Real Time with Bill Maher - Ep. #582: Sean Spicer, Caitlin Flanagan, Sen. Chris Coons

Episode Date: October 30, 2021

Bill’s guests are Sean Spicer, Caitlin Flanagan, and Sen. Chris Coons. (Originally aired 10/29/21) 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. Thank you very much. Thank you. I'm... Thank you very much.

I know. It's exciting time of year. It's Halloween weekend. Is this your favorite? Oh, I love it when it falls on a Sunday Halloween. You know, you scare the kids with stories about evil demons and ghosts. Then after church.

You go trick-or-treating. Now I do And I see you got your masks dirty on I do love Halloween I do you know the one time you dress up and pretend to be something we're not

also known as Instagram but this this is a holiday I I have I've got so into this birthday show

I went to see the Halloween movie sequel. Have you seen that? I'd tell you Jamie Lee Curtis looks fantastic at 62. She really does. In the movie, kind of a Karen. Really?

She sees Michael Myers killing a kid, and she goes, you're not from this neighborhood. Certainly not seeing it the right way. But you know, you know who Jamie Le Curtis's mom is, right? Generally starred in the greatest horror movie of all time, Psycho. Psycho. Look, Psycho's been out 61 years,

so I hope I'm not giving anything away at the end now. But when Anthony Perkins shows up with that knife wearing his mother's dress in the wig, it just changed cinema forever. And also Dave Chappelle was effective. Now, of course, out here in California, pot's been legal for a while, as in many states, not all stupidly, but yeah, okay.

So, obviously, this time of year, Halloween, local news, is just full of watch out for pot edibles that look like candy. Like I'm going to waste my stash on children. Children. I don't even like children.

I put a sign on my lawn this year. It said, no candy. Supply chain issues. Oh, no. I mean, there are supply. Are you having trouble getting shit you need? I don't have all the shit I need. This year, I'm trying to get kids to put toilet paper on my house.

But you know where the president is? He's overseas right now. He was in Rome yesterday. He met with the Pope. Pope, I've got to say, Pope gets along a lot better. It looks like, to me, with the Democrats. I mean, look at him with Biden. He looks like he's a pretty happy camper. Obama loved him. Trump. I'm just saying. But Joe Biden, Biden's very at home.

let's put it that way at Vatican City, because it's a lot like Delaware. It's a made-up tiny little state that no one pays taxes in. I... We have the senator from Delaware. Warm him up with that one. No, but there was one awkward moment

at the Vatican yesterday when the Pope offered last rights on Biden's spending bill. That was... Because that... Well, that thing, the... the Democrats still fighting with themselves over this spending bill.

This process just will not end. It's like a blinking contest between two people who've had too much Botox. And, you know, and the Democrats still trying to figure out what this Kirsten Cinema wants. I'm not even sure she's wrong. I just know what she wants.

I was like, speak, woman. She's that person in a relationship where she doesn't know where she wants to go to dinner, but she knows it's not where you want to go. But what is still in the bill that the Democrats are going to put for, child tax credits up to $3,600, you ever get universal pre-kindergarten,

free child care for the poor and subsidized child care up to $15,000 if you make that. Yeah, as always, nothing for us people who are smart enough to wear the condom. And finally, this is kind of. And finally, this is kind of big news.

Facebook is changing its name and its whole culture toward the virtual, changing the name to meta. It's going to be all... Of course, I read this on Facebook. It may not be true. All right. We've got a great show. Senator Chris Coons is here, and Caitlin Flanagan.

But first up, he is the former press secretary to President Trump, an author of Radical Nation, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris' dangerous plan for America. Sean Spicer. Give up my hand. Oh, no, are you a handshake? My hand. Okay, go.

It's so weird that we're shaking hands. They're all en masse. You know, it's just, we'll get to that later. Okay. But I'm glad we're back to doing that. And look, I've seen you on TV quite a bit. Oh, good. Thank you.

First with Trump. I appreciate that. And then I'm dancing with the stars. Oh, that too. Thank you. Oh, see? Look at that. Ironically, it's the same lot, you know.

What's that? As you know, it's the same lot. It's good to be back. Yeah. No, I know you have your book there over your nuts. I'm not going to... Don't worry, Sean. This is not a hostile intro. Okay. I can't always get it back. No, I've been here for a long time now. I'm well aware of that. I know.

No, we're trying to say that we have to come together as a country with the people on your side and people on my side. So I'm not here to kick you in the nuts. Good to know. Okay. But we do have disagreements. I just, first of all, I mean, Dangerous Plan for America, the name for the book. Tell me what, now, I, look, I've also said on this show

that the $3.5 trillion seemed like a lot of money for a country that not that long ago never passed the $1 trillion mark. And I'm not sure what's in it. I don't think we spend money wisely. So I had reservations, but dangerous plan for America. It seems like all the conservative books are like. You're always playing this dangerous radical card. Is it really dangerous?

I think it is. I think you look at how we're dealing with China, how we withdrew from Afghanistan and the aftermath of that, what we're doing in the economy, inflation going rampant. All of these things are a concern of mine. Plus, if you can spend $3.5 trillion and not know what's in it, and all you're doing is shoveling out money. Well, they do know what's in it.

No, they don't. There's not a single member of Congress that's read that. Well, they don't. Yeah, no, because it's 1,000 pages. But we do know them. $1,400. Okay, every. Sean, you know what?

I'm just saying, Bill, but we've not ever spent 3.5 or $2,000 of the clip. I just said that, but nobody ever knows what's in a giant bill like that. So let's just talk, real talk, and not go to talking points. But it's what it's being spent on. Okay, but, like, I remember you guys saying the exact same thing about Obamacare

was going to be the end of freedom. It's been over a decade. It wasn't. Was it the end of freedom? Obama care, just to be clear, I think we're still dealing with the aftermath of it. But number one, Obama's... The aftermath. Obamacare was just health care.

What I'm talking about isn't related to just one stimulus bill. It's how we're dealing with everything in this country right now. They want to do things like negotiate drug prices. I'm fine with it. But they want to make DC estate. They want to pack the court. All of these things I think will radically... And here's the thing.

It's not my words. The president on Friday said that I want to transform this country. Three Fridays ago, he said if we pass my legislation, it will fundamentally transform the circumstances. structure in nature of the country. Those are his words, not mine. Your side is always saying, they're out of office... No, he's saying it. I know, but like, you're out of office two

days, and the country is an irretrievable shithole. Really? I mean, Trump... I mean, it's amazing to me how fast it was. Because Trump's slogan is, Make America Great Again Again. I couldn't have written that. It's such a parody of its son.

Tell me, what is ten months in office? What is one thing that is going well that this administration has done. One thing. Well, we did get out of Afghanistan. Now, he did not stick the landing on how it was done. I will agree with that. But unlike his predecessors who talked about it and didn't do it,

it was a big thing that had to be done. Oh, I think we were going to regret how we've done that for decades, if not generations. The fact that we've lost all forward presence in that region. I know this kind of stuff doesn't mean a lot to you, but they also did lift a lot of children out of poverty. with the pandemic really? Okay. I mean, that does matter.

I mean, another thing they want to do, dental for seniors. You know, a lot of ill health comes through the mouth. Yes. No jokes, Sean. I'm just saying... Maybe we did it earlier in life. It is a portal to...

It's like the kind of thing that's pennies on the dollar if you take care of seniors and they're dental. But I think the one thing that, and you started at this at the beginning, there's a lot of things that there's a shared goal, but it's how we do them. Yes. Right? And too many times the answer is a government institution

that is not well run, is not efficient, and we end up for decades and generations looking back and saying, oh, too bad. So we're just talking about the numbers. We're just talking about... Well, no, we're talking about how to do it. Okay. But I think that you look at all of the systems of government

in terms of especially health care, the VA, Medicare, Medicaid. None of them run well. And now we want to say, hey, let's add to that. But we have to get back to this type of negotiating. We're talking about, I think this is a reasonable discussion somewhat, as opposed to Q&ONB believes Democrats eat babies. You know, how do you negotiate with that person? It's like, we'll bend a little on the corporate tax rate if you stop eating babies. But I don't think you are negotiating with Q&O.

You're not. But that's a big part of your constituency. No, it's not. QAnon is not? So you renounce QAnon. Of course I do. Oh, great. I don't eat babies.

Not anymore. No, that's the other, they're accusing the other side. They're not. QAnon's not eating babies. They're saying the Democrats eat babies. Okay, well, I don't think that. That's lunacy. What about, what about the election was rigged

and Trump really won? Is that lunacy? I think there are some serious problems with the election. Here we go. No, no, time out. Hold on. Name a, when you look at Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Nevada, the idea that we changed rules running up to an election

in terms of how a ballot was counted, when it was counted. Do you think Pennsylvania, the law signed by a Democratic governor in 2019, Act 76? signed by Governor Wolf, so that all ballots had to be in by ATM. There was a pandemic. That's why they changed. So change the law.

Okay, there was no time to do that. No, there should just think it. Well, you would have, no, there wasn't. There wasn't. There was plenty of time to pass legislation in all of these other areas. But this is a rabbit hole you want to go down to avoid the question.

No. Did Trump win or lose the election? I don't know. Well, there you go. Because the world does. No, first of all, tell me how many votes that got cast illegally and not according to the system, who did they go for?

But this was litigated in every court's, even Republicans who were in charge of the vote came down on the side of this election was fairly adjudicated. You yourself said right after the election, they asked you about fraud. You have said, I have seen no evidence. Correct, I haven't, but what I have seen is a state, there's a difference.

So imaginary evidence? No, no, no, no, there is a difference. What Pennsylvania's Supreme Court did, what Wisconsin's clerks did, they let people, Wisconsin does not have a provision in their law, to let people vote early in person. It has an absentee ballot provision. People set up tables in parks in Madison, Wisconsin,

and allowed people to come without identification. In Pennsylvania, they were allowed to vote without identification, no postmark on the ballot, in violation of Act 77, signed by a Democratic governor in 2019. And the answer is, well, then don't worry about it because it was a pandemic. Well, what's the next thing that you can just blow away? A law is a law until it's changed. You don't get to pick what you want to follow.

depending on what's happening outside. Okay. This, again, this was looked at exhaustively. It's not, that's not true, though. What was looked at, so, for example, in Wisconsin, the court ruled four to three.

Okay, Sean, I get it. You know what, you're like... You accused me of something. You said your piece. You said your piece. I haven't looked at this. You're like that kid in school. Who's right?

No. No, who has to answer about the book report, so reads one page very carefully that nobody else read, and then does a thing on that. and then we don't know what you're talking about. You do. But we know that what I do know...

It's your show. What I do know is that this was looked at by people from both parties and that people have come down on the idea that Trump lost this election and you won't say it. And if you're either part of the big lie

or you're part of the conspiracy. It is not a big lie. The Wisconsin State Audit Committee just released a report. I have it here. You're afraid of Trump. I'm not afraid of anything, Bill. You're afraid of Trump.

No. You're afraid of being honest. Yes, you are. You're afraid of being... Time out. You said, I've not seen... I have not. Then again, I wasn't on the campaign. I did not see evidence of widespread fraud. What I did say, and what I'm telling you is that in certain states where they sent out ballots that were not requested in violation of a law, that should concern everybody. But he still lost the election. Okay. Okay, now. So worry about Biden. Okay, so he did lose the election, Trump. Biden's president.

See, this is all about, you work in the conservative sphere of media. I do. If you say what I want you to say, what I think you truly believe, you won't get your job, Trump will start attacking. I have a contract, I'm good. Well, they may, they pay you, but they'll take you off the air.

I don't think that's true. I don't blame you. You know, you have something to say. But this is the problem with our country. We can't move forward because two-thirds of your party is beholden to this idea that is not true. And when a country goes from a place where

elections are not about the issues in the elections, but about elections themselves, then you're in trouble. Then you're in third. If you don't think that states changing rules leading up to... That's different. There is a difference between looking at a state... It happened for a reason.

Okay, but that's... But you... You're saying... Because it's a pandemic, you can do anything you want. It's interesting that everything that happens... Hang in this all on that. It's bullshit. No, it's bullshit. You know it's bullshit. It is not bullshit.

You know what it is. I'm sorry. I'm telling you that... Literally, I just cited three states and the courts that have come out on them. Not by me, not by Trump, by those states. So tell me where they... Let's argue that.

Tell me what you found right about what any of those three states did in violation of their own laws. I haven't looked at as closely as you have, Sean. but a lot of people more qualified than me have, including people in your own party. Courts looked at it. This was litigated over and over and over again.

And what they came up with... Hold on, no, no, no. Is that he lost the election. The Wisconsin court ruled four to three. And the reason that... I tried to get you to say... You want to talk about courts, and then you go, let's not talk about courts.

All right. I appreciate you coming on. I know it was a hostile place to do it. I hope we're still friends. Sean Spicer, everybody. Let's meet our prime. All right. She should say staff writer at the Atlantic.

Caitlin Flanagan is back here with us. Thankfully, Caitlin Flanagan's here. And he is the Democratic Senate from Delaware. I was just making a little joke there before. And a member of the Judiciary and Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Chris Coons is over here. Okay, so, Senator, I saw you yesterday on TV, and you said that there is a deal with the Democrats.

You said, they asked you in our mansion and cinema on board, and you said, I just spoke to both. of them. So there is a deal, and if so, at what number? 1.95 trillion. Oh, 1.9? I hadn't heard that one. And Bill, it's great to be on. Thank you. And that's a gun deal? So the Senate's going to vote for this at that number and pass it. So Manchin has insisted on getting some deficit reduction into this package. So the framework that we all received, we all got text over the weekend. We got texts that we're looking at over this weekend. He wanted $200 billion. and deficit reductions.

So the revenue side comes in at 1.95, the spending at 1.75. I'll remind you, this is one of the big things about this build-back better package is that it doesn't add to the deficit in debt. And you just reminded folks of what are the big pieces of it. This doesn't add to the deficit?

Because we're raising more money than we're spending in this package. And it does some really big things in terms of daycare, health care, pre-K. It makes... Just tell me. Significant investments.

Where are you getting that $2 trillion? 15% corporate rate minimum. Right. So something I think is broadly supported. There shouldn't be companies that make billions of dollars and pay zero in taxes. A surcharge on millionaires and billionaires. That's one of the most popular pieces of the package.

And IRS tax enforcement. We have a huge tax gap in this country, folks who don't pay the taxes they owe. So the big three revenue pieces is surcharge and... billionaires, IRS tax enforcement, and a minimum corporation. I was told Senator Manchin you felt like you were just about to lose him, maybe to the Republican Party. Is there truth to that?

Well, there was an interview saying that he was really frustrated and he felt like if you push me any further, I'll leave the caucus. Wow. He then publicly said, no, no, no, I might become an independent. The larger point here is that we have a really big tent in the Democratic Party from Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren all the way to Mansion. cinema, and one of the challenges we face is there's no Republicans helping us do this. There are no Republicans who are at the table helping

with daycare and child care and health care. So we've got to come all of us, all 50 of us in the same place. I see what got thrown under the bus was family leave, community college, prescription drugs, but what stayed in, and I'm saying, I'm giving you an adder boy in this

is the climate stuff. Yes. 550. That to me is the right priority. And, of course, the president is going to, at the end of his if he's going to Glasgow. That's the 26 different, 26 now we've had climate summits. Why would this one be any different? You can see why kids are so despairing young people. Yes.

You know, Silent Spring was published 60 years ago. There's no surprise that we're poisoning the planet. We've known it all of my lifetime. And, you know, these kids have... have grown up, you know, a lot of kids were born after inconvenient truth and they were looking to adults to say, there's a crisis, what are you doing about it? And it's another meeting in Scotland and what's going to happen and somebody's, oh, there's going to be some... Well, let me show you. Let me show you the tape. Did you see little Greta saying almost what

you're saying, but in 19-year-old, I find this amazing. Okay. Build back better. Blah, blah, blah. Green economy. Blah, blah, blah. by 2050, blah, blah, net zero, blah, blah, blah, blah, climate neutral, blah, blah, blah. This is all we hear from our so-called leaders. Words. Words that sound great, but so far has led to no action. And it's so easy to get mad at the leaders, right? And what I would like to say to little Greta and everybody else is that leaders are always a reflection of the people.

They represent. Here's the latest poll. 69% of Americans, including a majority of Republicans, want the U.S. to take aggressive action to fight climate change. Only a third would support an extra tax of $100 a year.

So if you can get it done, around the $90 mark, I am so good to go. Save the planet for $90. Right. It's such bullshit. And, you know, why don't you guys ever go for a carbon tax?

Wouldn't that be the ballsy thing to do for the Progressive Party? Isn't that what has to happen? Not just spend... So you're for that. So Senator Jeff Flake and I introduced a bipartisan carbon tax bill in a previous Congress. We are pushing hard for a price on carbon

and a border carbon adjustment, but frankly, we don't have all 50 Democrats in position to do that yet. No. But that is absolutely the most powerful thing we could do. There will be between the bipartisan, an infrastructure bill and the buildback better bill, a trillion dollars in investments in climate resiliency

in the transition to a cleaner economy. I'm old enough to remember when a trillion dollars was a lot of money an amount we'd never spent before. So that is bold. And Bill, just briefly on the history, because Greta's critique there is a pretty painful one. President Obama campaigned on and ran on combating climate change, and his administration did a lot.

And then we elected a guy who said that climate change is a hoax, and we shouldn't do anything about it, and his administration the Trump administration tore that all up. I don't know if anybody's ever done a lot because the amount of the three big oil, natural gas and coal that we use

has stayed the same. Even during the pandemic, when we were inside hiding, it went up the amount of carbon we put in the atmosphere. We were kind of on the edge in the 70s after silent spring and after like there were rivers in Ohio that caught on fire and they

couldn't put it back out. Remember that? Yeah. And we were kids. Yeah. And right. And then even under the Nixon administration, the EPA was started. And things were really on track. And environmentalism was a very popular subject. It was a bipartisan subject.

Nobody wanted the country poisoned that way. And then to say, Ronald Reagan came in and for lots of nice, easy places to cut and cut and cut. And ever since then, we have been so far behind the eight ball. And there's lots and lots of young people. They don't want to have children for the simple reason that they don't believe there'll be a planet that kids should be born into. And it's just, God, love you, working on this. But even that sounds really slow, you know, given the severity and immediacy of this crisis. But I'm not sure the young are doing that.

I think it's no longer deniable that there is a climate crisis. California's on fire. We've had record tornadoes and hurricanes. I don't see how anyone can credibly run for president saying that climate change is a hoax. Well, we've got the most likely Republican Canada. it in 2024, still saying climate change is a hoax. Well, I mean, I could give you like 10 reasons why I'm still

pessimistic about it, including, we only recently passed the 50% mark of people who believe climate change is caused by humans. So, and then I just told you, like, how many people are willing to spend how much money. We're so not serious. The other reason I'm pessimistic

is because we're so concerned about the past. Let me switch over to that, because there's a election that's going on in Virginia in November. This is an off-year election. They're very rare, but Virginia has them, the Commonwealth, or whatever they call Virginia. It's one

of those weird. We're still in this 18th century names. And Terry McCall, if he was the governor, he's running again. He should walk away with it. Biden won the state by 10 points. It has not gone statewide for a Republican since 2009. He's neck and neck because

the issue became schools. I said this months and months ago, that the issue in the coming elections is going to be what's going on in the schools. Parents vote, and they don't like what's going on in school. They feel like they are losing control, and this became the issue in this election. Trust me, this is going to be a huge barometer kind of election

because Terry McCallel of loses. People understand, yes, oh, that's right. It is going to be about that. And here's what Terry McCall have said, and then we'll get into the backdrop of this. He said, I'm not going to let parents come into schools. Not a good idea. That right there is because Democrats

are so used to talking to teachers. This is a mic-drop applause line with teachers. Not someone with parents. I'm not going to let parents come into schools and actually take books out and make their own decisions. I don't think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.

Just on a political level. Fucking... Oh, excuse me. I mean... Very stupid, right? Very stupid. I was a school teacher before I became a writer. school for 10 years, there's nothing more incendiary than the idea that teachers want to teach

something parents don't want their kids to learn. And that's what this Scopes Monkey trial was all about, was it was illegal to teach, you know, evolution in Tennessee in the 1920s. And a very brave teacher in this great act of civil disobedience said, I'm not going to teach about Adam and even a science classroom. And Clarence Darrow came down and defended him and said, if you can't teach it in the public school today, you can't teach it in the process. at school tomorrow and you can't say it in the public square. This was all back when we thought free speech was a good thing. But this is, it's just setting aside the very real issues that are undergirding this whole

discussion. Just politically, it was such a stupid thing to say. And the undergird is this. There's a book that was being taught. It's Tony Morrison's beloved. Now, I think that's a book that should be taught. Of course. I think that's the, now it is full of stuff that's.

difficult. But these, we're talking about 17, 18-year-old kids. It has bestiality, it has sex and violence, all of which they saw on their phone when they were 10, when you locked them in their let them lock themselves up in their room. Okay. You know, I think beloved, I think

that Democrats are actually picking up on this beloved issue. The issue here is like eight years ago some woman's son read beloved in AP literature and he had a nightmare. Right. which is like you're supposed to.

It's, you know, it's a ghost story, so that was a good response. But, you know, it's not going anywhere. Beleav, it's not going anywhere. That's a national issue. That's not a state issue. The AP is a national test and organization. And all due respect to this mother, truly, some kids aren't ready for AP, you know? So that's a college class, you know?

It's not a high school class. But I think the issue is, so it's been sort of, that's kind of people are, looking at that as that it's a racist issue and racist all throughout this, this whole issue, but I think it's more complex than just than that book. I think it's good that it's coming to the fore because we have to start defining what critical race theory means because it means something to everybody when they hear it. Now, if it means you teach Tony Morrison, I'm for it. It doesn't mean that.

But it means, right. Here's the thing about critical race theory in the schools. Of course you can teach it in the school. there's nothing you can't teach. If you teach it in a Socratic method, it can be in a government class. It can be in a U.S. history class. It's the way you look at Marxism as a framework.

There's lots of different frameworks to look at history. What you cannot do and what is happening is you can't set school policy by the findings of critical race theory. You can't rewrite a curriculum because it, and you really cannot treat children in a way that you're pulling them out by race and giving them different messages.

And that is what you cannot do. It's happening. Right. If that's... Yes. If that's what critical race theory means. If it means separating five-year-olds by race and telling some you're oppressors

and the others you're the oppressed and giving up on a colorblind society and resegregation and racism is the essence of America, then I'm out. Right, that's what it is. I'm out on that. But I'm in on Tony Morrison. I'm in on acknowledging racism so persist.

We don't need, obviously, Tony Morrison, we justify her on literary grounds. This is a great American writer. This is a great American book. if people are putting together a literature program, who wouldn't include a novel, at least one novel by Morrison, and I think that's the one that speaks most loudly to young people.

There are all sorts of ways you build curricula that don't have anything to do with kind of, listen, Terry McCallup, I'm a Democrat, he was just, and I love you, but he's a hacked politician, and he was siding with the teachers' union because he's like, that's where his bread is buttered. And he's a rich man who sent all his kids to private schools,

and he's never in his life. Had someone tell him, we're going to tell your eight-year-old child something you don't want her to know, and we're going to keep her for seven hours to do it, and you have no control over that. So it's a big issue, and if he loses it, then Democrats are going to lose. Learn. Run some progressive candidates. Run some people who stand for progressive ideas. Don't run these regrets. Where are we getting these, Bill? Like, are whole country supposed to be full of this vigorous young country? It's like, General Biden? I mean, okay, at least he got in. but then this Terry McCallup, there's got to be, thank God you're here.

We need you. That's all I'm going to say. Well, you're poor recycling just not a politician. Exactly, exactly. I don't know if the Democratic Party is lacking for progressive politicians. We seem to have plenty. Yeah, you think your progressive quality. Well, what is it mean to be a progressive?

What does it mean to be a progressive? It doesn't necessarily mean these wacky kind of new social ideas. It means that you stand. This are part. Whatever it is, Joe Biden signed on to it fully. Right. So, you know, maybe he's 110, but he signed on to that. We used to stand for the working man and woman.

That's who we were. Yeah. And that is the agenda that the president is moving forward. The policies are definitely better. It is not a radical plan. No. But what we've been working on for weeks now, weeks and weeks, and we will, I believe, deliver in the coming week,

is a plan that's going to deal with the cost. that keep working families up at night. Health care, daycare, pre-K, elder care. These are the things that matter and really combating climate change. That's not a radical plan. That's simply dealing with the things that are right in front of us.

Yeah. Okay. So it's Halloween Eve, Eve? Yes, it's Halloween Eve, Eve, today, Friday. Sunday is Halloween, and it's time for part two of our annual Halloween movies bit. Last week, we talked talked about woke horror movies.

You know, that is an actual genre after Get Out. Woke, and we had, you know, ones like, I know what you tweeted last summer. But there's also conservative Halloween movies, because, I mean, come on, who lives on fear more than the right wing? I mean, Fox's whole business model is fear.

So these are some of the movies of the conservatives are watching this Halloween. These are things that scare conservatives. like Rosemary's Anchor Baby. That's very scary to conservative. The Critical Race Theory Seminar at the end of the street is another terribly scary.

President Evil. Well, there you. Night of the Living Wage. The man in the ironic mask. Heather has two mummies. Oh, that's a very scary Halloween. House of Vax. Oh, scary.

He's a scary to conservative. Friday of the Juneteenthies. Jews. And, of course, husband of Chuckie. Okay. So, I'm not I'm not sure what the latest

Dr. Fauci thing was on Halloween. He changes his mind a lot, but I think it was Go and Do It. I hope so. Because it certainly has been my position since the beginning of this. Just resume living. You know, I mean, come on. The 15 of 100,000,

that's where we are a case in California. Fifteen cases for 100,000 people. I know some people seem to not want to give up on the wonderful pandemic, but you know what? It's over. There's always going to be a variance. You shouldn't have to wear

masks. I should be able... I haven't had a meeting with my staff since March of 2020. Why? I don't know the state, the corporate, whoever it is, you're being fucking... Sorry again. Why can't...

Why is he apologizing to me? I know, because you're a senator. You shouldn't hear bad language. I forget. Never heard that word. I know. But really. I mean, also, vaccine, mask. Pick one.

You got to pick. You can't make me mask if I've had the vaccine. I have broken up with COVID. It's not working for me anymore. I stayed home the first year. I was a good girlfriend. He was a little abusive.

Then I got the vaccine. I walked out of the CVS. I hadn't been that thrilled coming out of a drugstore since I got the birth control pill in 19. It's like, oh, no, I'm back. And it was the same thing. I knew. It's like, okay, I'm not going to need this every day. But when I do need it, it's on board.

And then I barely got there, and it was like, oh, it's Delta. So, you know, I just, I can't keep up. And, you know, I have cancer. I'm triple-vaxed. If it gets me fair play to it because we'll put up a fight against me, but I'm not staying in my house again. There you go. You're down with that because it's the Democrats who seem to be...

I mean, I travel in every state now back on the road, and the red states are a joy, and the blue states are a pain in the ass for no reason. We are all tired of this vaccine. We're all ready to take off the facts. We're all tired of the pandemic. There you go. See? I save you, you save me.

And I won't swear. One of the critical things that's being discussed right now by President Biden, one of the things we have to recommit ourselves to is supporting vaccination around the rest of the world. There's still a lot of countries that are very, very minimally vaccinated because if a variant develops out in the world that is able to defeat the vaccine,

we are all the way back at the beginning. So in the United States, in most of the Western world, we're ready to be done with this, but we're not done until the world is safe and we're not safe as a world until the world's vaccinated. Except the world recognizes natural immunity. We don't. Because everything in this country has to go through the pharmaceutical companies.

Natural immunity is the best kind of immunity. We shouldn't fire people who have natural immunity because they don't get the vaccine. We should hire them. Yes? If someone tests is having anybody's... Well, okay. But, you know, people who've had it, I've had it.

Right. You know, I mean, I shouldn't be tested anymore. I had the vaccine. And if someone's willing to be a fireman, if someone's willing to be a policeman, if someone's willing to go into a burning building and says, I'm just not that afraid of COVID and I don't want to take the vaccine,

that should be enough. He shouldn't be losing his job. He shouldn't be furloughed without pay. The guy that saves lives because he doesn't want to take a vaccine, it's ridiculous. And just a little messaging. I mean, I see it all the time.

I saw it driving in today. People outside alone walking with a mask. It's so, stupid. It's an amulet. You know, a charm people wear around nexus ward away evil spirits.

It means nothing. I mean, can't we get people to understand the facts more? I mean, listen to this. For unvaccinated hospitalization risk, unvaccinated, 41% of Democrats thought it was over 50%

unvaccinated Oh, I don't have that. Hospitalization rate for the vaccinated is actually 0.01%. And the rate for the unvaccinated is 0.89%. So in both cases, the correct answer is less than 1%. They thought it was over 50. How do people, especially of one party, get such a bad idea? Where did that come from?

So here's the good news. We've got safe, effective vaccines that have saved millions and millions of lives. Here's the bad news. Seven hundred thousand Americans have died. Hundreds of thousands of them needlessly. So I'm willing to give President Trump and the previous administration and the Congress credit for Operation Warp Speed

for developing these remarkable life-saving, world-saving vaccines. But I frankly think we shouldn't let up on the urgency of still promoting vaccination so we can enjoy reopening our society, getting back to normal life. Thank you. But there is no consensus really on that number of how many have died exactly from COVID or complications from COVID.

I mean, just anecdotally, when Colin Powell... Hundreds of thousands. Yes, people died, but like Colin Powell died. He had cancer and Parkinson's. And all I heard was he died from COVID. Complications. Yes, if you're very sick, something, you know, is going to... Well, there was a woman.

It was in New York Times. Like, she's 113 and COVID took her out. Well, I mean, she's 113, you know. It's like, that's enough. That's enough of you. Right. And, but I'm telling you, I have cancer a lot. Don't run for office.

Yeah, no, you can't run for. I know a lot of people with cancer. Right, you'll lose the 113-year-old vote. Yeah, exactly. The centenarian demographic. But, you know, because I look at numbers all the time, because of cancer, I look at this COVID stuff, and it's like, yes, anyone I know if cancer would give anything for those odds, 0.89 or whatever. And we're looking at people with complicated health

histories a lot of the time. We're looking at obesity is an issue, but no one wants to say it, because it's body positivity. And we're looking at poverty. That's where we need to be focused, as people who live really close together. But there's a lot of people within different poor communities who don't want to take it. We just have to take our chances, be thoughtful and careful and go back out there and make sure that people who live in dense housing have complete access to the vaccine. And if they don't want to take it, yeah, we got to get back to life. I mean, you look at the sporting events that are, all three sports are playing now, including basketball, which is inside. Nobody seems to be

having super spreader events. I mean, you know, it's, it was great. It was so much fun having a pandemic. But, you know, bye-bye. Okay. Let me, chance to improve our baking skills and walk our dogs in. Right, exactly. So I know your new article in The Atlantic is about toxic masculinity. Well, it's about heroic masculinity. Okay, but fighting the idea. Yes.

There's another thing that parents, I think, around the country are concerned about, I've read this in schools, is that boys are sometimes castigated for basically just being boys. It's just awful. You know, we've had this wonderful change. in our culture where it's, you know, we get it. It's great to be gay. We're way ahead on trans issues. We're way ahead on women's issues and feminism and all that.

But then if you get a little boy and he, you know, wants to run fast and he wants to kick things and he wants to jump, toxic masculinity, and he likes stories about heroes. There was just a big article in New York Times. Some woman is saying, I'm really concerned about my three sons. They like stories about saving the day. They like playing video games where they can be a hero. be a hero. That's called heroic masculinity. It's a real thing. We need it. It's been,

it's been part of humanity since the beginning. That's what, that's what ran up those towers, those 300-something men who gave their lives for others. That was heroic masculinity. And there's just something sick and poisoned that this idea that boys are bad and that they have to be watched and that they have to be retrained and that the people who are going to do watching and retraining are women, the people who raise boys, you need to have men very involved because boys want to grow up to be men. And so I think that we're going to not be in a good place. You know, if you want to make toxic masculinity to the extent that that's a thing, yeah, of course it is. If you want to create toxic masculinity, tell these boys from preschool on that there's something wrong with them and the

things they want to do are wrong. They might be right for this girl over here, but for you, they're wrong and you're dangerous. And I know a lot of parents feel this. way, and there's got to be a way to celebrate all the diversity of genders and of sexual expression, et cetera, and still say that there's a very large number of boys who are this way. And some, you know, some of what's baked into the cake of us being men is not going to be perfect. But I feel like it's still somewhat popular with women.

You tell me. Caitlin and I, we're both parents of twin boys. We both have twin boys in their 20s. I also have a daughter. And just one of the things we focused on, my wife and I, and raising our kids, was giving them a model that's positive for heroic adulthood. Right. So I'll tell you, in Congress, whether it's Speaker Pelosi or Senator McCulski was a senator from Maryland,

tough as nails, capable leaders, decisive, I would say heroic role models. But I identify both of them as women, do you? Yeah, absolutely. Okay, so I'm talking about masculinity. It's a thing. And we've decided it's not a thing. And we've decided there's no difference between men and women. And Senator Pelosi, you know, God, love her,

I'm not going to wait for her to come into the burning building and get me out of there when she was of age. And I believe me, I'm as strong a woman as you're ever going to get within the feeble world in which I work. But I'm strong. I know a lot of really tough women. I know a lot of women are heroes. It's different to be a man.

It's different, heroic masculinity. Look, the ugly truth that nobody wants to admit is men are stronger, they're bigger, they're faster. They have a better sense of spatial objects, which is why they blow us out of the water with sports and women can't keep up. That's just the truth. And as a group, a lot of boys are saying, what's the point of all this? What's the point of my being faster and stronger and bigger? It's to protect innocent people. it's to be that person who goes into the burning building.

That's what I'm all about. And there's plenty of great women firefighters. There are plenty of great women cops. But no, Nancy Pelosi is not an example of heroic masculinity. That's not what I was saying. I know. But I was saying it's important for our children to have positive examples of the heroic. Yes.

And for young boys to understand how to treat others respectfully and how to feel fully empowered to be heroic. So is there a different kind of heroism, heroism, that you would model. for your sons in a particular way than your daughter, or do you just think heroism is the same for the genders? I think there's certain qualities, loyalty, decisiveness, commitment, a willingness to take risks, service to others that are admirable in men and women.

And absolutely, I mean, you know, my boys, like, wrestled and played football and played lacrosse, and I'm very proud of them. But we also help them understand how to treat others with respect, how to be positive. Okay. I have to respectfully end it there. Thank you very much, you guys. Time for New Rules, everybody, New Rules.

Okay, New Rule, the British activist. British activists who set up this protest outside Downing Street after Parliament voted against an environmental bill needs to be more direct. People don't see this and think you're an activist and you're striking a blow for the environment. They think you're a union and you're on a break. New Rule, let's admit that a bomb cyclone

it's just cable news way of saying a storm. The same way the Toyotathon sales event is Toyota's way of saying, you can buy our cars at the same price as you would any other time of year. New rule, whoever keeps writing those articles telling us we're doing everything wrong, including this one that says we're walking wrong, you have to show yourself. That way, we can write about you, everything you're doing wrong. Like, you're probably contributing to the field of journalism wrong.

here's how to fix it and go fucking yourself you're doing it wrong Neuro someone has to tell the woman the women who buy this sexy vaccine costume which consists of a wet look mini dress and a hypodermic needle

sticking out of your head it doesn't look sexy or like a vaccine it looks like you've been swimming at Venice Beach terrible Neuro now that Megan the has posted this photo of her boyfriend drinking from a glass wedged in her ass.

Let's not make this a thing at Hulahans. I mean, look at that photo. It's very unsanitary. He's not wearing a mask. And finally, new rule, instead of putting a Bible in hotel rooms, we should start putting a dictionary in there. Because apparently nobody knows what words mean anymore. George Carlin famously had the seven words

you can't say on TV. Well, here's my eight words. People need to stop redefining. Hate, victim, hero, shame, violence, survivor, phobic, and white supremacy. Comedian Hannah Gadsby characterized Dave Chappelle's controversial Netflix special as hate speech, dog whistling. Well, dog whistle refers to when someone puts things in code

because they're afraid to come out and say what they really think. That's what you get from Dave Chappelle? He's afraid to say what he really thinks. And it's not hate speech, just because you disagree with it, nor is it phobic. Phobic comes from the Greek word for something one fears irrationally, like spiders or germs. But now is used as a suffix for anything you just don't like. I've been called commitment phobic. No, I don't fear commitment.

I just don't want it. other people do great I don't call them singlephobic I don't like bowling I'm not bowling phobic and if I talk about how wrong

I think it is to force women to wear a beekeeper suit all day that's not being Islamophobic I just don't like it and I bet they don't either I went as a ghost for Halloween once I lasted about 20 minutes Also in the category of

We just don't like it so we're pretending at something else is the word violence. Last year there was a staff mutiny at the CBS drama All Rise when some of the writers I'm sorry, I meant victims, took issue with a scene where two women are in an elevator

and a naked man gets on and they just continue talking calmly. And if you think that's offensive, you should see how the guy pushed the button. But the writers on this show, found the scene objectionable and sent off an email saying, two women would not calmly continue a conversation with a naked white guy running into the elevator.

That is violence. No, it's not. Violence is when it hurts. It usually involves leaving a mark of some kind. Of course, innumerable things can lead to violence, but I'm sorry, you can't take that word and use it for stuff that's just scary to you, or just verbal,

which is something I literally learned in kind of. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but if you don't know how that one ends, you need to repeat kindergarten. Social justice warriors who are fond of governing by hashtag like to say silence is violence. And we know that because it rhymes. The words victim and survivor have traveled a long way from their original usage. The baby from the Nirvana album says he's a victim. He's suing Nirvana for lifelong damages. I never thought I'd have to say this to a baby,

but stop being such a fucking baby. You're not a victim. There's no reason you can't have a normal, halfy life just because people look at you and think baby penis. It didn't hurt Trump. In 2010, the New York Times used the term white supremacist on 75 occasions. Last year, over 700 times.

Now, some of that, to be sure, is because Trump came along. and emboldened the faction of this country that is truly white supremacist. It is, of course, still a real thing. But it shouldn't apply to something like, as more than a few have suggested, getting rid of the SAT test.

Now, if we find the SAT test is slanted in such a way as to stack the deck in favor of Caucasians, if there are questions like Biff and Chip are selling a yacht, traveling at 12 knots to an Ed Sheeran concert on Catalina. If Catalina is 26 miles away, how many white claws should they bring?

Yes, then maybe. But of course, the SAT doesn't have questions like that, so it becomes the kind of ludicrous exaggeration that makes lovers of common sense roll their eyes and then vote for Trump. Now, are there snowflakes on the right? Of course, there's no whineer little bitch than Trump himself. But this kind of...

But this kind of stuff does tend to stick to the left a lot more. Have you ever heard a parent call their child their hero? What party are they probably in? My kid is my hero. Why? He's sick. Did he pull someone out of a burning building? My hero. Look at the way he shares is riddling.

You do realize how stupid it sounds to imply you want to grow up to be your kid. During the pandemic, everyone, was a hero. No, for sure, frontline medical workers really were and are. But then it spread to civil servants, and then anyone who just went to work. Postal employees, Amazon

stockers. One day I found myself saying to the guy collecting carts at Ralphs, thank you for your service. And then there's shaming. That definition has been rewritten to mean anything that suggests I'm not 100% perfect. I'm not fat-shaming

when I call bullshit on the idea that a person can be healthy at any size. We're so through the looking glass on this that Weight Watchers changed their name to WW. The weight loss people can't mention weight loss. Adele was shamed

for losing weight, like she was a traitor to, what, unhealthiness? When I have reported the statistic that 78% of the people who died or were hospitalized with COVID were overweight, that's not fat shaming. That's fat-splaining.

It's what the CDC should be doing. And this is the essence of why word inflation is a problem. You can try to change reality by changing the words, but you can't. It just stops you from dealing with it.

One of the bad guys in 1984 says, the whole aim of newspeak is to narrow the range of thought. Yes, it's Orwellian. And you know what they say? Orwell never ends well. All right. So show I'll be at the Taff Theater in Cincinnati, November 7.

At the Mirage in Vegas, November 26 and 27. And at the DJCC concert hall in Birmingham, Alabama, January 15th. I want to thank Caitlin Flanagan, Senator Chris Coons, and Sean Spicer. 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.