Real Time with Bill Maher - Overtime - Episode #496: Fran Lebowitz, Jonathan Metzl, James Kirchick, George Packer, and Neera Tanden

Episode Date: May 18, 2019

Bill Maher and his guests answer viewer questions after the show. (Originally aired 5/17/19) 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. All right, we're here on the internet, so we're going to read some cards from the people, but first, what happened? You said something and they're mad at you? I know this feeling.

What did you, what were the thing you said about the Saudis? You were making a joke and it went too far. We're sorry? Is that where we're at? This is what the producer said. He said, we're getting a blowback on Twitter or something. Okay. Well... I mean, I saw your face, I didn't even realize that I said it.

I didn't even realize that I said it. I had 12 cups of coffee. I regret saying it. Okay, there you know. It's like everyone's too. Everyone's two, too, too, too, too. You know, I mean, it's a live show. You don't really want to see the president

dismembered by the Saudis. No, I don't. You know, I don't like Donald Trump either, but yes, we, you know, I had Kathy Griffin on and I said, no, I don't... Jail is fine. Yes, I said we should forgive Kathy Griffin, but I don't endorse what she said. either or did, you know, it was not the right thing.

And matter who the president... Right, who... No, okay, but matter who the president is, we do not want physical harm. No, exactly. I did not mean that. And I regret saying it. Right. I regret that everyone misinterpreted it.

Yes. They misinterpret everything. Right. Why should they stop with me? I really think you should be on Twitter. I'm very happy. I'm not on Twitter. I never said the Beatles were greater than God, or there were better than him.

thing of whatever it is, and now it's all this. Okay. James Kurchick, do you think the way Mayor Pete speaks about religion, God and morality, will have any on the religious right rethinking their support of Trump? No. I think it's incredible that the first real serious gay presidential candidate

has this totally bourgeois, domestic life, happily married, very kind of, you know, normal, if we can use that term. And as a religious guy who's quote scripture, and he's running against a heterosexual president who's been married three times, is a pagan.

A pagan? Yeah. Pagan. You don't hear, that's worth it in what you said. You don't hear that word very often. He's a favorite. Now, he's a heathen. I don't know about a pagan.

He means a druid or something? He worships money. He worships idols. He worships himself. Oh. I think it was a new word for having sex with a porn star. But it's... And he's...

No, that's the name of a porn star. Yeah. Pagan. But Trump is the one that the evangelical Christians support in spite of all that. And here you have this guy who's, you know, he's gay, and that's his fault, I guess, right? It's like everything else he's totally by the book. But see, I think this goes back to the debate about abortion. I think that what's happening with evangelical right is they have an attitude towards women, the issues about women's empowerment.

They have an attitude about racism and other issues. And his strongest group of support in the country is evangelicals. How do you explain that? Abority. It's other abortion. It's the long game. He's delivering. He's delivering on being anti-choice.

That is what they, that is a bargain they made. It's not about religion. He's Cyrus. It's about keeping women and other people down. This connects to Saudi Arabia and Iran, where theocracy turns religion into power. And that is, this aspect of the Republican Party is a theocratic party that would enshrine religion as a power that would take away. rights from individuals. And it gets people to displace, right? I mean, in other words,

people who don't have health care, or the farmers who are getting screwed by the tariffs, but it's a bigger, noble cause, right, in that way. And so there's also, you know, you're part of this grand narrative. But the really corrupting thing is power becomes their end. Yeah. I mean, not, you know, you get the feeling when they start rewriting the rules after a Democrat wins the governorship of Wisconsin that the norms are all gone because power

is the end. And so it's the, justifies anything. And you don't feel that there's a higher morality that they're in pursuit of when they're passing these abortion. It is a power move that's saying we control the legislature, so we will control you. And it... Okay. Yeah. Fran, what are your thoughts on the New York Times story about Trump losing over a billion dollars in one decade? I think he was the biggest loser, they said, of all the taxpayers in that ticket. It's amazing. At least one or two of the years. Mr. Brilliant Businessman. What's you think of that? You mean, am I surprised? Do you hear that?

No. Not surprised here. I mean, no one, Trump lost New York City, New York City, nine to one. Right. Nine to one. Because it's a place where people most knew him, okay? And that is why. And so, you know, every, no one in New York even thought he was a realist.

I mean, any Republican, but lose. Not nine to one. Not nine to one, yes. I mean, the upper east side, which often votes for Republicans for, you know, the presidency, because they don't want to pay taxes. or they want to pay even less than no taxes, vote for Hillary Clinton. Okay?

Because no one in New York... No one who can make enough money to afford to live in New York City and pay the taxes there is stupid enough to vote for Donald's right. It's like Bill de Blasio. Bill de Blasio, running for president. 76% of New Yorkers don't want him to run.

Of his own constituents, don't want him to run. But 80% anything that gets him out of New York. We had Bill on. I like Bill. What goes through a guy's mind when there's 22 people in the race? I think Bill de Blasie is literally thinking there's a mayor of South Bend, Indiana, who's doing really well,

and I represent a place that is like 20 times, 300 times as large, and have to make bigger decisions. I think the size of the crowd is actually making more and more people. It seems like there's seven or eight potential, realistic presidential candidates. There's maybe 15 who are running to get a TV show or a radio show or a book deal. And then there's Beto O'Rourke, who's like having a midlife crisis and inflicting it. No, that's not fair. All of us.

That's not fair. It's playing out on live television every day across the country. Why do you say that? That's interesting that you. Beto? I'm just asking why you put it that way. I mean, he just reminds me of these guys I went to school with who like smoked a lot of dope and pretended to do the reading. Oh, come on.

They apologize for it. Right. I mean, I... Nothing against those guys. They're some of my closest friends, but they shouldn't be running for president. I like Beto, too, but I did tear him a new asshole for all the apologizing. That's, yeah, it's silly. It's silly.

It's silly. You know, if you keep saying sorry, you look like a sorry candidate. Okay, the one thing I'd say is, if you're actually thinking about what Democrats have to do, this is the fact that Texas was a two and a half point race is an important issue. So whatever Democrat, whoever the defendant... You're man against Ted Cruz. No, Ted Cruz actually... He's the most unlikable man in America.

That's not true. Ted Cruz has a higher support in Texas than John Cornyn does right now. He actually... Conservatives like him. We don't understand it that they like him. And I actually think, if you're thinking about these things, having a candidate in Texas who does well, having a lot of candidates who... candidate. Maybe he brings more Latinos into the primary. Getting more and more people interested in the primary is actually a good thing. There's also a guy who should be in the race, but isn't.

Yeah. Let me, but Sherrod Brown. Yeah. I think Sherrod Brown would be the senator from Ohio. Yes, I know who is. What about him is so different than the other 23? First of all, he's a... What am I getting from him that I don't get from Amy Klobuchar? He doesn't throw staplers of people. He won Ohio. He's a liberal Democrat.

I like the two does that. who speaks to the working. She went in Minnesota. Ohio is a tougher state. Ohio's tough. Okay. Yeah. And he's a good guy. He's interesting.

I wish he'd run. Well, no. Don't say that. 24, Bill 24. We were taking the sign-up sheet down. Okay. If you haven't signed up for this, for the soccer team, yeah.

I'm sorry. You have to wait until next semester. This is how Trump won the nomination. By there being so many Republicans. Right. Candidates split the vote on. It's very different, though. Democrats are very focused.

So one thing that is so far good about this primary... No, no, no. You never say a bad word. You never say a bad word about any Democrat, do you? I think it's very different from... They need tough luck. It's very different from 2016. Democrats actually don't want candidates

ripping each other apart. They actually are trying to... Give a time. Give a time. They are. But Joe Biden, reason why he's doing well is because people want a safe candidate. They don't want it.

He's saying he's not going to attack other Democrats. Democrats who have attacked other candidates have actually come down in the polls. That is a sign of a rational party that has identified Donald Trump as... What is Bernie doing? What do you say that? Bernie's not a process of like, in other words, we're trying to figure out what our message is.

Last time we had one candidate in a certain way and now we have these disparate messages. And so if this process leads us... The Republicans had 16 and they actually won. No, I understand that. I understand that. And we had a lot of people running in 2008 and we had... As Frank was just saying, I think that's part of the problem. When you have so many people running for the nomination, what they're concentrating on now is not how to win the election.

They're concentrating how to separate themselves from these other people. What is my lane? What can I do to make myself stand out? I mean, that's why Beto did his reboot. That's why some of them suddenly take a stand. Like, wow, I want to get every gun out of America because then I'll be that guy. Really, it's going to be when people start dropping out of the race.

Will people join forces? Or will people be, I mean, it really depends how long people start. Yeah, I actually think... I think actually, as you said earlier, the Democrats are super focused on election. which means actually trying to make an argument about how you can win the general election not just a but they look like clowns when you when you have 20 people i mean if you have a debate

they're going to have to have three nights first they were going to have two nights who's now it's cocella we're like we have to go every what people see chatella people like i know but yes because that's a music festival this is just but would you watch three nights of debates now with nine people every night or something I agree about this chasing electability because Democrats end up going for someone they think other people like, and it turns out nobody likes the person. They should vote for the person they like,

not the person who's supposedly going to win because no one knows who's elected. I agree that it's a long process. I agree that. I think people demonstrate ability in that long process. Fortune cookies for everybody. Thank you very much. Catch all new episodes of Real Time with Bill Maher

every Friday night at 10. Watch them anytime on HBO On Demand. For more information, log on to HBO.com.