Real Time with Bill Maher - Overtime - Episode #438: Iran Deal, Trump Insults, GOP Tax Plan

Episode Date: September 23, 2017

Bill and his guests – former Rep. Barney Frank, Martin Short, Rick Wilson, Catherine Rampell, and Bob Costas – answer viewer questions after the show. 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. Okay. Oh, look at that. We're getting applause for nothing. Okay, Rick Wilson, do you think Trump will face a Republican challenger in 2020? Great question. No.

No. Why is that? I think that all these guys will look at it and they will watch the hoard out there and they will have Fox and Brightbart nuking them 24-7 and they will, and every single one of them will walk away from. All right. Nobody's serious at this point. What does the panel think about

the Trump administration's plan to replace their travel ban with more specific restrictions? I don't know what that means. What are the more specific? Do you know this? Specific countries. He was going to add additional countries. They named people that he doesn't like? Specific people. Will Trump rip up the Iran deal?

And what happened? This is, you know, this thing where he goes, you know, I've made my decision. But I'm not telling you yet. Until next week, sweeps. Exactly. It's like... Sweeps are coming soon. And in that time, I'll tell you. Right. February, May, and November.

That's when he pronounces his decision. Oh, he wouldn't tell May. She asked him. May, he said... Oh, I get him. Hey, oh. But that would be such a terrible thing if he ripped up the Iran. I mean, it's bad enough, the Paris thing, but that wasn't even a binding that was, you know... Well, the most serious. It's also not going to help with negotiating with North Korea. Absolutely. That's a key.

If we lose our credibility that we can actually abide by any diplomatic agreement, why North Korea that is the equivalent, not as the equivalent, that is telling Kim, Bill Young, don't bother signing a deal with me because it'll have no effect. But what it's interesting is that he's

sort of chickening out on doing it. By the way, one of the things that's striking to me is how little he has gotten done. In his speech tonight, he was talking about all that he's done. And what's striking at is how little he has gotten done and that has not affected his people. I've just said his role, and it's what his people

want him to be, he is the insulter in chief. He is very good at insulting everybody that his people think have mistreated them. And after he's done that, they don't need anything. But very little a change in the world with Korea, with Iran, with the Middle East, and I think with Iran he's going to maybe send it to Congress,

but in the end he's not going to change it? But isn't it always amazing how even the people he's insulted seem to forget about it in a couple of days. The Republicans do. Marrill Streep's still pissed off. Yeah. Oh, Bill, the Republican... Chuck Schumer is not a Republican, and he called him a lightweight

and insulted him up and down and out. Chuck's like... But Chuck Schumer just pulled his pants down on DACA a couple days ago. Chuck got Trump. Chuck Schumer's a smart transactional politician, and he knows that he can roll Trump by going in the office and saying,

you really are a magnificent golden idol. By the way, can I add one point... I know I was hard on you. One point... One point... You know, one point... I think what one of the things that came out of that Trump, Schumer, Pelosi deal is very good news for the Democrats in 2018 in the House. The Republicans were counting on demonizing Nancy Pelosi.

John Ossoff was doing well, and then they went after Pelosi. It's going to be very hard for Republicans now to say, oh, you're going to go to Washington and vote with Nancy Pelosi. And the answer is, yeah, like Donald Trump did. He has legitimized Pelosi and planted their weapon. And one reason why Jackoff lost that race was because he didn't defend Nancy Pelosi, which is the disease of the Democrat. He didn't stand up and... You know what? Why is Nancy Pelosi so bad?

Bill, it's between you and me. That's over. I understand that. But I do think the more important point is that next time he's not going to even be able to use that weapon. He's not going to be able to attack Nancy. They're not going to be able to attack Nancy. Oh, people will have forgotten by that. No, they won't. Oh, no, there's TV. There's... Not that gets shown on five. It's an interesting thing because I, for example, cannot watch Fox. And I have many, many Democratic friends who watch it to learn

and to understand what the other side is doing. And I can't do it. And the reverse is that people are never going to watch now CNN, let alone MSN. They'll see the ads of Trump being nice to Nancy Pelosi, and I believe this will substantially diminish the ability of a Republican candidate to benefit from discrediting a Democrat by associating with it. Catherine, what can we expect from a Republican tax reform plan? Oh, aren't you glad you got that question?

Hey, I write a lot about taxes. Yeah, you could take that moment. Look, look, I could... Really? That's your thing? Yeah, I write a lot about taxes, actually. Okay, then give it to it. Well, first of all, it's not going to be tax reform. It's going to be tax cuts, and there's a big difference.

One is, you know, about closing loopholes and making sure that it's paid for. And the other one is just about a big giveaway to the rich. if anything, that's what we'll see. The problem is that there are all of these... Once again, my point, that Trump is not that different. Yeah, exactly. Is that like we hadn't heard that before Trump? But it's not as easy as just cutting taxes across the board

because there are a lot of these like bells and whistles in how the Senate works that makes it actually very difficult to not have a paid-for tax cut. So that's really going to be the challenge is fitting the puzzle pieces together. And every single thing you would need to do to pay for it is really unpopular. Right. I mean, to take away the mortgage deduction, is that ever going to happen in America?

No. Or state and local, or things like the border adjustment tax, which nobody even remembers anymore, but that was supposed to be a big windfall. There were a lot of things that were supposed to help pay for this, including actually repealing Obamacare. Part of the reason why they've been so gung-ho about repealing Obamacare is because that includes tax increases in it. And if you bundle all of that with the Obamacare repeal rather than into the separate bill, which is tax-fussing. not putting us into the red. No. No. It's actually making a little money. Yeah. Because, you know, it was a redistribution of income. When they accused him of that, he should have said, yeah.

Fuck yeah. Exactly. That's exactly what we're doing. We're taking money from people who will never miss it and giving it to poor people who desperately need it. Who need health care. Right. Bob, what were your thoughts on Jamil Hill, the ESPN host

who criticized Trump on Twitter? Right. She called him a white supremist. Yeah. Yeah. I I don't know Jamel Hill. I hear good things about her, but my thought is this. She has a program every night on ESPN. She has a platform. Right. What she did was inelegant.

Whether you more or less agree with it or not, it's inelegant. It's not a good way to make a point. You know, being on Twitter and going back and forth with people on Twitter, you know, long before it was ever invented, George Bernard Shaw said, do not wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and the pig enjoys it. If you're a bold-faced name, if you're a bold-faced name, Why do you want to be engaged with some dope on Twitter

because he said something and you come back at him and back and forth, back and forth? She should go on her own... Wait, wait, he's the president and he... No, she wasn't responding to him. Well, she called him a white supremac. No, I understand. But she should, if she wants to make her point,

she should go on her own program and make a fulsome, textured, nuanced point. Except that her program is... No, I get that. No, no, no. The list of people he's called racist are... I get that. I don't agree with that.

First of all, her program is on ESPN. It's a sports show. It would be completely out of place for her to, you know, say... Not really, because they talk about social issues. Do you think Sunbegaard's going to come back next year? Oh, and our next topic is... Good Met reference. Thank you very much.

Is Trump a white supremacist? But Twitter is the appropriate. She's a human being. She's a citizen. Why can't she say her... I just hate this idea that nobody can say anything without somebody wanting them to go away because they disagree. No, no, I'm with you 100% on that.

I just think that she could have chosen a better way. to make her point, and that way is available to her. Accusing someone of treating Trump in elegantly is like saying someone that's silly about the three stooges. And by the way, I always thought Shemp never got his due. He was like a utility school. He never got his dude. Married to my cousin.

Shemp is married to your cousin? Shemp Howard was married to your cousin. Babe Frank was Shemp's wife, my father's cousin. You see, we learn something. Every day. Babe and Shemp. What a team. My second cousin was W.K.

Is that true? No, I'm bragging. Wouldn't I have said a bigger name? My second cousin was Jolson. I mean, I would have gotten me, but no. Sush as the French say. Barney, what do you make of Trump's efforts at bipartisanship? Oh, with Chuck and N?

What do you think about that? Actually, I think it reflects the fact he doesn't mind if the Democrats take over and he might even like that. I believe this is a man who cares only about himself and his ego accomplishments without substance. The thing about him is that he talks about accomplishments.

And again, on the health care bill, every version of the health care bill has been different than every other version. There was no consistency to any program on health care. It's just we've got to beat those guys. I think he's getting frustrated that he's getting some tarned, because of the Republicans and the ability to deliver.

And I think what he's done with Chuck and Nancy, I think helps the Democrats. And I think he doesn't mind that. I could see him switching parties and his followers going along with him. Right, exactly. He did. I don't think he wants. He doesn't want a party.

He doesn't want a party. He doesn't want to be blamed for the Republicans. And I think the other thing is this, I'll tell you what I believe about the guy. He's among other things, lazy. He's not just, and here's the deal. Agreeing with Schumer and Pelosi meant no

hassle about the debt limit being raised. No hassle about the... He can go off for a couple weeks of Christmas. It means he doesn't have to spend his Christmas with all that adjutant over there. I don't even think he was thinking that far ahead. I think he was just sick of talking about it. Yeah, but well, I'd be sure...

And there's something else about... He just wanted to say, get it done. But if someone did say to him, you're going to help the Democrats win, I think the answer to the back of his mind is, well, that wouldn't be so bad because then I'll run in 2020 as the victim of all these bad people. And I don't think he's from this planet.

And I don't... I'm glad someone is making that point. But think about it. He never sleeps. Never sleeps. He only eats hamburgers well done. Right. Steak.

And he never, ever gets a cold. And we've never seen the long-form birthday. He's never sick. He's never... No, no, during the debates, he had like that really heavy breathing. No, we know that. He has that all the time. Oh, I think we know it.

Yeah. So maybe he's just like in a steady state of sick. But we know he feels stress. Yes. And I know he's just, I'm a... I'm a stress eater. I gain weight in tough campaigns. The man is getting fatter and fatter.

I mean, look, he claimed that one superlative, which he's entitled to claim, that he has left out. He is the fattest president since William Howard Taylor. Yes, I've said that. I read today, they have to, they now have to butter the door frames of the Oval Office to get him out. That's absolutely true. I'm not making that up.

I think his biggest problem is that, unlike his life in New York, he can't get laid. I think when he lived in New York, you know, he had a sex life that he enjoyed. Not with Malani, of course. That's the wife. What are you? But, you know, he left in the morning and Malani, I'll be home at 9 o'clock. Okay, and, you know, he has apartments, he has houses.

You could have gone anywhere with anybody, hookers, Russians, peeing, whatever the fuck what's going on. And you can't do that in the White House. I think that more than anything else. You can't do that in the White House? Yeah, yeah. History, just again. I'm going to get you a hook. Okay.

Clinton proved that that was very, he didn't get away with it in the White House, and he had to do it with the chunky chick who brought in the mail. That's the only the one you know about. Shame on you, Bill. Who likes me, Mort? No, it's true. I think that's, I think that's Trump's biggest frustration,

but we'll talk about that again another night. Thank you very much. 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.