Real Time with Bill Maher - Overtime - Episode #497: William Weld, John Waters, Kirsten Powers, Jonathan Swan, Lawrence Wilkerson

Episode Date: June 1, 2019

Bill Maher and his guests answer viewer questions after the show. (Originally aired 5/31/19) 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. Internet, with the questions that the people wrote in. Lawrence Wilkerson, does the Trump administration plan to bypass Congress to sell arms of Saudi Arabia concern you? Very much. I'll bet. And if the Congress really has the courage, political and moral, it will pass a separate piece of legislation and just disregard. the Export Control Act, which would take too long anyway,

and shut him down. Can they? Yes. Okay. John Waters, as the Pope of Trash, is that a nickname? Well, that's been called Worse. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Can you confirm that Trump is the tracheist president of all time? Oh, yes, he's a... Well, I think he's the worst. I think, you know, I've said he looks like a white James Brown impersonator. Yes. I mean, besides them there, but also the decor.

I mean, it looks like Saddam Hussein's palace. It looks like Jeff Coons decorated without art history or irony or any knowledge. Yeah, okay. Okay. Governor Bill Weld, in the event that you don't get the Republican nomination, will you back the Democratic nominee for president in 2020? I'm not sure what I'd do. You know, there may be Justin Amash hanging out there on the libertarian ticket.

Hard to say. Really? would not support Mr. Trump under any circumstances. I love the United States. So you wouldn't support Trump, but you might support a third party candidate or the Democrat, depend on who it was? Anyone but Trump.

You wouldn't do that bullshit right-in Mickey Mouse thing, would you? No, no, no, no. And wouldn't go back to libertarian. All right. Alfred E. Newman. Well, people do that. I think it's just... No, but Alfred E. Newman, he did run for president

in the old days for Mad Magazine. He's not a real person. I know, but remember, Trump called Mayor Pete Alfredine Newman, didn't Oh, yes. Oh, okay. You got to be old enough. Kirsten, was the Democratic National Committee

wrong to implement stricter fundraising and polling benchmarks for the third round of debates? Wait, what happened? You don't know? Well, they did was they said you need 2% in the polls and 130,000 unique donors.

This is to get into debate. This is the third debate. The debate starts like in three weeks, right? Yeah. They're set for the first one. This is to narrow... The set for the first debate? No, no, no.

The numbers, the thresholds are set. This is a higher standard after the first... You can't have more than 20, right? Is that the thing? There's 23 candidates, but... Musical chairs. Three of them are not going to get the chair. I think what they realized was that the standards

that they set were too easy. And so that's why we have so many people now that are going to be running. And so to make it 2% instead of 1% is going to maybe narrow... I mean, even 10, we remember this with the Republicans. It's very hard to make... to make a mark. I don't know how...

I guess that's what they'll all do. And that's why it's bad to have so many, because they don't really concentrate on what... And they destroy each other. They just... Bating these ridiculous things. And looking for ways to separate themselves from the PAC, yes. Okay, should President Trump's plan to switch to a merit-based immigration

system receive more consideration? Well, it would be more like what Canada has. No, I don't think it should. You don't think so. You think it should be family-based. We're not... You can have both. You can You can have merit-based like we do, if you need some engineers, right? You'll get some visas for them. But really, this country is based on having people come over here, not based on having a Ph.D.

Or high-level skills. I mean, I don't know what your family did when they came here. My family worked in coal mines. You know, and that's what most people's family did. And so I think even when we say merit-based, it sort of suggests that someone who only has a, you know, doesn't have a high education, doesn't have merit. And what's merit? And merit is merit, you know, I think that we need people who are, you know, who are unskilled laborers.

We need them just as much as we need people who are engineers. So I would dissent on that. I think the latest proposal is worth some fleshing out. Yeah. It's more normal Republican, the one that was ignored two weeks ago that he put forth. I hate to be called a normal Republican these days. No, no, I'm talking about Trump. His proposal.

Oh, yeah. No, it sounded almost normal. I couldn't believe it. Today he was like, I'm going to stop immigration with tariffs. That's crazy. That's crazy. But like, I can understand how that side looks at what happened two weeks ago and went, oh, you know what, if you're not going to like even engage on the semi-normal proposal, let's just go back to crazy.

Yeah, but it's more of his trying to keep people from the so-called shithole countries out. I mean, I think you're almost giving him too much credit. You know, it's the idea that like he, his motivation is to keep people out who he thinks are with wrath. Have you noticed recently there have been a lot of people taking out Let's pray for the president. Even Nancy Pelosi said, let's pray for that. Yeah. That's because they're afraid. He's losing it. That's why.

Yeah. I'm sure they are. Okay. Finally, what do you think about Elizabeth Warren's proposal to change Justice Department policy on whether a sitting president can be indicted? Yes. Always Elizabeth Warren, who actually comes up with the actual nuts and books. She's never said a funny thing in her life. Who cares? She's not running for clown.

But she's a real laugh riot. Right. So what? I don't know. I think you need a little humor. No, I don't want somebody coming out every day. And I agree, because I made a joke and she didn't like it. I think she's so, N-F, not funny.

She's not funny. You don't have to be funny, but it is important to have a sense of humor. She doesn't have one. But you know what? That's not a reason to go to hell. No, of course. Phil. I think this is a very serious issue.

I think the founders were smart when they put a little ambiguity in the Constitution, a lot more than a little. but it lets modern people amend things a little bit. But one of the things in the Constitution in Section 4 of Article 2 that deals with impeachment and the words that are around it says you shouldn't let lower politics be used to remove a sitting president. I think that's sound advice. The kind of politics you have to use to remove a sitting president

is the Senate, the Supreme Court, the House and impeachment. And that's the way it should be done. Now, after COG, continuation of a government, deliberations, and 9-11, and our thought that maybe we'd lose a third of the government in one terrorist attack, we designed some other ways to deal with it, but that's in extremist conditions. I think the Constitution is pretty sound. The president should be removed from office by impeachment,

and we ought to have some congressmen with some balls. All right. I'll agree on balls. Thank you, everybody. All right. 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.