Real Time with Bill Maher - Overtime - Episode #474: Neil deGrasse Tyson, April Ryan, Evelyn Farkas, Max Brooks

Episode Date: September 29, 2018

Bill Maher and his guests answer viewer questions after the show. (Originally aired 09/28/18) 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. I think I know why you're happy tonight because thank you very I will be taking marriage offers after the show

not here during the show but three Republicans found a little backbone this week and there is going to be we are going to have an investigation of Brett Kavanaugh who's up with the Supreme Court as you know

and the investigation by the FBI is going to last one week. So put that on your fucking calendar, Brent County. Your little calendar that you say that you write everything down on. And, you know, this is the two ladies in the Senate, the Republicans,

and Jeff Flake of Arizona. I can't believe Jeff Blake. And part of, they say, maybe, did you see this? Maybe he was turned around because he was confronted when he was getting on the elevator. Show a little bit of that.

video by somebody who had the guts. That's what you're telling me right now. Look at me when I'm talking to you. You're telling me that my assault doesn't matter. I haven't seen a guy take it in the elevator like that since Beyonce's sister kicked Jay Z in the nuts. Oh, and then they tried cornering Lindsey Graham. But he got away because he's familiar with the back door.

But come on, Republicans have a lot of trouble with women. That's a sausage party in the Republican Party. They know. So you know what they did? They hired a female prosecutor to ask the questions to Professor Ford. It's like when a mobster thinks there's a bomb under his car, he makes his wife started. You go out there and do it.

But, you know, her testimony, when someone's being real, it shows. It reads, even conservatives had to admit it was compelling and credible. It was so compelling and so credible during it, Brett Kavanaugh tried to turn up the music. That... Crazy. But this was a very different, Brett Kavanaugh. He came out swinging like his penis at a college party.

Well, that's... That's... Well, there's a... See, this stuff happened so fast in this last week. We remember at the beginning that we had a second accuser. Also rather credible, who said this was at Yale. He was at a party there and said she was drunk, and he dropped his pants in front of her

and exposed himself. I mean, imagine open your eyes and seeing that dick. And then he pulls out his penis. This was a totally different, Brett Kavanaugh than the one who we saw testifying like a week before. Totally different. Angry, volatile, bitter, belligerent. Because nothing says, I'm not capable of violent assault

like flying into an unhinged rage. That's always a good thing. strategy. And it's... It's good to know that Supreme Court will now be eight bookish law nerds and the Hulk. But, no, really. If that was a divorce hearing, she would have gotten the kids. That's how I looked at it. And, you know, why did Kavanaugh suddenly act that way?

Because Trump told him to. Because Trump didn't like that he was being meek and, you know, good bread. He likes bad bread. He wants someone in his image, so he gave him whiny little bitch lessons. And that's what we saw. And you know what? We have the evidence, his yearbook and everything. This choir boy

act happened. I was like, you know, I spent my high school years concentrating on my friendships and church. Not about church. You know what, defense doesn't work so great anymore? I can't be a sex criminal. I'm a Catholic. It's like saying I couldn't

met Russians. I was at Trump Tower. But yeah, he's going on about it. He has many friendships with women. He's helped many women and supported them and helped them with their careers. You know, and he also says he's a big supporter of Me Too. In fact, when someone

is ordering drinks, he always says, give me too. Because, I mean, I don't know if we could say he's definitely a rapist, I think that's too far, but he is a fucking liar and a drunk. Definitely a drunk. Not maybe not now.

But even in this testimony, he mentioned beer. A lot. I mean a lot. I like beer. Do you like beer? I just finish a beer. Do you have any beer? I thought he was going to write out on a Clydesdale. I... Half of his yearbook entries

are about drinking. getting a shit face. He's in keg club and Ralph club. If he gets on the court, skip the robe. Give him a toga. This guy is a courtier. But he might not.

He might not get on. That's at least the glimmer of hope we have for one week. He might not. For one week, you can look your kids in the eye and say, America is not a country that puts a predator on the Supreme Court. In the White House, sure, but not the Supreme Court. All right, we got a great show.

Max Brooks. President Parker and April Wyatt are here and a little later when he's speaking with our good friend. Neil deGrasse Tyson is back story. But first up, look, I know you're not on the fan of this guy, but be nice. He is one of the most influential person around today. He is the former White House Chief Strategist for President Trump.

Steve Bannon is over here. Steve Bannon. Hey, that's not so bad. Thank you, Steve. All right, Steve. Well, it took a lot of prepping to get the audience to be that nice. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I'm going to say to you, what I always say to conservatives when they come here.

First of all, thank you. I appreciate it, and it says volumes why the Republicans are in power, and we have none. Hillary Clinton never came here. Maybe she'd be president if she were a little more confident. Big time. Yeah. Yeah. And I know that, you know, you had a little event there at the New Yorker.

They had a festival. In fact, I want to read Malcolm Gladwell's quote because they were going to interview you. And then you were disinvited. I've been disinvited many times, by the way. It's a good club. And Malcolm Gladwell said, call me old-fashioned, but I would have thought that the point of a festival of ideas

was to expose the audience to ideas. If you only invite your friends over, it's called a dinner party. What are your thoughts on that? Well, they chased me for, you know, David Remnick chased me for a year to be on his podcast. And he came to me and said,

hey, we'd be honored if you were in this festival of ideas. I said, fine, I don't want compensation. but I like going into hostile audiences with tough interviewers. I mean, you know, I'd do very little conservative media now. I do CNN, BBC, you know, the economists.

I'd go to the toughest places, toughest interviewers and say, hey, no holds barred. Hostile audiences, let's get it on. And again, that's why the Republicans are in power. So let me ask you about... I think it does sharpen the blade.

It does. Let me pick your brain about the Democrats because you're a strategist and you got your boy elected, but no one said that could happen. Donald Trump got himself elected. I just showed up and kind of realigned. I don't want to get on this, but first you were crazy about Sarah Palin

and then you were crazy about Donald Trump. I think you look for morons who are empty vessels that you could put more ideas. Every single person in the administration has called him an idiot. That's what you look for. I get it. You're not an idiot. By the way, by the way, it's all good. into, as you get into his economic

war with China, as you see what he's doing to realign the world's economy? Look, did he go to Harvard Kennedy School? Does he speak in the vernacular of the elites of this world? No, he speaks in a very plain spoken vernacular, but he's incredibly smart. He is. It's not his syntax that

I'm worried about. Did you see his press conference this week? He says crazy shit that no one thinks is true. You don't think it's true. No, but here's the power of the press conference. No other gutless Republican would go into that lion's den for an hour and 20 minutes and take all the incoming. He stood up for Kavanaugh more than any of these guys did. And I think it's one of the things

that empowered Kavanaugh to go into on Thursday and to take on the Democrats. If Trump had not done that, you know, by the way, he did have some questions that were not the standard answers. But look, he's got his own. He's not about standard. It's about reality. He has his own house style. He's divorced from reality. That's right. Thank you. Oh, we must have done good. We must have done good. We must Mr. Dungood. Neil deGrasse Tyson, what can do you do to fight against the anti-intellectual movement in America? I blame some of that on the attitude that so many intellectuals had towards those who were not as smart as they were. We have a long history of just smart people discounting the views and the opinions and feelings of those who are not as well educated.

and that can really piss off an entire demographic. So, at least I, as an educator, I try to not distinguish one. I just bring everybody with you together to empower their critical thinking. But some people don't want to learn. You have to admit that. You sound like the teacher who say,

these students don't want to learn rather than indict your own teaching habits as failing. Okay? Well, it's some of both. It's some of both. I mean, you know, you can't let everybody off the hook. It's not like everybody's a good person. Then you try harder with them.

I mean, I don't, I can't, as an educator, I can't accept that. So you think you could teach Donald Trump something? No, I can, well, no, it's... No, really. I mean, that's where... Okay. It's just like Gaz and Dolls, it's a bet. Right, right.

You pick anybody and I can teach you. All right, Donald Trump, I will bet you $1,000. You cannot teach Donald Trump that the stealth bomber is not literally invisible. No, no. Just... A thousand dollars, what's say? We will meet it in Lindy's tomorrow. People are thinking that teaching is handing someone information

to replace information that they had that is false. Correct. That's an aspect of teaching. But it's not the fundamental dimension of it. It's getting a person to understand why their thoughts are wrong to begin with. And then it's their own epiphany. Good luck, we're wrong. Yeah, I don't think you could have...

He's not going to have an epiphany because, anyway. Here's what I would tell. I would say, look, Donald, Donald, innovations in science and technology are the engines of tomorrow's economy. And they will drive our health, our wealth, and our security. If you invest in science and technology today, that will be the country that you always wanted it to be. And he'll say, that's why I'm abolishing Obamacare.

That's the first thing he'll say. Get to the part about me. Yeah. But it's not anti-intellectualism. I think it's anti-scienticalism. anti-empirical truth, that's the bigger danger. Because we are not taught in school what science is and how and why it works.

What we're taught is a satchel of facts. And then you spit it back in the test and you move on to your next class. Science is a way of querying the world. It's a way of knowing what is true and what is not. And establishing the objective reality in which we all must function. If you don't have those capabilities and you... But gain power? Oh my gosh. That's the beginning of the end of an informed democracy.

And there is a large section of this country that is not, excuse me, interested in objective reality. That's true. You get him. Well, well, okay. And they're not critical thinkers as well. Yeah. And you have to reach them where they are. And it's sometimes. And you're right. Okay. I'll go tell. No, no. Oh, jeez. Oh, my. I didn't. I didn't. I don't have to go here. He doesn't like this. I don't want to have to go on. Let me just say. Going down. Okay. One of my two books that are on the bestseller list right now has been on the bestsellers for 71 weeks All right It's been a court bribing in Tidewater's of Trump books that have come and gone

How do I get my book in not I wrote that book? It is a science book on the bestseller list and that gives me hope Okay, somebody out there cares about an objective reality How many how many? How many? How many copies does it? the bestseller sell these things. It's highly variable. So just about how many copies has this sold? Just tell me. The science of best selling.

No, no. The total number is not what the best selling. Just tell me how many copies the book has sold. In total. Yes. A million and change. A million. A million.

Really? Million. Yeah. Okay. So it's still not a lot of people who- Other people read English. Yeah. What?

People in other countries read English. Yeah. I know, but we're talking about America. Oh, okay. I want to save this country because I'm in America. 60 translations also, even if you don't read English. But we're talking about America. Okay, here's a point.

It is in a sea of Trump books that come back and forth. So if you're going to talk about popular books, it's sitting there in the middle of Woodward's book on fear and all of these. There is always a small percentage of people who will be bright. A million? I'm liking the number a million. Yeah, I like it too, but it's one 300th of the country. April Ryan, you think...

That was my point. That was science. That was math. April, yeah. Do you think we should bring back the equal time rule? Yes. Yes. And what is that?

The equal time. Well, first of all, let me break it down in science. Bring it on. All right, my brother. Okay. So, basically. Sorry, you wasted that tender line on me. So, okay, so for you, for those of you who don't know,

remember when President Trump, then candidate Trump, was calling on Morning Joe, when he liked Joe Scarborough, Nica, and every, all the other networks. Well, you didn't hear the other candidates calling in. They could have, because the equal time rule is gone. It's gone. They have not reinstated. Oh, I see.

Yeah. So if he, they could have done it as well. If there was a rule, if there was the rule still in effect, right. President Trump would be on the air and they would have to give equal time to other candidates that is no longer effect and that's

one of the reasons why Donald Trump won that free advertisement He owned the airway, but he took advantage He owned the air was, but my question is Bill why didn't the other candidates have the Hitspa to go in and say let me do it It was like they were scared Donald Trump played the street game

He won and they were into this Thus thou there are wherefore This is not how it said Did he played this street game Thus, we're our four. We're our town. That's everybody. All right.

Evelyn, how should America deal with Russia post-Trump? Oh, my gosh. If there is a post-Trump. I mean, I think the way that his administration, that is to say everyone that him in our government, is trying to deal with Russia, which is firmly spelling out to Russia

that if they continue with this really horrible behavior, you know, invading other countries, them, messing with our elections, continuing to mess with our elections, poisoning and killing people in other countries. You know, I mean, I can go on and on if there's a list of like 20 things. If they keep doing all that stuff, then we're going to keep sanctioning them. Mostly our elections. Thank you very much.

We are American. Ukraine, I hope you're happy, but I don't care as much about Ukraine as I do about. Fucking with our election. I'm with you. I'm with you. That's like way up here and then the rest of it. Sorry about the poison. Well, I will say, though, a word about Ukraine.

It's an attack on our country. Yes. But Ukraine is also an attack on America, and as much as it's an attack on the right of a country to say, I'm a sovereign country. We, the sovereign Ukrainian people, want to be associated with NATO and the European Union and the West, and we want to be democratic. And we don't want this guy in the Kremlin telling us how to live our lives. So the answer to your question is...

I wouldn't send troops for it, but we should be stronger in... And we didn't. I mean, we sent troops to train them. I think... So what do we do? So we need to do more of the firm stuff because they won't cooperate with us until we are sufficiently firm all the way up to the president. No one's cooperating? Russian and American astronauts on the space station.

Yes. Of course. They're in space. What are they going to fight in space? They've got the... They've got the oarves. You're back. They look down, they don't see the color-coded countries. They're fighting over their float of food and the thing and all that stuff. But I will tell you, I can't go too far on this. And I'm, can I call you Neil or Dr. Tyson? Yeah.

No, Dr. Neal. Dr. Neal. Dr. Neal. But they are, they are, it is a troubled world up in space with Russia and China. I'll just leave it at that. So space station is one thing and commercial space is one thing. Maybe it'll lead the morality into the future. Right. Space junk.

We gotta get rid of that. Yeah. Max, what do you think people are fascinated? Why do you think people are fascinated with doomsday disdemean dystopian futures. Well, I mean, I think there's always this fear, especially in America, because I think there's something very deep about our isolationism.

And we're always, you know, remember, we most of us came from someplace else. And we escaped, a lot of us, escaped hardship, our ancestors escaped hardship, to come here. And there's always a subconscious fear that what we escaped will one day find us. And I think that's why there's always this terror, particularly because when times are even good,

you have an explosion of post-apocalyptic movies, TV, video games. So many movies about after the bomb went off. Right. And it's horrible. And that's scary because, like I say, movies do come true. It's always there. And if I can go back to what you said about Russia, I think something happened recently that we need to be very aware of,

is that the Russians just rioted because Putin raised the level of retirement, when you can retire. I think it was 65. average Russian man dies at 66. And what that did is it exploded the myth that Russians will be able to sacrifice for the motherland and pay any price. And that's been the idea that, oh, no, no,

we can take the pain. Russia will be invincible. And that's bullshit. We can hurt them. We can make them bleed. And the Russians have been fighting in the gray zone. They've used economic warfare, information warfare, cyber warfare.

We don't do any of that. We used to do it. Right. And it's time to get back in the game, and it's time to make Ivan bleed. Here, here. All right. Thank you, panel. Let's end on that.

Thank you, folks. All right, take it quickly. 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.