Real Time with Bill Maher - Overtime – Episode #729: John Fetterman, Dan Crenshaw, Donna Brazile

Episode Date: May 12, 2026

Bill Maher and his guests answer viewer questions after the show. (Originally aired 5/8/26) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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free of charge. BetMGEMGEMP operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming, Ontario. Welcome to an HBO podcast. from the HBO late-night series, Real Time with Bill Ma. All right, he's the Democratic Senator from Pennsylvania, John Federman. He's the Republican Congressman from Texas and host of the podcast, Hold These Truth, Dan Crenshaw, and she is an ABC News contributor and former DNC chair, Donna Brazil. All right.

Let's get to the questions that the people want to know. They want to know. What do you make of the split in MAGA? Is there a Republican Civil War brewing? Well, there certainly is big disagreements. I mean, you know... I've been fighting the Civil War for a long time, you know, pointing out the atrocities

and the grifting of people like Tucker Carlson. And now, there's a lot more people, obviously, realizing that. Some of us had to be first across the beach had and take all the bullets. But I like that we're having that Civil War. It's not new, you know, as you think about it back in the day, Buckley versus the Birch Society.

It's similar. It's grievance politics. It's populist politics. It's not conservative politics. And we need to root it out. At least I love that we're having that battle. It's a battle against the influencers that are pay to play. To battle against the companies they use,

cutouts. It's a battle against the podcast grift, too. People get their news from this stuff. And it's, I'm glad we're finding more people are waking up to. It's also about integrity, isn't it? You lost your job because you wouldn't say the 2020 election. Right?

I know you're being kind when you say that, but that's not what one person was saying going in. And this goes back to the podcast grift and like the social media grift. People were going into that voting booth thinking I was worth millions of dollars from insider trading. It was wild. People were getting, Democrats spent about almost a million dollars on attack ads on me in the primary about alcohol-related incidents. Like, it was why, I mean, I did say that.

You said the 2020 election was legitimate. Yeah, of course I said that. Okay. But that didn't come up in my election. And that's... When I said, I didn't... Try to give me a props. I want to write my own history.

I want people to know the truth about what happened. Not one person was going in there thinking, you're not with Trump. We've been talking about a great relationship. It had nothing to do with this. And that election had nothing to do with it. Also, I've had elections since then, remember? Like, it just hasn't... That wasn't a factor.

And I know you're being kind by, like, coming after you for that? Truth teller. when has Trump made it a secret of congressman he doesn't like when does he kept that a secret no if he doesn't like you you know it so it just didn't come up I mean I'm in a unique position because my name is clickbait and I fight back right people make up crap about me

and I might tweet back at them you know and I might say the word fuck or something like that well we don't like that I'm like I thought you said you didn't want politicians I was a Navy SEAL a lot longer than I was a politician. You can't be a politician now without saying the word fuck. Well, you're good a... So, it creates this cottage industry. It's a unique case, but I won't be able to know what actually happened.

Okay. Senator Fetterman, men are nearly twice as likely as women to be living with their parents in the current financial climate. How do we help young men? Wow, twice as likely. Whoa. Oh, well... Right now, I'm not. I'm not really running for anything right now, but I'm just saying, but not, you know, what exactly I mean? I mean, men are, I mean, we hear this all the time, that young men are in crisis, that women are

doing better in college, they're doing better. I mean, without a doubt, though, you know, there's part of the Democratic Party became more and more anti-men, or describing that they were part of the problem, or they have toxic traits and for those things. And that's why there's been such a big, big migration away from the Democratic Party from a young man. And that's really why one of the part, why we lost in 2024 now. If you identify anyone as the problem or blame them for some things, then you're going to lose. We forgot that we are in the business of addition, not subtraction, or subtraction, I mean. So we have...

So there was a test around shift in 2024. I don't think. I think that's a long-term trend. I think it was a very short-term generational shift that we're experiencing within a Democratic party. Overall, look, I've been a part-time college professor for 33 years. There's something going on with young men in our country. They're reticent.

Many of them are holding back, and we need to address that. But at the same time, just because... Holding back. Because sometimes I think they don't know their place anymore, and that's something that men need to decide and discuss. But as a woman, for years, decades, century, century. Women had to be overconfident just to appear

qualified. So I don't want men to think that the reason why young men are suffering is because some woman. No, young men are dealing with what young women had to deal with centuries ago. You'll find your place at the table. Come sit with me sometime. I'll get you

somehow. No, well, what I'm saying, you know, all of... Oh, talk to the bill. Bill, let me tell you something, you grew up in a Brazil. household. My mom used to say Cheryl Shilladonna, Tate, Chet, Lisa, Demet, Kevin's old, get your asses up.

I think that's the way to do it. And everybody had to get their ass out. My brothers had to go up and make up the bed. The sisters had to make up the bed. The brothers put out the trash. The sisters, they watched. We didn't have one of these. The boys, do this and girls, do this. The only time, my daddy used to tell the girls, don't let no naked baby dolls in the house. I only asked me why, but he didn't like

naked baby dolls. And I told him, I don't mind either, Because Barbie had nothing going on, and Ken had absolutely nothing going on. So it was fine with me. You mean they were not anatomically correct. Whatever. You know that. Smart parents. No, I'm with you. I'm not a fan of gentle parenting. I mean, right. You're saying you didn't have gentle parenting,

and it seems to be more acceptable to say that in the black community than the white community, to be able to say, yes, my parents want me, and then that's okay. But when the white people say it, boy, they get pissed. The white liberal community. Yeah, the white liberal. What's the deal? What's the deal? No, that is.

The difference would be the cult. There's a cultural difference in like how you would raise kids. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I consider, I grew up in a black conservative household. Seriously. We went to church. But we have the same opinions, it seems like, on raising kids.

So that's what I'm raised. Well, that mean that we're colorblind, huh? Yeah, pretty good. Good for you. I'm coming in your house and told you. And look, I'm coming to your house and don't serve me nothing but steak. I'm with you. I don't want that bio shit.

Oh, shit. I don't want no shit that's been created in the laboratory. You can't kick it and see it? I don't want it. We've lost the vote. You talk to any of the traditional union members that are men. You know, we've lost them a long time ago. I've witnessed that migration away.

from the Democratic Party starting back in 2016. You know, we absolutely have a problem in that part of that demographic. So we really have to find a way to bring them back and make better arguments without blaming them or describing they are the problem. And if I could wheel this over to the war because it is somewhat related, because I hear a lot of things now. I know you're against the war. We have two people.

Don't say that. You're not, you're... The Iran war? Oh, that war? Yeah, which one were you talking about? There's so many going on. I didn't know which one you were talking about. That's the main one that we're going on now.

Okay, because there are a lot of them. But let me just say this. You want me to speak? No, let him speak first. I'm going to tell you something. Well, only because... Al-Atolla was not a fan of us. No.

The Iranian regime was not a fan of their neighbors. And so I believe that the precise war that we're fighting now is one without a strategy and one without an end-game and one that is costing us more than just. American lives. Yeah, that may be the fact. Yeah, that's true.

Please. All right. Every single Democrat has said we can't ever let Iran build a bomb. And then every single president when Kamala Harris was running for president,

she identified that as the top, top concern for her international. And then finally, we did something about that. And I absolutely support that thing. And for me, now, I think it should be controversial as a Democrat to say, look, we don't have to agree every aspect of Epic Fury,

but I do think we should all agree that here we are at the cusp. Now, hold them accountable and remind them they are the bad guys. We are not the bad guy. And I'm absolutely convinced, too, the Democratic contempt for Trump exceeds the concern of the anger towards Iran. And that's why that's pushed us into, you know, we've lost the entire, and it used to be standing behind the military, regardless behind, behind us. everything, that's become bipartisan.

It's lost being bipartisan. Yeah, if I, you can disagree on whether, let's back it up to strategic objectives saying every every president believes that Iran should not have a nuclear bomb. We don't want another North Korea. That is a strategic

objective. Okay, we did Midnight Hammer. We bombed their nuclear facilities. What do they try to do? They keep trying to rebuild them. They start rebuilding and producing more and more missiles. So many more, this is why, by the way, had to go in when we did, that we were not going to be able to start intercepting all of them. And so those strikes had to begin. And like, what strategy does everyone prefer? Boots on the ground?

Is that what everybody wants? No. So because what their strategy is now is beat them into submission. You know, we don't live in the 1970s. Iran thinks we do. We live in a time when we have energy independence. So, yeah, there's a cost to us, but it is not near what the cost that imposed on the Iranian regime right now. And the blockade and its effectiveness has been massive as well. Iran is acting desperate. They just attacked UAE last night. They attacked a bunch of our destroyers. Nothing got through.

Because we have already adapted to that drone warfare age. And the Iranians are now desperate. They're going to run out of their ability to even store the oil that they're producing. That's going to be a massive problem for them. So the blockade is a strategy. It's a strategy to get to them to the negotiating table and be reasonable. And what's reasonable is our demands. And if you don't like it, we'll keep bombing you.

But while we undertake this strategy, what happens is they're running out of jet fuel. We are? We're fine. Other countries are. That's the problem. We're not. No, no. We're not. That's terrible.

No, he's terrible. First of all, fuel is fungible. As you know, fuel is fungible. We're down. We're down about 10 million barrels a day. Okay. 20 million a day come out of the straight storm moves. We're down about 10 million because the world can adapt.

Because we did the operation of Venezuela. We get more barrels out of that. Texas produces a lot more. We don't live in the 1970s anymore. Again, I know that other countries are locking down. in a very serious ways. But it's not just the jet fuel. It's a lot of stuff around the world

that this is affected by. And I don't know how we are actually going to get this straight of room moves open to get. I have an idea we send in the cruise ships with the hantavirus. Deal with that, Iran. Everybody will part ways. Eventually we want to see the start a hole.

But at the same time, we want to make sure that the United States come out of this conflict with not only the ability to reopen the strait of Hummuse, but also the ability to rebuild the bases in the Middle East and to rebuild our

alliances. We are losing a lot. We have solidified the Gulf Arab states against Iran. The alliances are literally stronger than ever. We have to make sure Iran cannot build a nuclear bomb. We all agree on that. If they become a nuclear state, they are untouchable in the region.

100%. And if now they think you can control the strait now, imagine if they are nuclear power, then they could really maintain that control absolutely, pay whatever that they... But I still don't see how you are going to get the nuclear material unless you go in and occupy that mountain under which it is. It's an option.

I mean, look, all these options are on the table. Another option is we always know when someone is going there, and every time someone does, we bomb it. I mean, that's also an option. So what we've done is decimated their conventional military, which is the auto ring of security for their nuclear program. We can pretend that any kind of deal, you know, but it was unverifiable.

It didn't count for military bases. You know, it gave them money before we were able to verify anything. It wasn't a good deal to begin with. The only language these people speak is deterrence and strength because they speak the language of martyrdom. They will take pain like no one else. But it's not infinite. And what we're doing is...

Well, it's never for the leadership. They're always for martyrship for others. They never have to. to do it. Right. Don't strive to... We've made them do it pretty recently. Yeah.

Well, we'll... So, you know, we've changed the dynamic. Right. And we've effectively countered with strategic deterrence and reestablish that deterrence. And yes, there's short-term costs, but it's long-term stability. And we can't keep kicking the can down the road and impose longer-term costs. Okay. Final question, because this is...

This show airs on CNN as of a couple of years ago. What is the legacy of Ted Turner, who died this week? What has the impact been of the 24-hour news cycle? Well, he certainly was one of the giants of broadcasting. He's an Eric. Yeah, because before Ted Turner and before CNN, we did not have 24-hour news. Now, I mean, sometimes there isn't news for 24 hours. Right.

So every time I see breaking news, I'm a little skeptical. You know? He bought the... I think Mr. Turner, he was able to let us see the world. I mean, I was a fan of CNN even before I got hired by CNN. Me too. And I still love CNN.

I mean, in the middle of the night, I love to watch CNN during my bathroom breaks. You figure that one out. I think I know. Opinions have become actual real news. We've lost that ability. Like, you know, like opinions are not news. Right.

You know, and there are so many shitty takes out there. the world now. Why are people still talking about Tucker Carlson? Are any of these people? Now, even Alex Jones now is back. You know, I have to see that asshole in my feed anymore. Why? Because if they are

criticizing Trump, it's like, now sometimes we and the Democrats say, well, maybe they have a point. You know, MTV, crazy pants. Why are we hearing about her now? Minds retellee. Yeah. Yeah. I mean... Yeah. I mean...

I mean, so what I'm saying, it's like, you know, like focusing on real news and the real dynamic there, you know, I'm so tired of your opinions have become news, and now there's countless, countless ones, and it's all become slop. And let me just make the point. This is a... This is an entertainment show. It says real. On it, on an... It's the title. It is. Yeah.

Because it's a lot more real than that other shit, let me tell you. Senator is absolutely right. I mean, the problem is, though, the American people need to learn to distinguish between opinion. Right. But this is an entertainment network and an entertainment show. It deals with news as comedy fodder and also gives opinions. And by the way, they are realer than the other bullshit. But that's different.

And I am a fantasy and I, but I agree. It's too much opinion. would rather just, when CNN was first out there, you could just always count it on to turn it on, and you would just get the story. Get the news. Get the news. That's what I want.

But they won't make money that way. That's right. We don't know that. You're in the business. You won't make money that way. So that's the, who's the fault is this? News organization shouldn't have to change what they want to incentivize. News organization shouldn't be making money to begin with.

They didn't use to. They didn't used to have to. All right. But we do. I got to go. All right, thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you.

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