Real Time with Bill Maher - Overtime - Episode #463: Post-American World, Never-Trumpers, Minority Republicans

Episode Date: June 9, 2018

Bill and his guests – Michael Eric Dyson, Fareed Zakaria, Linda Chavez, John Heilemann, and Shermichael Singleton  answer viewer questions after the show. (Originally aired 06/08/18) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Farid, have we finally reached the post-American world you wrote about a decade ago? Well, you know, what I was writing about in that book was the post-American world because you had China rising, you had India rising, you had Europe that had come together. The point I was trying to make was we're in a kind of historical shift of power where these other countries, often that had long been mired in poverty, arising in. economic growth, political power, cultural confidence. And so that world has been going on, you know, the emerging markets were 5% of global GDP 25 years ago.

They're now 50% of global GDP. But what I did not predict was that the United States would sort of abdicate leadership of its position. Because I argued the United States would still be incredibly powerful. It would set the agenda. It represented, you know, the values. It had a way of being able to be the leader. And this shift where the United States has decided to literally walk away from its own creation.

I mean, people forget, this was the world that FDR and Harry Truman built after World War II. And to see, you know, the Europeans, as I say, is sort of surprised because they don't quite understand it. They're like, wait, you built this house and now you want to set it on fire. I'm less surprised that a Trump could rise. I mean, that has happened in countries where, as how quickly the Republican Party just completely got behind him. It reminds me of the Neanderthals. You know, no, no, really. I love ancient archaeology and that kind of stuff.

So like, you have the humans and the Neanderthals who are sharing the planet from about 100,000 BC to about 40,000 BC, and then suddenly, no more Neanderthals. I think because humans, they figured out the blowgun. So they could kill you from 10 feet away. I'm getting this from the movie Quest for Fire. But I think that. But it's like there's Neanderthals, and then suddenly the fall's gone. And that's kind of what happened to the Republicans. They were just there, and then they suddenly disappeared.

I think what happened is, and this is, you know, gets to the point Linda was asking, what happened to my party? I think that Trump recognized, and the primaries you see this, that the base of the Republican Party was in a completely different place than the elites in Washington thought. The elites in Washington was still reciting the Reagan formula. free trade, expansionist foreign policy, entitlement reform. The base of the party is now a white working class base

that wants to hear about Mexicans, Muslims, and Chinese people. They want to hear about how the Mexicans are taking your jobs, the Chinese people are taking your factories, the Muslims are killing you. Trump says, I'll beat them all up, you'll be great again. But, well, wait. No, Bill, one-hour speech in one line, by the way. But let me push back against that a little bit.

I mean, the fact is there were like 16 Republicans running in the primaries. And Trump didn't, he did not get a majority of Republican support during the primaries. He got a, you know, a plurality, and he won, and he won in a lot of places. But the fact that it was so divided, the fact that the party had no discipline whatsoever.

I mean, I'd sort of like to bring back the smoke-filled rooms. Let's have some, you know, vetting of people before they decide to run for president, for goodness. You can't... You can't admit... You can't diminish with Trump. Trump did as a political matter, I mean, whether you want to plurality or not.

He had 16 opponents, many of them governors, senators, and he just slaughtered them all, one by one, without really any impediment, anything holding them back. And now, and now I think the more relevant point that bill's making is today, the never-Trump is diminished, dwindled to almost nothing. You've got this incredibly high, historic, as I said before, historic level of support among Republicans. And no one, even though you can at least at the beginning of the administration, You look to people like Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell and said, well, they're going along with Trump to get their agenda done.

Well, they got their tax cut, and now today they're still not standing. And apparently they have no other agenda. They're afraid of the base. They know the base is with him. I know. All right. This is now the party.

It's got another question in. That's good. People spend time writing these questions. That's good. This is for you, Chair Michael. You said you can be a, you said you can be a minority and a conservative, but can you be a minority and a Republican under this administration?

You know, that's a good question. I think that the expectation, at least from what I get from talking to other African-Americans and minorities in general, is that, sure, we don't have a problem with you being a Republican, but our expectation is that you are articulating the concerns of our community. So, yes, I'm a black person who happens to be a Republican. That doesn't mean I don't care about police brutality. That doesn't mean I don't care about criminal justice reform. Those are issues that disproportionately impact my community.

And it is my duty, if you will, when I'm at that table, when I'm in those meetings to advocate for the issues of my community. Because I recognize there will be moments like the moment we see now where you have Jeff Sessions running the criminal justice system. And he's rolling back a lot of things that President Obama did with bipartisan support that benefited African Americans. So it is my charge to say, wait a minute here, you're not going to pass policy legislation that's going to continue to disproportionate impact not only black people, but brown people. So I think you can most certainly be a conservative at a minority, but being a Republican right now during the age of Trump, I think is a very difficult thing.

Michael, you want to... No, absolutely right. I mean, which is why, sure, Michael happens to be one of my favorite Republicans. Because what we've seen is a lack... That's big of you. Oh, I mean... Pretty short list.

Some of your best friends are Republicans. You know, y'all are taking all my good lines. But the thing is, is that if you have black people who understand, even if you're associated with that administration, that what Trump is doing is undercutting the value of not only black people, but Republicans, as we've been saying. And the fact that you had William Coleman,

the fact that you had a legacy of black people, Jackie Robinson, for that matter, who were Republicans who understood that it was about an economic orientation of fiscal conservatism. It was not about the culture wars that Trump seems invested in, because one of the factors we missed in all of this brouhaha is the demonization of the big black. black boogeyman Barack Obama and that spooked a lot of people in so voting for the Republicans in a serious way.

You know, Dr. Dickey. The U. Dr. Bicester. I disassociate myself as a black conservative with what we call Lily White conservatism. That sort of wallows in racism, if you will, bigotry, sexism if you will. And I think you have to make a clear distinction between the two. And where the Republican Party screws up time and time again. How do you do this?

I can understand how you could do it when the Republican Party was a party that was about economics and free markets and free. Right now, the Republican Party is defined by its suspicion and hostility toward people who look different, sound different, worship different gods. So that's the party. How are you distinguishing you? Well, look, Farid, you know, President Trump talks a lot about patriotism to the country. When we say the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, we say one nation under God, indivisible, etc., etc.,

one nation under God indivisible, one nation. rhetoric or reality. Do we truly believe we are one nation? And if we are, then that means we recognize and we accept that we are a country compounded of different folks from all over the world regardless of what they look like, their sex, or their religion.

That's not how a lot of your fellow Republicans are looking at it. But Donald Trump certainly doesn't look at him. All you had to do is look at Hurricane Maria and look what happened in Puerto Rico. But we've allowed him, Linda, to define the Americans. I wouldn't wait for your invitation to the CPAC convention. Oh, that's not coming. All right. Thank you. Get this at the gift shop, ladies.

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