Real Time with Bill Maher - Overtime - Episode #484: Chris Christie, Malcolm Nance, Eric Idle, Natasha Bertrand, Jack Kingston

Episode Date: February 9, 2019

Bill Maher and his guests answer viewer questions after the show. (Originally aired 2/8/19) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Saving those children is how we all go home. From binge all episodes exclusively on Paramount Plus. Welcome to an HBO podcast from the HBO late month series, Real Time with Bill Maugh. Okay. So before we get to the questions, would you and the governor like to answer what I was saying about it? I was quoting Norm Ornstein and Thomas Mann. They're very, very esteemed journalists. They were bipartisan.

And they said it's the Republicans' fault. I think that when President Trump has a good proposal, the country would be better off if Democrats got behind. Like which one? Case in point. Case and point. How long do you want to stay in Afghanistan? You're right.

That's the one I'm hoping for. And I know one of the issues also out there is the deficit. And if you bring the troops back from these regime-changed wars that you would save billions of dollars and lives. And I think that's something that should have high-partisan. But the Republican voted against him on that. They finally found something to stand up to him about it. you're not for war enough.

But, Bill, there is an opportunity for a core of Democrats and a core of Republicans to say, you know what? The president's got a good point here. Let's get behind him. Well, I'm for that. I mean, you're right. The liberals have been hypocritical about that.

They were for ending forever war and now they're for it. And when he talked about family medical leave, Chuck Schumer stood up, I think he was the only one on the Democrat side who did it. But, you know, there again, reward good behavior. The First Step Act, to his credit, Corey Booker brought somebody who had been released from jail

who had been sentenced for a long period of time. And that criminal justice reform in the First Step Act passed in December. Great bipartisanship, and it should be done again. Attacking opioids again. Great national problem, 60,000 people a year die from it. Democrats and Republicans have a good opportunity to get behind something like that and win. And then when he talks about wiping out childhood leukemia, why not erupt with claps and applause saying,

hell yeah, let's do this, because this is a horrible thing. Yeah, I don't think that the Democrats are for childhood leukemia. I'm saying, all right, all right. So, all right, you got your rebuttal in. Governor Christie, do you think there are any Democrats that have your signature in-your-face approach to dealing with the opposition? Is there a Democrat, Chris Christie, I guess they're asking? Well, thank God, no.

I, listen, I think Bernie has a bit of that. You know, Bernie doesn't back down to anybody. And when Bernie's got a point of view, he's going to say it, and he doesn't really sugarcoat anything. So I think Sanders is one of those people? Who do you think is the Democrats' best choice to run in 2020? I think the one

that the president would be most afraid of if he can stay in his lane is Biden. And the reason why is because Biden can go to Ohio and Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and Michigan and appeal to white working class voters. And if he does, that, he only has to peel off

7 to 10,000 votes in each one of those states to be able, and he's going to win two of them. But there's many states, and he's not going to excite the base anywhere. Well, he's not going to excite the base, but you know what? If that base gets a little bit too excited, it's going to drive

away the rest of the middle of the country. Because some of the stuff that the base is talking about is not going to be, you know, is not going to be appealing to the middle of the country. And this is the same mistake I think Democrats have made in a number of different elections where they say, this is great, we love it, but they don't care about what the middle of the country thinks. They care

about the two coasts. I'd also put in Tulsi Gabbard, and I'd put in John Delaney. If they get traction, John Delaney has an incredible business record. In Tulsi Gabbard, I think she has a refreshing voice when it comes to these wars that are endless and regime change. She's been one the Russians

like. But that investigate... Just saying, the Russians like her. New York Times looked at that story that NBC ran and discredited the guy who claims that a guy named Jonathan Morgan and a group called a... Okay. Eric Idol, as president of the

Footlights Club at Cambridge, you were the first to allow women to join. You personally? I did that, yes. You did? What motivated your decision? What year was that? It was 1965, and it was before the Cambridge colleges admitted women. And it was just nuts, you know? There's

funny women in the hell. We need them in the club. And Jermaine Greer was the first one to join. who wrote the female eunuch. And she had more balls than any man I haven't met. But the pythons mostly dressed as women. Well, that was personal reasons. Is it possible someday we will look back on dressing as a woman and think that that is not appropriate?

I mean, we're only at the beginning of really having transgender awareness. I wonder if someday we'll look at. back and go, wow, Tootsie, not funny. No, I think it'll always be funny. I'll have to shoot all the comedians. Maybe if you wear a thong and you don't quite fit, I don't know.

It could be an angle. I'm trying to bring you in, Malcolm. Mrs. Robertson, this is getting a little weird. Natasha, excluding Trump, which family member is more likely to be in jeopardy with the special counsel, Don Jr. or Jared? Who?

I think that Don Jr. is probably in more immediate jeopardy just because of his congressional testimony. Yeah, I mean, he has been telling his friends and associates that he expects to be indicted. And he's been saying that for the last couple months. So, yeah, I think that his accounts about, you know, the Trump Tower meeting in 2016, his accounts about Trump Tower Moscow

and how involved he was in that, could put him in some legal jeopardy there. And as we know, Mueller has shown no shyness about going after people for lying to Congress. Okay. Should any serious discussion of the national debt, by the way, in the state of the union speech, no mention of that.

Usually presidents at least do lip service. Trump is like, fuck it, I'm just going to write a check the whole time I'm here. You know what? Doesn't matter. Printing money. He said it. I see that while.

I know. Should any serious discussion? The question of the national debt include cuts to the military budget. Yes. Yes. I think it should. There's no need to respond to that. No, what do you think? Bill. Let me see if you're going to really cut it, you've got to talk about everything. And military's part of it. You got to talk about entitlements, so, too, which Democrats

seem to be completely allergic to. You know, they don't want to talk about that stuff. They don't want to talk about the fact that Medicare and Medicaid. I was a governor. I asked to do managed care in Medicaid. Now, this is not like splitting the atom. There's managed care everywhere. It took the Obama administration two and a half years to give me permission to spend the 50% that I spend on managed care. Like, Democratic administrations have been allergic to ever saying to anybody, no, you can't do that in entitlements. So I agree with you. I'll put military on the table.

You put entitlements on the table, and we'll fix the problem. Well, that's called a grand bargain. Right. And Obama tried for a grand bargain with John Vayner. And to the point of the editorial I just did, the Republicans wouldn't let him. There was a, remember that grand bargain? And a grand bargain is what we need. But it has to be giving up on both sides.

Trump completely does not understand this. His way of negotiating is, I want my wall. Now, how about you give me my wall? That's not a negotiation. I spent eight years with Democrats in the legislature in New Jersey, and what you learn is everybody has to win. If we're going to negotiate, everybody has to win something. and guys down in Washington have forgotten about that.

It's because they don't have to work with each other because they're in these gerrymandered districts where they never have to worry about a general election or they have to worry about as primaries. In New Jersey, I'm a Republican, I had to worry about my back every day. So make deals and give them some of what they want so you get some of what you want.

Just remember, he did in February 2018 Schumer shut down the government. It was a three-day shutdown over that. Making a deal. And now all he's saying is, why don't you vote the way you did in February, and we don't have any glitches in the government.

He's only talking about $5.7 billion and talking about the military, we all know that's lunch money. That's nothing. $5.7 billion in a $3.7 trillion budget. When you add up... No, what I'm saying $5.7 billion in comparison to the other things we spent on, it's nothing. It doesn't mean

we should waste it on something stupid. Well, like going to protect him. The protection is not necessarily a war. I have a compromise. Give the Democrats 100 miles, give the wall 100 miles, come back in two years,

see which one's more effective and then build more of that or less? How about a stealth wall? Because Trump thinks stealth airplanes are literally invisible. Thank you very much. Sleep tight. All right, you're a great crowd.

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