Real Time with Bill Maher - Overtime – Episode #619: Rep. Ro Khanna, Gov. Jared Polis, Robert Costa

Episode Date: November 12, 2022

Bill Maher and his guests answer viewer questions after the show. (Originally aired 11/11/22) 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. Okay. All right. Here we are. Welcome back, Governor. A study released this week warns that the world has nine years to avert catastrophic climate warming. Oh, when we were having such a good time. What kind of climate policies are you focusing on implementing in Colorado?

First of all, we're too late. The climate's already changing. So, I mean, the nine years was probably nine years ago or 20 years ago. We can still avert some of the worst possible outcomes. And we're going to be 100% renewable energy by 2040 in Colorado, 80% in just seven and a half years in 2030. Renewable meaning. It's solar, wind, looking at a little bit of hydro and geothermal. I'm very excited about, especially geothermal electric.

Where are you in nuclear? We're open to it if the economics work. I mean, I think the big question is, how will the economics work? I mean, right now, it just hasn't proven out yet. So let's see where the technology goes of the next five or ten years. The economics of nuclear hasn't worked out? No, it hasn't. I mean, you know...

I thought the big summing block was... I mean, obviously, everyone is afraid of another Chernobyl or another Fukushima, which is valid. But, you know, you have to, you know, make... What did Obama used to say? Don't make the perfect, the enemy of the good? So where a lot of the technology is driving is towards sort of smaller-scale modular nuclear. It doesn't quite cost out. It always seems like one of these technologies that's like...

10 years away, you know. But there's a lot of promising stuff on drawing boards, engineers working on it. It wouldn't be these large plants that you have in the past. The terra-nuclear is promising. I mean, that terra-nuclear, it's the smaller nuclear reactors that we recycle

the waste. Oh, I see. And that's something we should be looking at. And I would say geothermal is really cool, too. The heat beneath our feet, right? Just tapping into this existing power source of the earth for passive cooling and for electric. So that's also good. And fusion? Is that too? pie in this guy? Who knows? I mean, you know...

We have fusion. It's called the sun. Let's capture the agent. Right. That's what Neil deGrasse Tyson always says. We have a great nuclear reactor in this guy. All right. Ro, this is for you. Do you think the massive tech layoffs announced this week, oh yeah, bloodbath in Silicon Valley, or an economic bellwether for other industries? What's going on there?

I fear that it is a concern. I mean, what you've had is advertising slow down, you know, because advertising isn't always the first thing people need. And so you've had layoffs at Facebook. You've had layoffs at Twitter. You've had hiring freezes at some of the other companies. But consumer spending is still good.

And since this is your area, what do you make of the Musk takeover of Twitter? Is that something that alarms you? Do you welcome it? Do you hate it? You know what I said, and I said to him, I said, why in the world would you want to be running the day-to-day of Twitter? Like, do you really want to make a decision of whether Bill Maura or Rokana's tweet should stay or not? I couldn't think of a worse possible job. Just appoints on board independently to make that decision.

I think he's going to, I think that's what he's doing. Look, I think he had a terrible week, and I'm a big fan of his. But retweeting the gay Pelosi story was stupid. And then advising people to vote Republican, because we need divided government at a time when the Republicans were standing for ending democracy was stupid. But he's a genius. Sometimes geniuses are stupid. stupid.

And I'm still on his team. I think it's great. I think it'd be so good for the Democrats to unshackle themselves from woke Twitter. This election just proved. They do best when they have the moderate guy who's not beholden to woke

Twitter. Twitter does not vote. Sure, Twitter doesn't vote. But I also don't think we need to be afraid of expressing our opinions of Twitter. No, exactly. Exactly. That's what he's standing up for. We shouldn't be afraid. I am afraid. I got off Twitter because everything I wanted to say on Twitter, I couldn't say on Twitter.

Why? Because it would just be a... It's such a minefield to get canceled. You know that 99... 99% I'm sure you know this. 99% of the people who work to Twitter half of them don't now. Vote Democratic.

Now, even if you're a Democrat, you shouldn't like that. That's not healthy for any company or any country. I'm not for censoring people on Twitter. I think that if you're going to incite, which you, I don't think, ever did, but if people are inciting violence and something, that's different. Of course. So clean that up, but allow free exchange of ideas.

I have no problem with it. I have no problem with whoever Elon Musk wants to support politically. I mean, it saddens me that he's not supporting reason and the Democrats. Well, that's his First Amendment right. My problem is that you don't want him making decisions over the media forum. He should have an independence. I just like to tweet pictures of my dog on Twitter. I mean, things like that.

Exactly, yeah. Well, I wonder, with all of this, especially in Silicon Valley, when did Democrats say that what happens at Twitter, what happens on Facebook, is like a utility? It needs to be regulated like a utility. Is that going to be part of the discussion in the coming years in any way? Because it is confusing, even as a reporter to track, who's in control, who should be in control,

where does the First Amendment end if it ever ends? What is the story? Because a lot of people are arguing on Capitol Hill. it should be like a telephone company. But that's a terrible analogy, because the telephone, this is a free speech issue. A utility is like gas

and power and stuff like that. But there are not televisions regulated in a different way than social media. Is that a utility television? No. We're talking about FCC stuff. The weird thing about the Twitter thing is, you know, Elon Musk has been a brilliant business person, right? And I just don't understand

paying 44 billion. I think that a lot of that value is just going to evaporate. I don't see how he turns this into, you know, a winner from... Well, they said that about the electric car and reusable rockets. So, I mean, you know, the guy is not exactly... He's not exactly without a track record. And he has plans to make Twitter into something much bigger than it is. Not just a place where you can say whatever it's your picture of your dog.

He wants to have it like where you do your banking. And like some of these other social apps. And if he gets rid of the bots, that'll help. And he's doing that, yes. Okay. Robert Democratic strategist James Carver. said Democrats would be better of looking harder at Mississippi than Florida following the overwhelming GOP success in the state. I don't know whether that's sarcastic or...

Well, the question is... Is Florida now out of reach for Democrats in 2020? Is he serious about Mississippi? It's more in reach. It's a challenge for the Democrats, I think, in the coming years, having spent a lot of time in Georgia, a lot of time in Mississippi, in Alabama. How are they going to win back the South? In some respects, the clock. LIBURN argument that voting rights and redistricting needs to be put front and center has helped the Democrats make gains.

I mean, to think that there are two Democratic senators from Georgia right now shows the Democrats have made some inroads. But when you go to Mississippi, when you go to Alabama and you say, I'm a reporter, a lot of people just turn away. It's still Trump country there. And the Democrats have struggled with the work of class. And that's why the Bernie Sanders campaign has often said you've got to lead with the economy in class to win back working voters in places like Mississippi. Yeah, you're not going to get Mississippi in Alabama. Why worry? Democrats, wouldn't you want to play in 50 states if you can?

No. It's silly, and that's why they don't. Because some places are just not in reach. I mean, you know, either is South Dakota. You know, it just, you can't win them all. They're so small population-wise. Exactly. Why are there two Dakotas?

Why is there one? We've got to go. Thank you very much. We'll see you next week for our last show. 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.