Pete Dominick Was Told He'd Have to Pay-Off People to Run for Congress | Joe Rogan

Even three people is too many people. Probably. Yeah, it is. It's like if you want to get to know someone, it's a one-on-one. Because even with three people, there's moments where you have something to say and then someone interjects something else and then you lose your point and then you don't express it. And then the other person's talking and you don't know when to talk and then you find yourself being a little bit more assertive in the way you're talking because you're trying to get your point across. You feel like I'm not talking enough. And then if there's four people, you're fucked. Like the most ridiculous thing they ever do is when they have those seven people panels and one person just starts fucking chiming in and screaming out loud and they talk over people. But they're also talking about, because I had one foot in cable news for a long time, still do, I mean I still go on, and then I had my long form radio show where I would talk to policy experts. Like right now when they're talking about the polls for the presidential race, anybody that's paying attention to that is wasting their time. It's a complete waste of time to talk about who's leading and what poll a year away. It's a year away. You could have a terrorist attack. You could have the economy crack. People like it for a game. It's not a game. Okay, but it is a game. If you're watching basketball, do you not pay attention to the first minute of the game? Because it doesn't really matter. What's really important is how many points are scored over the four quarters. Is there four quarters? Of a basketball game, I think there might be two have, college or pro. But the point is, this is a weird game going on. Kamala Harris was ahead, now she's fucked. This is fun. It's fun for people. This is half of what it is. I know it's serious. I know it's significant. I know there's grave consequences to picking the wrong leader, but this is a game. Right, but it's a bullshit game because as you said earlier, the reason why Kamala Harris or anybody else takes a step backwards is because one stupid moment. And how are we possibly picking somebody on one? Not necessarily. With Kamala Harris, there's a bunch of different issues. Sure. I mean, Howard Dean. Howard Dean. Come on. I mean, have you listened to that? It never gets old. It never gets old. Never ever. But it is weird that this day and age that that crashed him. Well, given everything that all these other candidates have done and said. Yeah, but honestly, there's probably something else. It's how he responded to that as well. Is like he showed a lack of humility or understanding of what it was. Like, yeah, it sounded stupid. That's not what's important, ladies and gentlemen. Yeah, I screamed out. Like, well, you got a microphone on me and I get excited. I go, yeah. I mean, you can also talk just about the ego of the people who are running for these offices. And they don't seem to have an understanding of the idea of ego and what it means and how they should try to separate from it while using it. Like, once you get into politics, much less entertainment and you get really well known and famous, you start believing things about yourself that aren't even remotely true. They're not at the root. There's certainly some of that, right? Huh? There's certainly some of that. There's also, you're protecting yourself, right? You have an image, you're protecting yourself. Yeah, it's a delicate dance that I am completely turned off by. I mean, that's why it's hard to think about, like I was seriously considering running for Congress because- You were or are? It's hard right now because I learned some crazy shit. What'd you learn? First of all- Drum roll please. The corruption, I live in New York State. Wait a minute, New York State's not corrupt. The New York State- Stop the fucking, stop this show. All of politics, there's levels of corruption. But in the New York State Democratic Party, there's always been all kinds of issues. So I met with a whole bunch of really smart people about running for New York 17, which is the district that I live in. The day after I lost my gig at Sirius, the woman had been representing that district for 33 years announced that she was retiring. I was like, well, I got nothing going on. I've always thought about running for office. Let me seriously consider it. I reached out to a whole bunch of people from all different walks of life, congressmen that were in office, that had been out of office, campaign coordinators. I talked to Chris Cuomo. I talked to a whole bunch of people. One person told me that if you want to win, regardless of your party affiliation, you have to, there's a certain special interest group that you had to promise you wouldn't interfere with and make sure they got an envelope of cash. And I'm like, well, I'm not doing that. I will tell everybody and everywhere I go about that- What is it? I can't because I don't have a second source, so I wouldn't say it. But I'm trying to get one to prove that it's true. What does it rhyme with? The special interest group? Yes. Won't do it because everybody will know. Everybody will know. It's dangerous. But the point is, the point is- What's the opposite of that special interest group? Maybe the private sector. Right, but what would be like- I can't. I will tell you- What would be the thing that they're opposed to? What would it be that they're opposed to? You interfering with the way that they run their show. Right, right, right. But I'm saying like what group that we know would be opposed to them. I could tell you it could be a religious group, a private sector, a union or a company, a corporate interest. It could be any one of those. The point is- ACLU? The point now, the point is that all of those types of organizations pressure that you have to- I'm an honest guy. I can't lie. I've never said anything into a microphone that I don't believe. And that's been both to my detriment and to my benefit, I think. I'm authentic. So when I was talking about running for office, my brother's like, you can't lie. You can't be dishonest to people. How are you going to do that? You'll have to sell out at least a little bit. That was the other thing. And then I realized, I'm not sure that this district or the country is ready for someone like me. I'm a comic. I've said a billion things on TV, into a microphone and on stage. And we're in a humorless country right now, number one. I smoke pot. Are they ready for the- are we there yet? I don't think we're humorless. I disagree. I think there's a lot of criticism going on, but that's because there's a lot of- For politics, do you think- I agree with you overall, but I mean for politicians, for me to run for office and you see some stand up that I did or something, and then my opponent's playing that out of context. Dude, I got five words for you. Grab them by the pussy. That guy's the president. I think he is an aberration. I do. I don't think there's anything else that can get away with that kind of stuff. I think you're probably right. He's definitely an aberration. But I just think- Al Franken won as a senator, as a comedian, but he was a writer. There wasn't a ton, and he got in trouble when there was a photo of him. I've said- Well, it's more than a photo. There was actually- All the allegations, but the photo- Yes. Politics is a perception, and whatever people see, it's different than what they hear and what they believe. And so that's the point. That photo was harmless, but it looked bad. Just like any joke I said or anything that I've said out of context. So I just feel like- and then I thought that they could destroy me in any future earning potential that I could have. The second episode of my podcast, I interviewed Tim Ryan. He was running for president. Because I was asking, what does it take? And it's- first of all, you got to raise a million dollars from people and individuals you don't like, you don't want to be affiliated with, but you have to. You got to make them promises that the whole system is so filled and corrupted with money in almost every district in every state, regardless of the office. And how do you run- how does a person- I'm a fairly affluent guy. I'm a white straight guy, whatever. But I couldn't- I don't know how I can afford to apply for a job for a year and pay my mortgage. So I want to do it if it looks feasible, and if I don't have to take care of my family, my parents, not to mention, you know, pay my bills, but it's- you have to be an independently wealthy person, which sucks because it makes it much harder for regular people, there's plenty of exceptions, to run for office. Darrell Bock Now, when you say that you had to give them an envelope and that you had to- what did you have to do? Did you have to support them? Tim Ryan Through intermediaries. You have to say basically- you have to basically say, I'm not gonna interfere with your business. We'll just look the other way. Darrell Bock You had to say that. Tim Ryan That's what I'm told. That was what I was told by a guy- Darrell Bock How are you told this? Are you told this like, hey, if you ever want to be congressman, you have to do this. Tim Ryan You don't have to, but if you don't want to win, you're far more likely to win if you pay off these. Darrell Bock Far more likely. Tim Ryan It's not impossible, but they'll try to destroy you if you don't. Darrell Bock Really? Tim Ryan Yeah, and I can't- it's like, Joe- Darrell Bock Just go after you. Tim Ryan You can destroy- if it's just me- Darrell Bock Why can't you say who this is? Tim Ryan Because it seems like it's very impossible. Tim Ryan Because it's only because I don't know if it's positively true. I need another source. I try to act like a journalist. Darrell Bock And someone who's the intermediary, like, what kind of person is this? Tim Ryan He managed campaigns in that district. He knows everything about the politics of and the special interest in that district. Darrell Bock So it could potentially be that he's hoeing you out. Tim Ryan Absolutely, which is why I won't tell you, because once- Darrell Bock He's saying that so that he's like sort of playing both sides. So he goes to them- Tim Ryan No, he wanted me to run and he wants- Darrell Bock Sure, I'm sure he did, but he might also want to maintain his relationship with whatever group this is. So he says, hey, I've got an assurance- Tim Ryan Knowing this guy, I don't think he's affiliated with that group, but it's possible. And so I try to have journalistic ethics before I would say something. I'll tell you off the mic. Darrell Bock Okay. Tim Ryan Can't wait for the show to be over. Darrell Bock But I wouldn't say without having a second source, like, that's what's irresponsible about so much of our media. Like when Trump or anybody says fake news, it's like, listen, it's not. You have to have two sources, you go to your editor with those two sources and then you can print it. You can't make them up. If you make up a source, you're like, Mancilla, that's it. You're done. That's like stealing a joke. You can't make up a source. You'll never work again. It would be a stupid thing to do. Darrell Bock Well, I think it's even worse when you make up a joke. I mean, if you make up a source, I mean, you literally can't work. Mancilla's still working. Tim Ryan Fair enough. Darrell Bock People do work after they steal jokes. Mancilla really long time to win his integrity back. Darrell Bock Yeah, I didn't find that out actually until after he'd been on the show the second time. Mancilla