aurants come to you. delicious at your door. download doordash. first order, no delivery fee. good evening. i'm van jones. welcome to the van jones show. you're going to love tonight's program. we've got quality time with two of america's biggest rising stars. one of them is a proud son of america's most famous political family. now he's in congress. he's fighting for civil rights, carrying out the legacy of his late grandfather, bobby kennedy. democratic congressman joe kennedy is with us tonight. also we've got stand-up comedian slash political commentator, the

host of netflix patriot act hasan minhaj in the building. i cannot wait. it's going to be amazing. but first let's talk. this week was rough. people on both sides of the political divide saw a few of their nightmares come true this week. we should try to learn something from this. look, on both sides, left and right, people have power, just in different ways, different places. the right wing has power at the top of our government, mainly in the white house. and liberals' big fear is that trump will recklessly abuse his power and his influence and put vulnerable people at risk. on the left, we've got power too at the top of our culture, places like hollywood, universities, associated movements like black lives matter. the conservatives are afraid we're going to recklessly abuse our power and unfairly brand and treat them. well, congratulations, america. both nightmares came true this week, okay? and you can see the danger now

of all this overheated rhetoric and people rushing to judgment on both sides. on the one hand, cops arrested a coast guard officer who they described as a white nationalist. now, authorities say he was stockpiling weapons. he planned to have a massive attack against civilians, and the hit list of people he wanted to kill included democratic lawmakers like nancy pelosi, maxine waters, alexandria ocasio-cortez. and apparently he also wanted to kill tv host at msnbc and even right here at cnn. it's the second time in less than six months that journalists and critics of the president have become targets of potential violence on a huge scale, and that is terrifying. now, look, obviously other factors are at play, but you cannot fully discount the heated words coming from the highest office in the land. when the head of the u.s. military, the commander in chief calls himself a nationalist and calls the media the true enemy of the people, somebody in

uniform might take him seriously, and the consequences could be horrific. so in addition to all the bad policies attacking immigrants and transgender people, this is exactly the kind of stuff that liberals worry about, that trump might be aiding or abetting the spread of hatred and right-wing extremism. mr. president, please be more careful. at the same time, many of us and especially some conservatives are shaking their heads in disgust at the conduct of a hollywood actor and activist. chicago police say that jussie smollett, quote, unquote, took advantage of the pain and anger of racism, and staged a hoax attack on himself to get a pay raise. okay? there's a lot that's wrong here. first of all, this is a tragic fall of an icon. you know, smollett's rise to fame as a black gay character, it was historic. it helped to push back on homophobia in the black community. if the police account is accurate -- and they've got a lot of evidence now -- smol etd

has betrayed millions of people who looked up to him and needed him to be that icon. and also given the rise of hate crimes, this hoax actually hurts real victims, and that's totally unfair. but it's not just about blaming smollett. we've got to look in the mirror. two white men spewing racial epithets with a lynching rope, screaming "this is maga country." were we a little bit too willing to rush to judgment and assume the worst about trump supporters? is that fair? and also the people who questioned the story, they got called racist and homophobes too just for being skeptical. have we created now a world where people cannot question a claim of bias without being called bigots themselves? that's not good. so progressives, please be more careful. i say this because we've got another political firestorm on the way almost two years, 34 people charged, seven guilty

pleas, hours of cable tv analysis, 25 million bucks, and 166 tweets from trump calling it a witch hunt. it looks like we finally have the mueller probe coming to an end. so please be careful because i predict a whole bunch of confusion, more partisan spin from people who haven't even read the report, which is exactly what we don't need. before you've even had a chance to read whatever they release, you're going to have a thousand posts on your social media feeds either claiming that trump has been fully cleared or saying lock him up, depending on whatever camp you're in. slow down. be vigilant. focus on facts, not spin. and think twice before you click that share button because america's enemies now know how to weaponize information and push your buttons. you can't just blame trump or blame hollywood celebrities or blame facebook. we are doing the dirty work ourselves when we jump on these

digital band wagons, rush to judgment, and share inflammatory posts without any investigation. the bots are bad enough. let's not become bots for the bots. now, if there is anybody who can help us find our way back to some humanity and some grace, it is my next guest. please welcome to "the van jones show" representative joe kennedy. oh, i love this guy. [ applause ] finally, finally got you. i gotcha. i knew i'd get you eventually. >> you set the bar high on that one. >> you are in a position now in congress. this mueller report is coming to you. people are going to be running all over the place. how do you think about staying sober and staying strong in the face of this kind of hoopla that's coming your way with the mueller report? >> it is probably too much to hope that what mueller's report is going to actually say is,

nothing to see here. nobody did anything wrong. we got everybody already, and case closed. that's what i hope it says. >> why do you hope that? >> because i really hope that what i think many of us fear about what has been alleged over the course of the past two years from those 34 people that are charged from all those guilty pleas, is an insinuation that there were people in the highest levels of the campaign that were engaged in nefarious activity to mislead the public and elect a president that didn't actually earn every vote. and i hope that just did not happen. i hope that is not true because i don't want, for the sake of our democracy, for the same of every single voter out there, whether you voted for donald trump or hillary clinton or somebody else. i want everybody to believe that that process has the integrity that we believe it should have. >> this is why we love you and you are weird. listen, you should want -- don't you want the partisan advantage? don't you want to be able to beat him up? don't you want to be able to redeem hillary clinton?

>> he has given us plenty to beat him up for in office. we don't need the rest of it. there has been from day one in office a transition in the campaign, plenty for folks who do not believe in the policy or rhetoric or example that donald trump sets, for us to fire back at. you cannot say over the course of this election that is gearing up, we cannot say there is not going to be a choice before the american people in 18 months and folks have an opportunity to make that choice. that choice is going to be very clear, and that is on us in order to seize it. but i do hope -- i hope that if it comes to one of the most nefarious accusations that somebody can say about the united states of america, the most powerful democracy in the world, the example that we hope we set for the world, is that somebody actually meddled with our democracy successfully. i hope that didn't happen. if it did happen, they should be held accountable to the highest possible penalty of law. >> you endorse elizabeth warren. >> mm-hmm.

>> right off the bat. did you rush to judgment? you got a bunch more people jumping in now. you got bernie jumping in. your friend beto might jump in. why did you go so early for elizabeth warren? >> i got a bunch of friends that might jump in. it's a bit awkward when you have a bunch of buddies that are running for president. i might be one of the few democrats that aren't going to announce on your show. my bad. >> next. >> it was a great interview while it lasted, folks. wonderful to see you. so i think a couple things. one, i have had the opportunity to know senator warren when she was a law professor. she was my teacher. i met my wife in her class. i know her on a personal level. i have deep admiration and respect for the work that she has done. and, van, i think really kind of critically, of all the candidates that are in this race or might get in this race, i believe that the most critical issue that we are confronting as a country is, in fact, an economy that is not working for

everybody. you frame this a lot, and one of the reasons why i signed on to the green new deal is the way that you framed this. it's the way to look at the big change we have in this, so to leverage that economy to actually address climate. it is that ineffectiveness, the inability of our economy to actually touch and inspire and get the leverage potential of every single person and to actually contribute back to the economic success of our country, and the structural failures that our economy now has that leaves all of those folks behind. there is nobody that has done more work on this for longer and deeper than elizabeth warren. >> yeah. you care a great deal about the economy. you're backing somebody who cares about the economy, but you care about so much other stuff. you guys may not have seen this. show the video of you talking about health care and the way you talk about it, making it a moral issue. >> chairman, i was struck last night by a comment i heard made

by speaker ryan where he called this repeal bill, quote, an act of mercy. with all due respect to our speaker, he and i must have read different scripture. the one that i read calls on us to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to shelter the homeless, and to comfort the sick. it reminds us that we are judged not by how we treat the powerful but by how we compaare for the t among us. mercy. there is no mercy in a statement that makes health care a luxury. there is no mercy in a country that turns their back on those most in need of protection, the elderly, the poor, the sick, and the suffering. [ applause ] >> that's beautiful. that's beautiful. it's a kind of poetry i don't think we hear enough from democrats. and also you're bringing in scripture. why do you bring in these moral themes so often? >> so i think when it comes to health care and almost uniquely

in health care, there is, i think, just a critical moral dimension to it. my wife actually framed it this way to me, and she's a health care policy expert. she said, look, health care is a moral question, but how we treat the weak in the moment they are most in need, knowing that every single one of us at some point is going to need that system too. so at that moment, what kind of system do we want to protect us or a loved one? and that fundamentally is what differentiates our parties about the rome of a federal government to make sure that system is robust and there to care for you when you need it. what democrats believe is that system should be as good for anybody as a system that you would want for your loved ones. republicans say let the free market solve it. folks, the free market isn't going to solve this problem. if the free market could have, it would have solved it by now, and it just can't. >> you talk about this moral capitalism. i'm trying to place you in this party, okay? we've got pragmatists,

idealists, socialists. is moral capitalism just a cooler way of saying socialism? help me understand. >> no. look, i think what it is, my take on it anyway, is a reflection of a couple of realities. one, that the american economic system has brought more people out of poverty around the world over the past 40, 50 years. there is real value here that i don't think we can just pretend doesn't exist or pretend hasn't done things. the problem is particularly of late and domestically, that it's come on the backs of an american middle class that has seen their own economic advantage eroded for the advantage of other folks overseas. that, at its core, is an erosion of worker power and an ability of capitalism that is structured to actually empower employees and american families to be able to take advantage of their own talent and potential. and when reconfigured and restructured, that's what our system should try to unlock, not

let folks that are already doing well do even better. that's what we got today. >> the thing is you're a man of faith, and we share the same faith. but you got faith in the government. you want the government to do all this stuff, and what makes you think at this point, looking at the crazy stuff you guys go through every day, that america's government can do these things you want it to do? >> touche. that's part of why you have to -- you recognize the government's not going to be perfect, and it's a long, hard, slow slog. the most optimistic person in congress, without question, without question, is john lewis. >> john lewis? >> john lewis, because at least in my mind, this is a man who not only has led our country, to pursue the change and become those better angels, but has pled for it. but has over the course of his lifetime seen us change and seen us be better. and part of that is government leading the way. part of it is when it's not, you go out there, and he says, when

you pray, move your feet. you do not accept the status quo, and you just keep frighting and scratching and clawing and marching on every single day. that's what we've got to do. >> listen, beautiful words. beautiful words. y'all not moved? something wrong with y'all. [ applause ] we've got more to talk about, including how does his family legacy shape his views on issues like immigration or marijuana and other issues when we get back. (mom vo) we fit a lot of life into our subaru forester. (dad) it's good to be back. (mom) it sure is. (mom vo) over the years, we trusted it to carry and protect the things that were most important to us. we always knew we had a lot of life ahead of us. (mom) remember this? (mom vo) that's why we chose a car that we knew would be there for us through it all. (male vo) welcome to the all-new 2019 subaru forester. the longest-lasting, most trusted forester ever.

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at to cover the essentialsyou have in retirement, as well as all the things you want to do. because when you're ready for what comes next, the only direction is forward. welcome back to the van jones show. i'm here with democratic congressman joe kennedy. we've had this whole big thing with the national emergency announced by the president about immigration, and now lawsuits and stuff. but you took the more human approach, and you went to the border where you saw these families being separated, babies being taken away. talk about the impact of you from one of the most famous

immigrant families, the kennedys, going to the border and seeing what you saw. >> van, so this one's hard, right? i went down to the border once at a rally with beto o'rourke. we weren't allowed in. i met a mom in boston who had been separated from her child and was trying to get back to her baby. i made contact with others that were trying to do that, helped support organizations that were trying to make sure these families never got separated to begin with. you know, look, the folks that were working the facilities on the border were, i think, on the whole doing the best that they could to try to make sure people were getting the care they need, but it never should have happened in the first place. there's a facility in new york that i visited too which had just hundreds of kids that people there, i mean these were child care professionals. they were doing the best they could, but they shouldn't be -- they shouldn't have been in this position to begin with. i speak spanish because i was in

the peace corps in the dominican republic. so i started just chatting with folks. i'm not so sure everybody else would have expected i'd speak spanish. and i won't forget this, i don't think, for a very long time. there was a girl probably 13, 14 years old maybe, maybe a bit younger, who said that she was hoping to get to boston where her relatives were and asked me to take her with me on the airplane because she knew i was going back to boston. the story that my family still holds so dear on both sides and more well known perhaps on my dad's side, my relatives came here because of an abject failure of government in a ruling class in ireland during the midst of a potato famine where was actually more food grown than necessary to feed all of ireland, but it was exported to europe. as a consequence of it, people fled all over the world to try to actually just meet a basic --

a basic human quality of how do i create a better future for me and myself, and what risks am i willing to take? it is impossible, then, to understand -- for me anyway to understand a bit of my own story, to have spent some time in latin america, gone to guatemala and honduras, some of these places are fleeing from, to say if they're coming here doing the most basic human thing that you can think of, and the most basic responsibility of a parent, which is trying to protect and provide a better future for your kid, and willing to take that risk to do so, that our response to it is to say, we're going to separate families to punish you for making that trip, that we're going to build a wall that most folks would say is just a symbol anyway because in order to make that effective, you need enabling technology and people and the rest of it. but the symbol to say this land is not open to you. and what's even worse is instead of recognizing that humanity, preying on the fact that you have no place else and no other

choice. >> i think about your grandfather, bobby kennedy, going and sitting with the farm workers. >> cesar chavez. >> cesar chavez over some of these same issues. and you continue this legacy of sticking up for people. i can't understand why you guys care so much. why do you care so much? i mean there are other immigrant families that do not take the kind of position that you do. >> people find a way to contribute the best that they can. look, my family ends up being a bit more high-profile than others, so you have a platform to do it. so some of that gets more attention. >> but i want to talk about you. why do you care so much? >> yeah, i don't. >> listen, it's a remarkable thing. first of all, i'm going to tell you something. you may not have figured this out. you are a straight white male with money. >> i got that part. >> you shouldn't be a democrat. i don't know why you're in our party. if you look at the -- >> after the election in november, a close friend of mine, democrat, hispanic, came up to me, gave me a big hug and

said, man, i want to shake your hand. there's not going to be many of straight white guys left in here. thanks. >> seriously, think about that. >> this was not all roses when irish catholic immigrants landed in boston either, right? but there was the promise of this place is that working hard today means you can achieve something tomorrow. and the reality is, look, as a member of our government at the moment, house representatives, you stare out, the supreme court across the street, and etched in stone says equal justice under law. you know better than anybody we have failed to live up to our values under the constitution from day one. all men are created equally. but our history is actually improving on those words and recognizing the failures we have made but the progress that we have made too. and to know that if we are able to actually make a contribution to that, you can make this a bigger, brighter, bolder place, which is a place that i think

everybody actually wants this place to be. and we can do it. it's going to take an awful lot of hard work. >> look, i mean, i think that, you know, you in your heart, certainly your grandfather, bobby kennedy, you know, that's a democratic party that my parents believed in. i was born in '68. that was the year that unfortunately bobby kennedy was murdered. dr. king was murdered. they tried to murder hope in america in that year, and it took a very long time for the hope to come back. what did you hear about bobby kennedy that you lean on today that gives you hope to keep going forward, because you're just as strong with it now as he was 50 years ago. >> the lesson that i take from my family are a couple of them. it's that this country is an achievement, and it is only achieved whenever all of us do our part. and those parts are going to be different, and those parts, some folks can do it in a more high profile way. some folks do it in ways that

might not get the notice, but each contribution matters. >> like you said, you're the only prominent democrat not running this year, and people do want to know what you think of next. are you thinking about governor, senator? are you happy where you are? i know you've got little kids at home. that makes it hard to think about anything. but what's next for you? >> sleep. sleep and coffee. look, i do think there are a lot of issues out there that i'm passionate about from mental health and health care and immigration. i do think that the seminal issue that we have to address is an economy that does, in fact, see and recognize and empower every single american. and if we can empower an american populous 25 million strong, there ain't nothing this country can't do. so i think the way that you do that though, what president trump has done is very powerfully segment our society into a zero-sum game where people are fighting against each

other. what democrats' job is to do is convince over the next 18 months, every single slice of our society that donald trump is trying to divide and conquer that folks are, rather than fighting over the scraps of a system, that they are worthy of more than just scraps to begin with, and make this case that there is more in common with a coal miner in kentucky and a initia initia fisherman in massachusetts. we let them decide the future for their own lives. we can do this. >> it sounds like there might be a president kennedy? another one possibly? >> coffee and sleep. >> thank you, congressman, for being here. it means the world to me to have you here. next up, the political comedian that is taking on some of the biggest issues in the united states and some of the most powerful governments in the world. hassan minaj is going to be here in we get back. only verizon was ranked #1 by rootmetrics #1 in 3 opensignal mobile experience awards

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and see how you can have an even better x1 experience. simple. easy. awesome. i can worry about it, or doe. something about it. garlique helps maintain healthy cholesterol naturally, and it's odor-free, and pharmacist recommended. garlique welcome back to the van jones show. my next guest is taking on a big pharma, affirmative action, even the saudi regime all in the name of comedy. he made headlines earlier this year when netflix pulled an ep saudi of his show, the patriot act, in saudi arabia at the request of their government. but he is not backing down. here's how he recapped the whole

drama on his second season premiere. >> let's break down how i became an internet bad boy. according to article six of the saudi arabian anti-crime law, any content that impinges on religious values or public morals is prohibits. of all the netflix shows, the only show that saudi arabia thinks violates muslim values is a muslim. >> please welcome hasan minhaj. [ applause ] >> thanks for having me. oh, man. >> rock star. got a rock star. listen, i got so much to get into with you. but i got to ask you the question about jussie smollett. obviously, you know, you're a big star. he's a big star. you've been a victim of real

racism and you've come through it. it's a big part of your comedy. how do you feel knowing that he may have just made up a racist attack. >> yeah, i mean the disappointing thing -- and a lot of us have covered this -- is it's going to negate future, you know, real sort of people coming forward and sharing their story and people sort of doubting it. that's the disappointing thing is how that becomes a data point that's then used against other real victims. >> yeah. >> that, to me, is the most disappointing part. >> were you surprised? >> i mean the way in which all the plot points were unfolding, it felt like i was watching a tv show. it was crazy. >> yeah. >> but it was as things started to unfold, it started to really bum me out. it's disappointing, and it's not just -- to me, it's one small case that's indicative of a larger sort of problem. >> yeah, yeah. i mean i hope that people will recognize that these hate crimes really are rising. >> yes. >> and i hope that people will keep that in mind.

>> yeah. >> you have decided to do something that is in the real world quite heroic, possibly reckless, possibly crazy. >> okay. >> why you still messin' with the saudis, man? i don't understand. >> look, i know. my parents tell me the same thing. >> yes. they are correct, sir. >> and i get it. here's the thing. when the episode got pulled, i'll be 100% honest with you. i'm not built for this beef. like i barely fill in these mediums. i'm not ready to go head to head with dictators or autocrats, so i'm sorry in advance. like i want to live to see the re-twe re-tweets. everyone is coming up, man, this is the bravest thing you've ever done. i'm not trying to be comedy's tupac. i'm not. so i'm going to do the best i can to not poke anymore. >> in all seriousness, i mean

this is a brutal dictator. i mean would you be able to complete your haj? would you be able to go back to mec mecca? you're a muslim. you're a human being. how do you think about the impact on your real life? can you go there? >> i have to just make personal choices and professional choices. that's the tough thing that i think a lot of people sometimes don't understand, you know? i think we take it for granted here. safety is something we take for granted here in america. i'm not the real victim here. the victims are the activists in saudi arabia, dissenters who get sort of silenced. i'm fine. i got 60 new instagram followers. i'm great. i got the blue check. i'm great. so the heartbreaking part is, yeah, if i speak out about certain things, will i be able to -- >> to travel, to do your thing. >> yeah. but i think god understands. >> i hope so. >> i hope so, you know? >> that's beautiful. did you feel let down by netflix? >> well, to be fair, netflix let me say what i wanted to say.

so that i appreciate, right? the philosophical debate, the reason why this became an international case study is how are the big five tech companies that are now pbigger than countries themselves, netflix, apple, facebook, amazon -- how are they going to interact with otherwise questionable regimes? look, i mean, my show is cool. it's not that popular. it became a thing because it's now this case study of, okay, so now apple, you want to go into china. can you write episodes in your dramatic series that are maybe negative of the ccp? are you going to pre-censor? are you going to post-censor? where's the line? we're going to see a lot more stuff like that in the future. >> that's true about the tech companies. it's also true, you talk about the safety or whatever. but donald trump says he wants retribution against saturday night live. i mean that seems bad. i don't know if that's good. how did this land in the world of comedians? >> look, for me, that's why i

always defend satire, like through and through. i unfortunately even will defend bad jokes because the good, meaningful ones also need to be there too. >> you think about the white house correspondents' dinner. >> right. >> they're now not going to let -- the president's not coming, and the comedian's not coming. i guess we have to go for the food. >> you were there when i did it, man, and the food's not great. it was -- it was lukewarm. here's the way i say it. i say it this way. comedy and jokes have an impact in ways we could never imagine. sometimes i think people assign too much value. they're like, you're the voice of the revolution, hasan minhaj. i'm like, relax, man. i do my show in a little black box studio. people see it. you know what i mean? but the impact of jokes occur in ways we could never imagine. who would have thought a throwaway line by hannibal burruss doing just crowd work with the crowd in philadelphia would lead to a perp walk for bill cosby? who would have that?

or an eyeshadow joke by michelle wolf would lead to where we are with the white house correspondents' dinner. but at the same time, i've said a million jokes that don't lead to massive political or social change, you know what i mean? they have impacts in ways we could never imagine. that's the way i think of it. >> part of the reason i think people are so excited about you, first of all, there are just not that many muslims who have any platform, let alone young and cool and all the stuff you get accused of being. >> thank you, van. you didn't read that from a prompter. the prompter just says blank. that was from the heart. >> that was from the heart. truly from the heart. but you arrive at it in such an interesting way because you say you're an insider, and you're an outsider. >> yeah. >> your family is an immigrant family, muslims from india. >> correct. >> but you were born here. >> correct. >> so you're an insider, but you're also an outsider. talk about that a little bit and how that affects your whole approach to comedy. >> you know, growing up you feel this sort of x man mute ant feeling where you have these two

lives. i'm a child of immigrants. i speak this one language at home, but then i speak this other language at school on the playground with friends. and i sort of have to bridge -- you started laughing, right? yeah, it's like we have two different identities. when i first watched x-men, i know what that's like. i totally understood that, right? but that's actually great fodder for comedy, that pressure, that feeling of like, hey, like where do i fit in, you know? and that, to me, has worked to my advantage on the show and also having the show and it being in 190 countries because there's a lot of countries that look at us from the outside. and i'm waving to them, like, hey, i'm an outsider too. i don't get it either. but then i'm also able to communicate with people because i'm just as american as they are. and i think it's a cool sort of dynamic. >> it's awesome, man. you're a bridge builder in a world where people are trying to build walls, and i want to talk with you about that more when we get back, including i want to

talk with you about which 2020 candidates you might like, who you think might be the best fodder for comedians. and also what exactly is the brilluminati? i want to know what that is when we get back. i'm mildly obsessed with numbers. so, i started with the stats regarding my moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. like how humira has been prescribed to over 300,000 patients. and how many patients saw clear or almost clear skin in just 4 months - the kind of clearance that can last.

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welcome back to the van jones

show. i'm here with comedian hasan minhaj. pretty good? >> there we go. some people go to a mexican restaurant, and they go, let me get a burrito. hasan minhaj! look, i'm glad to be on someone, and i'm not yelling over 17 other players. >> i'm glad to have you here. >> when i watch cnn, it feels like i'm picking a player in street fighter. >> you got a show, the patriot act show. it's a big deal on netflix. you're going to this thing. are you going to stick with issues now like you've been doing, or are you going to start talking about some of these candidates? how do you deal with a show like yours headed into a presidential election? >> for me, i'm really interested in -- coming from the daily show, we would do a lot of coverage on the day to day. i'm really fascinated with the

problems themselves, not the symptoms, you know? i really don't want to be in the business of tweet-chasing or, you know, making a meal out of a gaffe and falling the sort of day to day stuff that happens. >> why not? >> because you end up -- it feels like sugarman. it's really fun, man, watching someone slip up and say something silly on cnn or whatever. >> sure. >> it's great. you can do six minutes of jokes. but then when you walk away, you're like, what's the greater takeaway? so this weekend we're doing a big thing on student loan debt. to me, that impacts a lot of people. does anyone here have student loans? all right. there we go. that's what i'm talking about versus like, hey, did you see the cofvefe. you have a few laughs, and you keep it moving. to me, talking about stuff that really does impact people's lives and you can walk away from the episode with a piece of information like, oh, i never thought of it that way or thank you for talking about that issue. >> you do come out of this

incredible university of jon stewart, and you are the last of that bunch. you were like the last one hired, and now you're out here doing this great stuff. what was it about that environment that has produced so many stars out of the jon stewart big bang? >> i'll tell you guys, this is the real -- this is the secret sauce. the real secret sauce is this. for the longest time as a comedian, i just thought you've just got to do jokes. that's it. it's a volume game. you've got to be the allen iverson of jokes. the thing that separated jon and made that show so revolutionary was take. what's your take? what is the way you can condense the information and slice it in a comedic take? that's why people tune in to these show. >> you're not going to do a lot on candidates, but there's at least one candidate i got to get your take on. kamala harris. everybody talks about her as being possibly the first black

woman, but she's also half indian. >> yeah. >> since people are trying to put people in these different boxes, this is the female candidate, this is the gay candidate, this is whatever. >> right. >> does the indian community feel about kamala harris any particular way, or is she kind of like a neither/nor? >> no, no. the minter net. it's the muslim internet. it's like black twitter but for muslims. it's popping. >> people talk about black girl magic with regard to kamala. does she have indian girl magic yet or not so much? >> i haven't checked in with the brilluminati. >> we are going to find out what is the brilluminati? what is it? >> it's a group of brown artists that have trojan horsed their way into this thing called show business. so i'm talking about mindy kaling. this group of south asian,

brown, middle eastern artists that have started to make waves in the industry. i call it the brilluminati. >> i've got to tell you something. conspiracies are supposed to be secret, okay? you may have ruined the whole point. >> that's why i'm bad at being in secret societies because i'm the first one that will run out and be like, yo, i just got inducted! we out here. i'm throwing up all the signals and -- yeah. that's why i tend to get in trouble. oh, these are very flattering photos of me. you guys picked that boy band, that emo sort of -- >> you call yourself an angry optimist. you don't seem that angry. you have us rolling on the floor laughing. talk to me about this dientd that y -- identity you have. >> look, nye hiliz many i don't think gets you anywhere.

it just doesn't work for me. it doesn't sit right in my heart. it just doesn't. i think, you know, for me, i'm a child of immigrants. my dad, his position on a lot of things, he comes from a place of pragmatism, hard core pragmatism. you know what i mean? he's conservative in the sheets. he's liberal in the sheets. you know what i mean? at home, he's like pro child abuse. he's pro fear. you got to be a doctor. like i'm fiscally conservative. pull up your pants, all of that stuff. then in the streets, he's like, hey, equality for all. what about for your son? not for my son, all right? but what i've learned from my father is that. you can be pragmatic. understand the rules of the game, but also then be optimistic too. you know, change is only possible with optimism. >> yeah. >> so that's how i try to navigate my life. >> i am so glad to have you here. i hope that you will come back. you can catch new episodes of "the patriot act" every sunday on netflix. when we get back, democrats are

pushing to raise taxes on the rich. republicans say no way. who's right? who's wrong? how is it going to play out in 2020? you're going to learn all of that when we get back next. thank you very much. [ applause ] staying at hampton for a work trip. when your flight gets in late, it's never too early for coffee. oh no no no. your new boss seems cool, but she might not be sweatpants cool. who is that ready this early? it's only 7 am. somebody help me.

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tr health care to college tuition to paid family leave. and most of them say that raising taxes on the rich is how they are going to pay for all this stuff. they throw owl out terms like marginal rates and wealth taxes and all stuff i don't understand. this financial jar gin gone can be confusing. so we are breaking down the most popular proposals. take a look. >> an ultramillionaires tax to make sure that rich people start doing their part. >> taxes should go up for them. >> they need to pay for taxes. >> they say they want to raise taxes, but they have different ways to do it. >> one of the most effective ways is through a marginal tax rates on the highest brackets of income. >> let's start for the 70% marginal tax rate that caused so much controversy. here's how that would work. you're probably familiar with tax brackets.

when people see the chart that a person making $80,000 a year gets 22% tax out of their whole salary. that's not actually how the system works. instead of brackets, it's probably more helpful to think of our system as a series of baskets. so let's say you make $80,000 a year as a single p person. the first $9700 you make is at 10%. so that's $970 for uncle sam. the next chunk of income up to $39,475 is charge d at a rate o 12%. and the rest of the $80,000 is tax ed at 22%. right now, the highest marginal tax rate is 37% for all income over $510,310. that means a person who makes $600,000 is effectively tax ed t the same rate as somebody making $ 600 million. cortez is proposing adding another basket. so income over $10 million would

be 70%. but a lot of people have problems with this. >> pave the way for socialism. democrats are calling for massive tax hikes. >> even those who agree wealthy should pay more in taxes. >> the fortunes were not made through ordinary income. >> bill gates is right. millionaires and billionaires don't earn typical salaries. instead, their wealth comes from assets like stocks and real estate and interest on savings. both bernie sand bers and elizabeth warren have plans to increase taxes on assets. elizabeth warren would create a 2% wealth tax on americans who own $50 million or more in total combined assets. and 3% taxes on every dollar of assets above $1 billion. meanwhile, bernie sanders wants to increase taxes on inherited taxes or estate tax.

right now, your kids won't get taxed for any assets wow pass down to them, but under bernie sanders' plans, they would have to pay taxes on $3.5 million or more. some experts find problems with these tax plans. they say people that work hard to find loopholes like moving assets such as cash or gold overseas. >> that's an important topic. you'll be hearing more about that as the contest goes on. i want to thank you for watching. van jones. peace and love for one another. could switching to geico really save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance? did the little piggy cry wee wee wee all the way home? weeeeeeeee! we we weeeee! weeeeeeee! weeeeeeee! weeeeeeee! max. maxwell! yeah?

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simple. easy. awesome. stay connected while you move with the best wifi experience and two-hour appointment windows. click, call or visit a store today. you are in the cnn newsroom. and we begin with major developments in the sexual abuse case against r. kelly. a judge set iting the bail at $ million with conditions that a court hearing earlier today, which included graphic new details of his alleged encounters with young girls. kelly was also ordered to turn in his passport and have no contact with alleged victims or anyone under the age of 18. the 52-year-old kelly faces ten counts of aggravated sexual abuse. prosecutors claim he abused one woman and three underage girls over