What does it mean to be men and women of good will? What does it mean to love your neighbor as you would love yourself? What does that look like in action? We need to figure it out because it's the only way we can find peace on earth and peace with each other.
Samantha Bee, host of Full Frontal with Samantha Bee on TBS, joined Glenn in studio Wednesday to begin a dialogue about uniting our divided nation. While the two would traditionally be viewed as opponents, even adversaries, based on their political views, they both believe we've got to get back to place where we can listen to others, hear their opinions and be open to different viewpoints.
RELATED: After Winning a Divided Election, Thomas Jefferson Gave a Unifying Message
“People are receiving their news in their own bubble of the internet. It’s very difficult to penetrate that with actual information,” Bee said. “I don’t really know how to penetrate that. I don’t think anybody really does.”
As a result of that information bubble, many people define others by who or what they hate --- and it's no way to come together and find common ground.
How do we heal the divide? It starts one conversation at a time, by taking a risk and reaching outside your comfort zone.
"If we can find honest people who are actually struggling with that --- how we do this without causing more problems --- we will make it. We will make it," Glenn said.
Read below or watch the clip for answers to these questions:
• Why did Samantha want to talk with Glenn?
• Does Glenn think Samantha has a potty mouth?
• Should presidents be messianic figures?
• Is Samantha an American?
• Why is civil discourse essential?
Below is a rush transcript of this segment, it might contain errors:
GLENN: Joining us now -- and she just said, "Wow, this is real." And I said, "No, I think most people would think this is unreal."
SAMANTHA: Maybe.
GLENN: From Full Frontal, Samantha Bee. And we don't know each other.
SAMANTHA: No.
GLENN: We've talked to each other once last night for about 25 minutes.
SAMANTHA: Yes. It was a very pleasant conversation. It was great.
GLENN: It was.
SAMANTHA: Yeah.
GLENN: Why are you here?
SAMANTHA: I don't know. (laughter)
I don't know. Why are you having me here?
I'm here. We're doing -- well, we're doing a piece -- we're doing a piece with Glenn, and so you generously invited me to be on your show. We are merging worlds in a way.
GLENN: In a way.
SAMANTHA: In a way.
GLENN: Because I'm sure we haven't talked about it, but I'm sure there are many things we don't agree on.
SAMANTHA: I can pretty much guarantee that for sure.
GLENN: Yeah. So --
SAMANTHA: I don't think that's a bad thing.
GLENN: I don't either.
SAMANTHA: I don't see that as -- I don't see that as a bad thing.
GLENN: I think people trying to control people's lives is a bad thing.
SAMANTHA: Yes. I do agree with you.
GLENN: Oh, my -- the first thing off her mouth --
SAMANTHA: What! What!
GLENN: Your world is coming crumbling down.
STU: You are a sellout.
SAMANTHA: Uh-oh.
GLENN: Did you lose some crazy bet? And now here you are.
SAMANTHA: I'm winning the bet. I'm here.
GLENN: Saying I agree with Glenn.
SAMANTHA: It's okay with us to agree with each other on some things. I feel like there's a shared humanity, right?
GLENN: There is.
SAMANTHA: We really literally have to have conversations with people we don't agree with. It's essential.
GLENN: Yes. Yes.
SAMANTHA: And I do feel like -- I'm sure that a lot of your listeners or your viewers have either not watched your show, or they have watched my show and they have not -- and turned it off.
GLENN: Yes. Turned it off in anger.
SAMANTHA: Or, you know, one interesting thing that happened on our show -- we went to the conventions, of course. And while I was at the Republican convention, so many people there came up to me privately and said, "Oh, my God, I love your show. It's really funny."
GLENN: I think you're really funny.
SAMANTHA: Thank you. Well, I wasn't really --
GLENN: You have a potty mouth.
SAMANTHA: I wasn't fishing for a compliment.
(laughter)
Definitely have a potty mouth for sure.
GLENN: Yes.
SAMANTHA: But people I think -- I think people on both sides of the aisle can appreciate a well-crafted joke. And I do think it's essential to be able to make fun of yourself. It's just --
GLENN: Uh-huh. Is there a problem -- because this is -- you'll notice that -- I mean, except for the conservatives that have a stick lodged someplace.
SAMANTHA: Sure.
GLENN: Or Al Gore and Tipper, when they were against the -- you know, wanted the parental labels on CDs or albums, I think at the time.
SAMANTHA: Albums, I remember those.
GLENN: Yeah.
The -- most people don't have a problem with The Simpsons because they know The Simpsons might take your guy on and hit him hard in the face.
SAMANTHA: Uh-huh.
GLENN: And the very next joke or the very next episode, going to hit the other side just as hard.
SAMANTHA: Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
GLENN: Do you think that comedy -- you know, The Daily Show and your show, do you think you do that? Do you think you hit your side just as hard?
SAMANTHA: I think that we look for those opportunities for sure. I think that, you know, we launched in a very particular moment in American politics. I mean, we launched at the beginning, really, of campaign season. And so there was just a plethora of material.
GLENN: Sure.
SAMANTHA: For us to select from.
GLENN: Sure.
SAMANTHA: I think that moving forward, that will happen more and more for sure. But there's no -- there's...
GLENN: Here's why I ask this question.
SAMANTHA: Yeah. Are you going to show a little bit of our show to acclimatize people to the tone?
GLENN: Uh, no.
SAMANTHA: You don't need -- that's okay. I promise, some of you will really like it. It's very edgy.
GLENN: No. I -- I like it. It is -- it is -- I used to -- I was much more of an artist with the F-word than you ever will be.
SAMANTHA: Okay. Oh. Oh.
GLENN: Yeah.
SAMANTHA: Okay.
GLENN: And then I found Jesus and all of that stuff.
SAMANTHA: Sure.
GLENN: So I've cleaned up my act. And so it is a little assaulting for viewers that are not used to that -- you know, Mike Huckabee will watch it and say, "I've never heard a woman use the F-word before."
SAMANTHA: Well, he would 100 percent find me to be nasty.
GLENN: Yes.
SAMANTHA: Yes.
GLENN: He might go farther than that.
SAMANTHA: He would go further than that.
GLENN: You may be from the underworld.
SAMANTHA: Definitely from the upside down.
GLENN: But, anyway, I find you very, very funny.
PAT: We actually have played clips of your show.
SAMANTHA: Which -- I was curious about that because you mentioned that last night.
STU: We can play -- as you might know --
SAMANTHA: In like a favorable way, right?
STU: Yes. No, actually --
PAT: Donald Trump can't read.
JEFFY: Yeah.
SAMANTHA: Trump can't read.
STU: We thought that was really funny.
PAT: And -- that was very funny. And the trolls in Russia. We played --
JEFFY: Yeah, the hacker.
GLENN: We spent an hour talking about the trolls in Russia.
SAMANTHA: Did you?
PAT: Yeah.
STU: That was really interesting. How the heck did you find those people?
SAMANTHA: Well, you know, we have an incredible research team.
STU: Yeah, ours sucks.
JEFFY: Yeah, no kidding.
GLENN: We got this guy.
STU: We have that guy. He just sits over there and types --
SAMANTHA: Oh, boy. That's it. The whole team.
GLENN: Well, he ate the whole team.
(laughter)
SAMANTHA: You know, we have -- yeah, we have an -- we have just an amazing team of people. And we had one woman who was able to -- she just ended up in I don't know chat rooms. I don't know what she did to kind of infiltrate that world. But she ended up chitchatting a paid Russian troll. And, you know, the story was born out of that. And then it just kind of grew and grew. And then we decided it was worth it to go to Russia and speak to them in person.
PAT: Did you ever at any point believe they might be not the real thing?
SAMANTHA: Not real.
PAT: Yeah.
SAMANTHA: Well, you know, you have to treat them -- you have to -- obviously, you have to be very suspicious.
PAT: Yeah.
SAMANTHA: I think we did our absolute best due diligence with them.
PAT: Uh-huh.
SAMANTHA: And we determined that we were comfortable -- we were comfortable believing that they were real. And I believe that they were real.
PAT: It sounded like they were.
SAMANTHA: Since the story aired, Russian media has tried to discredit the story in various ways. But that's kind of what they do.
JEFFY: They do.
GLENN: So is it disturbing to you at all because we've been on this Russian thing for, four years? Three years? About the influence of Russia and Putin. And it's interesting because a lot of people that were -- were okay with that in saying, "Yeah, okay. I believe you. Yeah, that's wrong. That's bad. That's dangerous."
SAMANTHA: Uh-huh.
GLENN: In the last year, many of them have said, "That's propaganda. That's crazy. That's not happening." Or it's, "So what?"
SAMANTHA: Right.
GLENN: Does it bother to you that we seem to be playing musical chairs, that under the last president I was freaked out and thinking, "Oh, my gosh." And now, under this president, you're saying, "Oh, my gosh."
SAMANTHA: Uh-huh. Well, it's not just me saying it. There are a lot more people.
GLENN: No, no. I am saying it -- I'm saying it as well.
SAMANTHA: Yeah.
GLENN: But the point that at least I have been trying to make and many people in our audience have been trying to make -- and we were never taken serious is no president should ever make you feel that way. Not because we elect the great guys. Our Founders knew, they're going to elect bad guys. It's the balance of power. No man should have so much power that he can reach into your life and change our culture and change everything.
SAMANTHA: Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
GLENN: Do you see that? Or?
SAMANTHA: I -- you know, I guess fundamentally I don't really trust anyone. I don't really --
GLENN: We don't either.
SAMANTHA: I don't really -- I just don't see presidents or -- I don't -- as these messianic figures.
GLENN: Right.
SAMANTHA: I just don't think that any one person or leader is going to be everything to everybody. And, of course -- you know, the pendulum swings.
GLENN: Yes.
SAMANTHA: It --
PAT: Uh-huh.
SAMANTHA: It's -- I think what we're going through right now feels very different to me, in my experience, which is limited because, remember, I'm an immigrant. And this is the first election that I was able to vote in.
GLENN: You're from, where?
SAMANTHA: So that was -- I'm from Canada, you guys.
GLENN: Oh, that's not an immigrant.
PAT: Oh.
STU: I'm a Bluejays fan.
SAMANTHA: That's a total -- my immigrant experience, I came across with my babushka. You know.
GLENN: Yeah.
So it's not that -- the thing that I think we can unite on that I -- and it seems -- it seems almost eye-roll stupid, but it's not, is the Bill of Rights.
SAMANTHA: Uh-huh.
GLENN: The Bill of Rights -- we all agree -- you know, I was dumb enough in 2003 to go, "Oh, George Bush, he'd never misuse the Patriot Act." By 2006, I'm like, "Oh, my gosh, how stupid was I." Then -- and left -- you know, the people on the left were right there.
And the reason why a lot of us didn't listen to that warning was because, "You're just the other side. You're just against George Bush."
Oh, my God, shut up.
And now, under Barack Obama, it expanded and got worse. And under this guy, it's going to expand and get even worse.
SAMANTHA: Do you feel like the world is going to be -- or our world -- at least I feel -- and this is part of the reason why we're here today is because I do think that it's important for us to kind of redraw the lines a little bit. I don't think that it's as clear-cut as left and right or liberal and conservative anymore. I feel like --
GLENN: True liberals --
SAMANTHA: -- you need to form alliances in a different way now. I think that, you know, there are things that are imperiled now, or certainly there feels like there's an urgency and there feels like there's violence in the air to me.
And I think that it's going to be more important than ever for people to kind of reach into areas where they wouldn't necessarily feel comfortable and hold hands with people --
GLENN: I agree.
SAMANTHA: -- in a different way.
And I think -- you know -- and it's more about -- and it's more than just talking, too. It's actually more than just civil discourse.
Civil discourse is really, for me, just the beginning of change.
GLENN: Yes. Yes. Yes.
SAMANTHA: You know, that's a nice place to start. It's a very privileged idea that we can all sit here and go, "We should speak to each other nicely. We should actually be civil."
GLENN: Yes. We should do more -- we should also listen to each other.
SAMANTHA: Speak nice. Speak -- you know, speak properly to each other.
GLENN: Yes.
SAMANTHA: Listen to one another. But then there's an action moment too, where you have to -- you have to defend people. You have to stand up for people who are imperiled in this new world. You have to take action. I don't know what the action moment is. We do have to find it.
GLENN: It will come. It will present itself. Don't look for trouble. It will come. Be prepared for trouble.
SAMANTHA: This is all so comforting.
GLENN: No, no. But don't you --
SAMANTHA: Yeah.
GLENN: You just prepare for it. And then if it doesn't come, it doesn't come. But if it does, we'll know it when it comes. And then we are prepared and united to stand on common principles.
SAMANTHA: Uh-huh.
GLENN: But no one wants to talk about common principles. Everybody is talking about policies. And that's been our problem -- that's been my problem. I wanted you here because I think you felt -- you feel right now like I felt -- not in '08, but in '12.
SAMANTHA: Uh-huh.
GLENN: Where I thought, "Okay." For instance, TIME Magazine just made Donald Trump person of the year.
SAMANTHA: Sure.
GLENN: And in the headline, it says, "President of the divided states of America."
I completely agree with that. But there's a lot of people that will look at that and go, "Really? Slap across the face." Where Newsweek, in '08, ran the headline and the cover, "We're all socialists now."
SAMANTHA: Uh-huh.
GLENN: Dismissing the good portion of the population that was like, "No, I'm not a socialist. I don't want to be a socialist. No."
So one side just dismissed the other. And we're still doing that. Just dismissing.
SAMANTHA: Uh-huh.
GLENN: In '12, I'm -- I was shocked that the American people could know all of this information and still vote for him because of, I thought, lies, of doctors cutting off of feet, and everything else. And you feel that way now about Donald Trump. So do I.
SAMANTHA: Uh-huh.
GLENN: But you kind of lost faith in, "Crap, it's not just the president, it's the people around me too. I don't understand how they're disconnecting from truth. They're just accepting it." Do you understand what I'm saying?
SAMANTHA: I do. But I'm not sure I know what the question is.
GLENN: So my question is: How do we take on -- how do you take on your side and say, "You know what, there are some things that -- lying about Benghazi did matter. It did matter."
SAMANTHA: There are consequences to lies.
GLENN: Right.
SAMANTHA: I think we are seeing that. I don't really know how to --
GLENN: How do you mean that? We're seeing that?
SAMANTHA: When you -- well, there are just false narratives. There's -- I mean, we've all been talking about fake news. We were talking about it on the show the other night.
GLENN: Yes. Yes.
SAMANTHA: There's so much distrust. There's so much -- we -- you know, people are receiving their news in their own bubble of the internet.
GLENN: Yes.
SAMANTHA: It's very difficult to penetrate that with actual information.
GLENN: On both sides.
SAMANTHA: I agree.
GLENN: We're self-selecting out.
SAMANTHA: Well, of course.
I don't really know how to -- I don't really know how to penetrate that. I don't think anybody really does.
GLENN: But that's what we're here for.
SAMANTHA: But that is why we -- that is why we need to be so vigilant and so diligent and do things in a different way and take ownership of those.
GLENN: We're going to spend some more time together. I'm doing something for your show.
SAMANTHA: No. Delightful.
GLENN: And then we're going to spend some time on Facebook.
But -- look at that look. "Delightful."
SAMANTHA: No, it is. It's going to be delightful.
GLENN: Look at that look. I saw that look.
SAMANTHA: Don't -- don't read anything sinister of that. It will be fun, I promise.
GLENN: All right. It is nice to meet you.
SAMANTHA: It is so nice to meet you.
Featured Image: Samantha Bee, host of 'Full Frontal with Samantha Bee' on TBS on 'The Glenn Beck Program', December 8, 2016.