sort of beloved American shows, The Facts of Life. One of my favorite square pegs, being
01:02American culture.
01:03Where would you say we are right now? Exactly.
01:07But we're not just celebrating. You know what you're saying? People wanted to be smart. They wanted to achieve. I
01:13want to understand what our lead...
01:15We went to Harvard University. All the men I just mentioned are Ivy League graduates.
01:20Right.
01:20So what are they doing here?
01:22Right. Well, all these guys are Ivy League... You know, Mr. Potato Head. Like, the gender of Mr. Potato Head
01:27is like the burning issue. It's really like he's trying to be kind of Trump-lite. It's like the way
01:32Trump...
01:33To me, you write a lot about Steve Bannon. Right? You said on January 6th he was busy washing his
01:37hair. That's funny. But think about himself the way he does. Acts the way he does. Is that diabolical and
01:44dangerous?
01:44Yes. That Alaska decided they'd had enough of Sarah Palin. That was a great development. You know, my book is
01:50all about how politicians have gotten dumb and dumber.
01:53Write the book. Because when you get to the end of the book, you're basically making a very serious call
01:59to action.
02:00It made pandemics worse, AIDS, the coronavirus, all these things. You can't help but be a little serious.
02:07Politicians.
02:07They are. I'm talking about smart politicians who will not be afraid to be smart. Barack Obama is very educated.
02:14to act that way. That's right. Andy, great to meet you. Thank you so much for joining. Take care.
02:19And again, his new book is called Profiles in Ignorance. How American Politicians Got Dumb and Dumber.
02:25I was just presenting that for you right there. It is out right now. It is a must read. When
02:30we come back,
02:30it is such a simple, yet a...
02:34Politics girl, with some food for thought to take us off the air tonight.
02:39Where are the lawyers? And on that note, I wish all of you a very good night.
02:47From all of our colleagues across the networks of NBC News, thanks for staying up late. I will see you
02:52at the end.
