GEOFF BENNETT: Ari Emanuel is a Hollywood institution in his own right working behind the scenes to strike deals for his legion of clients, actors, musicians, writers, and athletes.

In this week's episode of our "Settle In" podcast, Amna Nawaz spoke with him about his new memoir called "Roll the Calls."

He talks in this excerpt about how he built his career by spotting the next big thing before anyone else did.

AMNA NAWAZ: Ari, it's fair to say you -- you're able to spot trends, to spot things happening before they kind of become what they eventually are.

Now, you were very early to see the potential in the World Wrestling Federation, which later became WWE, same with the UFC, the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

What did you see in that said to you this is something we want to get involved in, and also the idea that you own the product, right, that it's not something typically agents do?

ARI EMANUEL, Author, "Roll the Calls: A Memoir": Right.

Right.

Well, first of all, when I was a young kid, my grandfather and I on Saturday mornings or Sunday mornings used to watch WWF.

AMNA NAWAZ: You did?

ARI EMANUEL: Right, yes, with the -- and that's when it was in the different regions.

The genius about Vince back then was, he saw cable was coming and decided to do the roll-up and got Hulk Hogan and did that.

And he saw a lot of trends.

AMNA NAWAZ: Yes.

You're talking about Vince McMahon, we should mention.

ARI EMANUEL: Yes, Vince McMahon.

And when we signed them, he had seen kind of where the ratings were going.

And we signed them because we were television people and realized the impact that the television business and the cable business was going to need.

Same thing happened with the UFC.

Saw the ratings that had happened on Spike, thought they were undervalued, approached Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta, screwed up the first meeting and then finally signed them.

(LAUGHTER) ARI EMANUEL: Sports is the ultimate reality show with no understanding of the ending, and, yes, just understanding reading and talking to partners and realizing, OK, here's what we can do.

And I -- again, as I said earlier, everybody thought we were crazy at $4.2 billion, thought we were crazy.

And now... AMNA NAWAZ: I mean, to hear you say sports is the ultimate reality show sort of segues perfectly into this other idea I want to ask you about, which is that Dana White, obviously, the head of UFC, is a vocal supporter of this president, right?

ARI EMANUEL: Yes.

AMNA NAWAZ: And we have seen this president really embrace the UFC, host a big UFC match on the White House lawn.

I should point out too that you represented Donald Trump when he was at NBC hosting "The Apprentice."

ARI EMANUEL: Yes.

AMNA NAWAZ: You have also made clear you support the Democratic Party, right?

Your brother, of course, is a senior part -- a leader in the... (CROSSTALK) ARI EMANUEL: I have been a Democrat my whole life.

AMNA NAWAZ: When the UFC and this president and politics become sort of more deeply intertwined, is that a tougher line for you to walk?

ARI EMANUEL: No.

So here's what I would say.

AMNA NAWAZ: Yes.

ARI EMANUEL: I think the president was a - - supported Democrats back in the day.

And he's the president of the United States now.

I -- my mom brought us up and my dad.

Like, you talk to everybody, you make friends with -- I mean, you make peace with enemies, not with friends.

I'm not of the ilk that you don't talk to the other side.

You're not in this echo chamber.

I don't want to be part of a cult that only talks to people that they agree with.

I want to be part of a society.

And in a society, you have to talk to the other side.

I learn stuff and take from them.

I think I sway them if I'm good at my argument.

And that's the society I want to live in.

There's certain times it's a no-no, I'm not talking to the other side just because of certain things.

But very rarely is it just completely black and white.

And I think young people -- I don't want to be -- generalize.

Young people kind of, I don't want somebody that I don't agree with on campus expressing their views.

That's insane.

That's not a society.

That's a cult.

And I was never brought up that way.

And I'm OK having a conversation with somebody I vehemently disagree with to say, here's my opinion, here's my thoughts, what are your thoughts, and let's have that back-and-forth.

That's a society, and that's what we should be striving for.

AMNA NAWAZ: You mentioned that you called President Trump after he won the election.

Have you spoken to him since?

ARI EMANUEL: I spoke to him two weeks ago about the tax credit in the entertainment business and how important it is for the -- keeping one of our great exports in the world and keeping it onshore, and sent him a memo about it and my thoughts, and talked to him again or after that about it.

And I think he's pushing it forward.

And the great thing is, he praised Schiff about his stance on the tax credit.

So they have now come -- Senator Schiff.

They have now come together on that.

On that, this -- and they're talking.

AMNA NAWAZ: Yes.

ARI EMANUEL: And they're - - it's a beautiful thing.

AMNA NAWAZ: But so you can call the president directly and he will answer?

You do speak?

ARI EMANUEL: Not always, but I can call the president.

I can get him on the phone, yes.

AMNA NAWAZ: Yes.

ARI EMANUEL: Yes.

AMNA NAWAZ: That's an incredible amount of power to have, right?

ARI EMANUEL: I don't know.

It's just -- again, this whole thing about representation and roll the calls, it's a crazy thing how it all kind of... AMNA NAWAZ: It's just one of the calls that you're rolling through the day, is to the president of the United States.

Do you... ARI EMANUEL: Yes.

Yes.

Yes, not always, but when I want to -- when I want to think that's -- I think the tax credit's important, yes.

AMNA NAWAZ: Yes.

GEOFF BENNETT: And you can watch that full conversation and all episodes of "Settle In" on our YouTube page or wherever you get your podcasts.