Overtime – Episode #734: Rep. Ro Khanna, Jonathan Martin

This episode is brought to you by chat GPT. Hey, it's Bill Simmons from the Bill Simmons podcast. Have you guys heard about chat GPT work? It's the new way to use chat GPT for bigger multi-step projects. And when you need more than just answers, give chat GPT work access to your apps and files, and it can create real work documents like spreadsheets, slides, and structured reports. Get started at chatgpt.com by selecting work mode available on plus and pro plans. Welcome to an HBO podcast from the HBO late night series, real time with Bill Maher. All right. He's Politico's senior political columnist and host of the On the Road podcast, Jonathan Martin, and he's a Democratic congressman who represents Silicon Valley, Representative Ro Khanna. Okay. All right. From the people, the questions are for you guys. What are the panel's thoughts on Hillary Clinton saying that Joe Biden's presidential re-election bid was a terrible mistake? Well, I mean, we all came to that conclusion a long time ago. But the timing was interesting because it was the same week that Obama was opening his presidential library and you had the Obamas obviously on stage, but right behind the Obama's bill, you had the Clintons on one end and the Bidens on the other end. It was a little frosty, but between the Bidens and the Clintons, because I think because of that comment, she was saying out loud what I think has become received wisdom, gospel truth among most Democrats, in 2022 and 2023, where we're every prominent Democrat in the lead up to the re-election that Biden should not have pursued. The Democrats' original sin, yes, Biden running again. It was bigger than that. It was Democrats in Congress, the governors not saying a damn word about Biden running again, and in fact, enabling it and saying he should run again in 2024, when privately, you know, and I know they were really worried about him doing it again. Okay. It was obviously a mistake for him to run again, but you know what? Just, I respect Secretary Hillary Clinton. I respect these folks. They need to exit stage left, let a new generation lead. And I don't know why she's having these conversations. People want to hear from Andy Beshear, from Mamdani, from Pete Buttigieg. There are a lot of great people in the next generation. Thank you for your service. You've had your time. Let a new generation lead. So you think Mamdani's a great one, huh? I do. I mean, did you see his Nick speech? Not the issue that most concerned me. I don't need that. It's worth a watch, because the speech was not just about the Knicks. First of all, he, like, recites every Knicks player. I mean, I couldn't do that about the 49ers. Who gives a shit about the Knicks? He's the mayor of New York. Well, yeah, but he talks about how it's actually bringing people together, Trump voters, Mamdani voters, how it's overcoming the odds. And he took a speech that was just about celebrating the championship, and he made something bigger about it. He's a talented Well, it doesn't make me forget that his wife loved October 7th attack on Israel, and that he pals around with terrorists. Oh, come on. Have you had him on the show? We ask people like that, Roe. They never come. I'll talk to him. I think he should come. I would love that. I think he should, too. Come on. I think you should come. You have a part in the circus. I do, too. I would love to talk to him. He's a smart guy, and I think you would find. Oh, I'm not saying he's not a smart guy. He went to the White House. Yeah. I mean, he took. I know. He went there, but he can't come here? Yeah. He should come here. Oh, he should come here. Oh, so should AOC? So should all of the Democrats. No, they should come. You don't bite. You're fine. I voted. I voted for them, not him, but I mean, I. He needs Trump's money, though, and he doesn't need your money here, unfortunately. But the reason he was there, strictly Trump, was because he needs federal help for New York, and so he understood he had to be there playing to Trump's ego in vanity because he can't have the feds being hostile to New York City. He needs federal help. But I think it's bigger than that, Jonathan. I agree with the strategic, but I think he has a view that you go, you talk to everyone. You engage everyone. You engage Trump. That's why you should come here. Not real time, apparently, unfortunately. Well, I mean, there's Democrats and there's Democrats. There's Democrats, Socialists. I mean, those are two distinct parts of the same party. I mean, they are obviously in a coalition together, but people who are Democratic, Socialists make that distinction. They say, I am a Democratic, Socialist. That's Bernie Sanders. That's Mondami. That's the mayor of Seattle. A number of them. And so far, it plays in big cities, but there's no evidence yet that you can take that outside of major metro cores in this country. And I think one of the fascinating tests of the 2028 campaign for president is, is there going to be somebody that reflects those views that can play beyond a New York, a Seattle, now a Washington, D.C. Look, Bernie Sanders is 0 for 2 running for president. OK, so it had been tried previously and it hasn't worked. So the question is, can this play on the road somewhere else, South Carolina, New Hampshire or Nevada, beyond a big city? It hasn't so far. Well, first of all, we're in a different time than 2020. And many people have seen income inequality soar, these wars that they don't, like. But you aren't a socialist, are you? Well, I call myself a progressive capitalist and I call myself for economic patriotism, rebuild the FDR coalition, but make sure it includes the Black South, where we're talking about building new factories in places like Pennsylvania, having new trade schools, having health care for everyone with Medicare for all. I believe having economic development and economic bill of rights, you can have a majority coalition. FDR did it. He did it four terms. But you say the party, the tent is big enough for both the Democrats and the Democratic socialists. Yes. Read you some of the things that are that are the Democratic and the Democratic socialist cataclysm. Sure. OK, because some of them I agree with. Here's the ones I agree with. Reduce military spending. I've been saying that forever, especially in the age of drones. Buying fighter planes is ridiculous. I appreciate you say that because I'm one of the only votes on the House Armed Services Committee. They go, they boo me when I vote no. But I was like, why are we spending 65 percent on the military? Closed bases overseas. Saying that forever. Restore voting rights to criminals. Criminal convictions. We should be doing that a long time ago. Statehood for D.C. I'm for that. Get rid of the Electoral College. OK, can I read you the ones that I think are crazy? Sure. I mean, I may not agree with them either. Universal health care. No premiums, no co-pays, no deductibles. They tried this in Vermont. They couldn't get it to work. You can do it nationally. You know, it's worked in Taiwan. It's worked. Taiwan is not a state, Rob. I hate to say it. It's worked. No, but look. It's worked in Canada. We pay twice as much for health care as any other industrialized country. And we've got the worst health care outcomes. If you had a single payer. If you just expand Medicare. Moynihan wanted to do this. Yeah. If you expand Medicare for everyone and everyone has to pay a little bit. So why couldn't it work in a state like Vermont? I mean, they've also proposed it here in California. And the budget would have to be like $800 million. It would be like twice or three times what we pay for everything. The U.S. Congress is not going to end private health care in this country. They're just not. No one is. No one is. They're talking about ending private health care. They're talking about expanding Medicare. And then if you have Medicare with a hearing and a vision and a dental. That's a different question. And then you expand it. Then people can still get supplemental private insurance. The reality is Medicare works. And if you expanding it is the biggest way to lower costs in this country and get everyone covered. I don't think you look at what has worked when Johnson created Medicare. He envisioned that it would eventually cover everyone. The reason we don't have it is private health insurance companies. But again, I'm confused. Why it would work nationally when it couldn't work even in these two states. Because the states didn't have the waivers to get the money. You need the federal money. You need the Medicare, Medicaid money that the states didn't have. And so it's hard to do it in a state without the waivers. If you have the waivers and you have the right policy on taxation, then you can do it. What line hurt Obama the most on the ACA? If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. He got jammed on that because people want to keep their doctor. The only thing that people hate more than health care and health insurance companies is fucking with their health insurance companies because they want to have the same health care. Screwing with people's health care invariably hurts the party that is doing the screwing. I agree with that. You're not talking about national health care. You're talking about national health insurance. It means you can keep your doctor. You can go see any doctor you want. Every doctor is a network. Okay. How about this one? Workers can migrate free across borders. That seems like I was a loser for the Democrats last time. I don't think that's going to be a winner. Or is it really even the right thing to do? What does it even mean? Open borders. Open borders. No, I think we need a secure border. Okay. There you go. That's the tale. It's a loser. Limit Supreme Court's power of judicial review. Okay, now we're going back to our history buffs, 1803, Marbury versus Madison. I mean, it wasn't in the Constitution, but it is 1803. This is what the Constitution says. This is what the Supreme Court does. It reviews. Yeah, I'm fine with judicial review, but we should have term limits on these Supreme Court justices. Okay, that's a different issue. 18 years in, you're out. Okay. All college free and cancel student, all student loan debt. You know, for the time we were in Iran, literally, we could have free public college in America. I mean, what would be a better investment for the United States? Literally, for the amount we spent on Iran. What about canceling student loan debt? Because a lot of people say, and I would agree with this, it sort of helps the better off people. I mean, the person who doesn't go to college is now going to subsidize the person who's going to make a lot more money because they did go to college. It doesn't seem actually like a progressive thing to do. I took out a lot of student loans. I've done well. They shouldn't forgive student loans for people like me. But if you're working class, you're first in your family to go to college, you have all this debt, and then you're paying off your debt until you're 50 or 60. and can't get a house, we can pay off that debt. and you know how we pay for it? Tax Elon Musk. Tax the billionaire. You're not taxing the blue-collar guy. Here's Bill without censoring. Take it, I represent one-third of this nation's wealth. In a 50-mile radius, $20 trillion. Is that right? One-third of the nation's wealth is in my 50-mile radius. The stock market is $70 trillion, $20 trillion. We're producing more wealth than ever before. And you're telling me we can't have health care and free college for Americans? If Americans, you know, when I go out and I speak and I say Elon Musk has become a trillionaire, usually people just boo. And I was like, why is that? Why aren't they cheering? It's because they aren't getting anything out of it. But the politics, though, are risky. It's one thing to expand community college access, make that free, perhaps make, you know, some state universities free. But what Bill's talking about is the politics of telling a blue-collar guy, hey, your taxpayer dollars are going to forgive some, you know, college smartass. He's not paying his loans back. He's like, well, how is that helping me, man? It's so risky. Because. Because that's the Republican frame. What we've got to tell you is the billionaires have screwed you and they've screwed the college kid. Get the college kid's loans forgiven and put a Marshall Plan in America to build you industry. But Democrats already have a challenge with working-class voters that is killing your party. Because we did NAFTA. Because we did China and the World Trade Organization. Because we watched places like Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where I grew up, fairless work shut down, steel plants shut down, and we didn't do a thing. And you know what? If Donald Trump hadn't won, this is one thing I say to my Democratic friends. No one would have been going to Warren, Ohio, and Middletown, Ohio, and Downriver, Michigan. We shafted those communities. We need to say we made a mistake and we're actually going to invest in those communities. But you can do that and forgive the student loans if you just tax some of the billionaires in my district. I don't understand it. The guy who represents that area is saying tax them. How is this hard for 434 other members of Congress? Well, you're. Well, we've won it, man. We've done it. You are really pushing. You're pushing that Pennsylvania angle, aren't you? I mean, it's like. It's not buy you a cheesesteak. When you run for president, you don't want to be the California guy, I'm the Pennsylvania guy. Yeah, Palo Alto, never heard of it. Yeah, exactly. Taiwan, you. All right. What does the panel think of the Supreme Court ruling that habitual marijuana users can't be banned from owning guns? Now you have my attention. Too soon. No, that's amazing. That's awesome. That's fair. I mean, I want guns, and I can't have them because I don't. Because it's illegal. Because I am a. Perhaps. Or maybe it's just. You don't treat me as a gun guy. You wouldn't want guns? I don't know. Of course. Okay, I didn't know that. Why wouldn't you want a gun? I don't know. I mean, I don't have a gun, but I mean, I respect the Second Amendment. I just didn't. I wouldn't have thought that you had guns. I don't. Because of that. But yes, I mean, you know, I can't expect the police to be everywhere like that. I mean, when you need a gun, I mean. Well, now you can get a side piece, so there you go. And, of course, another complaint I would have about California is it almost isn't. It makes no sense to have one because you almost can't use it because if you do, you might be the one to go to jail. I mean, you can shoot an intruder in your house, but you better do it exactly right. He better be in your bedroom facing you. Really. Don't shoot him on the. You can't be high when you do it. You shoot him on the lawn, you're going to go to jail. I mean, that's kind of ridiculous, isn't it? Well, look, I think that we need to. I'm for investing in police. I'm for having public safety. I don't think the answer to crime should be everyone takes justice into their own hands. Even if there's somebody in your house? Well, of course, if they're in your house, self-defense. Well, that's what we're talking about. Well, yeah, but in other parts of the country, you've had self-defense taken and people shot. Shot, shot, you know, Trayvon Martin's case. There are cases where people have taken the law in their. their own hands, shot folks who are innocent. Let Bill get his side piece, okay? No one wants that. Side piece? We're talking about guns. Thank you very much, everybody. Nice. Don't wait. Catch 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 the new HBO Original Limited series. What a pleasure to be a part of such a historic occasion. Life, Larry, and the Pursuit of Unhappiness. An almost history of America. This is a declaration of common sense. Those who don't know history. You are the world's worst butter churner. are doomed to watch Larry David repeat it. What the hell is going on here? Watch Life, Larry, and the Pursuit of Unhappiness. Now streaming on HBO Max. Subscription required. Visit hbomax.com for details.