Bill Maher on The View Full Interview May 21, 2024

Bill marah's latest book is aptly titled: What this comedian said will surprise you because, from stand-up to politically incorrect to real-time, he's built a career without holding back. Take a look, Republicans have been showing up to the trial dressed as Trump. Well I know it's all funny until it was the law all JD Vince was there swam branches Swami Tommy tuberville the uh head of the house Mike Johnson Matt Gates no wonder Trump falls asleep in the trial he's counting his sheep please welcome Bill mah those I know and those I don't it's nice to be here thank you hello you know uh

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they like me here they do it so far Joy likes you that's great I know I like it we've known each other for years they're comedians you know this It's a good job we started together in the clubs um, is that you?

It was La. I was New York, I was New York, oh, I'm sorry, so wait and it was only 15 years ago, of course, because we're 40, yeah, exactly, so you have this new book out and uh, you know, I watch your show all the time, so I know you've been, you're a comedian, but you're basically going after Trump and Biden, you know them both and a lot of people aren't happy with you because of that. So, and I'm not as good, not because you know Trum is more dangerous, of course. I mean, I don't think anyone was more in front of that danger than me.

He was talking about how he was never going to give up. power a long time ago when everyone was laughing at me and saying you smoke too much marijuana and I said I smoke just the right amount of marijuana because clearly he, he, you know he was using the term slow blow before he was first elected. , TRUE? said this guy is never going to give up power it's impossible to imagine him going oh I lost yeah I can't do it that's just not in his nature so I'm nervous to say anything against Biden because I feel like you don't know I have so much power and you have more than us than me, obviously, but I don't know that.

Are you afraid of knowing the influence of people who are undecided? I think you lose everything. credibility I mean, my bond with my audience has always been "I make no effort" Yeah, my bond with my orian is that you're not going to like everything I say, but you know I'm saying what I really believe to be true, TRUE? that's it and that's it and look, Biden just presents himself as old, it's not really fair, no, because he's almost the same age, Trump is almost the same age as him, but Trump doesn't present himself that way, you know, look to someone right away, you can something like that. just sum it up I mean, we're not young but we don't show up like old Biden does.

I saw him yesterday giving that speech. I mean, I'm sorry, it's like Kadaver, but his brain is good, he's still great, well, this is what I said. when I came back after the strike in September I said he should leave because he had just lost people's faith, it's not fair, he's actually done a pretty good job, but I said he was going to be Ruth Bader Biden, that's the term that use, Ruth. Bader Ginsburg stayed too long at the fair remember Obama took her to the White House like in 2013 to hint that you know hey hint hint spend more time with the grandkids that wouldn't be a good idea Ruth and her didn't take the hint and she didn't he was in good health and he stayed too long and ruined his legacy and got the Supreme Court now a pretty right-wing organization said Biden shouldn't do that, but you know, ego, he's, he's Dracula, he's crossed over. oceans of time to be here and he is not going to resign now, could you guide me?, next question, there are less than six months until the elections and Biden has done good things, he has achieved improvements and advances in employment figures, infrastructure, weapon.

The stock market's climate action reform is seeing highs now as Trump faces 88 felony charges and talks a lot about the Supreme Court decision, boasting that he's the reason he became Ro v Wade and therefore will not accept. the results if he doesn't win anyway, so what are we missing here or what are people missing here? Because there's a disconnect with that contrast because I understand what you're saying about the old. I have also been critical, but that is not the case. enough to tip the scales the other way and yet for some it's good I think some people are bothered by the question like what don't you understand look I'm not ever going to defend Donald Trump but I'm low but I .

I would never say we should put Wasa in the cap because I think he can hate Donald Trump. He can't hate everyone he likes. He is half the country. I don't want to live in that country. I do not want to live. In the country where I hate half the country and I don't hate half the country, how dare you disagree with me? And I guess what I mean, a conservative told me what you guys on the liberal side don't Talk about Donald Trump is that we don't like him either, yeah, it's just that in this country it's binary.

I mean, gender may not be binary, but politics is that you only have two options and the things that they fear, they see Donald Trump as a ballark against, you know, and those things are much closer to home, it's like if my child comes home from school and they are not allowed to tell me if they are transitioning, the school will take the child's side. parent stuff like that, there's a lot of crazy stuff on the left, I mean, in this book there are things that each side is going to like and probably things that they're not going to like as much because, that's the answer to The Donald Trump situation is, um, what's going to get him elected is these woke things that a lot of people in this country just don't like.

One thing I disagree with is that you can disagree with bi candidates when you talk about it literally. tear down all of democracy, that's what I'm passionate about, like you, there's no fair comparison here, so I know you said that some people are bothered by the question of being asked that, but when given these two options, Aren't you that scared of the idea or just I don't think you're going to like it, yeah, Donald Trump benefits from people not taking him seriously because he's both stupid and crazy, right, and those are a combination of AAL , well, and they are two different things, yes, but he has simply said everything about everything I remember. like after the Parkland shooting and they had a big gun conclave and he said in the middle of it, uh, why don't we take away the guns first?

Now, can you imagine anything more anathema to the right than saying that? just popped into his head, he says whatever pops up, hey Mike, let's get the guns out first. I mean, they don't care, they don't take him seriously, it's the biggest advantage a politician could have, especially in politics, he's also good at flooding the zone. you say so much that everything you say is dismissed so quickly and I want to ask about this because you have talked a lot about the trial and I have a belief that this trial may somehow be benefiting Trump in the sense that he is in a court, he is not saying crazy things day after day, immigrants poison the blood of the country, etc., and also, if in fact there ends up being a hung jury or a liquid, I think that feeds into the narrative, he is a little, uh,

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t that she's a witch.

Hine, he's progressive, uh, the judges are coming after him, how do you see this playing out well? I never thought they should have started this lawsuit or if they did it should be a federal case. I mean, I broke Merck Garland made a new one a few weeks ago on my show because I think they had four years to do this. Where was he? Why are we reaching the end and they could have run out of time? It's ridiculous for Democrats to do this. every time it's so interesting when the republicans appoint a prosecutor he is a republican and every time the democrats do it he too he is a self destructive republican.

I don't understand this and Merck Garland just let this trial happen it should have been a federal case about violating election laws instead of falsifying business records in a state case that is very complicated and also to the average person it is a case about sex yeah, You know he was having sex with a porn star, they don't care, oh I think he does. juicier, yes, yes, but it was in 2006, people made peace with it in 2016, as did voters, yes, the real deal of Donald Trump having an affair with a porn star while his wife is home breastfeeding to your baby is what I guess. he would be doing it, wouldn't he, no surprise, it's on the brand, it's on the brand, it's on the brand and it's and I remember Bill Clinton's trial for the brand too yeah, and I remember the Republicans when that was happening .

It's all about this is the rule of law and our hands are tied and what are we going to tell the kids, but wait, what we're not going to forget is what they're getting ready to say when we get back, oh, okay, from this. period, back to Bill Mars Sunny has the first question, well I had a different question, but it caught my attention that in the first segment you used the term woke and you said that waking up is what was ruining everything and I know that. that no, I didn't say ruin everything I said, that's why Trump could get re-elected, that's why Trump could get re-elected, so I, in my opinion, the term woke has been co-opted by the right and weaponized and bastardized and Well , I was surprised to hear you use the term because historically, as you know, I think you're pretty brilliant that woke is a word used by the black community to point out that we need to be aware of social injustices, but why is that?

The bad thing, it's not a bad thing and originally that was absolutely great, alert Injustice, who's not up for that, but words migrate now, I'll use whatever term you want, okay, because maybe that's a word that's triggering, so let's not do it. use that word I don't know I want to call it the super extreme left but don't tell me that the left is the super extreme right we are talking about the left well then but we talked about that I mean, I think we agree about the danger of the extreme right and Well, you know, I can't say it enough, I think they're the biggest threat, um, but don't tell me the left hasn't changed, I mean, I'm old enough to remember when. it was the conservatives who hated the jews, yeah okay that was a joke but too dark maybe it is but it's true.

I mean, you know, if I had any doubt I was right about the shift that happened on the left. Seeing people protesting a terrorist organization like Hamas, that straightened me out pretty quickly, yeah, I wanted to ask you about that because I think you're almost a free speech absolutist, you totally believe in the right to say what you believe, I think a lot. Many of us were disturbed to see terrorist flags flying on American college campuses and to see this, um, a generation in which some, I think, may genuinely care about the Palestinians' game. I think most Americans do, but some who seem to be embracing a terrorist organization over the nation of Israel, what do you think of this moment?

What do you think is the result of how we fix it right? I mean, it's just amazing to me that they can't tell the good guys from the bad guys, I'm just talking about morality. I mean, let me tell you, if you are for Hamas, live in Gaza for a day and I'm not talking about while the war is going on. I mean, before the war, believe me, you would run, screaming and begging to live in Tel Aviv. a place that has your values, I mean, women don't, I mean, this is a show watched by many women, women don't have rights in this place and in many Muslim majority countries around the world, I mean, there are no equal rights in terms of speech clothing opportunities for education reproductive rights freedom from sexual violence freedom from sexual harassment the lgbtq community you you you too uh but you you use the term arid there is gender apartheid in much of the world where women are second class citizens At best, are you at all concerned about the innocent civilians who have been collectively punished and killed, mostly children and women?

Are you at all concerned about the fact that the International Criminal Court just issued a subpoena to BB today? Netanyahu, well that is ridiculous, but it is a war, it is a war, because it is a war and they were attacked and they are defending themselves now, this is a war, do you think it is necessary to destroy Hamas? This is the question, yes, do you do it, then how? Can we do that with a ceasefire? So Hamas needs to be destroyed because it is a terrorist organization that openly says it wants to commit genocide against the Jewish people in the state of Israel, that's what it means from The River To The Sea.

Okay, okay and they say it very openly. They said we made this attack. They have attacked Israel five times. Five wars have started since that land was returned to them. They could have chosen to turn that place into any place they wanted. and they took a lot of money that they took from the international community and they spent it on bombs and weapons and building tunnels, so if they need to be destroyed, how do you do it?we make? It's a war, um, I don't know how. to do that and you don't know how to do it, I guess of course everyone does, but that's what happens in a war.

Here is a way to stop that, stop attacking Israel and stop calling for the annihilation of Israel and all Jews. They're calling for the annihilation of the Jews and so you can't defend that from the other side very easily, but before we go I want to say that no, we're not going anywhere yet, okay, but I just want to say one thing. Were we talking during the break? ​​Yes, Joy is a wonderful human being and she shouldn't be afraid of that. People are going to attack her because she said that thing about the swasa on the cap.

They don't believe that all of us, like you told me at the break, don't you believe that all the people who He's for Trump, they're Nazis, no, I don't think so, isn't that right? I just want you to pay attention to words like Vermin and blood poisoning and the Third Reich, that's all, that's really what I'm asking of you. They see Trump as a comedian. They see him as a clown who says Hitler is crazy, like that. okay, but that doesn't mean you know you can hate trump, you can't hate everyone who likes him, that's half of it.

I have some in my family. I don't think they're okay. Great, I'm glad I got it. I don't want you to get hurt in the supermarket when we come back we have more with Bill M we are back with Bill Mar so I have a question for you because I don't know if you have noticed what I have noticed but I realize that many times, when I watch the news, I only get bits and pieces because one of the things that happens is I was listening to you talk about a kid, you know, the kids that had the Hamas flags.

It reminded me of when people say Antifa is there, you know, and do that, bad players show up and make things happen, but do you think the vision we're shown seems to be meant to guide us to think about people in a different way? way when in reality it can be like that? it's going to be a much bigger conversation, oh of course, I mean the media will always go after what's interesting to watch. I mean, I used to be able to watch Nightly News, for example. I can not do it. I mean, first of all, that's it. should be called here's a video we found that's fun to watch that's not news you know like anything that happens on a plane like the plane that went off the runway so what do they call me when someone dies and isn't the door falling?

I'm sorry, I understand that the door is falling, you don't want to be in the air, it's okay, I'm sorry, I needed to know, it's okay, but you know what I say, I do it and when you get to the last segment it's just you know , the bears in the pool, you know it's nothing and it's a narrative about the truth, you know, I mean, it's not like when I hear people talk on both sides, I always think they're lying. You're only telling me half of it, yeah, and I never trust them until I see the other half and that's tedious, yeah, you know, I just want one place and of course it's my book and my show where you can get both. actually you were, you're taking me right to what I was going to talk about because we're talking about I'm sorry too, we're talking about your new book, which was those 20 years of your editorials reissued and reimagined just in time for my Father's Day.

Day, um, what do you want people to take away from reading it? Yeah, well, I think a lot of you see, I think we're tribal now, which is not good and I think there are four tribes, basically there are old school liberals, which I would count primarily. As old school conservatives, there are still some of those that you changed, although, wait, what are the other two? What are the other two? Well, that's what I was trying to find out in this book. I don't think I have um and You know, we were saying at the break that we have to find a new word for wake up.

Let's have a contest because this is a trigger word, but I mean those concepts that are different than what there was 5 years ago, I mean what we used to do. Uh, well, you did. I was invited to comedic relief on what the homeless show was. Remember you were a great show and homeless was a term I thought we came up with because people called them bums, bums, and vagabonds. homeless, they have no housing, well, they are homeless people, eh, but they are experiencing it on the street, okay, the vision of that was out of compassion, we are the liberals, we are compassionate, let's get these people off the streets, that It's not the

view

of Whatever words we come up with for this, their

view

of homeless people is: uh, they're an endangered species that needs to be protected and their natural habitat lives its best life under a bridge.

You know that's crazy to me. the kind of thing I haven't changed on that, I still think we should get these people off the street, that's Z compassion, so I didn't change Chang and there are many examples of that mhm and there are many examples from the media. giving a side that she says is the reason I think we don't know about Biden's accomplishments because it's too boring to say he fixed the infrastructure, he fixed the economy, no one wants to know and they know you know who's going to do it. They are going to cause chaos, they know it, but you know what you know, who is not causing chaos right here, is not causing chaos thanks to Bill Maher, his new book, what this comedian said will surprise you, that's it available and you know what you're doing.

I would like to have a copy. Yes that's fine. Everyone will receive a copy of the book. We'll be right back.