Real Time with Bill Maher - Ep. #682: Jesse Eisenberg, Stephen A. Smith, Rep. Ro Khanna

Episode Date: January 25, 2025

Bill’s guests are Jesse Eisenberg, Stephen A. Smith, Rep. Ro Khanna (Originally aired 1/24/25) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Put together already. How you doing? All right. Thank you. Oh, I'm glad you're... I appreciate it. Thank you so much. Glad you're in a good mood.

I know. Hey, please. I know. It's been a tough time here for us Angelinos, right? I mean, last week a lot of people lost their home to the fire. This week, a lot of people lost their gardeners to ice. You know. And we're not out of the woods yet with the fires.

Right? They came up again. Some of them came up so quickly. The mayor barely had time to book a trip. Also in the news this week, Donald Trump is president again. And he's only 13% contained. He is here in L.A. today. He's touring.

Touring the fire zone. He saw all the pink flame retardant. He said, I don't. I didn't know idea this place was that gay. Oh, he's, he's quite an expert on what we should do here about the fires. He said, I don't think we should give California anything aid he's talking about until they let the water flow down. Okay, first of all, you're not, I said I wasn't going to lose it this year. You're not giving us anything.

We're Americans. Thank you. This isn't a casino when you're comping our room, okay? And he's obsessed as he gets obsessed with things like windmills. He's obsessed with this small fish called The Smelt. Now, there is a story about this, and it's too complicated to go into. But, you know, it's a fish. We change the laws, environmental, whatever.

He said, no wonder it's in danger. It's not getting any water. Okay, no, Don. The fish has the water because we took down the irrigation dams in order to, oh, fuck, I just do your dance and get out of it. Just do the dance. But, boy, the inauguration

was Monday, and this guy hit the ground running. There's so many things have changed so fast. I can't even go through them all. Just basically, if you're not in prison, report. And if you were in prison, get out. That's basically... No, he signed... What is signing?

had ceremonies all day long, 26 executive orders, 12 memos, and four proclamations about everything. Windmills and the Kennedy assassination and renaming things and crypto and DEI and going to Mars and signing, signing, signing, Lauren Bobert was there. He said, boy, you think your hand gets tired. Yes, and one of his proclamations, by proclamation, we will now only recognize two sexes.

And that doesn't grab you by the pussy. I don't know what's that. Also, here's something kind of interesting. I'm sure it's just coincidence. But before the inauguration, Trump increased his wealth by 89%. Yeah, like in a day to $58 billion. Now he's one of the richest 25 people in the world. With meme coins, you got meme coins?

You do? Oh, well, that's not good. He released one of him and one of Melania. And a meme coin is a cryptocurrency that's inspired. by an internet meme. It's kind of like if Bernie Madoff sold Pokemon cars. It's just... So, Trump voters, help me out on one thing.

You voted for him because you couldn't afford eggs, but you can't afford the Melania Magic coin. Okay. And finally, come on, this is L.A. The Oscar nominations came out this week. Very exciting. And most nominations, The nominations went to Amelia Perez.

Have you seen this one? It's a Spanish-language musical that celebrates a Mexican drug lord who becomes a better person by having a sex change operation. I'm just glad the proud boys got out of person in time to see it. All right, we've got a great show. We have Congressman Rokana. I'm Stephen A. Smith. At first, he's a friend of mine, an award-winning actor, a filmmaker, who wrote the record in Coastal and the Oscar-nominated movie,

A Real Pain, Jesse Eisenberg. Nice to take you. It's been so long. It has been long. Thank you so much. It looked the same. I know. You look the same.

I don't. You got the glasses, though. Yeah, I got the glass. No, we used to hang out. What happened? You moved to Indiana or some crazy shit? Yeah, I did. I was living in Indiana.

Actually, yeah, I was living in Indiana for a while. What's there? No, I'm not that of knocking it. It's great. One of the greatest towns in the world, Bloomington, Indiana. It's a college town. And, you know, it's this great place.

My wife was born and raised there. We were back there to help with family stuff, and we stayed for a while. a while. Oh, and do you like being in the heartland? Do you... I do, and I'll tell you, like, you know, because I... I always did. I've been listening to you for so long, I always love that you kind of, like, defend, you're like, there's a lot of people there who are not, you know, what you brush the whole state with, you know. Right. Bloomington is this, like, incredible... My mother-in-law

ran the domestic violence shelter there for 35 years, and so, like, all of our circle there, like, people are, like, progressive activists, and, you know, Indiana gets painted with quite a specific red brush, but, like, when you're there, you know, you're, you're surrounded by people who are far more engaged than, you know, where I am in New York City. Yeah. And even some red people are not horrible people. Well, of course that. But I just mean...

Of course that. No, no. No, no. No, I'm saying, of course that. But I'm saying also you have these people who you probably feel like, you know... Right. I get it. But listen, let's not bury the lead. You got an Oscar nomination.

I'm so... You know, I'm just really happy for you because... No, because you are so prolific. You've done so much for so long, and of course you've had a great career, but I feel like you're finally getting recognized as anuteur. And this movie is fantastic. Thank you. If you haven't seen this movie, I hate you.

That's our blood. That's our quote. Yeah, exactly. No, it's just so good. Do you want to give the basic premise of it for people who don't know? Yeah, sure, sure, sure. Yeah, it's different than Amelia Perez. It's what that movie isn't.

No, it's basically it's these two cousins who I play one of the cousins. Kieran Culkin plays the other. And we go on essentially like a Holocaust tour to Poland to see where our grandmother is from and to also see the sights of Poland. But your grandmother in real life was in the Holocaust? No, so my family, like the character in the movie is kind of like a combination of two people.

My cousin who survived this woman Maria, who just actually died of COVID, but, you know, spent her life in Poland after the war. And my aunt Doris, who left before the war and who was like a real mentor to me in my life. Lazzangue sur-gely, puissance-moined, for example.

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Well, I, I read that you were going to play the other part. I mean, I love the dynamic here because... Oh, thanks. I've seen this in my life so much. One person, I feel like I'm this person, would be like you're the person you were in this movie.

Yeah. You know, they're the reasonable person. And you have this great speech where you go, like, we're all in pain. Whereas the other guy, he acts out on everything. I think he's a giant pain in the ass, but he is charming. Right.

You know, there's that kind of person. I don't relate to that kind of person. Yeah, yeah. And Karen Calka, already won the goal. Golden Glob. I mean, he's brilliant playing that part. Yeah, he's really great. Okay. I read that you were going to play that part. Yeah, I mean... That was a terrible idea. Well, you know, that's what actors do. You know, I don't have to be that. Kieran's not exactly that person either, you know, so... Much closer. Much closer. You made the right decision. Oh, thanks a lot. It wasn't even my

decision. You know, I was, like, told not to play that part. Like, by, like, one of my producers is Emma Stone, and, you know, she was like, don't try to direct a movie or you're, like, managing a group of people while also playing this character who, as you kind of, you know, said, is kind of like this unhinged, spontaneous, like, live wire. Yeah, and the tone of it. You know, you are making a movie that's about a Holocaust tour. Yeah. I mean, it's so perfect, but it, I can't imagine that you weren't aware of that at every moment.

When you're making, it's because it's a funny movie. I mean, it is a comedy, but you don't want to make Harold and Kumar go to Auschwitz. Right, right. What was that like? I mean, does that happen in the writing before you do it? Does that happen on the set? Yeah. I mean, there's a scene where you're actually in the camps.

Right. And you see, I mean, I once went to Dachau and saw that. I mean, it's an incredibly sobering experience. Of course. To fit that into a comedy is tough, and you pulled it off. Oh, that's so sweet. Yeah, I mean, I was, the only thing I was very conscious of was like trying to not make a movie that felt like sanctimonious.

You know, I think a lot of like Holocaust movies, and of course there are so many and there are so many wonderful ones. But a lot of times it feels like they're kind of like, I don't know, patting themselves on the back at the same time that they're showing you their movie. And I just wanted to make something that felt like real, and it felt like people I know that I can relate to, that I can understand talking about real things. They go to that camp, and at night they sneak onto a roof to share a joint.

Like, that would be what I would do if I was in that situation. And you too. Right. And that's what I mean about relating to. your character, like you guys go to Poland and the other guy has a big bonged thing, a pot sent over there. Yeah. And I'm a big pot head, but that would freak me out. I thought, you're going to be in a Polish prison

for the rest of our lives, you stupid fuck. What are you doing? Yeah, but he says in the movie, he goes, what, they're going to arrest two Jews for a little bit of pot in Poland? That's a good look for the Polish people. You know... But I understand you are now a Polish citizen? Yeah.

You have a dual citizenship? I do, I do. Now, why would you, why were you moved to do that? Because I just had this, like, overwhelming feeling there of just complete, like, gratitude and indebtedness to the people who are there preserving, like, Jewish history. You know, we would go to all these sites of, like, you know, Jewish trauma, right? And they're all now run by these incredibly, like, well-meaning,

non-Jewish people who have devoted their lives to, like, you know, kind of memorializing my family's history. And I just felt like it's such a shame that, you know, a lot of American Jews of, Polish descent, you know, have this kind of like negative attitude towards Poland that, oh, it's anti-Semitic. I just had the exact opposite experience there, and I wanted to like just reconnect to a country that my family lived in far longer than we lived here. Well, they were very anti-Semitic. Yeah, but I mean, you know, the Nazis killed almost all the Jews there. Yes, the Nazis.

You know, when they pulled out, the Polish people, some of them were not, still not very nice to the Jews. Listen, I, I know you're a history buff when we could talk geopolitics for a long time, and I'm happy to do that. Juopolitics? Nice. But like, I am very, I'm sensitive to the plate of the polls historically. And also, that was a long time ago. Yeah.

The Polish people there are. But what do you have to do? What entitles you to become a Polish citizen? I really, you know, I wrote a letter to the government saying, I really want to do what I can. This movie is an example, but I want to do what I can to try to repair Polish and, you know, Jewish diaspora relations. You think they would have let you do it if you were just Joe Eisenberg?

Well, you know, I have a cousin, Joe Eisenberg. Maybe. You might have used the connection. So, all right. So, you know, some people say Putin, after going for Ukraine, I mean, there is worry that he, I don't think he's going to invade Poland next. But I've heard that. Yeah.

Okay, what if he does? As a Polish citizen, do you go over there and fight the invasion? You know, I've really only been a citizen for a very short time. I'm saying. You went right into your Woody Allen. I don't speak the language. I wouldn't be good on the unit. And also I just have an appointment here on the other west side.

Well, speaking of that, you did two movies with Woody Allen. Yeah, right. And it's interesting the way this town is a little divided. Some actors will not work with him. Yeah. Some, Alec Baldwin, Scarlett Johansson, Diane Keaton say, it's a witch hunt. Right. Other actors, let's call them gutless pussies, they say they regret working with them and wouldn't work with them.

Which are you? Well, you know, I, you know, thanks for bringing that up. You know, I'm of a few minds on this. And that's like, you know, to say I regret it, you know, something seems a little bit like passing the buck. The other thing I think about all the time is like, you know, if you know, if you're of, I'm of a few minds on this, and that's like, you know, If I can use my platform to say something like that, I'd rather say, please donate money to the Middle Way House in Bloomington, Indiana. It's a domestic violence.

And if you're really concerned with issues surrounding domestic violence, please don't ask an actor to have an opinion about something that they don't really know about. Please give money to this amazing shelter. Okay. All right. All right. What about, you played Lex Luther in the Superman movie? And it was, it's interesting because I see Zuckerberg now at the inauguration, and he's right at the

seat of power. You kind of played Lex Luther as a tech bro. And you must have some feelings playing, because you also played, obviously, famously, in the social network. Mark Zuckerberg. What do you make of all that's going on with the tech bros? Oh, you know, I just, I look at it from a very specific perspective, which is just like, if you're so rich and powerful, why are you not just spending your days doing good things for the world? Like, so I don't like, you. I don't like It's hard for me to understand the specifics of what they're doing. But I just know, like, I married a woman who's like this amazing activist. All she thinks about all day is how can I help the people who are most in need?

And so when I watch these, like, incredibly powerful people, I just think, like, why are you not spending your day helping people? Why are you, like, getting mired into this weird stuff? Stuff I don't really understand. And, like, taking, you know, privacy concerns away, you know, hurting people who are already hurting, marginalized people. Like, to me, I just, I can't even understand that. So I'm not exactly thinking about them in politics. I'm just thinking, why are they not spending every day helping people? I think you should get an Oscar just for that speech.

Thank you. The movie is fantastic. If you haven't seen it, please do. Jesse Eisenberg. Thanks, Bill. Thank you. It's great to see you again. Don't be a stranger.

All right, let's meet our panel. Hey, guys. All right, he hosts first take on ESPN and the Stephen A. Smith show on YouTube. Stephen A. Smith is here. and he's a Democratic congressman from California, Silicon Valley, and a member of the House Oversight and House Armed Services Committee's. Ro Kana is back with this. Okay.

So, week one of the Trump administration, look, I said from the beginning, I'm not going to pre-hate anything this time, but now he's been in office for a week. I'm going to hate something. No, really, I mean, I hated pardoning people who attacked cops. Even if you took the politics out of him. Even if they were at the Capitol that day because they were a polka band, I don't care. You know, even the cops didn't like that.

I also don't like the same thing I didn't like from the first time. Trump has no understanding of how this country works or no, he does not care to learn. In his view, I'm the leader, so I can do anything. TikTok, I mean, both House and Senate voted, you know, we, you either have to sell it or it. He just got rid of that and just said no by proclamation. Birthright citizenship is another one. Now, I didn't even think birthright citizenship is a good idea to begin with. It seems kind of crazy to have that in the...

But it's in the Constitution. So it seems like people are talking about this imperial presidency. We have a president who can just do anything. What are you in Congress going to do about it? That's my question, everybody in Congress. it keeps happening. What are you going to do? Well, first of all, we're going to speak for basic American values. I mean, if you're born in America, you're an American, period.

And when he's going after that, you know, all of Republican lecturing, we're for the Constitution, we're for the founders, until they're not. You know what makes America exceptional? The fact that your parents can come from any country, be of any faith, not have wealth, not have fame, and if you're born in America, you can go as far as you want. And that's what Donald Trump is taking away. And in the park, the people... Come on, man.

Rich Chinese people come here, just they fly over here, and then they have the baby here just so they can meet American citizen. It has been bastardized. You can't say that this is just all for the good. This is like the Reagan welfare queen. They pick out some extreme example, but you're going to change the Constitution over that? No, you're going to change the Constitution. That's what I'm saying.

You can't do things by proclamation. He does not understand that. He doesn't care. He does not care. He doesn't care to learn. He doesn't give a damn. He's not interested. And not, by the way, that's how he got in the office.

We got a backtracker in one on the clock when he walked down and you stroll down escalators in 2015. He was basically sitting up there and saying, what you've seen going on in Washington is so disgusting. It's not in the interest of you as the American people. So I'm going to do it my way. And I've answered this question on so many occasions when I'm going to be. I've talked about them, guys.

I've said this. You could have politicians saying, I disagree with this person, I disagree with that person, etc. Trump will call them every name under the sun. He will mock them. He will insult them. He will be as annoying and as disgusting

as you will allow him to be. And the voters will say, ha, we love the fact that you talk to Washington that way because as American citizens, that's how we feel about Washington. And the fact that you're speaking our language is what makes us trust you because we believe you resonate on our behalf.

This is why he got into office in 2016. This is why a whole bunch of people were acting like, you know what, in 2020, with the insurrection, because it was an insurrection, regardless of what people want to admit, the way those folks were acting, not everybody, but some of them. And then ultimately, he wins back in office in 2024. Just like in 2020, we said Biden,

it wasn't about votes for Biden, it was about votes against Trump in 2024. It wasn't about votes for Trump. It was votes against some of the next. nonsense that was taking place within the Democratic Party because they have not been able to find a voice that would resonate with the American people where you're speaking their language, where they look at you and they say, hey, we get where you're coming from, you relate to us. The Democrats went a different direction. Trump capitalized on it. Basically, he played everybody

like a fiddle and there's one re-election again. That's really the bottom line. I agree. I think with a lot of what's today's take. I mean, look, I think Trump came in there and said politics are broken. They're all beholden to donors. There's been a country which has had all this economic wealth in some areas, other parts of the country, offshoring of jobs.

Your communities haven't been helped. I'm going to come and fix it. And there's a history in this country. We love James Dean. We love Miles Barber. We love people who question rules. But what is he doing about it? Like how is freezing cancer research,

freezing diabetes research, and freezing Alzheimer's research, doing anything to help people? people's lives. Now they're saying, oh, he's cool. Well, I mean, talk about cherry picking. I mean, I didn't even hear about those. I'm not surprised he's doing it. But I don't have all the facts on that. And there's a lot of other stuff. I mean, some of them are not that crazy. Again, how he does it, you know, by proclamation, no. But to your point, you know, this country never reacts. It only overreacts. And some of this is brought on by the left. You're right. You

brought it on yourself. I mean, penises in the locker room, penises in women's prisons, of course he's going to go the complete opposite direction now, and now we have, there's only two sexes, whereas obviously there's a middle ground which is there's not just two sexes.

This goes back to hermaphrodites in ancient history and, you know, chicks with dicks, and there's just, it's just not that simple. But it's also not the case that every baby born, which is what we have for the last four years, It's kind of a jump ball of, oh, I don't know, just as likely.

Let's not even put the sex on the birth certificate. Let's let the kid decide when they're five. That was crazy. So there's going to be this backlash, and that's what you have now. You did bring it on yourself in a lot of ways. Here's the deal. The man was impeached twice. He was convicted on 34 felony counts.

And the American people still said he's closer to normal than what we see left. That's what they're saying. He's close to the normal. Why? Because something that pertains, when you talk about the transgender community, for example, and you're talking about the issues that pertain the less than 1% of the population, the Democratic Party came across as if that was a priority more so than the other issues. And so he comes into office. Now you're talking about child, you know, childbirth, citizenship, and what have you. He knows that's not going to pass the mustard, but he knows that he made that promise.

So when he shows up week one on Capitol Hill and he says, this is what we're going to do through an executive order, even though it's going to be shot down through the courts and what have you. He's saying, I kept my promise. A lot of other things that he's going to point to that he's going to try to do, I kept my promise. Then you turn around and you look at the left and you say, what promises did you keep? Now, you might know the answer to that. I'm certainly not questioning your knowledge about that at all. What I'm saying is what resonated with the voter?

What voter out there can look at the Democratic Party at this moment in the time and say, there's a voice for us, somebody that speaks for us, that goes up on Capitol Hill and fights the fights that we want them fighting on our behalf. They didn't do that. And that's why they're behind the home And that man is back into the White House And they want to sit up there and talk you look at the networks right now They're talking about it Look at it, this is the latest, look at him

Here he goes again Well you know what here he goes again means He's doing what he said he was going to do He promised you he was going to do these things And he walked in the office week one And that's exactly what he's doing And he's saying y'all do something about it And when you try to do something about it

He's going to say look at them now Now they're concerned about these issues Were they talking about that during the campaign? Hell no That's really it Yeah. Yes. Well, look, I think that people voted for him because they were upset at a system where they didn't feel that their kids' lives were getting better.

He went to places like Galesburg, Illinois, Johnstown, Pennsylvania. He said, I'm going to bring the factories back. I'm going to get good-paying jobs. Your kids don't have a future. I'm going to bring the cost of living down. And then he's doing nothing, nothing with wages, nothing with the economy. He's putting out a meme coin. He's putting it.

I mean, he just got the week. I get the American people. They've been voting everyone out for the past 20 years. But you know what? At some time, they're going to say, who's actually making our lives better? How are we actually getting our kids to have a shot? But you keep talking about kids. He also won because parents were a little fed up with parents coming in second

in a who says what goes with my kids contest. Right. Which Democrat is for that? I have kids. I mean, most Democrats believe that parents should have a say in their kids' education. These have been exaggerated. Here in California, I think the governor here used the word snitch.

Like a parent, if you'd inform them out. Tell on the parents. Point them out. The parents would be in trouble. If the kid switched genders in school, you know, they hid that from the parent, or you could. I mean, I don't think snitching really takes place in my way. And as a guy that was born in the Bronx, raised in the streets of New York, I can assure

you. Snitch has an entirely different meeting than what they put out. I can promise you out. I can promise you that. Let me put it this way. Here's how bad the Democrats fucked up. Trump is cool now. He's not just the most powerful guy in the world

and just made himself like the richest. He's actually kind of... At 78. I mean, rappers like him. The athletes are doing... I was making fun of him jerking off two guys at one time. Rich. And now we owns it, and they're doing it.

I mean, the village people are gay. He's for Trump now. YM's the end. He's always been a celebrity, Bill. He was a joke. He had the apprentice. He used to do movie caveos. He did wrestling.

He was a joke. But you know what the problem with that is. He was a celebrity, but he was made to be a celebrity by a whole bunch of Democrats. Think about that. I mean, I'm telling you, listen, Trump, and I've said this many occasions, I knew Trump before he ran. for president. When you're hosting your fights at, you know, Trump Casino and

you're showing up to Nick's basketball games with Bill O'Reilly and stuff like that. We would see him. The players would talk to him. The rap artists would talk to him. Celebrities all over the place from Hollywood, from L.A. to New York would talk to him. And they all loved him until he ran for office. So then when they

talked about him in the way that they talked about him, they were like, you didn't feel that way about him before. What changed? And they asked a lot of people asked themselves that question. And they weren't satisfied with the answers to Dembs gave them. You know what would be nice in this country? I mean, just hypothetically, do we have to have the celebrity president? I mean, is it all about coolness? How about being cool as a president is actually about helping people? How about, you know, when we look

at our great presidents, they weren't out doing dances. They were figuring out how to get higher wages for people. There were jobs. But that, that horse has left the barn. You really think so? You're living in America, dude. Come on. We just celebrated. Jimmy Carter's. Can I ask you, Matt? Jimmy Carter was a great American, and he did a lot of great things. And by the way, the FEMA agency, a Department of Education that he established, Trump now wants to take it down. I think that...

We know a lot. Listen, we know that there's a lot that has to be done. A lot of us don't have the greatest confidence that Trump is the right man that's going to do it. We'll see what happens. Okay, second go around. But when you bring up celebrity, it's pretty hard to make that argument when you see politicians that are on X, on Facebook and Instagram and TikTok, because you have to reach an audience.

You can't complain about that when you're damned when that assisted in Obama won an election in 2008 and 2012. But Obama, I mean, he utilized it, is what I'm saying. Nobody has a celebrity exception. Stephen A wants to run. I'm all for it. I mean, that's an exception. That ain't going to happen.

No, I like my life. I like my life. That ain't going to get. But Obama, Obama, Obama, used the tools to make his message go. But he had substance. He had actual ideas. And the difference is they used to say Obama was a celebrity.

Obama became a celebrity because he was great at his job of being a politician. That's a difference. That's a huge difference. You know the difference between the Obama and Harris campaigns was, Obama connected with people and all the celebrities wanted to do concerts because they wanted to be with Obama because he was with the people. In the Harris campaign, they went after the. the celebrities to do the concerts to get the people.

They got it backwards. I'm just saying, I don't know about that. Okay, let's be honest here. First of all, one could argue that Obama resonated more because the people chose him to be the Democratic nominee for the presidency of the United States of America, as opposed to somebody backdooring their way into that position. Let's just be honest about it. You had Biden.

I know that you supported Biden. Obviously, you spoke about his mental security and all. of that other stuff, but we all saw what we saw. Before the debate, on June 27th, when the debate happened, and by the time that was exposed, it then waited three weeks after that before he decided to walk away, but it was too late for anybody else to get in.

So Kamala Harris, who didn't resonate during the primaries in 2020, couldn't even get to Iowa, suddenly as a Democratic nominee. And then y'all go, then you roll up at the Chicago, at the convention of Chicago, and everybody's like, she's a rock star. So it was like, wait a minute, how that happened? How that happened? I don't know.

to happen. So you're looking at all of those things and you're saying, yes, I voted for her. A lot of people voted for her. But in the end, we end up feeling like damn fools because we supported it. We fell for the okey-doke, as they say. You know she did. If you had a primary, the likelihood is that she would not have been the Democratic nominee. And you can't say that about Trump and his stop. You can't. That's water under the bridge. That's water under the bridge. The point is we have a new sheriff in two. and it's okay to be a dick. It's okay to be a dick again.

I have some information about Pete Hegsett. I mean, we were waiting before we went on. We're taped this Friday. Oh, there's Pete. He's apparently going to be the next defense secretary. It's the most controversial appointment that Trump has made. We didn't get the news right before we had on it'll probably this weekend. But here are some things that have been leveled against.

Now, Pete denies all of this. But his ex-sister-in-law, signed a sworn affidavit. I'm just going to read the highlight phrases. Passed out at family gatherings, dragged out of strip club, throwing up abusive, wife once hit in a closet. Wife needed a safe word and said the phrase, women shouldn't have the right to vote.

Now, the wife, this is the sister. He says there was no physical abuse in my marriage. You need to enter that in the record. Here are some phrases from, he was a part of two veteran groups. Here are some phrases what they said. Forced to step down, repeatedly intoxicated while in official capacity, sometimes needed to be carried out,

had to be physically restrained from joining dancers on stage at a strip club. Well, I've done that. Not the physically restrained part, but be joining on stage. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. So we thought it would be a good time to do 24 things you don't know about people. One of our favorite three syllables. All right.

When Trump first asked me to be Secretary of Defense, I said, Secretary, I ain't no woman. I don't know the meaning of surrender or last call. I got the idea of concerned veterans for America from veterans saying, we're concerned about your drinking. My favorite sex position is where my wife lies face down and I'm 10 miles away fucking a cocktail waitress. My ancestors are Norwegian,

which is why you'll often find me sleeping outside with the dog. I hold the Guinness record for a number of times being told by a bouncer, please don't touch the dancers. I think Amelia Earhart is proof women can't drive. My drag name is misogynist. And I have a tattoo on my penis that reads, you must be this tall to ride. Oh, right.

So let's go through, again, first week of the Trump administration. Some of the things we're going to do, take over the Panama Canal. Take Greenland. A man on Mars. We're going to put the American flag on Mars. I mean, we're not sure if it's a man, but the flag's going up there. Pulling out of the Paris Accords, pulling out of the World Health Organization. organization, open, well, I mean, the border, close the border, and the DEI.

And, okay, so let's talk about the border one. Okay. Because ICE is now detaining people. This is very, a lot of people concerned. The Lake and Riley Act, I'm sure you voted on that. I think you voted no. Okay. But it did pass with 46 Democrats in the House voted for it. and in the Senate it passed 64 to 35, so I think about 12 Democrats there. This is a law that says that ICE can detain any illegal who is charged, arrested, or convicted of a crime. Not merely an accusation, so don't get excited, Karen's.

Has to be charged, arrested, or convicted. Now, Ruben Gallego, who we've had on this show a number of times, and I think has bigger ambitions that he's now the senator from Arizona, He voted for it. He said, I'm bringing the perspective of working-class Latinos from Arizona. That perspective, I think, has been missing. And he talks about people who are largely out of touch with where your average Latino is. It sounds like he's calling out people like you who voted no. I like proven. There are a lot of Latinos. I do. I think you're out of a hell of a race. But there are a lot of Latino leaders who also voted, no, here's the basic thing in this country.

If you're convicted of a sex offense, of a violent offense, absolutely you should be deported. But if you're just arrested, we are a country which we have due process, and you should have a trial. I think that's a reasonable position. I think most people can agree also that, yes, let's deport convicted felons, convicted criminals, but let's not deport our nannies and students or a dental hygienist who've been living here for years and have kids in communities. We can have a common sense position on this. I get that. That makes a lot of sense, but there's a flip side.

So, for example, if I remember correctly, based on my research, in Sacramento, in 2023, there was a law passed in terms of empowering the governor of California to really force the environmentalists in the courts to move quickly. I'll have 270 days, if I remember correctly, something along those lines. Why do I bring something like that or with a subject like this? because here in your state, they can drag their feet and prolong certain things. And as a result of that, things don't get done nearly as fast as they should. When we're talking about immigration and we're talking about immigrants who may be criminals,

you're talking about them being arrested, let's have due process. But if it takes too damn long to address it, that pisses people off. That's one of the problems that exist in this country. You're looking at stuff and you're like, okay, you arrested him. Well, is he in jail? All right, you let them out. Recidivism is an issue in this country. You let somebody, you arrest them,

you're letting them out the same day, stuff like that. You've got law enforcement officials that are getting discouraged because they're looking at it in this same, wait a minute, why are we out here risking our life and taking care of this stuff when y'all is just letting people out? You've got to handle business.

And a lot of times we hear about the red tape and all of that stuff, and you're talking about a candidate right now who's not going to be the president of the United States now. He's sitting up there, and he's talking about expediting the process at every turn. Let's just get stuff done. Let's just get it done.

Now, I don't know if I trust that. I don't blame you for not trusting it. But we have to understand the American people are saying, you know what, enough's enough. We've tried it that way. We've been doing it down way for decades. We're sick of y'all. Let's wait.

Let's go through the process. Let's arrest somebody. Let's let them out. Let's let's put them back out on the streets. Oh, let's make sure they have due process. You think somebody wants to hear about due process with somebody that's in this country illegally? I want to hear that. You're in the country illegally.

How would your process? You got the audacity to admit a crime after you got here illegally? We ain't trying to hear that. Nobody's trying to hear that. So they're saying, wait a minute, what are you going to do about it? Where is the common sense in that? I get that. But that's what makes America difference that every other country.

We have a Constitution. We give people rights. We don't just say, let's conveniently... Well, we give citizens rights. We give citizens rights. No, we give every person here rights on basic due process. Maybe that's what people are saying. They want the citizens to have the rights.

Were you at the... You weren't out to the inauguration. I went to the inauguration. I did. I did. I didn't... All right. I didn't even watch it.

Neither did I. You know, and the ratings were way down. I think not since 2013. Sure, you did. He asked Trump about it as the biggest audience ever. Let me just say one other questions. Everybody watched. Everybody did not watch.

You know one of the things people like about Donald Trump is he stands on his convictions. When have you heard Democrats saying vast majority of immigrants in this country contribute to this country? They don't commit crimes. They are law-abiding. They're patriotic.

Our party needs to stop being scared of our own. shadows, stand up for what immigrants have actually contributed. You know what we should have done? Kamala Harris should have gone to Springfield. The day that Trump was doing that garbage about their eating the dogs and cats, she should have stood there in Springfield, meeting with the Haitian

immigrants who are contributing to this country. We will win when we stand on strength of our values. Well, I can I don't know. I'm getting from the applause, he's more popular than you. I'm just saying... He's got an ESPN show. I'm just saying what he's saying is getting up there.

I'm saying you're going to be like, yeah, that's true. What you said, what you said sounds beautiful. Here's the problem. We're a couple of minutes removed from talking about the senator from Arizona. And y'all talked about Rubin and y'all talked about the position that he took. One could easily argue is that's the kind of Democrat people are looking for. That Democrat listened to the people in his state instead of saying you elected me to hell with what you want, listen to me do what the party wants me to do. He is following, he said the citizens of Arizona

said this to him, and that is why he voted that way. A guy like that, we'll get a Democrat back in office. I like that. I'm just talking about that position. Let's start about your constituency little first, because I saw them all at the inauguration. I think they're called a tech row, all the billion, I think it was the three richest people in the world. Musk, Zuckerberg. Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos. But wasn't Peter Thiel there? And Mark Andreson. He had everybody there.

Tim Cook. Okay, this is your constituency. Your Silicon Valley. Why do you think they turned? Because I think it's very interesting that all these guys who were not conservatives, Zuckerberg, Joe Rogan wasn't. He was there. Elon Musk certainly wasn't.

I got a guess. You want my guess? Tell me. They were bullied four years ago. Right. They remembered. They don't like it. They said they don't like it.

It's very personal. It's personal. And we're going to go in the other direction. It's, get your behind up out of here. We don't want to deal with that anymore. That's what they said. That's exactly it. Also, their business interests.

They went and met him in 2017. A lot of them did. Tim Cook did. A lot of these business leaders said, you know when they deserted him, but Charlottesville. That's when a lot of these tech leaders said, I'm done.

and we'll see how long they stick with the Trump administration in what he's doing. We'll see. But it gets, I think, to the problem with the Democratic Party and that part of the left that I've always been complaining about it. It's also why they don't like me anymore and they can go fuck themselves.

I agree with you. I'll do times over. The difference between me and all those guys is they're not going to drive me into the worst pile. I still understand why that party is worse. Right. Okay. But that attitude

that exclusionary mean girl, if you don't agree with me 100%, then we're going to go after you, we're going to try to cancel you. And these are not stupid people. Which is why? These are brilliant people. Some of them are a little on the spectrum.

This guy. But I don't think he's a Nazi. But come out, who's the party that is out there intimidating people? You know, the pardoned, the guy who was just pardoned says, I want to be Secretary of Retaliation. Yeah. I mean, come on.

I'm not in that party. My party, does my party have an issue? Yes. What my party needs to do is make sure that we respect people who have different social and cultural viewpoints than our own, and we don't look down on people. But that doesn't mean you have to give up your principles to do that. That's true. Look, I like you. I'm on the left. I'm a proud progressive Democrat.

I come on this show because you have a civil conversation. We don't always agree. I don't pull my punches. And we voted for the same person. And we voted for the same person. To a lot of people in your party, that's not good enough. Exactly. I've said it to them.

politics is a dish. We voted for the same person. I thank you for the vote. What? I thank you for voting Democrat. You don't have to thank me. Well, I mean, I enjoy it for you. But more people should come on.

Mix it out. Mix it good. But I think it's important. I think it's important that you understand. See, you're a likable individual because you're sensible. I know Westmore, the governor of Maryland. Yeah. Likeable man.

I think he has incredible potential. Resonates with people. because he sends a message to them not just that he cares about them but that he's listening to them as opposed to trying to guilt them with fear-mongering and everything else to get them to do

what you as a politician want them to do. You have to understand, respectfully, in my opinion, that you are in the minority within the Democratic Party based on what we've seen over the last, you know, four to six years. It's entirely different now because like Bill said, it's not enough for you to vote for them.

You've got to side with them. the same people that you voted for, they made you feel, they got to a point where if you uttered the wrong pronoun, they were ready to cost you your career. I'm working in television, and I'm having people who are hyperventilating, scared to death,

taking deep breaths, making sure that when they go on a diatribe or a ran or whatever, they're uttering every syllable correctly. This is the kind of world. The Republicans didn't create that. They're guilty of a whole lot of stuff. But they didn't create that.

And when you create that, when somebody is scared, to utter the wrong word out of their mouth. And we all know what some words are taboo. But damn, it got to a point where he or she was taboo among some Democrats. Now, how the hell that happened? Well, I have to say two words.

Shows over. But you guys were great. Time for new rules, everybody. New rules. New rule, now that Trump has dead named Mount Denali back to Mount McKinley and changed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, he has to rename the Great Lakes.

Lake terrific, Lake Fantastic. Lake Michigan, a state I won by a lot. Lake White Superior and Lake like nobody's ever seen before. And the Grand Titons are now Mount Tits. You know, well, this young woman has to explain why, if the Revolution is now, she's the only one there. Revolution? You don't even have enough for a snowman.

ball fight. There were more people in Prince and the revolution. New York Times Style magazine has to hire someone with a memory that goes back before 2018. I saw this cover story with Robert Pattinson as the last movie star, and I thought, where have I seen that before? Oh yeah, everywhere. George Clooney, the last movie star. Tom Cruise, the last movie star. How Leonardo DiCaprio became Hollywood's last movie star. White Denzo Washington, maybe the last your movie star. The last movie star is Paul Newman and Joanne Morgman. Stop writing the same stupid story.

There are always going to be movie stars. It's magazines that are dead. No, well, the Pakistani ad agency that created this ad for Pakistan Airlines that says, Paris, we're coming today and appears to show a plane flying into the Eiffel Tower. Has to admit they're fucking with it.

This is what happens when you hire someone whose LinkedIn says his passions are graphic design and jihad. Uh, Newell, if you're a grown man and watching another man become president and it makes you cry, you are banned from the manosphere for one year. Sorry, no Joe Rogan podcast for you. No TikTok videos of a guy cooking steak on a rock in Alaska. No MMA knockout compilations. for one year, every time you try to watch something manly,

it will instantly cut away to Taylor Swift in the luxury box at a chief's game. And finally, New World, let's look on the bright side. I know we're all obsessed these days about the fires and the anxiety from Trump taking office again, but one hopeful thing did happen when we were on our break. A health insurance executive got shot in the back on the street in broad daylight.

And the kids couldn't love the guy who did it anymore if he was the leader of a team. terrorist organization. That's right. Last December, 26-year-old Luigi Mangione fed up with the health care system in America stalked and murdered United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson,

thereby raising awareness of the problem of insurance companies denying people's claims. And Lord knows, that is a problem. People are justifiably sick and tired of paying through the nose only to get the run around in a mountain of forms to fill out, and yes,

infuriating claim-deny. based on petty technicalities. Something, by the way, that is increasingly now done by AI, a robot programmed to find a way to fuck you in the ass, which is not covered. Look, we've all been there, ever get a prescription filled,

and they say, that'll be a million dollars, please. And you say, is there an alternative? And they say, oh, yeah, there's one that's basically the same for 10 bucks. I didn't mention it because it didn't seem like something people would be interested in? Or how about when health care providers put on the bill

something they know is already covered just to see if you'll pay it anyway? Because they have the ethics of a Nigerian prince emailing you for a loan. Every doctor's office has a medical billing specialist who has a particular set of skills to fuck you. And what the hell is a pharmacy benefit manager? I'm not sure, but I think I was one, back in 1980 when I sold pot.

Oh, it's a shifty business all right. Navigating between all the different players is like trying to find the bathroom in a casino. It's just so unbelievably complicated, like an electoral college that does prostate exams. A maze-like, mosaic of analysts, regulators, administrators, consultants, advisors, hospitals, insurance companies,

drug companies, bus ad trial lawyers, and the actors in drug ads portraying eyelash crust mites. They love to party. So I guess my question is, why shoot just the insurance guy? The profit margin for the U.S. health insurance industry is only 2.2%. For drug companies, it's over 65%. And for hospitals, it's really hard to say what it is, because their accounting is done by the Corleone family.

So, okay, a guy from the insurance industry is dead. That's great. But he's not the one who decided that the box of Kleenex next to your hospital bed cost $60. Hospital set the prices that insurers pay and costs very wildly. The same procedure can cost up to 10 times more, not just within the same city or same state,

within the same hospital. It reminds me of clothing stores. 80% off. Off of what? Oh, right. Off of a number you pulled out of your ass to begin with. That seems to be how hospitals work. So shouldn't we really be shooting hospital execs first?

I mean, it's only right. I have a feeling insurance people get blamed more because there's no insurance company version of Grey's Anatomy where hot young insurance agents steal away to fuck each other on bunk beds during their work. So, okay, hospital execs first. Then we shoot insurance guys, then drug company people. Oh, and the tech bros who create those medical website portals that are impossible to navigate?

And what about the people who make the shit that makes us sick in the first place? Watch your back, whoever makes fucking Twinkies. But here's what's so interesting about this. The reaction from different generations, older people think it's bad to shoot a guy in the street. but 41% of 18 to 29-year-old say it's completely or somewhat acceptable where only 9% find it so extra, which confirms something I wish wasn't true, but unfortunately is about certainly not all,

but too many Gen Ziers. They're fucking stupid. I don't know what they're teaching them in college these days, but they all seem to have majored in simplicity. Oppressed and oppressor. No in between. Health care, good guys, and bad guys. Simple. When Trump said, nobody knew that health care could be so complicated. He was wrong. It's not complicated. It's simple. It's as simple as shooting your insurance agent. Bad guys get shot. Hello. You never saw John Wick? Yeah, I'm thinking now maybe it wasn't a great idea to make every single movie about someone who's a hit man. And so here I am again feeling like an old school liberal at odds with the new politics of the far left because it wasn't that long ago when liberals thought shooting people who don't share your politics was bad, or at least a microaggression.

Doesn't pumping someone full of lead verged dangerously close to mansplaining? And what about gun control? When Sarah Palin posted a map with crosshairs on the districts of House Democrats she hoped to defeat in 2010, liberals went nuts. But now, vigilanteism is okay when it's someone you want dead? And where does all this lead? Both parties having death squads? So, Luigi, I say to you, good luck in prison, where being handsome always makes you're popular. And congratulations on being a folk hero. But just know, you're not Robin Hood. You're not a hero. You're a typical member of your generation, too lazy to do the work to really understand an issue, but happy to pose as a social justice warrior for it.

is the same mentality I saw this month when internet low-lifes posted about their glee in watching the well-off people of Pacific Palisades lose their homes in the LA fires. It's a very popular mindset these days, summed up in the phrase, eat the rich.

But kids, I've seen your media consumption and I've seen your social media post. You can't fool me. You don't hate the rich. You hate that you ain't the rich. All right, that's our show. My Club Random Podcast. some amazing guests coming up,

watch it on YouTube, or listen wherever you get your podcast, and I want to thank Stephen A. Smith, Rokana and Jesse Asitberg. Now go watch Overtime on YouTube. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you, guys. 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.