Ep. #740: Byron Donalds, Molly Jong-Fast, Michael S. Roth

Welcome to an HBO podcast, from the HBO late night series Real Time with Bill Maugh. [Music] Thank you for being in a good mood. We did have a tough week. Dolly Parton died. There was this horrible flooding in Nepal and I found out today Canada has been treating me very badly. [Laughter] Have you seen this were in a trade war with Canada? We've been tariffing them and then they were tariffing us back and you know, look like we were heading for some sort of a deal but then no, no deal. Why? Because they've been taking advantage of us. Yeah, fuck yeah man, every time I see a Canadian, I'm like this is the guy who's been fucking with me all the time. But I just want to, we have a lot of viewers in Canada. I just wanted to say to our viewers, we're still cool, right? It's not all of us. It's not all of us. We like you. Trump is so mad at Canada, he renamed Lake Ontario Lake America. Now I got to buy a new globe again. It's like the fifth time it's happened. And liberals are very pissed at this. They say you can't just go around renaming things to suit your political agenda. Just ask any Latinx birthing person. [Laughter] But the thing is, we already kind of have a war. We have one war going with a war and it's not going well. We just can't seem to finish. It's like fucking uncoke this war. It's what it is. It's going. It's going so badly. Today Pete Hegseth said, "Looks like I picked the wrong week. They never stopped drinking." But I don't get it. You know, we can't seem to negotiate with Iran. Can't negotiate with Canada. I went into a bookstore today. The art of the deal was in the humor section. [Laughter] We have an election coming up and the people in this country will express their opinion on this kind of stuff and all stuff that's going on. We also have coming up. A lot of anniversaries, you know, today is the 63rd anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech on the mall. [Applause] We're off next week. The week after that, we're on 9/11. On the day itself, that's the 25th anniversary of 9/11. Also, this week, the anniversary of one during the war of 1812, the British burned the White House. That was back when you attacked a federal building. You were the bad guys. [Applause] All this is going on. All America could really talk about this week was how sad it is. We lost Dolly Parton, and you see everybody around the country, even around the world, London, they're doing things. The Santa Monica Ferris Wheel is lit up with hearts. The Empire State Building was put up in pink. The sphere in Las Vegas added a nipple. [Applause] You know, who did have a good week, this week? Parents. Parents, you know why? Because Meta, that's Facebook and Instagram, they're going to point out $18 billion because, you know, this is big. This is the first time a court has ruled and people have ruled. You can't purposefully add dick people, especially children. This is something that's this harmful. Like we did with cigarettes, they did the same thing. So, there are new rules. If you're under 18, no Facebook and no Instagram between midnight and 6am when the kids will be exclusively on Pornhub. So, progress comes in small steps. But also, how about this? The Miss USA pageant? You all watched it, right? We had a first, our first mom. You know what? I mean, the fact that we're still having beauty pageants, I don't know if that is going to look that good in the future, that whole thing about egg. But here in a bikini, an answer a question about world peace. You know what I mean? And they asked this new mom, Miss USA, about peace. And she said, "Yeah, could I get 10 minutes fucking alone, please?" All right, we've got a great show. We have Ruff, we've got it in the Fire and Donald and Molly John Fass. The first topic is the president of Wesleyan University and author of the student of short history. Michael S. Roth, Michael. How are you, sir? How are you? Great to meet you. Okay. All right. So, you are the president of the university. I am the president of university. An elite university. And like, let's be honest. You are a defender of elite universities. I have been a critic of them. I have been a critic too. Okay, let's maybe we'll meet in the middle. Maybe you're the guy who convinced me it's not as bad as I think it is. But you know, when I see the things that happens over and over again, where the criticism comes from, indoctrination instead of education is one of them. Lack of perspective, especially on world history, America's place in the world, Western civilization. I think that's true. Intolerant of other ideas, not being afraid to hear other conservative voices. Is that all wrong? That's why so many of them want to become investment bankers. They've been convinced by the faculty that socialism is the answer. And I was told not to try to make a joke and that proves they were right. No, I mean, the most assigned books in America remain Plato and Machiavelli and Mary Shelley. There is definitely a leftist. Those ones aren't that controversial. No, no, they're not. But those are the books that most classes teach. They're called Karl Marx. And Karl Marx. And a lot of Karl Marx. And the guy to style. That's another one. That's. Another joke? No. No, no. Not that time. I'll leave in those to you for now. No, I've been talking for the last ten years about the need to diversify the faculty at colleges and universities. We have too much of a political monoculture and we have to work really hard to bring other ideas into the campus. I think most teachers are not trying to indoctrinate their students. They're trying to get them to think for themselves. But we have a lot of work to do in that regard to make it a more open environment. At Weston, we've tried very hard to bring lots more conservative voices onto campus. We have lectures from the editors of Christianity today or from former members of Republican administrations. And we have a veterans program. But I think we have to be very intentional. They wrote a piece in the Wall Street Journal a decade ago calling for affirmative action program for conservatives on college campus. And everybody hated this op-ed. They thought the conservatives thought we just need a meritocracy. And the liberals thought we don't like affirmative action connected to conservatism. I think we have a real problem of bias. And we have to correct that. But it'll only get worse if the government tries to correct that for us. I agree with that also. But I mean, the statistics when they've done surveys on this. And again, I'm not pushing for the Republicans. I'm just saying one place, no matter what it is, we know it this here in the state of California. When one party, when one point of view controls everything, they are not checked. And that's what's happened on campus. Something like 77 out of 80 professors vote democratic. That's a ridiculous number. How did we get there? Well, I think one of the reasons you have to understand you're in graduate school for eight to ten years. And you're taking a job with a starting salary of $70,000. Who would a Democrat would accept that proposition? [ Laughter ] Well, she did it. Hey, you got a good job. I think what has happened is that, you know, people -- I started this when I was in graduate school. I was in school around the same time you were. And I went to graduate school, we asked it for professors, "Why don't you hire more women?" And they said, "Oh, we would hire women if we could find any good ones." And it was ridiculous, because they were biased. And today people say to me, "Oh, we would hire conservatives, but we really think this guy is the best guy." And that guy happens to believe the same things they do. But I believe that when we convince the faculty, we show the faculty there is this bias, they will correct. Right now we have students and faculty all over the country trying to get students to participate in the elections in the fall. I think the greatest cure for political bias or monoculture is to get out in the streets and talk to our fellow citizens. And you really think the professors are just saying to the kids, "Vote, we're not going to put my thumb on the scale of who you should vote for." I think that's ridiculous. When I went to Cornell, I could not tell you. I was trying to think of it, knowing you were coming on say, I was trying to think of any professor who I could tell you that I had who I knew what their politics was. I can't think of one. They didn't get into that. Do you really think that's what's going on today? I think it's a mixed bag. I know that I like you. I had professors who they were just always surprising me by making me think about something I didn't want to think about. But I couldn't tell they really believed themselves. There was just no politics at all. I feel like now it's the opposite. Like you couldn't even get a job if you didn't demonstrate what your politics were. And it's very much in the classroom. We saw it after October 7th. It was the professors who were out there cheering it on. Now, of course, most people in most colleges, universities are studying sciences, economics, business, communications. I don't think any of this stuff is happening in those fields. I do think that after October 7th, we saw a shameful display of political partisanship but also moral obtuseness. But we also saw-- push back against that. And I think that there was, in many schools, a healthy debate about what's the best way forward. And I think that that's what I'm trying to encourage is more debate about the best way forward and less government intervention. OK, but since I have been covering news and especially the Middle East, even before that, Israel was known as a outpost of Western civilization. Yes, it was. And that's what it was called. That was always a good thing. Now, I don't think it is. I did an editorial here one night talking about that. Western civilization, they talk about it like it's a bad thing. Instead of saying, Western civilization is what gave everyone who is a progressive the things they should be most proud of. And I think that a lot of us do some learning-- Do you think that? --just that in question? The professors are teaching that message. I think they're learning it from my show. Well, I don't think the professor-- I really don't. I think-- I don't-- I think it's-- it's-- you're learning it from your show, of course. But the professor's watch your show, too. Maybe even more often than an interior. I could come on campus and speak and be welcomed. Welcome, maybe not, but certainly. What's it? Really? Well, look, certainly, give him a hearing. OK, give him a hearing. But I shouldn't be welcomed. I mean, someone who twice gave the Democrats a million dollars. That's not enough credentials to come on. Well, if you came to wrestling with a million dollars, I would welcome you with open mouth, OK. Well, I'm not going to be doing it. So we had just-- we had just a screener come to campus. Justice Scalia come to campus. And there were certainly many people, oh my gosh. How could he-- we bring him here. He gave a really good talk. He spent the day on campus talking to the students. They argued with him. They welcomed-- we probably the wrong word. But they enjoyed the debate. OK. And that's what we want. We want people to enjoy the debate. I would hope so. Because I worry about your field in general. It looks like it's becoming obsolete. For some of the reason we've been talking about, because it's lost a lot of its credibility, because people don't think it educates. They think it indoctrinates. And also, I'm sorry, but kids come out, and they don't know anything. I mentioned the War of 1812 here in the monologue. How many of the kids probably could tell you what happened in the war? OK. I think there's-- we have to do a better job of giving fact-based education. But Bill, you were in college when I was in college. The old folks complained about us. You don't know anything that you're studying nonsense. It's all hit people's shit. And now, I don't want to be that old guy who's saying kids today. They don't know as much as we knew. I don't remember anybody saying that when I was at Cornell. Really? Well, I was not studying that. You mixed in Spiro Agnew, and the people were at-- and Ronald Reagan afterwards. They all said that. Maybe that's true. They all said that. OK. And I worry-- when I complain about the students, I worry that I'm one of those old guys. Probably when I should be doing this, just teaching them about not just the war, 1812, though, all kinds of things. Right. And what I do find is that they're eager to learn. We should never indoctrinate students. I agree with that. But they are eager to learn, and we need good teachers to teach them. OK, but OK. So that issue is also the debt. People get into debt. And then they find, well, the job isn't there. That I went to all this debt for, perhaps, or I'm in debt for so long trying to get out of it. But maybe it would have been better if instead of spending $400,000 on Wesleyan, they just gave me $400,000 when I got out of high school. And I'd be better off and no less uneducated. And AI. AI is now-- we talked about it on the show last week. But only doing the kids test. They're taking the courses for the kids. How is-- you're going to survive in a world where you don't actually have to know anything anymore. That's right. I think people said this similar thing about how sports is going to survive when you can watch it on TV. People love to go to a game. Terrible analogy. I don't think so. I don't think so. OK. Why would anybody play football if you could play mad and football? People want to learn in their classes they want to do experiments. What should happen at a college campus is not to transfer of information. They can get more information on your show or from their phones than they have to get at a college campus. What should happen is they develop the habits of learning and thinking for themselves in good company. And then they will carry those habits with them after they graduate. And I think that's really still important. College is all over the country are welcoming students back. They're eager to be there. Not so they can assign their projects to AI, but so they can learn to think. Well, but that's exactly when they do surveys of employers, what they complain about is that the kids coming out of college. They think, have not learned how to think. They were told what to think, not how to think. And they complain about that when they get to the workplace. But let me ask one final question. Please. Because I used to play colleges in the '90s. It was fun. I remember it. You do? You were there? I remember reading about your show. Oh, OK. Right. I don't know any comic who plays colleges anymore. Because they just don't think the kids-- no, I'm sure there are many who do probably of the much younger generation who know how to be a lot more sensitive. But think about it, Roger. They just don't think the kids have a sense of humor that can stand up to political correct incorrect, which is what comedy is. I hear that a lot. And I do think that the students I see at West End, they're anything but politically correct. They are outlandish. They're unconventional. They're critical of everything. But if Rodney Dangerfield came to Cornell or Don Rickles, they probably wouldn't have been welcome with open arms. That's what happens. Young people don't find older people as funny as older people find one another. But we can fight. I mean, I really think we can fight intolerance. But on college campuses and in our government. And what we have to do over the next three months, especially, is not tell people who to vote for, but to get students to be less cynical, more open-minded, and more engaged in the public sphere. All right, well, you've made me feel a little more optimistic about it. Thank you for coming on and sharing that with me. Thank you, Doc. Thank you. All right, let's meet on our panel. Hey, hey, guys. All right, here's the Republican Congressman from Florida, who recently became the party's nominee for governor. Congratulations, Byron Donalds. And she is the host of Fast Politics, podcast, and author. How to lose your mother, a daughter's memoir, available now in paperback. Molly Jung, fast, great to see you. OK. Going to be a busy night for you, Byron. Well, because, look, you're running for governor. You won the primary. Congratulations. You would be the-- You would be the first black Republican governor in this country. You did-- that's the first you've heard that. You look very surprised. You must have been aware of that. It's a high honor, but-- Right. In this campaign, and quite frankly, I think in politics today, it's much more about the vision and for your state, the ideas you have, how you improve people's lives, how you lower costs. It's much more about that. It wasn't even a question. I'm just-- here's my question, Doc. Your slogan is accountable, achievable, affordable. For Florida. Not a slogan, but true. That's what I read. You don't know a lot about your own campaign, do you? You know you're running in Florida, right? OK. Anyway, I don't feel like the president's policies are making that affordable part easy for you. even the Wall Street Journal, which is usually pretty far right, calls this trade war with Canada, the dumbest trade war. That's the title. It says Republicans are already getting pounded on the campaign trail over his tariffs at inflation, mostly because of the war. Byron, are you getting pounded on the campaign trail? No, I think that people in Florida are thinking about their pocketbooks. Well, that's what the world is. Yeah, that's just what's fighting against it. How can you look at that? Tariff policy, let's be very clear, is about renegotiating certain trade policies and trade deals that have not worked in the interest of the United States for a long, long time. If you're looking at USMCA, obviously the president negotiated that one and what he's doing is he's looking at some of the outcomes and saying, you know what, we need to go back into this. And I think that's where this latest spat with Canada is coming from. But I would rather have a chief executive that looks at these deals and engages these other countries and fights for Americans than just lets them roll knowing that they're not going to be in the interest of small businesses. How pissed are you, West Canada? Are you right? Are you as mad as I am? Have they been fucking us as much as Byron suggests? I also would like to add that I thought tariffs were on-shoring manufacturing. I thought the goal was to bring drops back to America and I'm telling you we've seen the research and it hasn't worked. So like, what is Donald Trump doing? Because I was told that factories were going to come back, jobs were going to come back and what's happened is that everything is just more expensive. Well, some have. I mean, it works both ways. It does work, but in general, it doesn't look like a winner. It doesn't look like a winner at the polls. It doesn't look like a winner for the economy. I mean, they asked him when he changed the name to Lake America the other day. They said, what message was he trying to send Canada? And he said, no message Canada has been ripping us off for a long time on trade. Okay, well, that is a message. First of all. But they're not ripping us off. Are you not frustrated that you can't? I mean, I know you speak to them. I know you're very friendly. They're not ripping us off. I mean, there's eight times as many of us as them. Of course, we're going to have to trade deficit with them. They would have to buy eight times as much products from us. No person could do that in Canada. Don't you wish you could say this to the president? Well, first of all, I actually thought the Lake America thing was actually funny. I really did. I thought it was funny. First of all, in politics, everybody is so uptight about so many of these things. What I think is far more important is looking at some of the outcomes of USMCA, like I said earlier, and then going back to the drawing board and finding out ways to make them better deals in favor of the United States. When we set up these deals, to be honest, it's not really about making sure that these other nations are getting a better deal. When that actually deals with what we're having to manage economically over the long term in the United States. And to your point, if you look at what we've done on trade in the last 40 years in this country, that has definitely not brought manufacturing jobs to the United States. They've actually left the United States. So it's about time somebody said enough of that policy. Let's try a new way to get a better deal for the American and for our small business owners. I mean, Biden did tariffs. Some tariffs, you know, tariffs with the scalpel actually work. That was a good thought, but tariffs with the, with the, you know, sledgehammer don't work. And in fact, I mean, Maggie and Swann have this book called Regime Change, which is, if you-- Who's Maggie and Swann? Maggie Haberbett. And John is in Swann. Just wrote a book. So what, Maggie? I mean, Jesus Christ. God, Regime Change. And in it, they really document a lot of the tariffs stuff. And, and the reporting is that when he first laid out the tariffs, he forgot China. Like China. Oh, he never forgot China. Well, he-- No, he just doesn't want to fuck with China. He certainly has not forgotten China. But China, if you're going to tear off a country, I would think China would be what? But now he wants to punish everybody who is not on our side in the Iran war. And, you know, we can't be at war with everybody. I mean, this-- Well, let's, let's talk about Iran for a moment. Oh, God. The response-- No, seriously. Let's talk about it. All right. Okay. I'm going to put aside the core of the entire situation, which is the Iranians cannot have nuclear weapons. Yeah, I agree. We all agree on that. Well, we don't all agree, but I'm, I certainly agree on that. To me, anybody who thinks that it's okay for the Iranians to have a nuke that makes no, even the Democrats said it free. Makes no sense. But anyway, with the straight-of-war moves, my frustration is that, yeah, a lot of these NATO countries, all they had to do was come in and help us secure shipping lanes in the strait. The reason why Navy's even exist in countries is to make sure that international shipping lines are not held hostage by any one nation or any pirating group. That's the whole purpose of Navy's. And you have the Europeans are sitting on their heels while their oil prices are higher, their gas prices are higher, and I'm saying, oh, well, we don't have nothing to roll the play in this. I think that is a frustrating part when you know the Iranians are squeezing the strait simply to cause economic harm across the world because they're crazy, psychotic, and they want nuclear weapons. But weren't this-- wasn't that true? A first sure buy. Okay. All right. Well, the regime is crazy and psychotic. We don't think the way I'm going. No, no, no. Before you-- I don't want to cut you off. But the people have no ability to actually take control of this country. The regime is psychotic. It's been that way for 47 years. Actually, Brian. But then they get a nuke. Well, I just-- my question is, the strait was open. Wasn't the strait open? Yes. The strait is always-- the strait was always been the leverage point of the Iranians, yesterday. But the strait was open before Donald Trump went to war with Iran, never explaining to us why. He did. He did explain. He didn't explain. He didn't explain early on. They can't have a nuclear weapon. It's such a dumb talking point. Of course, they explained why. Okay, so why? They did stop them from getting nuclear weapons. And also, they were a terrible actor in the Middle East. There was no way there was ever going to be peace in that part of the world as long as Iran was-- was funding and-- But we knew it was an unwinnable war. It's humongous right? We did not know that. What they did was they fucked up the timing, Byron. They should have attacked when the people were in the streets during the uprising. They waited for all they got shot and then they attacked three months later. So, as always, not always, sometimes he has a good idea and then the execution has fucked up. But I want to move on to something because I promised this one viewer I would. You were endorsed by Donald Trump? Yes. Okay. And I said last week, I'm quoting myself. Trump used to win all his endorsements. Now he's winning almost none of them. I heard from this one viewer who was very upset about this contacted me directly. Well, we text. I'm glad we do. I'd rather have communication. Okay. And he said, well, he sent me a lot of charts. He sent me a lot of information. And I said, you know, I promised, if this is not true, what I said, I will say it on the air. He's right. I did overstated. That isn't true. overstated. There. Was that so hard to not be a dick about everything? To just sometimes say, and by the way, when I say, we all shouldn't just dig in and be a dick about anything. I'm also addressing that one viewer. But here's the facts. And it's a little more shaded than that. But yes, 260 people this election cycle, he's endorsed. He only lost 9, 97%. So he still has very powerful endorsements. But the full picture is a little more nuanced. My point was that the trend looks like it is going downward on that because he did lose five governorships. Republican primary voters, this is some CNN. Now rejected 10 Trump endorsed candidates for statewide offers this primary season that's equal to the number who lost in 2018, 20 and 24 primaries combined. Now he says that's because he backs a lot of ones who were short losers, but he did it just out of loyalty. I don't doubt that something bad is true. I also think it's true on the other side that he wins some because he picks some easy winners. He picks incumbent sometimes and uncontested people with overwhelming. Okay, doesn't matter. He just won in South Carolina. Lindsey Graham's "No, nothing, sister." And he won one in Oklahoma. He also, when you cross him like Bill Cassidy, Thomas Massey and John Corning did. So, okay, when he shows up at a place like for Lindsey's sister, you know, he's still a star. When you're a star, they let you do it, okay? And then come out and they vote for him. So there, that's the truth. It's a little more nuanced, but yes, I overstated it. Now, stop texting. I won, though. You won what? I won the nomination. I know. I know you. Yeah, but you did to your point that you were making earlier. Yeah. You did lose the redneck ribby era badly. And, you know, I think, okay, go ahead. Look, I can't get with you on a lot of this policy stuff, but I think it would be great if the country did have the first black Republicans. I do. And I also think it's great that you want to run in this post-racial world that we imagine years ago, and, you know, just the character of their character and not the color of their skin. We're not quite there yet, though, right? I mean, because I think, I mean, the redneck ribby era, which is the The panhandle, I don't think people. and maybe sometimes picture the map of Florida where it goes all the way under Alabama. Do you imagine how redneck you have to be to be under Alabama? (audience laughing) It's a beautiful place, man. - I know. It's beautiful, but I think there are people there who still would not, you're a Republican, you're a Trumpet, they should love you, and they don't, I think there is still races. - I'm gonna bring you on the campaign trail with me. You're gonna find out. - Look, let's talk a little bit about the Panhandle. There were counties we did incredibly well in, that we won. There were some counties that we fell a little short in. That's okay, but there was also 11 Republicans on the ballot, many people who had various lines of support. The number one thing overall, we closed out 48% of the vote in Florida. 800,000 votes as be going on a long way to the becoming the nominee. I think Florida really has become the microcosm of what we all want. It's a meritocracy, and it's about the best person with the best views, the best skills, the best talent moving forward to represent your state, or to represent a district in your state, and Florida exemplifies that. - Yes. (laughing) - You've had to say some stuff, like last week on Margaret Brennan Show, you said rampant illegal immigration was the cause for this measles outbreak and not vaccinated. I'm curious, I have three kids, you have three kids. Do you not vaccinate your kids? - I've vaccinated mine. Also, Molly, I didn't realize we were doing a solo interview of me, but that's okay. (laughing) - That's right, that is right. - That is okay, it's a panel. We're talking to each other. - What I think of it, go let's translate through me. (laughing) - Go let's me clear. - I'm gonna ask you a question. (audience applauding) Go let's me clear. There are parents who want to make those decisions. They want to be able to make those decisions about their children. The other thing is, hold on a second. The other thing is, my oldest son is 23 years old. The vaccination schedule for him was less intense than the vaccination schedule for my 15 year old son. And I think, and if you I talk to my mom, the vaccine schedule for me being 47 years old was not nearly as intense as it is for newborns today. So I think there are parents, there are mothers who have real concerns about the frequency of vaccines for young infants into just being a toddler. And so I think some of the order that came out the other day from the White House was, well let's just spread the vaccination schedule back out, let parents have an ability to make those decisions for their children with informed consent. And then the last piece is, let's also make sure that the human body in its infancy can actually manage the amount of vaccines that are being put into their child. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. - I don't need it. - We own people. - I don't need it. - I mean, we have people dying of measles. We had two people in Ohio die of measles, like we were almost eradicated from measles and now we have measles again. And there's a reason for that. And just, I mean, the idea that you said illegal immigration causes-- - Molly, we-- - You don't understand that. - Molly, we-- - Not what happened. - Under the previous administration, more than 10 million people came into the country illegally. And I know for a fact, just like everybody else, you can read your notes too, they weren't checking their vaccination schedules coming into the United States. That's a fact. That's number one. Number two, there was a measles outbreak in a couple of the detention facilities on the southern border. There was a measles outbreak in El Paso, Texas. There was also one in Chicago at another illegal immigration facility. Those are the facts. So when you let that many people come into your country, well, we already know in other countries they don't have the vaccination schedule that we have. And then when the department of Health and Human Services is talking about American children, now you're finding fault with vaccination schedules for American children. I don't think that's an accurate way to look at it. - I don't want to talk about vaccines anymore. (audience laughs) I had measles as a kid. I loved that I was home for two weeks. I had ice cream every day. But, you know, I get it. It can be bad. But we were talking about this war that we're having with Canada. And I just wanted to say that in any war, what you have to do is get the civilian population on your side. Now during World War II, we put out World War II posters. I'm sure people are familiar with something what they look like. Problem with the war on Canada is that we don't hate Canada to begin with. And so they've come up with the administration has some new posters to get us to be angry enough at the Canadians. Would you like to see some of their, I thought she would. (audience cheers) Yeah, all right. For example, there's this one. She's fucking you, but she's thinking of them. (audience laughs) Well, I don't get 'em, I don't get 'em out of Canada. Canadian geese crushing our planes into the Hudson since 2009. (audience laughs) Nickelback, never forget who did this to us. (audience laughs) Canadian bacon is ham. If they'll lie about this, what won't they lie about? (audience laughs) When Canada sends its pop stars, they're not sending their best. (audience laughs) You wanted that job in a comedy troupe, but it went to a Canadian. (audience laughs) And Canadians are so nice. What's so nice about stealing Katie Perry? (audience cheers) Okay, so. So, while we're here in America, (audience laughs) on shows like this, have been obsessing about things like war and tariffs. A lot of America, I noticed this week, was talking about Lindsay Clancy. And I must say, I learned a lot this week. And probably things that you already know. Byron, did you learn a lot this week about moms and your dad, maybe you do all this stuff? I've never had kids, and everyone seems to now agree with me. It's a hard thing to do to have kids. And I just wanna ask, this woman, Lindsay Clancy, she killed her three children because she had postpartum depression. What I learned is that this is a very prevalent thing. It's very real. I absolutely don't think she knew what she was doing. I get that. What I don't get is, why does she have fans? There are so many women now who are like, outside the courthouse, it's a little like Luigi. Like, I understand the frustration. Don't understand why the fans, and it's just because they've, this has been a cause celebs that has gone under the radar for so long. So, my guess is that postpartum psychosis, which is what she had is very real. I mean, it's not so common, but it happens. And I think that a lot of women, this is sort of brought up postpartum psychosis as a topic. Reporting on this story is horrific. Like, she keeps putting herself in mental institution. She goes to McLean, she's a labor and delivery nurse. So, if there ever were a person who knows about postpartum care, it would be her. In the reporting, it's that she doesn't want to report, how bad her symptoms are, because she's worried she's gonna lose her kids. It is one of the worst stories ever. And in my mind, you know, she's paralyzed now. And so, she's in this wheelchair, I'm not sure that the courts are the answer to a problem like this. But if we move away from just this extreme version, which, again, I learned is more prevalent than I knew before. But what I learned reading about this this week is, okay, obviously not a lot of women go to the length of killing their kid. But a lot of them are not afraid to say, I don't like being a mom. They put up TikToks, just talking about it. And they seem to be just frustrated with what, back in the day, I think, mother's just expected what's gonna happen when you're having a kid. And, I mean, I think a lot of it is, you know, they did it to themselves, because everything is a negotiation with a kid. And if you were negotiating everything, my mother didn't negotiate with me. It just wasn't a thing. And of course, you weren't as frazzled if you didn't have to. If you have to negotiate with a child all day long, look at Congress. Thank you ladies. (audience laughing) She's telling us, but I mean. I think my kids are a little bit. It's smarter than a lot of the members of Congress. But I agree. I mean, there are people don't want to be parents. That's why your birth rates are down through the floor. But part of that is because they don't have, you know, in a lot of countries, we have a lot of childcare and we have a lot of. In a lot of countries, they have scaffolding for people to have kids. They have childcare, they have healthcare. We don't have that here. I mean, look, three kids are gone. And as a father, that's just tragic in and of itself, I think to what this whole story really has become, it demonstrates some of the holes that we do have in mental health in the United States. I know in Florida, if you talk to my sheriffs, half of their population is mental health issues in the county jail system. There are beds that we need in order to help provide mental health care to people who have acute cases. Just so that some of the other resources that are there are available to people who might just need some outpacing. care, they might just need a phone call, they might just need to follow up something to help them, you know, get through the day. I think this story obviously is a tragedy in and of itself, but it does demonstrate that there are some real holes in health care. And from my perspective, we have to really think about how we're going to deliver it, especially in some of the real acute mental health issues that do exist in the United States. I mean, that's, and obviously, you know, they have the social media stuff that's out there. Social media, I think, is helping to play into those mental health issues, they are not helping abate them. Can I ask you about another. Another pop culture issue sort of, the owner of the 49ers, oh boy. That's all I had to say was the owner of the 49ers looks like he's got a great team this year. He's a billionaire. He went back to his home state of Ohio and was looking for some action and didn't get it, basically. He went to a trailer park and, you know, what, what, Byron? I know nothing about this. Nothing at all. Well, listen up. Because I'm going to say, it's not a lot to know. I could summon up. He was back in his home state of Ohio and kind of a poor area. And, you know, I guess you'd go on the internet and hook up with somebody or say you'll meet with somebody. And an undercover cop busted him. It was $160. There he is getting arrested. I mean, why? Why is this guy, which is just pathetic, $10 billion, and this is the best hooker you can get? Why? Why does America still have a morality police, basically? I'm the daughter of Erica John, so I'm not going to argue with you here. I agree. Again, we're arresting all the wrong people for the wrong stuff, right? Not all. Well, but I mean, when it comes to this, this is clearly, there's clearly a lot more to this story also that we're not totally getting, I think. Why? What are we not getting? I mean, I don't know. He's a billionaire. He wanders into, no, I just think what a billion dollars you ain't wander in. Let's just go to a bar, man. Just go to a bar. That's all I got to say. Just go to a bar. Well, it doesn't work that way in bars, by run people. They're not hookers in bars. Well, I guess they're right. I'm move on to another thing. Hakeem Jeffries, this is interesting, and this gets to the president and whether his grip is slipping a little bit or not. Jared Kushner, and when you're meeting with Jared Kushner, you're meeting with as close you can get to the administration. I mean, he's his number one boy, he's obviously the son-in-law, whatever the important mission is, he sends Jared. He sent him to meet with, or I think Kushner asked for the meeting, with Hakeem Jeffries. To me, this says that the Republicans know Hakeem Jeffries, who is the House Minority Leader, is going to be the House Majority Leader after the Republicans get their ass kicked in the midterms, which is going to happen. I'm not saying that, but it just is. And there was, you know, I'm for this because I'm always for talking to people. Not everybody is. One aide said, of course, off the record, opening a back channel, I think, is just a governing reality. I would agree with that. James Carville, who I'm always usually agree with, he says, no, we don't want to fuck with them unless we absolutely have to. Well, James, you do. They're in office, you have to. He says, no more meetings. Okay, you know, it's a meeting. Not dating. It wasn't on Epstein Island. You've got to talk to people, you know, like not everybody's Dolly Barton, okay. There's the only one everybody liked. Everybody else falls short. That's right. Dolly Barton Vaxed and gave money. Sorry, anyway. I think one of the most dangerous things that Democrats do is this idea that we shouldn't meet people. We don't agree with. Right. We shouldn't go on shows with people we don't agree with. We should go everywhere. And we saw that with Harris, you know, she, that she didn't want to go on Rogan. And there was this hall talk about Rogan. That was the only way we were going to get in front of a hundred million people. Like, that was it. So, do I think we should go everywhere? Yes. Now, here's my question for you. First of all, I have two questions. One is, who set this meeting up? I really want to know. I think it's what I read is that it came from questioner. Okay. It's a relevant set it up. But I think it's not. It's very relevant. I think it's very relevant that the administration reached out to him. First of all, Jared obviously is doing stuff over in the Middle East. I think everybody kind of knows that. But that being said, if he is talking to Hakeem Jeffries and you're having a conversation. Okay. Yeah. We're talking about policy. Okay. Look, how do you think we're going to solve so many of these issues? I know. You've got to get a room where all of you can talk. Right. Definitely talk. But not everybody is coming from a place of strength. Right. Jared is having this meeting because they think they're going to lose the house. Exactly. That's right. So why are you coming in a defensive way? And he does this video and he says, we're going to, we talked about affordability. There is no way they're talking about. He's coming. He's coming in a defensive way because Democrats were freaking out. And I think why are Democrats freaking out? Republicans are freaking out that Jared had a meeting. Well, Hakeem has been Democrats that are freaking out. You just say car. Yes, it is. It's Democrats who are freaking out about this. It's always the left that can't stand to talk. So my attitude is this. Look, if you really want to get down to business, you're going to have to talk to the other side. Right. I'm working on legislation right now about opening up commercial flood because the national flood insurance program isn't helping the American people is very expensive. You're not getting very good coverage. So open up commercial flood. I'm talking to a Democrat about that. Trying to get that policy done. If you're going to get some of these common sense solutions accomplished, you're going to have to deal with the other side of the political aisle. That's a reality while maintaining your principles. Okay. Thank you guys. Time for New World. Okay. All right. New World, someone asked to explain why the toilets in Japan are so far superior to the ones we have here. If we are the greatest country in the world, why are we number two at number two? Japan looked at wiping your ass with paper and said, we can do better. America said, let's make this stuff thinner. New World, now that San Francisco 49ers owner and billionaire Jed York has been charged with arranging to meet a prostitute in a trailer park in his hometown of East Palestine, Ohio for $160. Let's honor him for putting money back into vulnerable communities. This doesn't sound like a crime. It sounds like a new program called NFL CARES. Jed, I have to know what exactly do you get for $160 and rural Ohio because for 160 in San Francisco, I'm pretty sure all you do is get to watch. New World, oh, excuse me. Since zoos are animal prisons, let's turn our prisons into zoos. Who wouldn't want to take the family to the prison zoo? Look there, look there feeding Harvey Weinstein. Oh, a real-life serial killer. They're endangered, you know. Hey, quiet. It's a white collar criminal. They're very shy and rarely come out of their enclosure. Oh my gosh, Gelae Maxwell. Look, now she's being groomed. New World, now that we know that sound waves directed at the penis can have a positive effect for men suffering from erectile dysfunction. Doctors have to tell us, is this something that can only be done at the office with special equipment or can you just tell your partner, try yelling at it? There were a little news outlets reporting on the Chinese robot that broke Usain Bolt's 100 meter dash record must tell the full story. The robot ended this triumphant sprint by slamming full speed into a wall. So it's not a good substitute for Usain Bolt. Tiger Woods, yes, but not Usain Bolt. Okay. And finally, New Rule, if you're looking to find out, Find out why our government is so dysfunctional and why the sensible middle never seems to win elections. Stop, I'm going to tell you. And as they say in the world of clickbait, the answer may surprise you. [LAUGHTER] Because while we've all been obsessing over the gerontocracy in Washington and how Congress looks a lot like the 4 p.m. dinner hour in Boca Raton, we're missing something important. The people who actually run the country aren't old. They're probably too young. Yes, the public face of the government may be an 82-year-old, almost dead person. [LAUGHTER] But the person who's really puppeteering this lunatocracy of ours, that's this guy, a 26-year-old congressional staffer with the Twitter handle Tactical Amphibian, or something like that. [LAUGHTER] Congressional staffers, that's who writes the material. The politicians just perform it. Did you see the Canadian Senator who recently did this? Citizens often develop expectations that exceed the powers actually granted to those offices. Here's a more natural flowing version of that section that reads like legislative speech rather than a series of short points. [LAUGHTER] Yes, that's right. He read out loud, the part where the chatbot tells him, how not to sound like a chatbot. [LAUGHTER] A lot of people these days are asking, where is Mitch McConnell? Oh, I know where he is. In Hades, arguing with Odysseus about whether it's better down there or not, please. [APPLAUSE] But his body is still a senator. And someone is using it to vote. The Secretary of Education is Lyndon McMahon, who's 77, and who recently referred to AI as A1. [LAUGHTER] Now, she may think the internet is powered by steak sauce, but-- [APPLAUSE] But her staff of 20-somethings knows better. And they're the ones who will be writing the legislation about it, which would be OK if the kids were all right. But the kids are not all right, at least not the ones in this job, and not on either side. Because who gets these staff jobs? Young, ideologically extreme, weirdos who live online and spend their days either accusing people of settler colonialism or posting AI memes of Trump writing a line. These are not the kind-- these are not the kind of people who have an eye on the art of compromise or delivering for the American people, arriving at solutions, grand bargains, please. They grew up on social media. They were about getting a sick burn to go viral, trolling, owning, destroying, shit-posting, rage-baiting, that stuff. On the right, Republican leaders in New York State voted to disband the entire Young Republican Club, because their chats to each other were so full of truly vile rhetoric, it embarrassed even them. They're not surprising, considering that the conservative estimate of how many young Republican staffers are fans of Nick Fuentes is 40%. It could be as high as 75. And Nick says things like, Hitler is awesome. And I'm not living around blacks. And a lot of women want to be raped. And having sex with women is gay. I mean, wait, sex with women is gay? OK, I'm lost. And I know that's the point. But when you post about how much you love Hitler, and then you say you're kidding, but then keep posting it, is it still a joke? And if I can't tell if you're joking or not, I don't want you anywhere near Congress, because Congress is enough of a joke already. [APPLAUSE] You know, enthusiastic young conservatives used to look like this. Now they look like this. Yeah. And ladies, he's single. [LAUGHTER] Yeah, that's Preston Parra. He's 24, a former staffer for Republican Senate candidate Mike Collins of Georgia. And Preston got into a little trouble this week, because he recently shared images of his ex-account, of a swastika, and this one in clan robes. You know, a former generation of Republicans looked to William F. Buckley for their philosophy. This one founded in Kanye, always being deliberately offensive, nihilistic, never caught being sincere, only ironic. Oh, you're deadpool. No, you're a shock jock on whatthefuck.com. [APPLAUSE] They call it being an edge-lord. Normal people call it being an asshole. And sadly, the fact that so many people can't tell the difference is not even a new phenomenon. You know, I once did a show called Politically Incorrect. And people would-- thank you. And people would always be asking me, I mean, what does that mean politically incorrect? And I'd say, it just means the opposite of being political, which is being full of shit. It means radical honesty. What it doesn't mean is just saying the unseeable to get a reaction. But so many people started doing that back then. We actually had to have a contest called Politically Incorrect or just stupid. [LAUGHTER] Today, I don't think politically incorrect would even stand a chance. It's all just stupid. On the right, Nazis, racism, rape, ha-ha-ha, all good. And on the left, just abolish anything that isn't working perfectly. Police, prisons, borders, shoplifting laws, the Senate, the Supreme Court, globalize the Intifada, tampons in the boys' room. You know, someone is coming up with this crazy. And it's not Dick Durbin age 80. [LAUGHTER] It's the staffers. We perpetually online, fatwa curious, social justice, suicide squad. Hey, memo to Democrats, the call is coming from inside the tent. [LAUGHTER] Democrats never really reckoned with, why didn't Joe Biden actually give us the return to normal, he promised? Biden ran in 2020 as a single issue candidate, eliminating malarkey. He wasn't obsessing about intersectional queer theory. When Joe heard the word "trans," he thought, "paniac." [LAUGHTER] But his administration, that is, the kids he was too feeble to fight with, they made gender identity, the federal government's day one top concern. There are no ones who told Kamala Harris that the answer to, do your support tax-funded sex changes for people in prison was, fuck yeah, instead of your fucking kidding. Those are the Democrats' edge lords. And like the ones on the right, they're low-key running the country now. So yes, by all means, let's elect some younger politicians, but maybe the problem isn't just the old farts. Maybe it's also the new little shit. [APPLAUSE] All right. We're off next week, back on September 11th. I want to thank Representative Biden. I know his money's on fast. And Michael S. Ruff. Tupper in and drops every Monday on YouTube. I'll listen when we get to a podcast. Now go watch overtime on YouTube. Thank you. You were a great audience. I appreciate it. [APPLAUSE] Hatch all new episodes of Real Time with Bill Maher every Friday night at 10, or watch him anytime on HBO on demand. For more information, log on to HBO.com. Larry David is back in their new HBO original limited series. What a pleasure to be a part of such a historic occasion. Larry and the pursuit of unhappiness at almost history of America. This is a declaration of carbon sand. Those who don't know history. You are the world's worst body channel. Are doomed to watch Larry David repeat it. What the hell is going on here? Watch Larry and the pursuit of unhappiness, Now streaming on HBO Max. Subscription required, visit hblemax.com for details.