Real Time with Bill Maher - Ep. #561: Senator Alex Padilla, Heather McGhee, Reihan Salam

Episode Date: April 10, 2021

Bill’s guests are Senator Alex Padilla, Heather McGhee, and Reihan Salam. (Originally aired 4/9/21) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to an HBO podcast from the HBO late-night series, Real Time with Bill Maugh. Thank you, people. How are you? Oh, my gosh. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Happy people. Thank you. I appreciate it. I can, I know it's, I love you too. I know it's hard to breathe in those masks. That looks like you will be ending soon. We have a reopening date here in California. June 15th.

We all businesses at full capacity as of June 15th, and that's probably because we have California here, the lowest COVID positivity rate in the entire country, but still number one in herpes. So, don't get down. So we are reopening. And now comes the hard part,

thinking of something to tell all those people who you said, you know, I really want to get together when this is over. some sad news I must report here from England Prince Philip Queen Elizabeth dude

shockingly dead at 99 he died today yes he died as he lived peacefully in his sleep and I tell you bitter about that Harry thing to the end his last words were I never bought Megan Markle as a lawyer on suits

So Matt Gates is in the news Do you know Matt Gates? He's a Republican, huge trumper from Florida. If you don't know, show the picture because everybody knows... No, that's not the right picture. Show the real... They do look a lot of like.

He always says that look... Oh, sure, the picture gets applause. Me, all my hard work. No, that's Matt Gale. Always says that look on his face like, eat it nerd. But he's in big trouble. If you heard this, he's allegedly accused of sex trafficking,

sex with a minor, and showing nude pictures to the other guys at work. Basically, all the stuff you assumed would be going on if no one had brought this up. In his defense, his job title is Florida representative. Now, I... I'd say, this guy did do some sleazy things. I mean, this math case guy.

First of all, he would... allegedly giving ecstasy to these women. And, you know, Republican ecstasy, I have to tell you, is a little different. Oh, good, they're catching on faster now. Yes, it is. You stay up all night hugging the flag and screwing poor people. It's a little different.

So also, the videos of nude women, you know, this is, he had these, he was showing them around. He showed one of a nude woman with a hula hoop. And Lindsey Graham said, I have never seen anything like that. Also, is that a hula hoop? So, uh... Different tonight. Okay, so...

But apparently Matt Gates, listen to this, he asked before any of this, he asked the Trump White House when Fatsa was still in office, if you could have a blanket preemptive pardon, as innocent people do. for any future crimes. He didn't even specify, just a blanket pardon.

And Donald, of course, Donald Trump today spoke out on this. He said, that is bullshit. He said it is a total fake news story. Everybody knows that when I was in the White House, all legitimate requests for pardons had to go through the Kardashians. And today it's in the news with Matt Gates that it was reported, I don't know, but that his associate in this endeavor with the young women

is pled not guilty, but is going to change it to guilty and probably testify against Matt Gates and say that Matt Gates, listen to this, use Venmo to send $900 to this guy who then sent the money to the women, which ironically is one of the only times that trickled down economics has actually worked. Oh, I kid Matt Gates.

I think he's sad about this. Matt knows that traveling a 17-year-old girl across date lines is wrong, and he said he regrets it, mainly because she played Cardi B the whole way. He obviously didn't check if she had ID. Thank God they didn't try to take her to vote. There's a guy who gets it. But, you know, there are scandals on all sides.

The Daily Mail is reporting that Biden's son, Hunter Biden, had his own porn hub account where he posted videos of him having sex with two women at the same time. I got to say this, as hobbies go, I'll take this over Trump's son's hunting endangered species. How about that? And, but...

The Daily Mail is also saying that Hunter Biden posted a photo, or they did, of Hunter with his teeth worn down to the nubs, possibly because of meth use. and still the teeth look better than Prince Phillips. All right, we've got a great show. We've got Heather McGee and Brian Salam are here. But first, he served as the 32nd Secretary of State of California, is now California's newest Democratic Senator.

Wow, he's on our show. Senator Alex Padilla. Okay. Senator, I... Thank you, thank you. So, I almost went back to shaking your hand, but it's still too early to do that? How about the elbow bump?

Yeah, okay. But are we going to go back to shaking hands? Because I've been out a couple of times recently, and I see people... I thought when the pandemic hit, we had decided, even when it's over, we're not going to go back to that. And I see people...

I think we want to, right? What did you say if... I never thought it added anything to any relationship? But apparently I was wrong. All those people you promised to see once the pandemic is over? Are those folks?

Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I thought it was something we were getting rid of, but I think people need touching. People are craving human contact, so I'm glad our state. Absolutely. Probably

nobody more than our kids. You know, as a parent of three boys, this homeschooling stuff has been tough. I don't know who's more eager and needs to have kids go back to school. The kids or the parent. It's been tough. Definitely the parent from what I hear.

But I don't talk to the kids, thank God. So, you really worked your way up in this state. You did every job, and good you, now you're the senator, you represent 20 million people about, right? Does it bug you as much as it bugs me that the Dakota

territory, which I refuse to admit, should have, it shouldn't even be one state, at most one state, but definitely not two. But there's four senators from the Dakota territory that represent about two and a half million people, and you represent, one guy represents

20 million. That's got to change, right? It should change on a number of fronts. It's why things don't, why not more things get done through the Senate, but let's go back to the electoral college, right? That's not one person, one book. Exactly. By the way, it's 40 million.

I represent all Californians, not just folks from my... I know, but we have two senators. But we both represent them all. We don't split them up. You know what I meant. I hear it. I hear it. But, no, it's one of those long-lasting things

that needs to be corrected. Go back to, you know, the founding of our nation and how imperfect it was from the original sin in the electoral caucus. college made a lot of progress on a number of things, but representative democracy still needs some work. Right. And California, you know, has been a...

We have been a real leader because our size, fifth largest economy in the world, and this number of people within the United States gives California enormous power, which we have mostly used for good, like emission standards. I mean, you couldn't build a car nationally if you couldn't sell a car. in the California market. So when we raised our emission standards, Detroit had to make better cars, more environmentally friendly cars,

for the whole country. Why can't we do that for agriculture? Factory farming is just as bad for the environment as automobiles are. We see from this pandemic, Zutonic diseases, this wasn't the first, it won't be the last. When is there going to be a politician

who will take on big agriculture the way some have taken on the automobile industry. I think it's happening already. And it's a combination of, you know, California tends to lead the way through state policy and through state laws and eventually it ripples to the national level. And sometimes despite the imperfect, again, electoral college, U.S. Senate, filibuster, et cetera, that needs to go.

There's an opportunity to leverage the size of our state, right? It's not a coincidence for the most populous state in the nation, the most diverse state in the nation. the largest electorate of any state in the nation, the large economy of any state in the nation, leveraging it through market power, as you said, vehicle emission standards, it's going to come back. You know, California leads the way.

We'll do it for agriculture. We will. Factory farming? I mean, it's... I believe so. And in different ways. I mean, it's already at the state level, they're innovating in capturing a lot of those emissions,

methane gas, cow farts. Yes, that can be converted to energy as part of the evolution. of the industry. And what about the cruelty involved? Well, we don't really need to torture them before we eat them, do we? No. And look, it's not just California leaders alone speaking up. My good friend, you might have met him, Senator Cory Booker, has been an outstanding voice

and policy leader on pointing out the injustices and cruelty of a lot of the agricultural industry, the corporatization of it, not just in the United States. Look, what's happening to family, farm. in India, for example, and how much more work that we need to do. So why do you think Trump in the last election did better than he did in the first one, and better with minorities? Yeah. It's a, look, it's a scary reminder, right?

A lot of people have celebrated that Trump is behind us. But he got more votes than any candidate for president in the history of the country, except for one. Thankfully, Joe Biden in 2020. But that victory, that victory is kind of glossed over what's happening underneath. Why did he get so many votes and how he got more votes, maybe on the southern Texas border than he did in the first election?

I think as a proud Democrat, it's also a reminder that Democrats can't take anything for granted. And, you know, we get caught up in this national messaging, bigger picture issues, but every community is a little bit different. and candidates at the federal, state, and local level can't forget to connect with voters locally, both in what matters most to them and how we're communicating.

Do you know Congressman Ruben Gallego in Arizona? We've met. Yes, absolutely. Okay, so he was asked after the election, what can Democrats do better to connect to Latino voters? And he said, well, you can start by not saying Latinx. I don't even, I don't know if you're not. Maybe it's Latinx. I don't know if I'm even saying that correctly.

That's right. But what do you think about that comment from him? Yeah. Well, that's his opinion, and I respect it. I don't completely agree. And, I mean, hearing you say, it just throws me back to the years and years of debates, not just in college, by the way, of Hispanic versus Latino versus Chicano versus Mexican-American, where we get cut up into terminology.

And it means it comes across different ways to different people in different parts of the country. Latinx, look, for the young. younger generation especially, it is purposeful. It is more than just symbolic. The Spanish language, you have feminine versus masculine nouns, and the move to Latin X is one way of saying, you know what, if we're all equal, let's let our language reflect. But I think he was saying that because his polling showed that most Latin X people

either don't know the term or when they hear it don't like it. Yeah, it's relatively new for some. But again, I'd be interested in the cross tabs, if you will, the underlying data in polling for older voters. Yeah, maybe not nearly as popular. For younger voters, which is the growing part of the Latino electorate, it is, they embrace it. Okay, so we...

Very woke crowd tonight. All right. It's going to be a rough fucking show coming up for you, people. So we have, some people say, a crisis at the border. they've apprehended more people than they have for about 15 years recently. But it's seasonal. We also know that. What is the correct percentage or amount do you think of immigration? Is there a number?

If I want, the person who says the highest number possible, is he the better person? Or is it just, or is there something we can apply more logic to? Yeah. Look, I don't if there's a precise number or percentage, as you ask, What we do know is that throughout the course of our history as a country, waves of immigrants from all over the world have led to our strength as a country, not just a growing population, but a growing economy and the strength of our imperfect democracy. I appreciate the fact that you recognize it's a seasonal uptick in the numbers. Some years it's a bigger increase every spring. Some years it's not as big of an increase. What we're seeing right now is not just an increased number of families, a lot of uncomcumptu. companies, minors showing up at the border, but the consequences of starving

the very agencies that process asylum seekers. Let's be clear as to who these kids are. It's not rapists, it's not drug dealers. They are asylum seekers fleeing natural disasters, fleeing poverty. In many cases, fleeing violence. They're literally

running for their lives, and they deserve to be treated humanely. I agree with all that. I didn't answer my question, but I agree with all I know, but, and by the way, this, you know, whatever the number is, this spring, it's clearly a group separate and apart. So let's not be distracted by them and not get done the justice to the 11 million currently living in the United States, undocumented immigrants, what they need in terms of security and a pathway to citizenship. My first bill introduced as in the United States Senate would offer a pathway to citizenship for all non-citizen essential workers. that have been sacrificing and serving the rest of us

throughout the course of this pandemic. So it's... All right. So this final question, it looks like we're going to have a recall of the governor in this state. This is insanity. This is one of those stupid things California does.

We actually have too much democracy in this state. I don't want to have to vote on everything. We have too many propositions. Dialysis machines. Why am I voting on this every two years? I don't even know what the issue is with dialysis machines. But it's on the ballot every year. We've got to stop this, right?

We should not be recalling this governor. No, look, I agree completely. Two things. It's going to be a circus. I remember what it was last time. Every unemployed actor in the state is going to be running. So two things. One.

Caitlin Jenner's running. Once again, what's the right number? Is it too much too little? I'd err on the side of too much democracy. Not enough. When it comes to the recall, here's the hypocrisy of it and what really pisses me off. The same Republican forces that refuse to hold

Trump accountable over the course of his four years or even for the insurrection of January 6th are now setting their sights on Governor Newsom because of the Trump administration's failures to respond to COVID earlier in the pandemic. Give me a break. Right. All right. Thanks. Congratulations on your new job. All right. Let's meet our panel. Hey. Hello, sir. How are you? All right. She is the author of The New York Times Bestseller, The Some of Us, but racism costs everyone and how we can prosper together. Heather McGee is back with us, Heather. And he's the president of the Manhattan Institute

and a contributing writer at the Atlantic, Rehan Salam, our returning champion. How are you? Good to see you, sir. Well, I'm in a pretty good mood tonight, I have to tell you, because for the first time and over a year, I got booked on the road again. Going back on the roads.

I know. Life returning. I'll be back at the Marathon. in Vegas in July. I'm so happy I'll be able to bore you again with where I'm going over the weekend. I'll be in Cincinnati. Please, please, Jesus.

Let that happen. Okay. But, okay. So one of the unexpected developments, I think, of the Biden administration has been that he really is turning out to be more radical than the guy he served as vice president. Or so it looks. I mean, no one can say he's not going big.

you know, go big or go home, he's doing it. I mean, this guy turns out his new budget, $1.5.2 trillion. He turned, trillion is nothing to this guy. He always just won at the Hustler Casino, you know, the way he spends money. But, you know, trust in government seems to be, I think, the big issue he's going to face. Because when you want to do big things, you know, people are going to ask, can you do them well? Can you do them without wasting all our money? should we trust government to do something on the scale that he is suggesting with the infrastructure program,

and when I say infrastructure, that really encompasses almost anything you want to put under that title? And it's, they're saying $3 trillion. Should we trust government with that kind of cash? I think we have to because we've been starving ourselves for the past 50 years, right? The definition of infrastructure really should be the things that we need to make all other work and all other productivity possible. So, yes, it's ports and roads and bridges, but also, as we really recently learned during the pandemic,

it's child care and elder care and the kinds of things that make it possible for, you know, a mechanic in a small town to fix a carburetor because they actually need rural broadband. All of those things absolutely need to be thought of as infrastructure. The thing I'm most excited about is ripping up all the lead pipes in the country so that parents don't have to worry

that they're giving their children disabilities by turning on the tap, right? These are the types of... of things that absolutely should be no-brainers in the country with the largest economy on earth. And so to this question of trust in government, I think it's really real, right? We have so let, you know, poor services for the poor

be what exactly we've come to expect from government. And I am someone who believes in the power and the possibility and the necessity of doing together what we simply can't do on our own. And yet we've got to hold government to the highest possible standard. and hopefully young people will be going and designing public goods and services and not, you know, photo sharing apps because we believe in what we can do together, right?

That's the goal. You are a dreamer. I am. Yeah, that would be great. One way I strongly agree with Heather is the idea that we ought to hold government to high standards. And we hold government to exceptionally low standards. The United States is not a country that does not spend very much. In fact, you know, if you look at state governments, for example, you've had 30 years of

self-described conservative Republicans and state after state, they don't spend substantially less than Democrats. They move in exactly the same direction, and what you see time and again is basically very expensive government services delivering incredibly low-quality

services to people who need them. So I think another way of look at this is just the idea that, look, government, we should demand more from it, we should expect them to do more within their means. And what you're seeing right now, when describing President Biden, what you see is this moment when people are pretending that there are no

limits. So literally, if President Biden had done nothing over the next 30 years, you would have seen $100 trillion in additional federal debt over the next 30 years. Now, he said, let's spend another $11 trillion. He said recently, hey, we also are going to increase taxes by $3 trillion. But again, that's against an increase in debt of well over $100 trillion, right? So the thing is that when you talk about government, whether or not we believe in it, the true test is whether or not people are actually willing to pay. And we're in this moment of suspended animation where we're pretending that we want to actually have to pay. If you look at other democracies, that deliver higher quality services that actually are more efficient when it comes to government. They do something

really crazy. They spend, and then they tax. And what they say is, we're going to take money from you this time. We're going to give money to another time. But that's how you see that people really believe in it. They're actually willing to pay the piper. And the problem now is that, again, we're in this moment of fantasy politics, and it was true under President Trump. It's true now under President Biden, although turned up to 11.

We're able to pretend that we don't actually have to see to it that the resources are really there. And that leads to this kind of gross inefficiency and this lack of scrutiny, which is really dangerous. The majority of Americans want there to be higher

taxes on the wealthy, particularly when they know it's going to be used to take care of a problem that has been a problem for as long as I've been alive, the problem that we have failed to tend to our basic needs in this country. And my book I read about this phenomenon that happened where we used to build things in America. And Donald Trump wasn't wrong about that, right? That nostalgia for an America that put a man on the moon and built the Hoover Dam and the highway system. That's something that unites people of all backgrounds in this country, this sense of American greatness. and a big part of it was this ethos that said,

you know what, we are going to take care of our people, we are going to have a higher and higher standard of living in this country, the highest in the world, and that was about public amenities, public goods, public services. You know, I talk about the public pools that we used to have, nearly 2,000 of them in this country. Swimming pools. I'm talking about swimming pools.

Like, not a big deal, maybe, but it was sort of this... We had one in my town, the grove. It was a hole. It was a hole in the ground. It had no, it was just sand. It was shitty. but we loved it. I mean, it was like a big thing

when it came into town. It was a big thing when it came to town. There were almost 2,000 of them in the country, and in a lot of places in the country, they were segregated. And so when the civil rights movement allowed black families to say, hey, those are our tax dollars.

We want our families to swim, too. What town after town in this country did was drain their public swimming pool rather than integrate it. And you began to see, with the civil rights movement, a turn away of the white majority from the idea that they want government

to have a high, high robust role in securing economics, you know, freedom and opportunity for everyone, because they had to share it across lines of race. So I'm excited about taking care of public needs again for a diverse public. What I keep coming back to is just this little incredibly boring statistic that I'm a little obsessed with. In Paris, it costs basically less than one-seventh to build a subway station as it does in New York City.

And California, please. We know this, too. We tried to build... Beyond. It's absolutely beyond. Like, $200 million a mile. And in France, right, it was like $13 million or something. Maybe I have those numbers wrong.

But it was a ridiculous discrepancy. And this is France, you're talking about. Exactly. Not a country unknown to strikes. Right. And unions. I hope you're not going to blame it on labor unions because the bad comparison of France.

Well, labor unions certainly play their part. There's quite a lot going on, right? And when you're looking at health expenditures, for example, You know, we spend a staggering amount on public health insurance. We spend as much on public health insurance to cover a fifth of the population as, for example, Canada spends on their entire population. And that's because, you know, those dollars are being spent on a range of different things, but we're not being stingy when it comes to meeting these needs. What's happening is that the systems are so broken, and rather than fix those systems, we're talking about shoveling more money into them. That's not compassion.

That's fecklessness. Well, you'd like to think we could fix them. we shoveled the money. Absolutely. And demand more. All right. Well, listen, since I'm in such a good mood. Yes.

And I'm always looking on the bright side. I'm a bonn-half-full kind of guy. So I'm going to look on the bright side of something that's horrendous. But, you know, Democrats do have a haplet of downplaying achievements. It's not the best thing

they do. They're terrible at bragging or say, boy, we won one. Okay, so, and it's very dangerous these days. in America to celebrate progress. Kind of not allowed to do that because then they say, well, you don't care enough about fixing the things that are still wrong. Yes, you can do both.

You can have two thoughts in your head. So, thank you. I'm watching this Derek Chauvin trial, and, you know, many of us who've been talking about the cops for a very long time, I certainly have editorials, panel discussions, and I've had my list of complaints about the cops, which I'm sure they've taken note of.

And one of the recurring theme was at some point the blue wall of silence has to crack. I mean, I've been saying this for decades, and I'm only 35. And now, I mean, I'm looking at, this has finally happened in the last five years, culminating, I think, in this trial. I mean, is just uncalled for,

is what his supervisor said on the stand. This never used to happen. cops never did this. The police chief. That in no way, shape, or form is anything that is by our policy. Cops used to all... Until five years ago,

you could never win a trial against cops. They'd always be up there saying, you don't understand what it's like to be a cop. Yes, I also don't understand what it's like to be in the frozen yogurt industry. You're right. I don't. Cops are a harder job. I get it. But that was their thing. Like, you know, look at the tape again. You don't know. What we see

and now this has gone away. It's like, no, we do see. We're not cops. It has not robbed us of being sent to beings. And they're finally testifying against their own. Could we celebrate a moment that this is a big fucking deal? Okay, it's a big fucking deal.

Absolutely we can. And in fact, one of the first rules of good organizing is to celebrate the wins along the way because people need that sense of hope. Yes. I mean, and let's be clear here, like the idea of hope is so central to black politics in America. You have Jesse Jackson,

keep hope alive, Barack Obama, hope and change, right? I can't sit here as I do as the descendant of enslaved people and not have hope, right? This is not something that is a stranger to us. And in fact, I think that what you're seeing right now with the blue wall beginning to crumble is the result of massive organizing and the fact that the greatest, largest social movement in American history happened this summer because of a video that we saw a public execution of a man as the whole world

watched this video taken by a 17-year-old who should never have had to be in that role, right? And you saw in 90% of the demonstrations this summer were in majority white counties, right? There's so much progress. New Mexico just this past week became the second state

to end this thing that should not exist. anymore, and the majority of the American people oppose, which is qualified immunity for state actors, the idea that I can't sue you if you knowingly break the law because you're a government agent. Like, that definitely should no longer be the case, and the majority of people agree in this country. So, there's a lot of progress. So I grew up in Brooklyn, New York. I still live there now at a time when, thank you, sir, at a time when it was a pretty violent and frightening place to be. I was a victim of crime on a number of occasions. So was my father, so was my mother. It was something that we, you know, lived in a not necessarily the best or fanciest neighborhood.

You know, we loved it. It was ours. My folks didn't want to leave the city. They never did. They're still there. And it was a dangerous, scary time, and you basically treated it as kind of like the weather. You know, it's a rainstorm. You know, you get mugged. That's what happens. And then, you know, for 25 years or so, you had a pretty steep decrease in crime. It was really hard fought. It was really hard won. It happened for a lot of reasons. The police were a really big part of it. So was the revitalization of a lot of neighborhoods that had been forgotten and neglected. But what you've seen more recently is a change. What you've seen is crime come back in a lot of communities. You've seen a surge in the number of shootings. You've seen a surge in

number of murders, you would see more murders, if only we hadn't gotten a lot better at treating gunshot wounds. And part of the story, I think, is the fact that, you know, over the course of the 2010s, the per capita rate of police in this country went down by about 8, 9%. In New York City, in 2020, it went down by another 7%. There's a generation of police who joined departments in the mid-90s and on. Those guys are retiring. A lot of them are retiring. guys and gals, I should say. A lot of them are retiring sooner than they would have otherwise. Portland has an exodus of, I mean, if you're one of those people who wants Antifa to get results, you win. Do you want? They may not be the one you want, but 115 police officers have left the Portland.

That's a lot in a city that size. Bill, you're talking about progress, and the question is, how do you build on the progress? And the way to build on the progress, I would argue, is saying, we demand more of our police, we expect more of them, we expect them to treat people with respect. That is incredibly valuable and important, but that means making this an esteemed and valued profession, that might actually mean seeing to it

that we might have to pay people more. We might have to treat them a little bit differently to ensure that we have those people who are public-spirited and willing to put themselves in danger. So I think that we can't lose sight of it. Let's build on this project. I don't know. I mean, I think most of them are paid pretty well.

I don't think that's the issue I mean again I've had my list of complaints one of them with the police is somewhere they got it into their head that they could never have a moment where they were at risk if they felt at risk at all just empty the clip into whatever's

worrying you now it's a dangerous job although by statistics not even in the top ten it's not a slag against cops I'm just that's the fact daredevils like cab drivers and linemen and fishermen, it's a more dangerous job. But I agree, it's a dangerous, stressful job, and we should compensate them. But we have to have, right? You have to have

limits. Limits. Yes, no, absolutely. Look, you're right. We have to feel, they cannot feel, I mean, this Portland, one retiring detective said the community shows zero support. The mayor and the council ignore actual facts on crime. I'm just saying Portland, it's a cautionary tale, because we do not want to live in a world without police. Then it's the, purge every night. So if you think that's a great idea... I think we want to live in a world where most of the things that lead to police interactions

are stopped way beforehand. And we know that's about... Yes. And the drug war. Yes, thank you. Okay. All right. So listen, one of our favorite segments on this show as people know is 24 things you don't know about. Which one of those tabloids stole from us and did as their own.

I hate that people rip us off like that. But we thought, you know, it's such a good thing to let people know about somebody who they're getting curious about. And this week, everyone's curious about this Matt Gates guy. So we thought, what better time to do? Matt Gates, 24 things you don't know about me. For example, my favorite dating app is Venmo. I recently sponsored a bill to name a post office

up to Charlie Sheen. That's indicative of... I'm the first member of Congress to send my press releases with Act's body spray. I'd say Billy Eilish is hot, I guess, if you're into older chicks. I've been to over 200 proms.

I've been to both traffic school and sex traffic school. Wow. I think all those Republicans who talk shit about me behind my back needs a man up and tweet it from a fake account with a bogus name. My go-to pickup line is, do you come here often or does your mom just drop you off in the morning? So, okay.

So here's the thing. Now, Matt Gates, my prediction, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 is going to blame this very soon on cancel culture. Yeah, yeah. And this is not a good development. the fact that the critique of cancel culture is getting a bad name. Because cancel culture does need to be critiqued. It's over now.

There's this guy, Myers-Lennard. Never heard of him. He's a basketball player, and I watch basketball. So he must be a scrub. I didn't even mean that. Anyway, he got canceled. Boy, did he get canceled this week. I mean, who, he was streaming himself playing call of duty on Twitch.

There's nothing in that sentence, I understand. Or want to. Do I not get Twitch's call of duty in streaming? I don't, and I'm so good with that. Anyway, he used a Jewish slur. It begins with K, I won't say it, because babies out there can't take it when you say a bad word. We want to take the focus on the issue. Anyway, I'm sure you know what the word is.

There's not that many names for bad names. And he said he didn't even know what it meant. I completely believe him since he's playing Twitch. I mean, on Twitch, whatever the fuck. I mean, before the day was out, banned, fined by the NBA, and traded. I mean, and then they're making him, of course, the groveling apology. and then he's meeting with rabbis, Holocaust survivors. Do we have to drag the Holocaust into this?

Really? Passover, he has to go on Zoom in front of college kids so they can yell at him. Does everything have to be a summary execution in America? What happened to just accepting the apology? Oh, okay, you made a mistake as humans do. I mean, can we get on with our lives? I mean, look, I was raised Catholic, but my mother is, well, not really, but she's sort of a Jew.

I mean, she never was in a temple. Anyway, but that's our family. Does that give me enough cred to say, for the Jews, don't do it again, Myers-Lennard, whoever the fuck you are. And that's it. I accept, don't do it again. Can we get on with our lives? I mean, I don't know who that person is. This is to me on that story. I hear what you're saying. The world in which real people live is also the world in which there are massive consequences for, you know, working class people, for low-income people. I'm thinking about a teacher at my kid's school who was saying the school he taught at before. If a kid came in with the wrong color socks, they would be sent home, right?

This kind of like no excuses, broken windows theory in charter school classrooms. And it's like there's this world in which there are so... I don't understand. Yeah, because it's a uniform, a dress clothes, right? So, but, like, I mean, they're not two pair of socks in my house that match. So I don't know how I would be able to do that for my family. But it's this sort of like... How is this comforting to Myers-Leonard?

Well, no. I just mean, like, I think more about not like a millionaire, NBA player and what he does and doesn't do. I don't know if he's a millionaire. Well, I assume he is, right? But just like he's a powerful person. I think more about how much... It's such bullshit. Would they have done it if it was the star of the team? I don't, would they have done this if

Probably more, right? I mean, probably I would have heard of it if he was the star of the team. Well, I'm not going to even name a person because they wanted, I don't want to associate them with using a racial slur. But, you know, so, but, okay. But there could be a big name NBA player, somebody or anybody who just didn't understand this term or used it in a fit of anger and regretted it. Would they have suspended him? I don't think so. So building on what?

Heather had said a moment ago. I actually think that this cuts in a somewhat different direction. So my view is that the conversation about cancel culture, you know, some people find it frustrating, some people find it annoying or misplaced. But the reason it's important to talk about it, the reason it's important to critique it, is that there actually are a ton of people who do not have resources, who do not have lawyers, who are pretty much defenseless. And so part of what you're seeing is people who actually are visible and powerful where it's happening to them. but I promise you it's happening 5x, 10x to a lot of other people who don't have that kind of weight.

Also, I think that that's a problem. This American bloodlust for groveling, it's just gross. I don't want to be part of that team. And also, you know, you're right. It's actual jobs and lives people are losing, but also I don't want to live in a country where we have the Red Guard.

It's very, you guys know what I'm talking about during the Cultural Revolution. We have a Red Guard in this country now. We shouldn't. The argument that I find interesting and challenging and that I struggle with is the idea that, look, part of what's happened in our society is that people who did not have voice in power before have it now. And when people have voice in power, if you offend them, if you offend their sensibilities, you're going to hear about it. And that is part of the healthy give and take of any culture, right? It's just that we're hearing from more people now.

I get it. But I also think that you need to have this sense of forgiveness that you were describing before, just the idea that you can be ignorant. you are not necessarily worthy of a death sentence if you make a mistake. People used to say that. They used to say that was an ignorant comment rather than you are a deeply immoral person that needs to be punished for the rest of your life. And I think that that's important.

And also, I must say, one of the bad thing about this is that people who don't follow politics as much as the folks who watch this show are going to lump this issue in with other issues. I saw... Now, everyone who knows what's going on in Georgia right now. The All-Star Game was pulled out of Georgia because Major League Baseball and a number of corporations

are protesting the voting rights laws, anti-voting, really laws that Georgia has passed. Okay? Now, I saw it described somewhere as a social justice issue. Okay, voting. This is not some silly woke issue. This is fundamental stuff. This is fundamental stuff.

This is, you know, the Republican Party really only has one strategy now, which is stop voting. Stop people from voting and even don't respect elections. That's their strategy now. Don't beat the other team. Beat the refs. Okay. So, as you know, as I said, Major League Baseball's out.

Also, Coca-Cola, which is one of the most identified brands, certainly in Atlanta, if not the whole world, but definitely it's associated with that city. And so now the governor of Texas, who was going to throw out the first. ball at his game. Not going to do that. Because we're taking sides now.

It's so interesting now. We're going to get down to, I think, a place where the Democrats drink Pepsi or drink Coke, and then the Republicans will have to drink. You think that's where we're heading? We seem to be politicizing even the products we use.

We're taking this to the cereal aisle in America. I thought we were going to come together. And we're just... So, you know, this issue is deadly serious, exactly as you're saying, right? Let's be very clear. The Georgia election law is based on a lie,

and it's a lie that compelled a thousand people to try to rush the Capitol and do what they would have done and led to six people being killed. It's still a lie that animates the Republican Party, and it's a lie that makes the majority of Republicans think that Donald Trump won the election, right? So this is actually really dangerous stuff. And yet, it is true that when we're seeing corporations have to hold the line on basic American values

because they know that the Republican Party won't, right? That is the wake-up call for corporate America since Donald Trump was that, oh, wait, there are just, we, there are some things we didn't have to be a part of because, like, politics, two parties would have protected at least that. Right. And this is no longer one of them, right? We have study after study now that's showing that in places where we're, Republicans take control, the democracy suffers. And this is not just about power.

It's about fundamentally a fear of sharing our democracy with the America that we're becoming. Well, losing elections. It's about losing elections. They know they're on the wrong side of the demographics. Yes, that's insane. I mean, that was Trump's genius back in 2016. As he said, you know, everyone's saying that about the Republicans, but I look around and maybe we've got a couple more elections in us.

I still see a lot of white people. But that is going to change. And you are not going... I mean, the reason why I think Coca-Cola, which is a company that cares a lot about money, now maybe the people who had a big corporation like that are just wonderful people. But I think basically they look around

and they probably talk to the younger people in the office. Yeah. No, employees are really organizing it. And they go, who do we want on our side to be drinking Coca-Cola, the people who are the future of the country or the cranky white people who are dying off? There's a legitimate debate to be having to be having.

We want... I think that's what's driving this. There's a legitimate debate to be had about the particulars of the Georgia legislation, but I also think that there's this incredibly apocalyptic rhetoric, which ignores the fact that in many respects, this law is actually expanding voting access.

You know, again, there's a legitimate debate to be had, and Georgia is a competitive state in which... The Georgia law? Absolutely. It's expanding access where they want it to expand it, like in the rural areas. It's actually much broader access than a number of other states, including my home state of New York. No, look, that's not true. That's been a right-wing talking point, but Georgia is 49th in terms of ease of voting. New York is 17.

Now, the desire to... It's also expanding early voting beyond many other states, certainly than New York. I mean, I think... It's a little more... No, but I mean, all of those things are... This is actually deeply boring, and I'm an election law person, so I'm not going to get way into it. But this is the issue. Georgia's move is based on a lie.

It is based on a response to historic turnout and black political power, changing the direction of the state. New York, God bless it, where both of us live, has never had great election laws. We've got two things on the ballot this fall. And overall,

you can't compare what's happening in a state that was a Jim Crow state that had poll taxes, violent repression, until 56 years ago, we have not, we've had a multiracial democracy in this country for 56 years. And when you see a party that is firmly said, our game plan is to hold on to white power,

and then they begin to rewrite the rules in a way that makes it harder, not just for black people to vote. I'm very clear that this is a blunt instrument that definitely is aimed at black people, but as so many ways in which racism works and structural racism works, it's impacting young people, married women who have the wrong name of their birth certificates,

all of these things, and it's a part of 360 laws that have been introduced this year to make it harder for people to vote by the Republican Party. And a lot of... There's a huge amount of alarmism about this because it's an effective political tool. And I think that what you're actually seeing is increases in voter turnout. What you've seen study after study fine is that measures like the measures in the Georgia law do not have a meaningful effect on diminishing turnout or on political outcomes. Again, I would

welcome a legitimate, serious conversation. Perhaps these laws need to be changed. But what you're seeing now is a lot of alarmism that motivates people, it motivates small dollar donors, and it actually winds up having the effect of coarsening the conversation. But it looks like this law is working backwards

to, if the election that we had in November was now, how could we have thrown it to Trump in the way that we failed in November? Particularly putting partisan people in the election So the second state of Georgia, who was the person who stood against what President Trump was trying to do, he's been replaced. That's right.

He's been replaced. He's been replaced. He also has defended the voter access law. But he's not there anymore. Anyway, I've got to go to New Rules. Thank you, family. You were great. New Rules.

Okay, New Rule. If you're a restaurant like the one in Detroit that's banning people from entering because they smell like marijuana, you need to learn a little bit more about marijuana. People who are high will order everything you have on the menu. And if you bring... And if you bring them the wrong food, they'll still eat that, too. Telling stoners not to come to your restaurant is like a dive bar saying,

if you're depressed trying to get late or struggling to pick up the pieces of a broken marriage, don't even think about drinking here. New World, the Facebook automated technology that flagged and banned this ad for being too overtly sexual must be recalibrated because if these onions make you hot, you should see the ones in the fishnet bag. New Rule, scientists must explain why putting your key in the front door

makes you have to pee. And since it does, why doesn't putting your key in the back door make you have to poop? I just want to ask that one question. New Role, restaurants that deliver can stop putting forks in the bag. If someone has a street address, they probably have forks.

I myself have over a dozen. I know, humble brag. But they come in handy because no woman likes to hear, how do you like your eggs in the morning, and do you mind eating them with your fingers? We have no rehearsal anymore. We're flying blind here. New rule, the federal authorities

who just announced they're putting migrant families up in local hotels have to admit they're sending a mixed message. Don't come, but if you do, bring a bathing suit. Also, if these families aren't under detention, how come there's a sign at the end of the hall that says ice? And finally, new rule, the Oscars need to change their name to the Debbie's. As in Debbie Downer.

Because judging by this year's Best Picture Nominees, you couldn't have a worse time at the movies if there was an active shooter in the theater. A new poll found that less than half of Americans now go to church. They don't have to. If they want to feel guilty, dirty, and bad, they can watch Nomad Land. That's the one about the woman

who winds up living in her van after her husband dies of cancer. In Judas and the Black Messiah, the FBI kills the leader of the Black Panthers, and in the trial of the Chicago 7, the FBI kills the leader of the Black Panthers again. Promising young woman has Carrie Mulligan avenging a murderous rapist,

but then he kills her too. And she was so close to joining the Black Panthers. Sound of Metal is about a musician going The father is about an octogenarian descending into dementia, and Minari is the story of dirt poor Korean immigrants in Arkansas who put all their food in a barn, but then grandma has a stroke and burns it down. Now, enjoy the show. The 2021 Oscar is brought to you by Razor Blades, Kleenex, and Rope.

Please welcome our host, the sad emoji. You know, look, I don't have to leave the theater whistling. But would it kill you once in a while to make a movie that doesn't make me want to take a bath with the toaster? We all had a rough year. A little escapism would have been appreciated. But your list of movies, it's like the menu at some stupid, trendy restaurant where all the choices are very impressive. But there's not one thing I actually want to eat. Where's the comfort food?

What happened to show business? Did they all decide to quit cocaine at the same time? Did they forget? Did they forget that Hollywood is still the number one place to go if you're an egomaniac looking to fill that hole from your childhood with applause? At least that's what my therapist says to me. I don't know. They forgot how to help people escape from their problems.

And then they wonder why they're losing their audience in droves. Of course. You keep offering up the immigrant who's shit in a coffee can. and at some point the crowd is going to go, oh, fuck it, just give me the Netflix movie of Motley Crew taking drugs and getting blown. Academy nominations

used to say, look what great movies we make. Now they say, look what good people we are. It's not about entertainment. It's about suffering, specifically yours. It's not two hours to forget your troubles. It's traffic school at the Holocaust Museum. In 2021, if you're at the movie,

and wondering, huh, which one is the bad guy? It's you. Because you have indoor plumbing, and the nominees don't. This is one reason why Godzilla v. Kong stomped at the box office last weekend and finally got people back to theaters. Because it's Godzilla versus Kong, not Godzilla versus Kong and his crippling battle with depression. Not that I want to see Godzilla versus Kong either. Jesus, is there no...

Hollywood used to know. they used to know how to make a movie that was about something a movie for adults that was also entertaining and not just depressing there was already a category for that best documentary

you know important filmmaking about the conflict in Syria or the plight of the hot dog stand owners you know the part of the Oscar show where you got up and went to the bathroom but that's the whole show now They don't even have a host anymore. The funniest part of the whole night is the in-memorium segment. It's such an odd psychological quirk.

I keep asking myself, why do so many liberals have this seeming desire to want to be sad? Could it be because being sad allows you to feel like you're doing something about a problem without actually having to do anything? Like the poor lady living in her van. There is a solution to homelessness, building affordable housing, possibly in your neighborhood.

But do people, including liberals, vote for that? No, they fight it. But it does make them sad. Without affecting home values. Virtue signaling has already ruined most of the Internet, the publishing industry, the New York Times, and most of the colleges where football isn't a priority.

Please, at least, Leave us the movies. Because, in all honesty, I got to ask if your movie is so woke, how come I'm falling asleep? All right, that's our show. I'll be back next week. I want to thank my guest, Heather McGee, Ryan Salam,

and Senator Alex Medea. Good night. Thank you, folks. 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.