Real Time with Bill Maher - Ep. #474: Steve Bannon, Neil deGrasse Tyson

Episode Date: September 29, 2018

Bill’s guests are Steve Bannon, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Max Brooks, Evelyn Farkas, April Ryan. (Originally aired 09/28/18) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's something else here now. Something new. From exclusively on Paramount Plus. It's the series Stephen King calls Scary as Hell. Everything here is impossible, but it's also real. Sci-fi vision calls it the best show streaming right now. We're running out of time and we still don't know the rules. Don't miss what the movie blog calls something you need to watch.

Saving those children is how we all go home. From binge all episodes exclusively on Paramount Plus. Welcome to an HBO podcast from the HBO late-night series, Real Time with Bill Maugh. Happy tonight because thank you very... I will be taking marriage offers after the show, as all right. Not here during the show. But three Republicans found a little backbone this week. And there is going to be...

We are going to have an investigation of Brett Kavanaugh, who's up at the Supreme Court, as you know. And the investigation by the FBI has got to... going to last one week. So put that on your fucking calendar, Brent County. Your little calendar that you say that you write everything down on.

And, you know, this is the two ladies in the Senate, the Republicans, and Jeff Flake of Arizona. I can't believe. Jeff Flake. And part of, they say, maybe, did you see this? Maybe he was turned around because he was confronted when he was

getting on the elevator. Show a little bit of that video by somebody who had the guts. That's what you're telling me right now. Look at me when I'm talking to you. You're telling me that my assault doesn't matter. I haven't seen a guy take it in the elevator like that since Beyonce's sister kicked Jay Z in the mask.

Oh, and then they tried cornering Lindsey Graham. But he got away because he's familiar with the back door. But come on, Republicans have a lot of trouble with women. That's a sausage party in the Republican Party. So you know what they did? They hired a female prosecutor to ask the questions to Professor Ford. It's like when a mobster thinks there's a bomb under his car, he makes his wife start it. You go out there and do it.

But, you know, her testimony, when someone's being real, it shows. It reads, even conservatives had to admit it was compelling and credible. It was so compelling and so credible during it, Brett Kavanaugh tried to turn up the music. That's crazy. But this was a very different, Brett Kavanaugh. He came out swinging like his penis at a college party. Well, that's well. There's a sex.

This stuff happened so fast in this last week. We remember at the beginning that we had a second accuser. Also rather credible who said this was at Yale. He was at a party there. And said she was drunk. And he dropped his pants in front of her and exposed himself. I mean, imagine open your eyes and seeing that dick. And then he pulls out his penis.

This was a totally different, Brett Kavanaugh, than the one who we saw testifying like a week before. Totally different. Angry, volatile, bitter, belligerent. Because nothing says, I'm not capable of violent assault like flying into an unhinged rage. That's always a good strategy. And it's...

It's good to know that Supreme Court will now be eight bookish law nerds and the Hulk. But, no, really. If that was a divorce hearing, she would have gotten the kids. That's how I looked at it. And, you know, why did Kavanaugh suddenly act that way? Because Trump told him to. Because Trump didn't like that he was being meek and, you know, good bread.

He likes bad bread. He wants someone in his image. So he gave him whiny little bitch lessons. And that's what we saw. And, you know, we have the evidence, his yearbook and everything. This choir boy act happened. You know, I spent my high school years

concentrating on my friendships in church. Not about church. You know what, defense doesn't work so great anymore. I can't be a sex criminal. I'm a Catholic. You know. It's like saying I couldn't have met Russians. I was at Trump Tower.

But yeah, he's going on about it. He has many friendships with women. He's helped many women and supported them and helped them with their careers. You know, and he also says he's a big supporter of Me Too. In fact, when someone is ordering drinks, he always says, give me too. Because, I mean, I don't know if we could say

he's definitely a rapist, I think that's too far, but he is a fucking liar and a drunk. definitely a drunk not maybe not now but even in this testimony he mentioned beer a lot I mean a lot I like beer do you like beer

I just finish a beer do you have any beer I thought he was going to write out on a Clydesdale I half of his yearbook entries are about drinking getting shit face He's in Keg Club and Ralph Club and if he gets on the court

skip the robe, give him a toga. This guy is a courtier. But he might not. He might not get on. That's at least the glimmer of hope we have for one week. He might not. For one week, you can look your kids in the eye and say America is not a country that puts

a predator on the Supreme Court. In the White House, sure, but not the Supreme Court. All right, we've got a great show. Max Brooks, Southernwood, Marcus. And April Wyatt are here and a little later when he's speaking with our good friend Neil deGrasse Tyson is back straight.

But first up, look, I know you're not on the fan of this guy, but be nice. He is one of the most influential person around today. He is the former White House chief strategist for President Trump. Steve Bannon is over here. Steve Bannon.

Hey, that's not so bad. Thank you, Steve. All right, Steve. Well, it took a lot of prepping to get the audience to be that nice, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I'm going to say to you, what I always say to conservatives when they come here. First of all, thank you.

I appreciate it. And it says volumes why the Republicans are in power, and we have none. Hillary Clinton never came here. Maybe she'd be president if she was a little more confident. Big time. Yeah. And I know that, you know, you had a little event there at the New Yorker. They had a festival.

In fact, I want to read Malcolm Gladwell's quote, because they were going to interview you. Yep. And then you were disinvited. I've been disinvited many times, by the way. It's a good club. And Malcolm Gladwell said, call me old-fashioned, but I would have thought that the point of a festival of ideas

was to expose the audience to ideas. If you only invite your friends over, it's called a dinner party. What are your thoughts on that? Well, they chased me for, you know, David Remnick chased me for a year to be on his podcast. And he came to me and said, hey, we'd be honored if you were in this festival of ideas. I said, fine, I don't want compensation. But I like going into hostile audiences. with tough interviewers.

I mean, you know, I'd do very little conservative media now. I'd do CNN, BBC, you know, the economists. I'd go to the toughest places, tough as interviewers, and say, hey, no holds barred, hostile audiences, let's get it on. And again, that's why the Republicans are in power. So let me ask you about... I think it does sharpen the blade. It does.

Let me pick your brain about the Democrats, because you're a strategist, and you got your boy elected, but no one said that could happen. Donald Trump got himself elected. I just showed up and kind of realigned. I don't want to get on this, but first you were crazy about Sarah Palin, and then you were crazy about Donald Trump.

I think you look for morons who are empty vessels that you could put more ideas. Steve, every single person in the administration has called him an idiot. That's what you look for. I get it. No, no. You're not an idiot. By the way, by the way, it's all good. into, as you get into his economic war with China,

as you see what he's doing to realign the world's economy. Look, did he go to Harvard Kennedy School? Does he speak in the vernacular of the elites of this world? No, he speaks in a very plain spoken vernacular, but he's incredibly smart. He is. It's not his syntax that I'm worried about. Did you see his press conference this week?

He says crazy shit that no one thinks is true. You don't think it's true. No, but here's the power of the press conference. No other gutless Republican would go into that lion's den for an hour and 20 minutes and take all the incoming. He stood up for Kavanaugh more than any of these guys did, and I think it's one of the things that empowered Kavanaugh to go into on Thursday and to take on the Democrats.

If Trump had not done that, you know, by the way, he did have some answers that were not the standard answers, but look, he's got his... It's not about standard. It's about reality. He has his own house style. He's divorced from reality. Absolutely not true. He's actually more grounded.

That speech is the UN. No, the speech... He said China loves me because I have a big, big brain. Steve... A very big brain. Whatever it is. Now, let me ask you this. If any other president, just one day got up and talked like that,

the markets would crash and you'd have a heart attack. It's just that we're a frog in the pot, and we see it every day. No, Bill, Bill, he's created tin tree. Remember, when he's got elected what nobody thought he was, the market was going to crash. Okay, he's created ten tree. The market was going to crash. Remember, when he won, everybody said, the market's going to crash.

I did. You're right. That's the one I got wrong, yeah. It will, though. My point is he's got... It will. My point is he's got a very fundamental plan of how he's turning around this economy. He's actually, I think you guys missed the point when you separate the signal from the noise.

Watch the signal. There's a flash bang grenade every day as far as the noise goes, right? But just watch the signal. He's very consistent. That's speech at the U.N. the other day. Well, you know what? The signal that was sent with the tax cut, didn't reach your base.

They either, reality won one, one. No, Bill. Reality won once. Because, wait a second, they know that that tax cut, 83% of it, went to the top 1%. They know that, and they don't like it. And what happened? Hang on. I was the guy in the Oval Office that was pushing, you know,

a 44% tax rate for those over $5 million, and to take the $3 trillion that were repatriated. You're lost. And make sure, hold it, make sure there were different tax structures. so we'd be vested in plant equipment in inner cities. Now, the overall tax plan, I think, works for workers. And here's why you've got to look at it in context of our economic war of China. You can't separate it, the tariffs, and what he's doing on the 301s,

what he's doing on trying to stop intellectual property theft and appropriation from the taxes. The taxes, principally, were to make our companies competitive with Germany and China. The personal tax rates, which I didn't totally agree with, right, because there's more of the trickle down, is something that had to do. be used to get this thing passed. But the central part of it was the corporate tax cuts. But isn't that what a con man does? He said, I'm going to look out for you, the common man, the forgotten American. And then he gets in there and tries to steal their health care to pay for the tax gut for the rich people. How is that, wait, how is that being honest to the pledge of doing it for

the little guy? Because the central part of this bill was bringing manufacturing jobs back from East Asia. And that's what he's doing. The tax cuts for corporations make him competitive with China and Germany. The terrorists are part of an economic war that China has foisted upon us for the last 25 years. And this is all of whole cloth. And that's why it's working. He's reorienting Bill, the world's supply chain right now, with China. I've gone as far as I can to get you on this.

Next question. I want to pick your brain on the Democrats. Because you, of all people, I want the answer to this. Who scares you? Who do you think could do good? How do you handicap the people? What do you think about Elizabeth Warren? What do you think about Bernie Sanders?

What do you think about Kamala Harris? Do you think about Gavin Newsom? What do you think? I know. You like them all. Eric Holder. What do you think about all these people? And then I say Michael Avanotti, I saw that tweet he wrote the other day.

I said, he could be the Trump of 2020. The guy who's the outsider who like blows through the regular politician because he looks different and he's got balls. If Bernie Sanders had an ounce of obvious. He would have been the Democratic nominee and we would have had a much tougher time being Bernie doesn't have fearless? Not not like Avanotti. Avanotti and I've not done any due diligence on this guy.

Right. But I'm telling you've got a fearlessness and is a fighter. He's a fighter. Right. I think he'll go through a lot of this field if he decides to stick with it like a cyst through grass. Now I don't happen to think a professional politician because I think we're in a new age. I don't think a professional politician is going to be there at the end of the day. I've always said it's going to be someone like Oprah or an Avanetti or somebody that's more media savvy.

is going to be there. But I think one thing people... You think that's good? I think it's just a reality of today. I think you need to know how to handle mass communication. It's a star first. If I can say one thing, I do think this campaign after November 6, which is really Trump's first reelect. If we lose the House, he's going to get impeached.

This is a referendum on him. If we get past that, if we get past that, I think in 2020, you're going to have Trump on the right, a politician, maybe Camilla Harris or somebody on the left, and I think you'll have a bloom. or Romney or somebody in the center. I think it'll be a three-way race.

I hope so, because if it's a three-way, they will take away enough votes to make sure Donald Trump never wins again. But now that we're talking about... By the way, his first term is going to be so successful. Look, it's 4% growth. Oh, we're so tired of winning, Steve. The economy's on...

I'll come back here. I'll come back here during 2020. We'll talk about it. Okay. But speaking of elections, I would love to know what advice you would give to Donald Trump. Donald Trump if he didn't leave even after he lost. Because I saw Hillary Clinton.

You're obsessed with this. I am obsessed with this. Wait a second. Wait a second. I know he's having a time of his life. Because he's an insane narcissist. Who talks all the time about how we should have a president for life? Let me read what Hillary said, because you're right. People have been saying, I'm an alarmist and I'm crazy because I keep saying he's not going to leave even if he loses.

Now, Crooked Hillary is saying. She said this. She said, you remember the moment in the third debate when Trump refused to pledge that he would accept the result of the vote? That's where it started. She said, it took my breath away. Even the moderator from Fox News couldn't believe it. I felt the foundations of our democracy tremble. Imagine if Trump does the same thing in 2020.

What happens then? This is the reason she's not president. I mean, this is the kind of gobbledy gooks. So you're saying he will go if he loses? Oh, I don't think it's a question. Absolutely. It's not even, I mean, that's absurd. But you didn't think you'd get fired.

Well, I remember, remember. I'm just saying. I only gave it one year. I only gave it one year. I only gave it one year. Read the book. I quit. I will read the book.

But, I mean, he was mean to you. He fired you. He said mean things. He doesn't. By the way. I'd been working on this project. I've worked on the populist movement for nine years. I was on your show five years ago,

making a film about Sarah Palin. We were trying to drive. this populist movement. You know, Donald Trump came along at a time that this populist movement was starting to get going, and he really took it 10 years into the future. I mean, he was a guy that got it right away that had this populist tendencies, understood economic nationalism,

and cut through the Bush apparatus, cut through the entire Republican field, and then took on the Clintons. And if Bernie had had the type of fight and fearlessness that Trump had, he would have won the Democratic primary, and then we would have left-wing populism and right-wing populism fight it out in 2016. But you're

a guy who is, again, the thing I been saying that people were criticizing me for using the word treason, and now I hear it more. But you said the same thing. You said the Trump Tower meeting was treason. I said for Paul Manafort. I corrected myself, whatever the book had. No, no, no, no. I look, and people, people, people, other people in the Republican Party disagree with me. I don't think, I don't think that meeting was appropriate. I don't think you reach out to foreign sources. I don't think you reach out to foreign sources. Appropriate is quite a bit less than treason. All you need it, by the way, this is the, this is appropriate. All you need it was

Clinton Cash. We had done all the research. the book and done the film. But to show that Clinton's corruption, all you need to do is going to Clinton cash, the foundation. But when you see these people with those t-shirts, I'd say, I'd rather be with Russia than a Democrat, what do you think about that?

Here's what I think. That can't be a positive development for our country, when people would rather side with another country than America. And it can't be a positive development when our own president attacks our own FBI, can it? Look, on the first thing, is that the country's divided. I mean, the country's been divided before. You're not going to hug this one out.

Divided? I never remember Lincoln going after the FBI. I know. There was no FBI. Lincoln went after some guys to win. No, I think what the president is said and what these people are saying is that, you know, we're very divided now. And it's not appropriate to say I'd rather be with Russia, the Democrats. But I think it shows you the vitro. This film I just made Trump in war, I start with five.

minutes with Don Lemon kind of lecturing Trump supporters why Trump's not the racist why they're the racist okay and we intercut we intercut by the way because it's up in people's girls we intercut it with Antifa kicking the shit at a guys in red ball caps oh Steve I you know you can put that idea in people's heads but between me and you you you don't believe it I know you don't you I don't think you really think they're the racist and not your people I don't I don't think some of populism isn't some of that really isn't that racism masquerading Look at look in Italy right now you got the five-star movement

Yeah, the league the five-star movement is is is is so green they don't want a bullet train Okay, they're the populist movement and they're even saying hey we got to stop the migrant issue because they're the ones want to give a guaranteed income I don't I don't populism Populism is not based on racism right it's based on the little guy The little guy having a voice so you are always saying should have a voice yes you're actually a populist. Okay, come back and let's talk just about that issue, because I want to get into that with you. And I know for both sort of students of history, and, you know, you're a good to come here, but history, not going to be kind, Steve.

Thank you. We'll see, though, huh? All right, I'll see you later. Steve Bannon. All right, let's meet our panel. Okay. We wanted to jump in. Yeah, I told me. He's a non-resident fellow at the Modern More Institute at West Point and co-editor of strategy strikes back. Max Brooks is back with us. Max Brooks. All right, she's a national security contributor for MSF, no, NBC,

and a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, Evelyn Farcus. Hey, Evan. And our returning champion, she's American Urban Radio Network's White House Cars, Rieden, the author of Underfire Reporting from the Front Lines of the Trump White House, April Ryan.

All right, don't forget to send us your questions for tonight's overtime, so we're going to answer them after the show on YouTube. I'm not going to pretend to have a lot of issues tonight. It's going to pretty much just be about what we saw this week. So, Kavanaugh

and, you know, news today. I mean, I get up late and it was just breaking that Jeff Flake, wow, I mean, the Sunbelt Hamlet there has threw his lot in with maybe no. And are we just being hopeful

for no reason like we often have, or could this really stop Brett Kavanaugh? From all the reporting, and the sourcing that I'm getting, this is a moment in history where Brett Kavanaugh could actually, may lose this nomination, may lose the conference. Because you think.

No, it's not think. It's how things are lining up. No. But can the FBI in one week? No. No. No, no. If the FBI, this is a limited scope investigation.

But when they uncover something, it may take a little while longer. They want to have. But he's a dirty dog. I mean, he is a classic gecko hide. He really is. He drunken, bad brett. Once they lift up that rock, I know it's an old rock. But that's why he's so shitting his pants about that.

And he doesn't pass out. He doesn't pass out. He falls asleep. So, no, that's what they said, you know, as he said yesterday. With the beer, when he likes beer a lot. But let me, let me finish this. Let me finish this point. Okay. There are a lot, the White House today is having a hard time with this.

Because they're trying to find out, one, when did he know this happened? When did he know of this? And what did he know? Two, he was more involved in the Ken Star stuff than he let on and that he was more involved with Vince Foster. So, and all of that, there's a lot under this. And then this is about humanity.

This isn't about politics. What we're hearing, these women rising up, many women cried and sobbed with her. They believed, even the president of the United States, who doesn't even want to acknowledge his accuses, said, she was credible. That's saying something. has an out. Well, there's a question. How can you say

they're both credible? Don't you have to believe... No, he liked his fight. She was pregnant. But I hear this all the time yesterday. Like, oh, I believe, she's very credible. I believe him too. You can't... One's lying. No, but Senator Clobetar was getting at it when she was saying, you drink so much. I mean, she was trying to get him to admit that he drinks so much that maybe he

forgets. But what he ended up doing was lying about a whole bunch of things, including whether he blacks out. Which is ironic because as the member, one of the key members of the star team, you know, investigative team, investigating Bill Clinton. What did they catch Bill Clinton on? The blue dress.

Right? Right. Well, and lying. Lying. And so the irony is that... Exactly. It wasn't about the blow job, it was about lying. But it started from Whitewater. And that's the thing. It starts from one thing, white, and this could be what happens with this limited FBI investigation. It starts from Whitewater, a land deal gone wrong, and goes down to a blue dress, stains on a blue dress.

Now, come on. No, seriously. And then look at Russia. We're dealing with... And we're following the trail of money everywhere. So we don't know. You cannot have a vote next Friday after this FBI is uncovering if the FBI investigation is uncovering

what it's going to uncover. You can't do that. I think the FBI can show, for example, that he lied about the terminology. I mean, I think those of us who grew up in the 80s, I actually didn't know these terms. Just such an obvious bad liar. I mean, Ralph. Ralph means puke. That's what it was in me.

I'm lost. What it is now. It is. And also, that is the argument on their side for speed, because if you truly have nothing to hide, you want sunlight, and you don't care about delay, because you say, fine, crawl under every rock, you won't find a thing.

But if you've got something to hide, you want this thing done as quickly as possible. Right. And actually, in a week, the FBI can find out a lot, I think, because they have enough little pieces to put together now. But it won't be finished in a week. They're going to go under this rock. They, actually, some senators

want to bring more people in, not just uh, uh, Jordan, uh, Mark, uh, Mark, uh, Judge. Judge. Yeah, Mark Judge. And they want to bring in TJ and all these other people. They've even found, PJ, TJ, all the names. I'm talking. Doctor this, Judge that, whatever. So look, here's the bottom line. They found the school. There's so many different pieces to the puzzle in this limited scope that they have to go beyond the week. So this performance he put on yesterday, I always say, you know, acting is not that hard.

I've always said that about Hollywood. You could say that. And then reality television came along and showed, it's true. It's not to ever anyone can do it. He was rehearsed. And he was like the president. He went off script when he was asked about the FBI. He had all this righteous rage and indignation. And then he was asked by Durbin, okay, well, if you really want to clear your name, right over there, ask for the FBI.

And he went from this to... Yeah. Oh, that was... But you know what? He's like... He was like Sarah Huckabee yesterday. He was like Sarah Huckabee playing to the audience of one. He was rehearsed.

He talked about the press. He talked about the Clinton. It was too hard. He was a bomb dastic. Yes. I want the bad bread. Right. I do not want nice guy.

I want the fighter. And this is a sad thing. But that's not a judge. Sorry. No, go ahead. That's not how a judge behaves. No. I know.

I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. Please, me. No.

Especially someone who's going to sit on the Supreme Court. I believe that was acting. And I also don't even believe that his 10-year-old daughter said, let's pray for that woman. I'm not going to go there. I'm not going to go. Really? But he cried.

That's what actors do. They make shit up. He cried so hard when he was talking about they cried for, I mean, prayed for her. You want me to cry now and show you fake cry. Okay, but you're an actor or comedian. Everybody is. That's my point. Acting is not that hard, and we all do it every day.

I actually feel really bad for his wife watching her behind him, and I think he's very selfish in all of this. He wanted to go clear his name. He made the whole situation worse. Senator Grassley, who's the chairman, he should never have put his family, the Republican Party, and the country through all of this. But this is, you know what bad is this trumpifying of people?

I mean, the fact that Trump can either find people like him or make him... How is... Lindsay Graham. Lindsay Graham needs the stabilizing influence of his dead boyfriend because he is... I know who show it is.

They know who said it, baby. They know who said it. It's always going to meet who says it. You always like, if it's just near you, you're going to get blamed for it. You're like, let me just say it. Way over here. I'll go right over here.

I'll do this show. It's like, you won't get my politically incorrect cooties on you, but... Well, I'm friendly with Lindsey Graham, so I didn't laugh. Okay. All right. But that was a performance also. Obviously, acting.

To what end? Is he looking for a cabinet position? Is that what that is? Well, but he's also, remember, Lindsey Graham has always been the beta male. John McCain was the alpha. He was the sidekick. And now he's lost his protector.

He's lost his big brother. And he needs protection. That's how he looks at things. So he's always looking for Trump to protect him now. because that's how he's always been. But the way he pushed himself out there yesterday, no matter the acting, no matter, the crying, no matter what,

it was a sense of entitlement. This is mine. Right. This is mine. Oh, I mean, the whole thing is such a pageant. When people ask, what is white privilege mean? This is a pageant of it. I mean, let's be honest.

The one thing I think they go too far is when people say Brett Kavanaugh, rapist. We don't know what was in a 17-year-old's mind. I think he definitely attacked her in that room. But these boys, they were drunk. It could have been, let's just scare her, let's roll on top of her. We don't know. To go that far is too far, to me. I don't know.

But he's a bad dude. But also this insane notion of the last 10 days have been hell. He's acting like Blanche Chubour. Like, my honor has been besmirched. Oh! Right. My good name. Right.

What? He didn't say that, my name. He didn't say that. He's about to see judgment over us for the rest of his life. That's the only reason he's there. And can I make another point, though, this is not, this is about his lying, this is about his behavior in the past, but there's also the bigger issues, some other big issues, which are being kind of overlooked right now from the first hearing. Because this is a man who really believes in executive overreaching.

executive overreach. And I know this first hand, I worked in the Senate for Senator Carl Levin, who was the chairman or ranking member off and on in the 2000s of the Senate Armed Services Committee. And in 2006, just as one example, we passed the defense authorization bill. So it's the bill that gives all the money to Department of Defense and tells them what they can do and what they can't do. In that bill, they said, no torture. You can't torture. So what did President Bush do? He signed it and said, except that if there's a terrorist, maybe I can. Signing statement. That's illegal. I mean, that's not. constitutional. And the guy behind those, that statement, those statements, there were many of them, was Brett Kavanaugh.

Well, we were looking through Brett Kavanaugh's yearbook because I think the evidence is in the yearbook. I show the picture that I think we've all seen. This is the yearbook that he wrote himself. One sign it's a bad thing going on is when your yearbook is redacted. Oh. But, I mean, look at some of it. It's all about getting shit face. These are his words. A hundred kegs or bust. Beach Week Ralph Club. Have you boofed yet? Or being creepy to women. Renata alumnus.

Another thing he lied about. Total spins. More getting shit-faced. Who won that game anyway? We were too shit-faced to know who won the game. So we turned the page. You know, sometimes the press is lazy. They don't see what's on the next...

There's some other... Look at the clubs he was in. Future Mean Drunks of America. That's... Perjury club. That's a... Young pricks. Bruise for Jesus.

That's a... Don't want Jesus in it. Oh, then you don't want to stay for the end of the show. Really. Bill Cosby Fan Club. I mean, right there. His favorite quote, what happens in the nativity scene

stays in the nativity scene. Look at this picture in the earbook. There's a switch, a wiener in Kavanaugh's face. I mean, it's... And he won the awesie. for the winning for the winning entry in the Haiku competition. Glug, glug, jug, jug, puke my guts right on my nuts. Oh shit, time for church.

Okay. Leo Smash Hill Geographic Star Talk. His new best-selling book is accessory to war, an unsmoken alliance between astrophysics and the military. Neil deGrasse Tyson is over here. It's such a rock star. What is you... What do you...

Wow. Is that everywhere or is that just here at Arceman? These are my part. people. I see. You see. Look, people are realizing that, in fact, the universe touches us all. And I'm a conduit for them to gain access to that cosmos.

Touch us off. Jesus. Save it for Tinder. Jesus, great. Give me your pickup lines. Conduant for the universe. Jesus. Right.

All right. So let's get serious because we need to be serious because we need to be a lot. because we need a pallet clenter here. I'm totally ready to clear some pallets. Okay. Yeah. Your book surprised me because you talk about the alliance between the military and science, and usually when liberals do that, it's anti-military, but you're not.

Yeah, I mean, I started anti-military. I mean, I grew up in New York City, which is a liberal town, and generally anti-war. And my earliest exposure to society was in the 60s. I wasn't a participant, but I observed it. We're about the same age. Vietnam War was a bad thing. It had turned bad. And all war was bad. And so the idea that there could ever be a just war was not even a thought. Meanwhile, I had this cognitive dissonance. You'd walk around towns. It doesn't matter which town. And there were monuments to war heroes. And they're astride a horse. They're burnishing their weapons. And I said, why do these exist? And it would take years for me to recognize that Vietnam War was not like,

other wars. And in the Second World War, people knew that there were like bad forces operating in Europe and we had to rise up against them. And so back then you wouldn't say, oh, war is bad. You say, we need this war. Otherwise, we lose civilization as we know it. And we need every weapon to fight it. Yes. I mean, my parents were in, you know, the European theater. And when the bomb came along, they didn't go, oh, I don't know if we should use the bomb. They said, I don't want to go to Japan, drop whatever you have. Right, right. And so, so I had to come out of this. bubble, it's a bubble, to recognize that there are occasions where you need and want to be defended. You need and want security. And then I recognize that my field, the field of astrophysics,

has been a handmaiden to the actions of the military all around the world for centuries and millennia. Going back to just navigation. No, we don't make the bombs or the weapons, but we care about things that the military also cares about. They have a whole division, that DARPA division? DARPA, yeah? Defense, Advanced Research Project Administration? Is that what it's for? Yeah, no, that's what it's called. It's super secret, and you know the commandant was scary shit.

They are. Horrible, horrible, horrible stuff. No, no, okay. No, that's their job. They're the military. No, it's just bring me your horrible weapons? That's not the mission statement of DARPA. Yes, it is.

That's exactly the mission statement, and that's what we do. Are the weapons we already have that we know about are horrible? Those daisy cutters and, you know... D'Rpa invented the internet. Thank you. Not Al Gore. Yes. Well, Al Gore helps.

Do you use the internet? Yes, I used the internet. Okay, so while we talking about DARPA in this other way, not recognizing how it's transformed the world? Because it's a debate show. All right. So, let's talk about... All right.

Trump suggested Space Force recently, and I immediately thought of you. I'd immediately thought of Star Trek. No, no. You tore into it. Yes, of course. Yeah, yeah. Just because it came out of trunchmouth, not because... No, no, no. Had you really thought it through?

But it sounded like the Jetsons. No, no, no. When he said it, it sounded like George Jetson. Okay. No, I'll give you that. What I'm saying is, today's Air Force, you're not questioning whether it should have ever been spawned off from the Army, a branch of the military to which it once belonged in the Second World War.

It was the Army Air Force. And we realized, no, to soldiers for the Air Force have to be differently trained. They've got to fly planes, then soldiers on the ground. The engineers for the air are different from the engineers who fix tanks. So this got spawned off, and now we accept it as a natural branch of a theater of operations that is necessary for the military. The Air Force currently has a U.S. Space Command. They're already thinking, got stuff in space. They put up the GPS satellites.

That was their... That's space, okay? So now a Space Force... Oh, oh, given up... No, no. I'm not really... Let me fight. We're not really that much against each other on this.

All right. But you know, there is another element, though, about technology we need to understand is whether you design a technology that's going to be used for war, if you choose not to use it, somebody out there will. And that's happening at Google. Google employees all signed this petition where we don't want our technology to be in partner with the military. They didn't know already that their technology is already being used by terrorists

to target mortars. That's what they're doing. Terrorists are using iPads and Google Earth to target rockets and mortars into Israel from Gaza. So whether you design it or not, all the guys that got killed by IEDs in Iraq and Afghanistan, that was civilian electronics off the shelf.

And what I want to know is if that same demographic in Google or anywhere else, if they were around in the 1930s and watch Nazi Germany rise up where they say, no, I don't want my genius going to war, I don't think they'll feel the same way. So to make a blanket statement, I think is actually naive. But you know here's another issue I know that you care

a lot about is like the brain drain with America. Like one reason we had the bomb is because the scientists came to America. Yes. Yes. Only two of the principles of the Manhattan Project. Albert Einstein was an American born

and all but one of them got their PhDs in other countries. Not only that, we birthed our space program on the intellectual capital of Nazi German rocket pioneers. Ferdne von Braun. Not only that, and this is a... Don't...

I'm telling you. Not only that. One third of all Nobel Prizes in the scientists won by Americans were won by Americans who were born in another country, immigrants to the USA. A third.

This... So... A lot of them were born in Hungary, which is where my parents are from. I'm just saying. Okay. My Jewish side of my family is from, yeah. Excellent.

Well, I have a question. So, yes. My question is, you know, in 2018, I'm looking at the fact that we could be dealing with China, Iran, and also possibly North Korea. And we are still dealing with all of this satellite and all of this great technology. We're still dealing with issues of faulty intelligence. Well, that's always been a problem and a concern. Especially during the Iraq, the Iran war. And I don't know what's worse.

Faulty intelligence or the absence of intelligence. Yeah, that's not his department. But I'm saying, you're talking about how, you know, the George Jets and stuff and all the, you know, and the satellites. But wait, wait, wait, excuse me, my show. Okay. Can I fucking get a question in, A friend?

Do what you got to do. Tell me when you're done so we can get back with this argument here. Okay. It's not an argument. Well, she brought up. I wanted to ask about artificial intelligence. Because, you know, I don't know where you stand on that. Actually, I do. I'm kidding.

But I'm with the people who are worried about it. And that would be Stephen Hawking's, that it's the worst thing that could ever happen in civilization. Elon Musk, like people like Bezos are all for it and people like Elon Musk. And I'm on the side of, yes, it's bad. You know why? Because I've seen it in movies. And everything bad that happens in movies then happens in life. And the robots will take over.

And they... They once asked... They will. Ray Bradbury, why do you keep writing stories, the science fiction writer? Why do you keep writing stories that depict dystopic futures? And he said, do you think we're going to head to those places? He says, I write these stories so that you know what path not to take. Right.

Right. And that's why people like you need to go up. I know you like to come to L.A., but you need to go to Washington, D.C., and explain to those politicians because... and to Silicon Valley to explain to the programmers what's going on in the world, that we have this great power competition. You live in America now, you need to help us. And part of having a big military is not to fight wars,

it's to prevent them. But also, I will add, I will add that people say, oh, space force, we're gonna militarize space. Space has been militarized since 1960s in the 60s. We, the moment you have, the, you don't wanna go, You don't want to go right through the TV. Okay, okay.

So just to make it clear, Sputnik, the radio transmitter in 1957, fine, it sounded all. And Sputnik is fellow traveler in Russian, okay? But what was really happening is Sputnik was embedded in the hollowed out missile shell of an intercontinental ballistic missile. That's what that was, and we knew that was bad. That meant something bad for our future. So space has been militarized in the sense that we've had spy satellites.

And not only with the GPS, just reconnaissance, space as a high ground. Intelligence. Has enabled warfare on the ground. But now Russia's our friend. We collude with them. Okay. So AI. I'm all for AI. Okay. Bring it on. Can I, we have a few minutes left.

It's America who just shoot it if it gets out of it. Okay. If AI gets up, achieving consciousness and comes towards you? They say, wants you be my pet? But they're going to shoot, too. They don't have opposable thumbs. Okay.

Can I ask one few more questions about Brett Kavanaugh in that week? Yes. Did Bill Cosby getting sent to jail in the middle of the week for sexual assault? Seeing an icon in handcuffs

affect anybody's thinking about this? It's interesting that I thought, wow, the courts can still do it, even if our politics. Well, you know what? Justice was done for Bill Cosby, even though, you know, and for me, I grew up watching Bill Cosby as a kid, you know, fat Albert. I grew up not watching.

You know, remember that? His comedy albums. Yes, his comedy album. I was raised by those albums. Never thought he was funny. I listened to Red Fox, yeah. Never liked Bill Cosby. Okay, okay.

Comedy others you have a little more end than fat album. You didn't like his comedy. No. But, okay, but he was sent to jazz. was sent to jail. Yeah, okay. With Gucci suspenders and handguns. How do you know they were Gucci suspenders?

Well, because... Anyway, I'm... What I'm going to say is, the justice is, you know, when people have privileged, get in trouble and they feel like they can do it once and they get away with it and they can keep doing it, he got caught.

Now, what's happening in Washington, we're seeing the good old boy network. We're seeing it happen. Washington will stick together, of like minds will stick together. And these Republicans are trying to ram this through when the nation is still very unsettled. Because why are we all surprised when politics unfolds

in Washington? No, this politics. That's what it is. But this hasn't always We, this is not politics. This is humanity. This is humanity. Okay.

This is humanity. Humanity divided along political grounds. Lori Booker said this is a moral issue. It's not a political issue. And I think that's what's dawning on that. As long as Republicans and Democrats don't agree. It's not... It's not...

We saw it live, you know, Brassley and all those... Sorry, those old white guys... It's not about Democrats versus Republicans or the truth versus falsity. It's about Roe versus Wade. It's about Roe versus Wade. And it's also about... I said it last week.

It has to be Brett Kavanaugh. Nobody else because he is the one guy who says a sitting president cannot be indicted. Exactly. It has to be Brett Kavanaugh. Exactly. Your point about going back to Bill Cosby, we had all these women come out in defense of Kavanaugh and say, well, the Brett Kavanaugh, I know, would never have done that.

And you know what? They're probably telling the truth because, as we know, some people out there have a very public face and a very private face. The Bill Cosby that I grew up with would never have done that. The little bill that my son watched would never have done that. And so that is back to the point about... He would have done that. Back to the point of why they don't want this. thing to go on because we don't want the private face to be revealed. Okay. Thank you, panel. Time for new rules. Do you want to? Don't scream out. Okay. All right.

All right. New rule. Tuna fish has to tell me why it's the only sandwich meat with a last name. First name tuna. Second name fish. Why so formal? I'm just asking for my friends. Turkey bird. Beef cow. Pork pig and egg chicken's vagina. I'm just asking. New rule, if you have a tiny head, don't get into bodybuilding. It takes a bad situation and makes it

much, much worse. When people see you on the street, they don't think, I'm not messing with that guy. They think, Love you in Beetlejuice. New rule, when bongs are outlawed, only outlaws will have bongs. That's my takeaway after seeing this video of a pot dispensary

worker in Canada using a to fight off robbers like a badass action star. And the best part was when he said, I'm here to eat Cheetos and kick ass, and I'm all out of Cheetos. Newerall Democrats must drop their proposals for free college and instead offer free prep school. If we want to attack white privilege, let's go to the source. Billington, Stanhope, the 3rd, meet your new roommate,

Treyquan Cruxhank Jr. New Rule, this driver in China has to stop honking his horn. You think your progress has been halted by a bunch of sheep? You should see what's happening here. And finally, new rule, now that we know that the least godly man in the

world is immensely popular with evangelicals, we need no more evidence that religion is antiquated and dangerous. This October 3rd, I can't believe it, is the 10th anniversary of when my movie Religious opened in theaters.

Thank you. In 2008. That is, the theaters that would show it. Many would not. We've come a long way. Back then, only 16% of Americans identified as non-religious. Now it's 26%. You're welcome. Yes, the fastest-growing religion in America is no religion at all.

Atheism is booming. Praise Jesus. Now, I learned making religiousists that every time you blame religion for so much of the world's misery, religious people say, but Bill, the godless cultures like Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia

and Mao's China were the worst and they had no religion. But here's the thing about Nazism, Maoism, and Stalinism. Those were religions, state religions. These dictators didn't get rid of God because they hated religion. They get rid of God because they hated competition.

Same with North Korea today. They claim to be godless. communist, but their calendar begins on the day the country's founder, Kim Hill-sung, came to Earth from heaven. And his son, the next ruler, Kim Jong-il, is believed by North Koreans to have started

walking at three weeks old and talking at eight weeks. His first time golfing, he shot a 38 under par. With 11 holes in one. He wrote 1,500 books in three years, narrowly beating out Stephen King.

When he was born, winter turned to spring. He can make it rain based on his mood. He invented the hamburger. I'm not making that up. They're making that up. He invented the hamburger. Talk about a whopper. Oh, and my favorite, Kim Jong-il, never used a toilet

because his body was so well calibrated he did not need to defecate. No shit. Okay, this is not an atheist nation. I've heard of people claim their shit don't stink, but only a God will say they don't shit at all. Which brings us to Trump supporters. The reason Trump has an easy cell with evangelicals

is because they're hardwired to put faith over reason. Plus, Trump is the spitting image of the religious con men they grew up with on TV. He's got Jim Baker's hair and Tammy Faye's makeup. He's immune to sex scandals. He had a sham university. He doesn't pay taxes.

He personifies that prosperity gospel bullshit they all spin. Yes, the more money I have, the happier you are. That's Trump. The private planes, the traveling salvation show, the home that looks like the Sistine Chapel, including a crying statue, Melania. And it's very possible Trump doesn't... It's possible Trump doesn't just remind his flock of their favorite preacher.

There is a character in the Bible who is exactly like Trump. God. No. No, no, not that one. Yes, that one. The Old Testament God. Trump loves an eye for an eye. Guess who invented that?

Old Testament God was all wrath and ego, a petty, vindictive rageaholic who loved Israel. But obsessed with loyalty, not morality. Look at the Ten Commandments. It's very Trumpian. The first four are all about him. Commandment one, thou shalt have no other gods. Other gods of fake news.

I am the greatest God in history with the best brain. Commandment two, only make statues of me. I am the only bronze-colored thing you should bow to. And don't make the hands small, because they're not. And neither is something else, I guarantee. Commandment three. When you say bad things about me, it's very unfair. Very unfair.

No other God has accomplished what I did in six days, that I will tell you. Commandment four, you must spend one day a week not doing anything but talking about how great I am. Let me help you out. God deserves an A-plus. So, here we have the Ten Commandments. The ten worst things you could possibly do and left off the list are torture, rape, child abuse, incest, and slavery.

But four spots on the list go to variations of stroke my ego and kiss my ass. There's only two people I can think of who would do that. God and Donald Trump. All right, that's our show, and I will be doing Sam Harris' podcast to promote the 10th anniversary of our legurist on October. I'll be at the Cross Hines Theater in Syracuse, October 7th.

I want to thank my guest, Max Brooks, Evel and Farquist, April, Ryan, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Steve Bannon. For all this time on YouTube. Catch all new episodes of Real Time with Bill Maher every Friday night at 10 or watch them anytime on HBO On Demand. For more information, log on to HBO.com.