Blown Off by Kamala, the New Crisis No One Is Talking About & More | Dr. Phil McGraw

0:00I talk about cultural issues and when I say I'm not political, I don't understand politics particularly well. Right, but you understand humans. You understand humans. I actually did get invited to speak to a Kamala Harris. They hit me up in the, me and my staff was there and said, was he serious about that? You can contact us. We'll come. We'll get there at our own expense. All you got to do is tell us when, tell us where. They said, okay, we'll be in touch. Ghosted us. Never heard another word. I probably made a hundred requests to interview Biden and Harris, and neither one of them would talk to me.

0:35And you know, the thing is, I would never disrespect the office of the President of the United States. Are we doing okay in America right now? You know, most young people in particular have less than one good friend. All they have are clicks and likes. You know what? I am proud of America. And I get tired of people apologizing for this country. There is no question that 2026 can be a real uptick year for this country.

1:11All right, Dr. Phil, you're past the point of intro. You get no intro today other than you are Dr. Phil. Everyone knows you are Dr. Phil. You've done like basically four billion things in television and entertainment and across a thousand verticals. everyone also knows I'm off the grid right now. And I thought, I thought sitting down with you right now, as we tape this end of July would be a good one as I disappear because, uh, you, you kind of offer the world, Hey, get your crap together and then also enjoy your life. And that's kind of what I'm trying to do with this August operation. What do you think about that?

1:47You know, I have to wonder, people are listening to us right now and you're gone. and I'm wondering right now where you are and what you're doing. And I bet it ain't much. And listen, I'm a pastor. It is not much, I guarantee you. You give me a couple of days off, I can be, I get as worthless as a lizard on a rock. So I can just imagine what you're doing right now while this is playing and you're here and you're present, but you're really not because the miracles of electronics. You're there, we're here. but don't tell us where you're going because somebody will find you. No, no, listen, they find me one way or another.

2:29I am not going to tell anyone. But what do you think about this crazy August thing that I'm doing? Because you have spent a career really telling people in essence to kind of get their stuff together, to figure out how they can triangulate towards something that'll be good for them and their families and all of that. I kind of did this nine years ago. This is my ninth year doing it. It was sort of a joke at first, But now it's really become an important piece in keeping me refreshed and renewed to do the daily battle thing that you and I are both in now. Well, you know, I think it's a great thing.

3:01Is it too long? Is it long enough for you? When you come back, are you ready to come back? Do you get bored before you come back? Is it the right length of time? You know, every year it changes a little bit. Last year was the first year that I was like, I could probably do this another week or so. You know, like I really felt. Yeah. And the irony is I love what I do. It's not about it's not about escaping this. I wake up with passion every day, working with great people, doing something I love, just like you do. But there's something about escaping the algorithms, escaping the hamster wheel of the news and that that for my mind, It's one of the reasons I think I've been, if I can dare say so myself, I've remained sane in a lot of this political madness where we watch people go off the deep end.

3:52So it's a month. I know it sounds crazy to people, but it's worthwhile. Well, I find this fascinating. Do you get revelations when you do this? Yes. When you come back, do you have a new perspective, a new point of view? Yes, absolutely. So I'll tell you a couple. Somehow you're interviewing me somehow. That's all right. I'll tell you a couple cool things about it. A few things happen. So one thing that has happened every year is out of nowhere, about two weeks in, I'll suddenly start out of nowhere. I will remember somebody that I have not thought of in 30 years. Like out of nowhere, I'll be sitting there and then I'll remember the kid rich who I sat next to in third grade and wonder where he, where he is.

4:33Like his name will pop into my head or I'll remember what his house looked like or when we were playing Nintendo. The other thing is I suddenly can remember songs. I mean, full songs, every word of every song out of nowhere. And it'll just be playing in my head. And then a whole bunch of other things just related to, you know, I run pretty cool. You know me like I run pretty cool. But, you know, just my daily interactions, if I go, I still go out. So if I go to the store, I'll be a little more patient with the with the cashier, just a little more present. You know, it's it's about that more than anything else.

5:06Just being as present as possible without the BS. That's it. And then, yes, I do come back with fresh eyes because you realize that politics and culture, it goes on without you and it's okay. Yeah, I think that's great because that's what I get from traveling. I go places that I'm not every day. And I don't care where it is, particularly if it's really different. I realize, you know what? this is going on every day that I'm where I usually am. If it's waves coming up on a beat somewhere or whatever, I realize, you know what? This is going on every day that I'm doing what I do. And these people couldn't give a damn less about what I think is so important in my life.

5:53They get up every day. They're doing what they're doing. They're walking down this street. They don't care. They don't know I am not the center of the universe. And it really puts things in perspective for me. I think it's great that you do it. This month, Tax Network USA is celebrating American Pride Month with 10 % off all services honoring freedom, resilience, and financial independence. If you miss the April 15th deadline or you have backed taxes, don't wait. The IRS is ramping up enforcement fast. Penalties can hit 5 % per month. The good news, Tax Network USA can help. Whether you're self-employed, run a business, or your finances are a mess, their experts know how to get results.

6:30Consultations are free and acting now could save you from wage garnishments or bank levies down the road. Call 1-800-958-1000 or visit tnusa.com slash Dave to get started. Take advantage of this month's sale for 10 % off. All right, so all that being said, I disappear for a month, you travel the world, but we do something very similar for a living, which is try to communicate a lot of craziness, whether it's political or cultural or I suppose psychological, maybe philosophical, religious. We try to communicate that stuff to people in a way that hopefully talks them off the ledge a bit. How do you think we're doing?

7:05Are we doing okay in America right now? You know, I think so. I don't think we're as nearly as divided as some of the media would lead us to believe. I think they're kind of fear-mongering. There's no question there's division, but I have to say, I don't think we're as divided as we think we are. And as I move around and talk to people, I think there's still those kind of fringe groups that are beating the drum. But, you know, I think as people get, you know, if you go to Maslow's hierarchy of needs and, you know, first thing is survival and then people want to start looking to see their quality of life and then whether or not they're doing things they want to do.

7:53It just seems to me like things are settling down and people are feeling better. I don't think that it's nearly as dire as some people want to make us think. And I think people are a little more optimistic than they've been in the past. So I completely agree with that. And again, it's partly why I do the month off, because when I step away, you know, it used to be that social media was a mirror, and somehow I think it's become a funhouse mirror now, where it does not reflect us properly. It reflects a very distorted version of us. But do you think that partly the reason people think it, do you think that is just a function of modernity in some sense, that we have it so good, say in America in 2025, that we're able to navel gaze to the point that we think all hell's about to break loose when we are really doing some incredible things, before we even talk about any of the political stuff.

8:44I mean, just that humanity is in a very good spot, actually. You know, it's easy to start taking things for granted, right? It's easy to get up, you turn on the faucet, water comes out, you flip the switch, electricity is there, you get in your car, it goes. And we get to taking things for granted that are really pretty amazing, particularly in America. And most people have a reasonable quality of life. I'm not saying everybody. That's not true. There are still people below the poverty line. There are still people struggling. But you compare it to other parts of the world that wake up every day, and survival is not guaranteed.

9:30You wake up even in first world countries like Israel, where there are missiles coming in every day. People live with that. They were asking me recently at an event I was attending how I thought Israelis deal with post-traumatic stress disorder. I thought, there's nothing post about it. It's not behind them. It's current stress disorder that they live with every day. We don't live with that here. We have so many things that we have to be thankful for. And, you know, I am the incurable optimist, but I think we need to, I don't think it's just optimism. I think we do need to really take time to count our blessings because not everybody's in the same position in this country.

10:20But if you're healthy and, you know, you've got freedom and you've got options, I tell people all the time, I think at least once a week, not in a spiritual way, we need to really take time to count our blessings. And I mean out loud, write it down, do something where you think, you know, these are the things I should really be thankful for because we don't do that enough. We focus on our problems because, you know, pain gets your attention. If something's hurting and hurting in your life, hurting mentally, emotionally, physically, you pay attention to that. But we don't pay attention to the things that are working, the things that are comfortable.

11:01If you've got a tailwind, you've got the wind at your back, you just kind of enjoy it. But you don't take time to give it your attention and say, hey, this is a good thing. And I think we need to do that more. So speaking of good things, you had an incredible run on television for over two decades. Then a couple years ago, you decided to jump in on the online thing. that's when we first connected. And I told you the first time that we spoke that you actually helped me out a lot when I was watching you on Oprah back in, gosh, it must be 2002 or something like that. Maybe even before then, if I'm not mistaken.

11:36And what do you make of the transition? How is the transition from kind of corporate controlled media to freedom, running your own operation, doing whatever you want, getting out on the road, as you just said, how has that changed? How's that been for you? You know, it's really been good. And I have nothing but positive things to say about the time I spent at CBS. Good people treated me well. And I had a great time there. And it was a difficult decision to make. You know, I came to a point where I either had to renew for three more years or go do something different. And I just really wanted to go do something different.

12:23And it was the right decision for me. I'm glad that I did. I like having the freedom to do the things I want to do, talk about everything I want to talk about, get to different platforms. Because, you know, Dave, you know this as well as anybody because of the way you deliver your message, people are getting their information in such a different way now than they were. I've got grandkids that are 13 and 15. They don't even have televisions in their room. They don't even watch television. They get their information in smaller bites. And our attention span in America, I saw a research study the other day, is eight seconds.

13:16It's eight seconds. And if you don't get somebody's attention really strong in eight seconds, you're going to lose them. And then their ability to stay with something, if you do get their attention, the length of time is about eight minutes. And then you better change subjects and get on to something fresh that'll hang them on, hang on to them a little bit longer. So it's just the time of somebody sitting passively and watching something for an hour that you're going to choose and feed to them without them having any inputs really gone. Did you know that about one third of Americans have below average credit scores or that drivers with poor credit can end up paying more than double for full coverage auto insurance?

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14:30And right now, you can get started for just a on your first month. That's 80 % off when you visit getkickoff.com slash Rubin. That's kickoff without the C, K-I-K-O-F-F dot com slash Rubin. What do you make of, so you got grandchildren 13, 15, they don't even watch TV, obviously. I mean, there's a whole generation now that that just seems ridiculous to them. But that at least what we had with television was on Sunday nights, people were basically, you know, you'd watch The Sopranos or you'd watch The Simpsons or you'd watched 60 minutes and then you'd come into the office Monday. We had some sort of social cohesion, literally that was wrapped around scheduling in some sense, where now everyone watches everything on demand.

15:10So even the little things that might bring us together, oh, you watch Game of Thrones last night or whatever, man, I can't even think of a show that's been on in the last five years. That tells you everything. Even that has been kind of ripped away from us because of the on-demand lifestyle? It really has. And if you have commonality with somebody, which is really rare, you know, most young people in particular have less than one good friend on average, less than one good friend. And that means a whole lot of them have none. All they have are clicks and likes, but they're actual relationships where they get up and go somewhere and share an experience with somebody, or they have somebody they can call if they need to move their couch downstairs, or they need a ride to the airport or something.

16:06That's just simply not part of people's existence anymore. And it's sad that we don't have that kind of connectivity because the number one need in all people is acceptance or belongingness. And when we don't have that personal connection, that's a big void in people's lives. And the number one group that's lonely in this country are young people. And number two are old people, the elderly. And it's a terrible thing to experience. If you have a chronic disease, the mortality rate for elderly people with a chronic disease is 40 % higher if they're lonely. That's how profound loneliness is. And we're seeing that in young people and in elderly people.

17:01It's terrible that we don't have connectivity. So we need these common bonds. We need things that pull people together. Yeah. Is that the weird position we're in right now? We don't, as a society, know what those common bonds are because of the phones and the way we've atomized everything. So in some sense, the only thing that seems to bring us together is when something terrible happens. So if there's some sort of tragedy, a shooting or whatever, and even that doesn't hold us together for very long anymore. No, it doesn't because the next headline comes along and we move on to something else.

17:35And we've got to find a way. And you said it so well when you said tragedy brings us together. One of the series of shows that I did last year was around Hurricane Helene that came through Western North Carolina. They don't get hurricanes in North Carolina, but nothing like this. And I went there and I had some Blackhawk helicopters and we were able to go into some of these mountain communities that were completely cut off. You couldn't get there by road or rail. And they were completely cut off. and we went in and took in, you know, Starlink so people could have connectivity and took them food and water and this sort of thing.

18:29And I have to tell you, I saw America at its best because this was a time when people, they didn't care if their neighbor or their friends or who was coming in to help were Democratic, Republican. Nobody asked, nobody cared. These were just neighbors helping neighbors, people shoveling mud out of basements, people that were helping those that were flooded out, had nowhere to stay. They were just, I tell you, it was America at its best. People that may have been living three or four doors down from each other and never met were all of a sudden sleeping on the floor next to each other, sharing food, sharing water, helping each other.

19:16And it was tragedy that brought them together. You hate that it took that, but it was so great to see these people really coming together and helping one another. We need more of that. I just hate that it's tragedy that brings it out. So I got one. Let me float this to you, see what you think. We are rolling into our 250th anniversary in America. And I do have a feeling that with some of the good things that Donald Trump has done and then rolling into 250, That 2026 is going to be a very positive year. Yes, there will always be the tragedies. There's always going to be the bad things. But I think there's going to be a real shift.

19:53I think people really want it. And maybe the 250 gives us an excuse to be proud of the country again and maybe get to knowing our neighbors again and putting aside some of that. Am I being Pollyannish or are you going to come with me on this crazy ride? What do you think? No, I don't think you're being Pollyannish. I do think we need rally points. And I think a 250th anniversary is maybe going to give people permission to say, you know what, I am proud of America. And I get tired of people apologizing for this country. And maybe this will give people permission to say, hey, this is a watershed event.

20:39This country is 250 years old, and we seem to be doing pretty well. And if people will give themselves permission to not feel guilty about not being perfect, to not feel guilty about being successful when not everybody is at the same level, to be proud of the good things that we're doing as international citizens, and to be proud of what we're achieving domestically, there is no question that 2026 can be a real uptick year for this country. And that's so important because when you have a positive mindset, not being Pollyannish, but actually a positive mindset, we function at a higher cognitive level.

21:34We function at a higher physical level. We're more productive. Everything goes better when you have a positive mindset. Your brain changes. Your brain chemistry changes. Your physical chemistry changes. Everything changes when you have a positive mindset. And that's true individually and collectively. So I think we are going to have a good year in 2026. And I think if people will give themselves permission to celebrate, it'll be great. Yeah, I hope so. You know, it's one of the reasons I try to focus as much as possible on the good news that's out there, which there is good news. Everyone focuses on the negative, but like there is good stuff happening.

22:14So I hope you're right about that. Speaking of that, you know, when I saw you speak at the MSG rally, you said something that really I thought was interesting, which was that you got up there and you said something to the effect of, I'm not particularly political. I would have gone to a Kamala Harris rally too, but I didn't get invited. And you got applause for that. And I know you were telling the truth. And obviously, they did not invite you. And we don't have to do a postmortem on what they did there. But what do you make of the fact that because you talk to both sides, because you're helping people, all the other things, you're going to these places where they need other help and things of that nature, that that pushes the lens to be a little bit more on the right side of things politically, even though I actually don't know all of your politics and I don't know that you share them fully, but that just by the nature of talking to people, it's been pushed in that direction.

23:09Well, it has been pushed in that direction. And look, when I say I'm not political, I mean, I talk about cultural issues. And when I say I'm not political, I don't understand politics particularly well.

23:31I'm not trying to be self-effacing about it. I mean, I really don't understand the political system. What I do understand about it, I don't like. But you understand humans. You understand humans. That's right. And I've watched the after-school special, like how a bill becomes a law and the little bill walks along. I get it at that level, but I really don't understand all the ins and outs of it. And I don't think I need to. I don't need to understand that. I do understand culture. I do understand the collective consciousness of America. And I think I do understand human nature. And I think politicians talk a lot about culture, of course, because they've got constituents and they understand that they have to answer the call when people have issues.

24:28And so I think they talk about my area more than I talk about theirs. And listen, I want to own the debate lane. I'm willing to talk to both sides, and sometimes there's four sides, five sides on something. I want to platform responsible people. I'm not going to put the KKK on, but if there are responsible sides to an issue, I want to platform them and give them a voice and discuss it. And I actually did get invited to speak to a Kamala Harris event right after Madison Square Garden. They hit me up in the, me and my staff was there in the lobby of the Peninsula Hotel and said, was he serious about that?

25:18And I was standing right there and my staff said, yes. They said, well, we've got one coming up and here's the information that you can, we said, here's our information. You can contact us. We'll come. We'll get there at our own expense. All you got to do is tell us when, tell us where. They said, okay, we'll be in touch. Ghosted us, never have heard another word. They actually didn't want me to come at all. I think maybe that person got back and said, hey, I talked to Dr. Phil. They said, are you nuts? Because they actually didn't want me there. But I damn sure would have gone. And I probably made a hundred requests from people inside the party, inside the inner circle, to interview Biden and Harris.

26:04And neither one of and would talk to me. And you know, the thing is, I would never have disrespected either. I wasn't a Republican or a Biden fan, but I would never disrespect the office of the president of the United States. What a bad look that is. You just don't do that. I wouldn't do that. I would have treated him with the dignity and respect that someone in that office deserves. I would have asked questions, of course, but I would never disrespect the president of the United States. And I said very clearly, had Kamala Harris been elected president, she would have been my president. And I would have supported her as my president.

26:43I made that very clear. And I said, if Donald Trump's elected, he will be my president and I will support him as my president. I've always said that. Today's show is brought to you by Rumble Premium, the home of free speech and exclusive content from the voices that matter. With Rumble Premium, you get ad-free viewing, access to exclusive shows, and premium features across the platform. We're talking about Crowder's Mug Club, Tim Pool's TimCast, Russell Brand's Raw Commentary, and much more. Whether it's breaking news, real talk, or the content that challenges narratives, Rumble Premium puts you into the front row.

27:17Support creators who actually say what they mean and mean what they say. Go to rumble.com slash premium slash Rubin to join today. That's rumble.com slash premium slash Rubin because truth shouldn't come with a filter. Well, you know, they were paying a lot of the celebrities a lot of money to be on stage with her. Maybe they couldn't afford the Dr. Phil fee. Maybe your honorarium's a little. You got too many zeros in there, my friend. Yeah, I didn't get paid doodly squat for showing up at Mass Square Garden. I pay you for sure. Let me ask you one other thing. And then why don't we pick this up?

27:48You know, I'm gone for August. Why don't we pick this up beginning of September when my brain has fully reset and you can see what you can kind of squeeze out of the orange there. But let me ask you one thing just on the personal side, because you don't you don't talk that much about your personal life. I'm wondering, how has it been for you a couple of decades now of public life, of fame, of money, of all of the stuff that everybody kind of wants in some weird way? You got all that stuff. And how do you how does that relate to the guy that you used to be, I suppose? Well, you know, Dave, I grew up really poor.