Coffee With Scott Adams — Knowledge Archive May 24, 2026
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the autocrats of the world that democracy still works. So that's sort of a big theme of his presidency, is showing that democracies are better than, say, Chinese communist leadership or Russian or any autocracy. But is it true? Do you think democracies are more effective in helping the country than autocracies? Because I'm not sure that's true. I prefer freedom, right? If I have a choice, I'm goin…

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autocracy, does it? And even the autocrats have capitalism. They have some form of capitalism, right? So it's an interesting theme to prove that democracy still works because I don't know that it does. I don't know that we really can compete with a qualified autocrat. We could certainly compete with bad autocrats, like just dictators that are destroying their own country. But China's got a really capable leader. I feel like if you're lucky enough to have a really qualified, capable autocrat, aren't you going to do better? I mean, certainly it ends up with genocide and part of the country nobody wants that. But just trying to make the economy hum and compete with other countries and build your military, I'm not so sure democracy is the best way to go. I'm not. But it would be an interesting matchup. And I think I'm glad that Biden wants to push that matchup, but I don't know if it's true.

The dumbest thing Biden said was that the so-called insurrection on January 6 was an existential crisis, a test of whether our democracy could survive. Was it? Was those people who entered the Capitol, was that an existential crisis for the country? Did democracy almost end that day?

Let me put it in context. Every night there's a cleaning crew that goes into the Capitol building carrying these large blunt objects. Sometimes they have mops at the end, sometimes brooms, but blunt objects. And they go in and they occupy the Capitol and then they clean it and then they leave. Now, I'm not going to say that the cleaning crew is identical to the protesters who took over the Capitol building. I'm just saying they're almost identical. Neither of them seemed to be interested in using deadly weapons. Neither of them had the intention of staying forever. They went there for a specific purpose. They did their specific purpose and then they left. It's a lot like the cleaning crew.

So if you're going to say that the insurrection was an existential crisis — and I think he said it was the worst thing since the Civil War — there are a few things you're leaving out between the Civil War and now. Was the occupation of the Capitol building for a few hours worse than Pearl Harbor? Was it worse than 9/11? Was it worse than Timothy McVeigh blowing up a federal building? Was it worse than Russiagate or the shooting of Steve Scalise? I'm pretty sure it wasn't worse than any of those things. Yeah, and not only was it not worse than any of those things, it was very similar in type to the cleaning crew. Some people who came in for a reason, didn't shoot any weapons, and left when they were done. That's my best comparison, honestly.

If you think this was an insurrection, there was an actual risk to democracy, you're either brainwashed or stupid or you're a politician, you're just lying. So let me say that clearly. If you think the January 6th thing was an actual risk, like an actual risk to the country, you're either stupid or brainwashed. There's no other possibility. That's it.

And let me remind you that if conservatives really planned an insurrection, it would be louder. That's all I'm going to say because I'm on YouTube so I don't want to use an

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y words that'll get me kicked off. But wouldn't you agree an actual insurrection that involved the most well-armed citizens on the planet, you don't think it would be a little bit louder, if you know what I mean? There'd be a little bit more noise. So look for that. If you're wondering if the conservatives have decided to stage a revolution, it'll be a lot louder. A lot louder. All right. I had a…

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