The discussion centers on the current political and cultural landscape in the United States, with a particular focus on environmental policy under the Trump administration, the effectiveness of Democratic political strategies, and the nature of political discourse and personal relationships in a polarized era.
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Bill Maher, welcome to the story is.
Thank you for having us at your house.
>> Even at CNN, you do your own clap.
[laughter] I love it. Here we go. We're rolling.
rolling.
>> Got to roll. Yeah.
>> Great to be with you. You're doing great
over there.
>> I always knew you were headed for bigger things.
things.
>> I guess we're on the same network now.
>> We are on the same network. CNN, one of
the biggest shows on CNN.
Congratulations on that.
>> Yeah, it's a pleasure. I you know I I
think I've watched every show you've
done at this studio and one of the
recurring themes for so many years has
been talking about the climate and
environmental issues and pollution and
what a week on that front. Uh President
Trump basically taking away the EPA's
ability uh to go after greenhouse gases.
>> I mean we talked about it on real time
tonight. I wanted to get to the
question. We didn't because we got on to
other things like where does he even get
that authority? Do you know the answer
to that? because
>> well it's going to be challenged in the courts.
courts. >> Yeah,
>> Yeah,
>> it's a lot of things he kind of does and
then asks for forgiveness later. It
seems like
>> yeah I I just don't know where he gets
that authority. But you know I I
question that about a lot of the stuff
he does. Um I I guess if you're the
president and it's a regulatory agency,
you you you do have that power. But it
does seem absurd. I mean almost
Orwellian that the Environmental
Protection Agency is now forbidden to
protect the environment. Um I said on
the show it's like you know telling the
Navy you can't use boats. It's it's just
crazy. Um and also you know it's not a hoax
hoax
people who keep playing that card.
It's not as bad possibly as a lot of the
people said 20 years ago. I don't think
they did themselves a big favor by
sometimes exaggerating. I remember
people saying, "If we don't do something
in 10 years, we've hit the tipping point
and there's no point in going, well, we
obviously didn't." And there and if we
really thought we had hit the tipping
point, why are we still arguing about
it? Why don't we just party like it's
1999? Obviously, we still think we can
do something about it.
>> But it is just science. It's about
numbers like particles per million,
things like that that we can actually
measure and we do know the effect. It's
not rocket science even. It's science,
not just rocket science.
>> Yeah. You say 1999, you think about Al
Gore in that period and if he would have
won, how different the climate policy
would have been for the United States.
But here we are now. Um, and the
question for a lot of Democrats is how
do you fight back? How do you fight back
on something like that with the EPA? I I
I you win elections. I mean, that's the
answer. Elections have consequences. And
this is I mean, Trump has been,
>> if anything, upfront about this. I mean,
about everything. He tells you what he thinks.
thinks.
>> He's going to do mass deportations.
>> You can't you can't get him on that. I
mean, he's been saying forever he
thought it was a hoax. It's just it's
just a way for scientists to make money.
And I mean, I thought silly stuff, you
know. Um, but that's that's where he
was. And and so if you voted for that,
you know, knowing that and thinking
maybe he won't do it, well, you whistled
past the graveyard because he he
generally does things like that when he
says he's going to do them.
>> What do you make of maneuvers like
Governor Nuome right now is in Munich uh
at the security conference talking there
on CNN saying that President Trump has
been a wrecking ball and the United
States is no longer the leader in the
world. There's other Democratic
governors going on the world stage to
challenge him. Do you think that's
effective? Do you think that works?
>> I feel like Munich has replaced Iowa is
>> Because he's not the only one over
there, right? Yeah.
>> Gretchen Whitmer's there, others are
there as well.
>> I think AOC is there.
>> Yeah. Well, you know, I mean, the 2028
presidential election is well underway
and our governor here in California, who
I've always liked. I have issues with
him. I'm always trying to
>> getting your solar roof.
>> Yeah, my solar I'm always trying to shoe
him toward the center. And you know, he
has made some moves toward doing that. I
think he's going to he has a long way to
go. I mean, when you're running for
president and you have to wear around
your neck some of the problems we have
here in California, it's going to be a
tough battle to fight, but he's a
talented politician. I I hope he can
pull it off because we certainly need um
somebody to contest what is going on on
the right. And you know, you know me, I
I am a equal opportunity criticizer of
both sides. Um, but I try to never make
it unclear that I do think the right is
more dangerous on the environment and on
democracy, which are my two big issues.
So, I would like to have a strong
Democratic candidate to uh get things
back to a little bit of normal.
>> Is Newsome the strongest?
>> He is right now. I mean, again, California,
California,
um, a lot of crazy stuff in this state.
We know better than anybody. You know,
if somebody breaks into your house and
you shoot them, you have to worry that
you're going to go to jail, right?
>> You know, lots of stuff like that.
Homeless on the streets. I mean, and
that's not just California. I've seen a
number of people have died in New York,
homeless on the street, because somehow
they got it into their heads that the
way to treat the homeless
compassionately was not to get them off
the streets. You know, us old school
liberals when we when we used to talk
about this issue, the compassionate
thing to do was to make sure they got
off the streets, not to protect them in
their in their pristine environment
underneath a bridge. Uh, you know, just
I could go on about stuff like that. And
you know, we I think old school liberals
would like to see a candidate uh in the
Democratic party who has the strength to
disassociate himself from a lot of the
stuff that made Donald Trump attractive
to people who didn't necessarily like
him so much, but just said, "You know
what? Uh his brand of crazy, yeah, I'm
going to go with that over their brand
of crazy."
>> Another huge issue here in California
and across the country is immigration.
Uh now we're going to have a a partial
government shutdown over DHS funding. Uh
the Department of Homeland Security
essentially not funded at least part of
it now going forward uh for the
foreseeable future. Um is that the right
fight for Democrats and and and how do
where do you think that should go?
>> Well, I think I think ICE and the border
people already have the money, >> right?
>> right? [laughter]
[laughter]
>> So So no. So that so I would guess
that's not a great way to do it.
>> Yeah. because it's not.
>> They say that's the only leverage that
they have.
>> Yeah. I mean, again, the leverage they
have is to win the next election. I
mean, to first of all, the midterms are
coming up. I mean, the the numbers do
not look good for the president or his
party. And usually the party that is in
the White House, they take a shellacking
during the midterms. People want to uh
voice their opposition to what's going
on in any administration. They're not
happy with this, they're not happy with
that. That's the way to show it. Um, I
mean, the Democrats are going to have to
work really hard to figure out how
they're going to blow this one. [laughter]
[laughter]
>> We're talking with Bill Maher. Let's
talk for a moment about your
relationship with President Trump, which
has been interesting over the years. We
you well documented that you had this
dinner with him at the White House,
which you talked about, which people
have, you know, talked about. What's the
nature of your relationship with him
now? What's that like?
>> Well, [laughter]
um, okay. Well, first of all, the people
who stop watching my show because I had
dinner with them are idiots in
[laughter] my view. They just are.
They're they're just completely
emotional because they're always asking
the wrong question, which is like, "How
dare you have dinner with Donald Trump?"
The question should always have been,
"What did I say after I had dinner with
Donald Trump?" Now, if after I had
dinner with Donald Trump, I came back to
the show and was seduced by that dinner
and stopped tearing a new one him a new
one every week, every time I thought he
did something wrong, then you would have
a case. That didn't happen.
>> It did not happen. As somebody who
watches the show every week, that did
not happen.
>> That did not happen. I also don't pause
for making fun of the left when they
are, in my view, crazy. Uh, but that doesn't
doesn't
>> There's been plenty of examples
>> and there's plenty of examples of that.
But I never stopped with Donald Trump.
So I feel like we having met him and sat
down for three hours, you know, it was a
long dinner and the left got very mad at
me for reporting it accurately, which is
he's very different in person. By the
way, everyone who's ever met him says
the same thing.
>> I would say the same thing as met him
several times. Yes. Okay. But and um
they just couldn't abide by this. But
okay, that that's the truth. He met
Maani, remember the mayor of New York.
He had been yelling and screaming at him
and then he had him for the oval office.
I think he's a nice guy [laughter]
like like don't you get it? He operates
everything out of a personal
relationship. You have to have a
personal relationship. Trust me, he's
not upstairs at night reading the
briefing books. That is not
>> But he's watching your shows [laughter] >> accidentally.
>> accidentally.
He watches it accidentally every week.
It got in the remote. did something
wrong with it.
>> Well, you hear from them sometimes
afterwards, right? Does he text you or
>> Yes. yelling at me? [laughter]
>> What is he saying? You're still part of
the lunatic left. I see. You know, blah.
You know, he he he he watches.
>> He gets it. >> Yeah.
>> Yeah.
>> That I didn't change what I he But you
know what? It's just better because then
I can say something back and it becomes
a conversation and not just what it was.
I mean, the whole reason why I was the
apt person to go and visit him and have
that dinner, it was sort of a Nixon to
China thing. I had so much credibility,
right, for being so hard on him for so
long. You know, the first thing I did
when I got to the Oval Office, I I had
him sign that list of 56 56 different
insults he had called me that we typed
out on a piece of paper and I he signed
it and it's on my wall. It's my prized
possession now, right? Um, but I felt
like, okay, we had done this for 10
years, just this yelling at each other
from across the barricades. It is better
to talk to somebody. These people who
think you shouldn't talk.
>> What's the What's the alternative? >> Exactly.
>> Exactly.
>> That we don't talk to each other. We
have a civil war. What's the alternative?
alternative?
>> It's just purely emotional. It's just so
disappointing that some of the people
who I think of as rational people,
Donald Trump, he does a lot of stupid
things. He also makes people stupid.
Like like again, what is the
alternative? He's the president. You
can't not talk to him. What is the
downside? I'm going to elevate him. Oh
my god. You mean he he could [laughter]
become president? It's just
>> get a little more attention.
>> It's silly. And when you do talk to him,
he does listen. That's what happened. He
does listen. I'm not saying it's going
to change him, but what I was trying to
say afterwards when I talked about at
the end of last season is he needs more
people like me talking to him, not less.
All they do is complain about he's
surrounded by all these sick offense and
ass kissers. Okay, then let's infiltrate
some other people in there because I
certainly wasn't when I talked to him. I
I was I He was absolutely okay. Anytime
I contradicted anything he said, at
least he heard it.
>> Do you think the ex what's more annoying
to you, the extreme left or the extreme right?
right?
>> The extreme right is more dangerous.
Absolutely. They don't believe in
democracy. They don't believe that in
conceding elections he's made that
plain. Um the climate thing we just
talked about, those are just two issues.
There there are others. The left
viscerally makes me often want to [laughter]
[laughter]
punch them more. They because they're
just so often like so like anti-common
sense. So they they just insist on on
championing things that are really about
them, but they want they have to feel
like they're social justice warriors,
you know? They have to it's very
important for them to feel like they're
the good people and by telling us that
we're all bad. That's how they know
they're good, >> right?
>> right?
>> And and that just becomes kind of annoying
annoying
>> in We sort of saw both examples with the
Super Bowl halftime show where Kid Rock,
who you had that dinner with, was doing
his own show and then Bad Bunny's doing
his show. Which one did you watch and
what did you make of that cultural
moment for America?
>> So funny. People were asking me the week
before, which one are you going to
watch? I said, "I'm going to watch the
real one, the regular one like I do
every year, and I'm going to honor it
the same way by going to the bathroom." [laughter]
[laughter]
>> Did you?
>> I of course you have to go to the
bathroom at some point. But I watched
it. I liked it. You know what? I didn't
understand it, but like I said tonight
in the show, I don't understand when
Mick Jagger sings either. I don't
understand any rockstar. [laughter]
They Nobody's really understandable. I
didn't understand Kendrick Lamar very
well either. I mean, that's okay. It's
just a feeling. And you know, I said to,
you know, I don't think he'd mind if I
said this, but I I did text with with
Kid Rock about it. And uh because I I
wanted to watch his too, so I taped it
and uh you know, I like the song he
sang. I said it was a good song. I the
the content of it, not my cup of tea,
but you know, I think he writes a great
song. I'm a big fan of his music. I
said, but you know, the whole thing, his
whole show was very about Christian. It
was a very big Christian said, "Wouldn't
it have been a a little more Christian
to let Mr. Bunny have his moment?"
>> You know,
>> you said that to him. Yes.
>> And what'd he say?
>> We He didn't We didn't I just said next
time we talk, we should talk about
whether it would have been a little more
Christian to let Mr. Bunny have his moment.
moment.
>> Well, I just want to say thank you to
you. I've said this to you before, but
you're one of the sort of main reasons
I'm in this business. I I love this show
and to be here on this set with you on
CNN is a is a really really incredible moment.
moment.
>> Glad we're in the same stable now.
>> Yeah, [laughter]
>> we can be on the softball team together.
>> There we go. It'd be quite a team. Great
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