Real Time with Bill Maher - Overtime – Episode #705: Kaitlan Collins, Steven Pinker, Stephen Moore

Episode Date: September 9, 2025

Bill Maher and his guests answer viewer questions after the show. (Originally aired 9/5/25) 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 Maher. All right, here we are with Trump's former economic advisor whose latest book is the Trump Economic Miracle, Steve Moore. She is CNN's chief white house correspondent, anchor of the source with Caitlin Collins, Caitlin Collins, and he's a professor and author of when everyone knows that everyone knows, Stephen Pinker. Okay, first question is for you, Professor, what did you make of how the rumor that Trump was dead spread around the end. I guess this is apropos

of your theme of the book, but this is just a rumor. I mean, you should answer this too, because this is your beat in Washington. There was a rumor that Trump, because, I mean, to me, it just shows how much he's in our heads that when he doesn't appear for a day, we're like, he must be dead.

For a minute. I mean, but... You know, what was crazy about that was, sometimes there are these rumors that, you know, appear online and proliferate. This was pretty widespread. Like, I had people who, I think, have a pretty tight grasp on reality, asking me if this was true last weekend, if he had actually died.

But how does that even happen? He's on TV every single hour, every single day. But he had been in public, actually. It was the longest stretch he had not been in front of the camera. Oh, I see. So he must be dead. That's the longest stretch he had not been in front of the cameras since taking office, that we did see him golfing over the weekend.

But, yeah, but, I mean, he got asked about it and seemed surprised by it, even though he did tweet, in all caps, he was better than he's ever been on Sunday. I think he did get word of what was happening. But is this apropos of what we were talking about in any way? It's a stretch because it's not that everyone knows something that is actually true, but it's true that we are sensitive to what other people believe. So there can be a kind of self-reinforcing dynamic to rumors. I'm old enough to remember when Paul McCartney was.

Yes, right, exactly. Right. Is he? No, he is. I saw him in New York the other day. Oh, cool. Is that the great way exaggerating? Yeah, I remember that.

Yes, there was a, and you played the record backward. All his dad missed him. He was the one who was walking barefoot on the other road and all that stuff. Yes, that was all. Okay. Kids Google it. Steve, what do you make of Elon Musk potentially becoming the world's first trillionaire as part of his new compensation?

deal with Tesla, isn't that excessive? Well, I would... Is this a great country or what? You can become a trillionaire? I mean, where else in the planet? I'm in favor of people making money. I am, too. I also think there has to be limits to everything. I mean, this is, again, where I'm talking about

nothing ever lands in the middle. Mondami, running for mayor in New York, probably going to be the mayor. He said there shouldn't be such a thing as a billionaire. Not a trillionaire. He says there shouldn't be such a thing as a billionaire. But Bill, you know what... But now a true.

Yeah, but here's what Elon Musk would say. You know, and this is something people should think about. You say, like, am I going to give, you know, billions and billions of dollars of the government? Who do you think can spend that money better, a guy like him who's built incredible businesses or the government that bucks everything up? Whoa. Wait, I thought the guy you like is the head of the government now. I'm confused about what sidewerect.

Steve. Okay, but so there should never be any cap because there's certainly, but when J.D. Rockefeller, the founding father of the Rockefeller dynasty, at some point was worth 2% of the GDP, and then they made antitrust laws. They said that's a little too much for one person to control. I think they were right a hundred years ago. And I think a trillionaire, I mean, well, he's not going to be a trillion arm. It's basically they've given him a lot of homework to actually get there. It's going to be difficult, I think, to do. It's like double the value.

But even the money he has now. I read, I don't remember the exact statistics I was reading, but it was something like it would take you X thousands of years. If you spent a million dollars a day, he's going to invest it in the economy. He's going to, he has an incredible charity. My point is, it's his money. He should be able to do with it what he wants. In general, I agree.

I just think. Where do you stand on there? Where's Harvard on this one? The charity? Which charity? Look, a turn. Having seen him distribute anti-HIV drugs, malaria drugs, education for girls. Bill Gates has given away a lot of money.

He's saved probably 100 million lives. Elon Musk will probably cost 20 million lives from the cuts that he's made in USA. when he was head of Doge. USAID? Yeah, that's the most corrupt foreign agency ever. Show me anywhere where USAID has had a positive effect on international aid. It just doesn't.

It's just corrupt foreign leaders. I mean, there's corruption. They have saved tens of millions of lives. Okay, for panel, are we heading toward a war with Venezuela over drug cartels? Well, as I said, the monologue, Venezuela is not really the place. I mean, they do have gangs. I mean, the one that I think he said had the drugs on the boat that we blew up,

Trenda, Aragua? Tren de Aragua. I thought that was George Clooney's tequila brand, quite frankly. But, I mean, I'm glad we're getting rid of the gangs. But Venezuela is not one of the drug countries that we really want to stop drugs. Venezuela is not the place. But also there's questions about,

the legal authority and justification for just blowing up a boat that's in the middle of the water that they allege was a drug boat but we haven't seen the evidence they haven't presented that publicly or anything like that

and if this becomes a common practice I mean that would be a first I mean it seems odd that you would have a small boat with 11 people on it if you were smuggling drugs I personally would leave more room for drugs very well taken

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apply. be lightning. They stopped the game for an hour. Well, what I'm a subject. Can I tell you what else I hate? No more building dome stadium. Football should be played outside. Yes.

Yeah, I agree. Baseball. Look, I'm a Chicago one. We played in Wrigley Field and Soldier's Field when it's 10 degrees below zero, Bill. I don't know about that one. When it's like Alabama in August at September and kickoff, it's hot.

But what about, you know, canceling the game for an hour because there could be lightning. I heard the now, please get to safety. Get to safety. Like a meteor was heading for the stadium. Bullshit. Um,

Professor, have standards for college students changed in recent years? Do they have trouble keeping up with the amount of reading that used to be required? Yeah, the answer is yes, they have declined. I mean, I can see it in my own class. which I've taught for 22 years. So we had a meeting with the dean at Harvard

because grades keep getting higher and higher. The 80% of students get an A. The average GPA is 3.8 out of four. And so... Grade inflation, they call it. No, they don't. We prefer to call it grade compression. Oh.

Maybe our students are just getting better and better. So I knew this was malarkey. So I actually had the data because I'm giving kind of the same exam for 22 years, and it's multiple choice, so it's subjective. So it's a constant benchmark, and performance has been going down, at least in my class. Ten percentage points from 2004 to now. So the standards have been going down. Students do read less.

I think they spend more time on extracurriculars than on classwork. And I just know that because I'm... scrolling. That's when they're in the room. Yes. I just tell you, they're not going to read. your book, not because it's not great, it is, it's a book.

Yes. They don't read a book. I read a letter that a student wrote to the Crimson saying you can get out of this university without having fully read a whole book. That, dear, that might be true. Now, I've got to say, there are a lot of really

brilliant, really studious Harvard students, like intimidatingly smart. Right. But there's also a lot for whom it's kind of a luxury cruise and academics is just one of the activities. And I think we, yeah. So our dean, to be fair, our dean has noticed, and she has changed the guidelines going forward. She actually told students, you wouldn't think this would be a shock, academics is your first priority.

Now, the fact that she has yet to say that, this is a kind of a radical new policy. She said that it's okay for professors to take attendance in the, in lectures, which I'm going to start doing, that it's okay to ban electronic devices, which I might start doing. Because we actually know that taking notes leads to better memory than

using a screen. Just because when you, it's just a principle of cognitive psychology, when you have to think hard about something, when you've got to process its meaning, when it's not just a bunch of words, then you actually remember better. And when you...

Just the process of writing, puts it in your brain. 100%. Yeah, yeah. And so, but a lot of them have screens. There are electronic note-taking devices, but they're not as fluid and easy as the old-fashioned pen and paper.

So my teaching is, since they're going to hate this, because we're going to have to schlep handouts to class every time, but I think I'm going to start doing that. But can I say I totally agree with that? Because when I'm interviewing someone, I'll write the questions down that I've thought out at times, because then when I'm interviewing them, I don't have to look at anything.

And I can remember when I was going to ask them, you know, 12 questions down. or whatnot. Yeah. But you're that girl in the class we were always cheating. I struggled to do. I said you're from Alabama

and so proud of it. Last question. What's wrong with that? I love Alabama. Are you from Alabama? Yeah. There's nothing wrong with that. Yes.

Unfortunately, this football season, I am an Alabama fan. I'm the guy who talked to the whole country. It didn't vote for us last week. I talked to the whole country. I got no end. You're thinking of the other. guys. Okay. But Trump just moved Space Force from Colorado

to Huntsville. To Alabama. For no good reason. Because he was mad at Colorado for having mail-in voting. Now, I've been to Huntsville. I played Huntsville. It's great. It's where NASA is. The penalty might not fit the crime. What do you think of that? I actually did a lot of this, because when it was moved back to Colorado during Biden, the Biden administration,

The Alabama lawmakers were furious over this. It was basically a huge debate. It depends on who you ask. They said they did all these studies where it would be better. It's going to be in Alabama. There's a real question of how many jobs it's going to bring to the state. The administration said as many as 30,000. Officials in Alabama have said 15 to 1,600.

But I think Alabama is an amazing place, and I think everyone should live there. Especially if you're a quarterback or a head football coach and you would like to live in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. I don't know about that, but I know they play football in the rain. down there. Oh, thank you very much. 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.