Speaking of reality TV,
I don't know if you saw
"Celebrity Apprentice."
I did.
It's a great show, yeah.
[ Laughter ]
Has Donald Trump called you
for advice
or talked to you at all?
And first of all,
you've given him
some pretty good advice
so far if you have.
Yeah.
But has he called
and talked to you?
I would call you
if I was running.
No.
No, he hasn't.
No.
No.
No.
Not that I know of.
No.
Do you think
the Republicans
are happy
with their choice?
We are,
but I don't know how --
[ Laughter ]
I don't know
how they're feeling.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Actually, you know what?
[ Chuckles ]
That was too easy.
But, the truth is,
actually,
I am worried
about the Republican Party.
And I know that sounds...
You know.
Yeah.
You know
what it sounds like.
Yeah.
But democracy works,
this country works
when you have two parties
that are serious
and trying
to solve problems.
And they've got
philosophical differences
and they have
fierce debates
and they argue
and they contest elections.
But at the end of the day,
what you want
is a healthy
two-party system.
And you want
the Republican nominee
to be somebody who could
do the job if they win.
And you want folks
who understand the issues
and where you can sit
across the table from them
and you have
a principled argument
and ultimately can still
move the country forward.
So I actually
am not enjoying,
and I haven't been enjoying
over the last seven years,
watching
some of the things
that have happened
in the Republican Party
'cause there's some good people
in the Republican Party.
There are wonderful Republicans
out in the country
who want what's best
for the country
and may disagree with me
on some things
but are good,
decent people.
But what's happened
in that party,
culminating in this
current nomination, I think,
is not actually good
for the country as a whole.
It's not something
Democrats should wish for.
And my hope is that
maybe once you get
through this cycle,
there's some
corrective action
and they get back to being
a center-right party
and the Democratic Party
being a center-left party
and we start figuring out
how to work together.
Was it harder for you
going in as President
and realizing, well,
"People are gonna go,
like, not work with me"?
"The Republicans are not
gonna work with me."
It exceeded
my expectations
because when I came in,
we were in the middle of crisis.
And usually, your hope is that,
all right,
we can play
political games,
but when stuff is serious,
when we're losing
800,000 jobs a month,
when we've got 180,000
troops in Afghanistan and Iraq
that we're going to buckle down
here for a second,
put the politics aside
and just get stuff done.
And that did not happen.
Like, what's the
Supreme Court thing?
What's happening with that?
Because I know there's a seat
that needs to be filled.
So there's a good
case in point.
The Supreme Court
makes the law,
interprets
the law of the land,
and it's binding
all across the country.
And right now,
we're supposed to have
nine Supreme Court justices
because...
You know, the passing
of Justice Scalia,
we only have eight.
And so it's hard
for the Supreme Court
to do its job.
Now, I've nominated
somebody who, uniformly,
everybody,
including Republicans,
acknowledges is probably
one of the most qualified guys
who's ever been nominated
for the seat, Merrick Garland.
Merrick Garland.
Merrick Garland.
Very common name.
[ Chuckles ]
He's the chief judge
of probably
the second-most important
court in the land.
He's been a judge longer
than many of the judges
who are now justices
on the Supreme Court.
Republicans in the past
have said
he has impeccable
credentials,
he's smart,
he's got a good temperament,
he knows how to work
with people
from all political spectrums.
But some of them
won't even meet with them,
and so far, at least,
they haven't given him
a hearing.
And that's an example
of where if the process
of democracy
starts breaking down
to that degree
where you can't even
show the courtesy
of meeting with a guy
who you know is qualified
and you won't give him
a hearing
because you want to wait
and see if maybe your guy
wins the election
and nominates somebody,
then you start seeing
the court system breaking down.
You start seeing vacancies.
People can't get access
to the courts.
And you see the country
start dividing
in ways
that's really unhealthy.
So that's a good example
of my hope
that the Republican Party
steps back and reflects
and says, "You know what?
That's not the way
we should be doing business
because we don't want Democrats
to be doing business
if we have
a Republican president."
Like, would you ever think
to do that job?
Because you're a lawyer.
Can you appoint yourself?
Appoint myself?
[ Laughing ] Yeah.
[ Laughter ]
No.
You know --
Aren't you happy
I'm not in the White House?
I am.
Bad ideas.
Yeah.
[ Laughs ]
I just have bad ideas.
I mean, I look pretty good
in a robe.
But it's not something
that I think
is the best way
for me to use my time
after I get
out of office.
