Liberal actor and podcast host Dax Shepard finds it “insane” and “embarrassing” that President Joe Biden is the “best option” to lead the country.
The “Parenthood” actor made the remarks on the latest episode of his eponymous podcast The Armchair Expert.
Shepard, a self-described “Democrat,” chuckled as he told “Queer Eye” star Jonathan Van Ness about a clip he saw of Biden, which he described as “way worse” than another video of the President tripping on the stairs of Air Force One “again.”
“He is addressing the victims of the Maui fire, and he is comparing a small kitchen fire he and his wife had in their home to this devastating [disaster],” he revealed as Van Ness audibly cringed.
Jonathan Van Ness has responded to the heated debate between him and Dax Shepard on #ArmchairExpert. More on the controversial moment:https://t.co/oX86PN9rsB pic.twitter.com/XJb2EVK5nq
— Us Weekly (@usweekly) September 27, 2023
Van Ness proposed an outrageous theory that the video could have been “taken out of context” by the “fake news media.”
“What is there was a video from right before that video where he’s like, ‘Look, I’m about to get f–king crazy right now with this comparison,” the reality television hairstylist suggested.
“The only context that could have possibly explained this would be seconds before he walked out there, they were like, ‘Have this 13 ounces of mushroom tea and go address this crowd,” Shepard shot back.
Van Ness said he hoped that the American public could “understand the nuance” of Biden’s irrelevant comparison, but the “CHIPS” star shut him down resolutely.
“Here’s what I refuse to do — for any political stance I have — I’m not going to be dishonest,” the Hit and Run actor continued. “This is insane that this is our best option. It’s insane. You can’t force me to be untruthful because I want legalized abortion.”
Shepard said those are the “kind of deals” people make with bad parents. “I’m going to lie because I love you, and join this lie to show my loyalty to you,” which he noted was “dysfunctional” in both families and politics.
“This is not the best option for us, and it’s so embarrassing. I’m not willing to lie about that,” he stated.
Co-host Monica Padman noted that Biden was the “best option between the two options” of himself and former president Donald Trump.
“It’s the lesser of two bad options, you could argue,” the “Buddy Games” star conceded. “But f–k that, on our side of the street we gotta push forward the [best] person [to lead].”
Van Ness accused Shepard of having “easier” as a Democrat living in “liberal” California, than he did as a liberal living in Texas.
“It’s a lot easier for you to say that in a state where your healthcare isn’t getting [come] for, where your kids can f–king be themselves, where the department of Child and Family Services isn’t investigating you if you have a f–king non-binary kid,” the reality star listed.
Van Ness also noted that Texas’ six-week abortion legislation was detrimental to women who were victims of abuse or incest. “I will suck Joe Biden’s d–k to prevent an abortion ban,” the stylist crudely stated.
Shepard said that he could still vote for Biden, but didn’t have to agree that he was the best choice for President.
“I will still vote Democratic, but I don’t have to lie and say I think that this is anywhere close to the best person we have as an option to run the country,” he concluded about the Commander-in-Chief. “I’ll still not vote for Trump.”
Shepard also defended conservatives, when Van Ness insinuated they were uneducated, therefore not Democrats.
“I don’t love how your framing it right now which is ‘if the right was educated, they would pick our side,'” he pointed out. “I reject that.”
“They are conservative, they don’t like how quickly the country’s changing, I understand that,” Shepard concluded.
“I can sympathize with that, they have different fears than we do. Not because they’re dumb or uneducated, they have a difference of opinion.”
Later on, Van Ness, who identifies as non-binary, cried while discussing transgender issues with Shepard.
Shepard expressed his discomfort with teenagers transitioning and questioned how one can be sure that they won’t change their mind. Van Ness responded by saying, “I feel like I’m talking to my dad.”
The Netflix star then shifted the conversation to talk about sports, stating that arguments against biological men competing against women in sports need to recognize that sports are inherently dangerous and unfair.
Van Ness expressed concerns about anti-grooming legislation in conservative states and feeling “hurt” to see people they respect defending conservative positions.
“The thing that I’m bummed about right now is that if you wanted to lay out your points — where you’d say, this would make you supportive of the movement — and you laid out ten, if I’m along for nine of them and not the tenth, you file me in this enemy category,” Shepard replied.
Van Ness clarified that they were not labeling Shepard as a transphobe and shared the struggle of being a child who was bullied the way they expressed gender, then burst into tears.
“I could just, like, cry because I’m, like, so tired of having to, like, fight for little kids, because they just want to be included,” the reality star concluded.