Real Time with Bill Maher - Overtime - Episode #516: Andrew Yang, Kara Swisher, Joe Walsh, Jon Meacham

Episode Date: January 18, 2020

Bill Maher and his guests answer viewer questions after the show. (Originally aired 1/17/20) 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 Ma. We're back. And here are the questions from people. Kara, do you agree with Joe Biden that Mark Zuckerberg is a, quote, real problem? I don't know quite what he meant by that. I think there's issues around Mark and leading of Facebook. You know, I don't even think there's regular. I don't know if he's a real problem.

But he's definitely making decisions that are problematic, including the political advertising, micro-targeting, that others have spent more time being more thoughtful about. You know, I kind of defended him on that. He's saying, we're not going to correct lies. But, you know, it's such a slippery slope. What is a lie and what is not?

I don't know. Of course I know when Trump is lying, but other politicians have lied. It's by degree. It's a difference between paid advertising and free speech. And I think they're talking, paid speech and free speech are two different things. Right, okay.

Facebook's trying to conflate them together. And they're not the same thing. That's a great point. Right. Okay. Cable networks have said that they'll actually take responsibility if a paid ad is verifiably false. So if a cable network can do it, I don't see how Facebook with vastly greater levels of resources can't do it. Andrew, do you have any thoughts on the new Iowa caucus rules that could result in three different sets of winners?

I'm not up on that. You'll have to hip. Yes. What does that mean? Everybody gets a trophy? Well, they were pushing towards a virtual caucus, and they pulled back on that. And so this time they're including vote count, which is unusual.

So you might win a vote count, and then there's a delegate count. Wait, wait. And there's a... The counting vote count, what would they do before? Before... So it's a complicated system where you have to be viable in a particular area, and then you get delegates assigned based upon proportions. But then they're also including raw votes.

So it's, in theory, more transparent. It's going to be a little bit confusing. It could be messy. It could be messy. But where... excited. I'm flying right from here to Iowa. I have a 17-day bus tour. Your friend Norm McDonald

is going to come rouse some Iowaians. He's one of the Yang Gang? He is one of the Yang Gang. Dave Chappelle. Dave Chappelle. Yes, the gang is getting bigger vibrant all the time. But the Iowa

caucus, it's going to be a complicated process. The Senators can't campaign there because they're at the impeachment trial. So you have less competition out there at the diner. Yes, the bus traffic will be a little bit lighter. Joe, what do you think should happen to Devin Nunes, now that we know about his association with Lev Pernas?

Oh, my God. You served with, you must know Devin quite well. He's a meathead. I mean, I'm serious, Joe. He was like. I think he's in some trouble. He's clearly. Legal trouble?

I don't know. Possibly. But he and Parnas were like best friends communicating on this deal. He was part of it. He denied even knew the guy. He's in some trouble. All right. John, were you surprised to read the Trump called his generals, nope's and babies, surprised about anything? Or are the revelations in a very stable genius, just more of the crazy old Trump? This is the book I referenced there. Yeah, Phil Rucker and his colleague. Right. I just ordered it. I haven't read it yet. I've asked Andrew, actually, to see if you would mind having a lapel pin that says nonfiction hardbacked books as opposed to math. Sure.

I appreciate that. If you win, we'll do it. Good for your red. I think that, yeah. I think what the book will tell us, I suspect, is what a lot of these other books have told us, which is they give us. It's like the Wizard of Oz. We know the black and white, and then they get to Oz and it's in color. Right.

Right. There are details that fill it out. But how do we know it's true? I mean, of course it's believable. Anything about truth? No, these are some amazing reporters. So what? But they weren't in the room. They're probably getting it from Rex Tillerson.

He seems like the hero. I feel like I've seen this movie with Bob Woodward. Like, we read a book of his, and it's really because he had Colin Powell. So I'm not saying Colin Powell is a guy. I love Colin Powell, but you're getting his story. It seems like we're getting Rex Tillerson's story. But when everybody around the guy, says he's a moron.

Well, we know he's a moron. I know, but even beyond that, I mean... And they have more than one source. These are not reporters that go with one source. I don't publish stuff unless I have two people. Two to three. Right, okay. Well, again, extremely believable

that he would say that. But I think the bigger issue is that he has... I keep saying he suffers. Everything comes from the fact that he suffers from narcissistic personality disorder. Only a narcissist who cannot project anything in the future, would say to his top breasts,

you're morons, I wouldn't go to war with you. That's so self-destructive in so many ways. No, actually, it's entertaining. He's doing this as entertainment. One of the things that was in the book was amazing is that this is a show. He said that to me on. Well, nobody was there.

There was no audience there. How could that be a show? The entire thing is a show for him. But this was a private meeting with his breast. But he's playing it in his head. This is a re... I mean, I feel like I'm the only... I watched every apprentice.

If you watch all the apprentices, And I did. I swear I got it. Because you liked it. It was your guilty pleasure show. Like Temptation Island for me. Okay. But we didn't begin to see that it's entertainment.

It's entertainment for him. And then he then does Twitter and it's a call in response. Then he calls into Fox. It's all like an act. And he's bully. It's also just bullying, right? And the one thing that did surprise me is he likes the way that generals look. It's fascinating to me.

Central casting. Yeah. And so to try. turn on them, it must have been a particularly He's done it so many times. He's all everywhere.

Starting with, I mean, when the whole thing I knew was going to go to shit when he's at the beginning of the campaign, said McCain, not a war hero. I like heroes

who were not captured. And they did not react. They did not throw him out of that race. He likes the rage. It's lather rinse, repeat, and really latherer. But that was the real test.

Like, were the Republicans going to say, oh my God, that is against everything we have ever stood for and believe in and this is one of our heroes and I'm sorry but you are just persona no grata in this party and it didn't

happen and I was like oh now he's gonna do what are they going to do? What do you expect him to do? Well, who is that? He could have not won the nomination after that. That's why it always would have happened before. If somebody had said John McCain is not a war hero? They did. Who? It doesn't matter. A Republican said that? A lot of them did. A lot of them, much more than you think so and it just

gets exaught. The whole thing is designed to be twitching. Who said that? I'd love to know. Maybe I don't. Over and over again people are shocked by this behavior and they go I can't believe he said that. At some point, I was like, believe it. He says it all. He does, but nobody else. Just him. Bill, he's a demagogue, and it worked. Because a lot of, as Andrew said, a lot of people wanted to believe in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, he was going to deliver, baby. He was a demagogue, and people bought that.

You bought it. No, no, no. You were going to get a musket. And do you really have a musket? I mean, it was not that long ago. You were going to get a musket. What would I do with a musket? Aaron Square lost the election. Who has a musket here? He says he does it. No, Bill, at home. I think John has a musket.

At home. I have some musket. But what am I going to do with a musket? He has a musket. I go squirrel hunting. John's got a musket. So how's the campaign going? Are you getting any traction from people?

Yes, we're polling at 14% in Florida. You've got 14% of a Republican vote? A poll came out yesterday. That's pretty encouraging. Let's leave on that now. Thank you for a great show. Thank you very much, audience. Catch all new episodes of Real Time with Bill Maher every Friday night at 10 or watch them anytime on HBO on demand.

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