Ep. #715: Mel Robbins, Killer Mike, Donna Brazile

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The networks can leave your personal info, like credit card numbers, exposed to hackers. McAfee's secure VPN lets you browse and bank safely from wherever, whenever. Learn more at McAfee.com slash online protection. Welcome to an HBO podcast from the HBO Late Night series, Real Time with Bill Maher.

Oh, it's a little reclaimed. It's our last show of the season. It's our... I know, it's our Thanksgiving show. I've already started my baking. No, I'm going to do it myself this year, Thanksgiving. I am. I probably should not have asked GTP how to do it. I asked them, how do you roast a turkey? Tell it looks like a chicken who can't afford Ozempic. But...

Yeah, we always have our little winter break. We will come back in January, as always. We'll be back January 23rd. March 30th in your book. And... When we do come back, this all will be an incredible ballroom. I just want to remember. I kid the president. Oh, boy, did you... It was Muslim week at the White House this week. First, he had Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, the only guy who walks into the White House and goes, not enough gold. But yes.

You know Mohammed bin Salman. They call him MBS. He was there at the White House. Nothing to do with politics. Just with Thanksgiving approaching, Trump thought, who better to carve the turkey? I get the Saudis. There was that little unpleasantness with OJ-ing the reporter. But, you know. But Trump loves this guy. Oh, what a bromance these two have. Get a room, you two. I mean, Jesus.

Trump was showing him around the Oval Office. He showed him the, you know, Trump has that model of a 747. He shows everybody. And Mohammed bin Laden was very impressed with it. He said, that's beautiful. We can't wait to fly it into something. I tend to Saudis. No, they had a, he's eaten.

Now, MBS, he's not officially the head of state, so it couldn't be a state dinner, but they gave him a great big dinner. It was, in effect, a state dinner, you know, where they have, like, celebrities. You know who was there for the big dinner? Christian Ronaldo, the soccer player. Saudis love soccer because it's the one sport you can play after they chop your hands off. So...

And then today, you know who was there today at the White House? Mindami, the new mayor of New York. And, uh... Trump said to him, I don't understand you guys. Why wait for the afterlife to enjoy the 72 virgins? That's what Jeffrey Epstein's are for on Earth. But... But it is amazing. I mean, I don't want to tip my thing at the end of the show, but this is exactly what I'm going to be talking about. He met him in person, Mandami, and great meeting.

The night before, just like the night before I went there, he's an asshole, he's a shithead, you know, he's a communist. Trump's a great guy, great meeting, he said... You know, they asked him, you know, what about the communist things? Well, you know, he said, maybe he'll change. My views have changed. Trump said, I'd love to live in New York under this guy. He might be a great mayor.

See, that's what it is. You've got to talk to people and negotiate. I mean, they're New Yorkers, you know? They negotiated, Mondami. They each got something they wanted. Mondami wanted Trump's help on affordability issues, yes. And Trump wanted a guarantee that he can still stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot someone.

Oh, I kid, always with love. But yeah, I mean, the Trump, ooh, the Epstein thing, Trump did a total 180. Last week, we were all talking about, he won't release the files. This week, it's like, well, the Epstein files. Oh, sure, we're going to release those. So they are going to release the Epstein files. But, you know, always the fine print. They're going to be redacted. So, you know, people are already saying, what's the point? Epstein got away with it. Well...

Got away with having sex with underage girls. He hung himself in his jail cell. I'm not sure that means getting away with something. David Bowie, he got away with it. Trump is very touchy about the Epstein thing. Since a reporter asked him, did you see this this week on, I think it was on Air Force One, brought up that issue. And Trump said, this is a woman reporter, he said to her, quiet piggy.

Quiet, piggy. And then, listen to this. At the press conference the next day, his press secretary, Carolyn Levitt, spun this by saying, it's actually admirable. He said, it's the president being frank and open and honest. That's good. Well, in that case, shut up, bitch. No, you said. I mean, I'm telling you, if you go near this Epstein thing, he does not like it. I mean, Marjorie Taylor Greene was his biggest ally, and then she was...

You know, all in on we got to get the Epstein files. And this week, Trump went nuts on her. She's a disgrace. She's a disgrace. She's wacky. She's a ranting lunatic. All I can say is, Marjorie, welcome to the club. Wonderful show for our finale. Donna Brazile and Michael Render, Killer Mike, are here. The first up.

My first guest is a true phenomenon in the world of life improvement. She is host of the Mel Robbins podcast and author of the number one bestselling book, The Let Them Theory, a life-changing tool that millions of people can't stop talking about. True dat. Mel Robbins is over here. Hi. How are you? What a great pleasure to meet you.

I know everybody wants you on their show. They do? They... You know they do. And you came here. I can't tell you how much I appreciate that. Oh, really? Well, thank you. Wow. We know this is true. I mean, to say your book is a phenomenon is an understatement. I mean, this is an era where people don't read anymore. I know, yes. Somebody said to me the other day, oh, you know, Barnes & Nobles, I always see people that, yeah, they're buying a cat calendar.

And the let them theory. And the let them theory. Yes. I mean, the numbers are just... Off the charts. If I went into the bookstore, would it be under self-help? Is that still a term that they use? Do you not like that term? Do you not care? Is it still self-help? Let them. I don't care what they call it as long as people read it. Okay. But, I mean, that is one of the more popular sections in the bookstore. And there's a lot of people... Why did your message?

resonate so much more than all the other people who are working that side of the street? Well, I'll tell you why. There's a number of reasons. First of all, it's a great freaking book. Like, as you read it, you can get through it in a day and a half. It's hilarious and profound. Right.

And it works. And you don't need to buy the book. I'm going to tell you how to use the theory. The theory is so simple. It basically is this, the fastest way to lower your stress. and to have more peace and control in your life is stop trying to control everybody else, let them have their opinions, their behavior, and take all the power and time that you've been wasting on other people and bring it back here.

And let me focus on my thoughts, my actions, and the way that I want to live my life. And life gets very simple and a lot more peaceful, and you feel more powerful and in control. And so... That's how you use it. Four words, let them and let me. But here's why it works. It reduces the number one source of stress bill in everybody's life, and that's other people. Other people are so annoying.

Right? Their opinions, their close talking, their judgments, their expectations. And the more you try to control them, the less control you feel. And it's much easier to say, let them. It is. And it's also the other reason why this thing is spread around the world is when you start to read it, I'm the villain in the book.

I'm the control freak that's really irritating. You're either going to see yourself or somebody you love. And so you start to read it and you feel better about your boss who you hate. You feel better that traffic isn't getting to you. And then you start to go, oh, my God. My mother needs this. My sister needs this. And so everybody is not only reading it, Bill, they're giving it to their families. And here's what I love. We all love saying let them.

There's an Irish version of this. I'm not going to say what it is. F them, right? Right? You could say that on basic TV now. Right, that's true. That's true. This is fucking HBO. That's true. Okay, so, you know, fuck them is the Irish version of this. And when you're like, let them, let them, let them, you feel superior. But then what happens is you now have to figure out, OK, what do I do? I realize my siblings never call me back and I make all the effort.

Let them. My friends always go out without me, and they don't invite me. My boss is rude to me, and I don't like my job. Let them, let them, let them. But now what? Now you say, let me. Let me choose how I'm going to respond. to the reality that i'm dealing with and that's where you take your control back and what i love about this

Bill, and I love about people using it, is that you first start using it because you are annoyed with other people. I mean, we have families because it teaches you how to love people you hate sometimes. And that's also why people get married. It teaches you that. But as you start to say let them, you're forcing yourself to learn how to accept people as they are and as they're not. And you have to confront how judgmental you are of the other people in your life.

and learn how to let them be who they are, let them have the dignity of their own experience, and you start to recognize how much time and energy you burn up over the headlines, over people's expectations, over traffic, and it's stupid.

Because your time and energy... But not everything is a let them case, right? Everything is. If you're being sexually harassed at the office, that's not a... That's a let them? Okay, well, here's what it is. Let them do it? Well, no, because they've already done it.

So when you say let them, you're not allowing it. You're forcing yourself to recognize the situation you're in and that you're not going to change what's happening by trying to change them. You have to take the power and go, OK, well, let me recognize this is a situation I'm in. Let me stop gaslighting myself and making excuses and, like, sticking around and beating myself up and let me remind myself that I get to choose what I do next.

Am I going to HR? Am I leaving this job? Am I hiring an attorney? All of the energy that you're spending complaining about it, worrying about it, beating yourself up, telling yourself there's nothing you can do, there's always something you can do. But that would be more like stop them.

Yes. Then let them. Sometimes let them has to be stopped them, no? Of course. In situations where it's dangerous or discriminatory or somebody's getting hurt, of course you step in and stop them if that's your values. Because the number one rule is you can't change. another person. People only change when they're ready to change for themselves. Period. Oh, yeah. I've learned not the hard way. Yes, we all have, though. We all have. Yeah.

Well, I mean, your life was the hard way. I mean, you came from places that most people haven't been. Deep in debt, drinking, day drinking. Well, wasn't that what you're doing today? Not drinking. And I don't... People think I smoked before the show. I don't smoke right before the show. I was going to say, that's a huge disappointment, everybody.

That's the key. That would be wrong. Well, my husband was like, okay, Mel, I know let them, but don't smoke before the show, smoke after. I don't want you to embarrass yourself on television. Killer Mike's here. Trust me, it's going to happen.

Okay, but before we run out of time, let's get to the other part of it, because it's not just let them, it's let me. Yes. And you are very adamant in the book over and over, you make the point. One does not work without the other. Correct. So let's make sure people understand what the let me part of it is. Right. So once you start saying let them and you protect your time and energy from other people.

and you also force yourself to accept people as they are. You're never going to change your mom or dad. You've got to learn to let them be who they are. It'll reduce so much pressure in your life. Now pull it back here and say, let me. Like, take the holidays. If you're going to go home and spend time with your family... Stop gripping the wheel hoping it's different. These people have been the same their whole lives. So when you start going, let them.

Right? You are forcing yourself to recognize they are who they are. They have their opinions. I'm just going to let them be. Now, let me remind myself I get to choose what I think about this. I get to choose how much time and energy I spend here. I mean, you can get up from a dining room table. You can get out of a text chain. You can divert a conversation away from a topic. You're not a victim here. You're in control of what you do in response.

This is how you take responsibility for your life. This is how you change things for the better. And responsibility, Bill, is the ability to respond. That's what that word means. I mean, I feel you're doing my work here for me. This is like a theme show because, again... This is, I mean, again, this is going to be the end of my show. It's every year at Thanksgiving, I have to do basically the same theme, which is telling people, don't cut off your family. No.

It's just terrible. And, you know, and I said this a few weeks, a few months ago. We did an editorial here on the show where I talked about Trump and the fact that there are things that really still I am very adamant about and I will never stop talking about. There are other things where I just, it's like in meditation where they say, just let the cloud pass. You know, like I see so many people are upset about him building a ballroom. I could give a fuck.

I don't give a shit about his fucking bull. Well, I give a fuck because we're paying for it, whether you voted for him or not. No, we're not paying for it. It's private. First of all, even if we did... Well, it's already bulldozed, so any time you spend burning up about it, it's already happened. You have to decide what are you going to do in response to it. And it's, like, not the thing I want to concentrate on. Okay, that's the point. There are so many bigger things. That's the point.

that are consequential that I don't like him doing. And they tried to gin everybody up about, well, they're knocking down the White House. They've changed the White House before. And the White House does actually need a ballroom. You know, we're a big country. We were having state dinners and people were, like, under a tent. I've had better parties than that. So I am not, you know...

But I still do think you have to choose your battles. You have to pick what you get. Yes. So if this were the dining room table, and you're saying something that pisses me off, right? Right. I'm not suggesting that that pisses me off, but you're at a dining room table with your family. You get to choose how much energy that opinion takes up up here. You get to choose whether or not you allow it to burn you up inside. You get to choose whether or not you're going to engage.

And so what I love about let them and let me is all day long you have this slice and dice that you can do where you force yourself and allow yourself to recognize what's in your control and what's not. And when it comes to opinions and families, I agree with you. the thing that's separating us is our inability to sit with each other and allow each other the dignity of their own experience and opinion even if it offends us.

Instead of leaning away, we have to learn how to sit with our upsetness and lean toward each other. Yeah. And go, well, why might you believe that? Right. Exactly. Help me understand that. So I think I have... a self-help book in me. I'm never going to write it. But I was reading about...

Gen Z, and I don't blame them. They're full of anxiety. And this article was, well, AI, they think it's going to take all their jobs. The robots might kill us all. You know, Trump. There's going to be no jobs left, nuclear stuff, climate change. Like, my book would be called It's Not Going to Be That because...

Then what's it going to be? At 70, what I've learned in life is whatever you think the future is, it could be shitty. It's not going to be what you think it is. So stop with the anxiety and just live your life. Because it's not going to be that. That's life's trick on you always. Well, here's what I believe. I believe that we don't know what it's going to be.

And if you're going to bother going, what if, what if, what if, you might as well also go, well, what if it all works out? Yes. What if I'm more capable than I know? Right. Exactly. Anyway, again. I know everybody wants you, and you came here. It means so much to me. It's perfect for our Thanksgiving show. I hope you do it again. Congratulations on the biggest book ever.

Mel Robbins, great to meet you. I hope I get to smoke with you. I feel like the Zamboni that came in to clean up that for your life. Your routine. I appreciate that. Thank you. All right, let's meet our panel.

Okay. Oh, my. Here they are. All right. He is an entrepreneur and Grammy-winning, I'll say, musician, best known as one half of Run the Jewels and host of the Conversate with Killer Mike podcast. Killer Mike is over here. And she is an ABC News contributor, veteran political strategist, and former chair of the DNC. My girlfriend, Donna Brazile, is over here. Hey, Bill. Here we go. I love it, baby. And the first time you really acknowledged our relationship.

I couldn't hold it anymore. I mean, that self-help session really allowed you to have a breakthrough. And if I'm invited over, I'll bake and roast your turkey. All right. And you know what they say once you go black? Honey, you'll never go back. I'll put some in your stuffing that will keep you lit up alive. Mike, tell him what happened when a black woman put her greasy hands in a bowl. And what comes out? When I took him to the blue flame, you were all he could talk about. Ooh. All right. OK.

Look, I know I'm not really needed here tonight. I do understand that, but... Just until next season when we'll have the new owners here. Whoever's going to buy this network, let them think I have some place here. We know all about job security. We're going to help you, baby. But it is our finale for the year. We will be back January 23rd. It's the one time I get to thank my staff. You know, we're a very no-to-the-grind-zone group here.

I probably should do it myself better, but we somehow are easier to say we appreciate each other and I do appreciate them so much. Somehow it's easier to say it on the air than in private. But I want to ask you, too, since we are looking now to 2026, we will not be on again until 2026. That is going to be, I keep saying, Democrats are going to win big. The party in power, they always do it. They get drunk with power.

And then people, it creates this backlash. Certainly this administration has done that. So let's just go through who might be the front runner, because we are going to, in 2026... pretty by then, I think, know who was going to be the Democratic nominee. Who do you think the Democratic nominee should be for president, and who do you want it to be? I'll let this young man go first. Get your ass in trouble. Yeah, yeah. Shake up the party. Come on. Shake it up.

Can you get up, Mike? I'm gonna just bring an old Jewish guy back up, but he's never gonna run again. Shouts out to Bernie. Um, if... If the Democrats were the party that truly say they aspire to be, Nina Turner would be the first black woman president, first woman president. She'd be the most progressive president that we've seen in the last 20, 25 years. I've lost...

A lot of my faith in what we say we want versus what we actually want. And I see the Democratic frontrunner probably being a white man. Probably coming out of the Midwest. What's my guy in Illinois? J.B. Pritzer. J.B. Pritzer is probably going to be... I think that America is leaning toward white maildom. I think that there's something... Why do we have to put it in terms of that? Because I'm black.

And it all comes down to that, to be very honest with you. Yeah, now we're getting honest. If you want to see a litmus test for how this country is going to bend, look at any given moment how it's treating black or working class people. A lot of times white working class people forget. they're black too. Then they get a black moment and they're like, oh shit, we're all in the same boat together. What I mean by that is...

When I was a kid, I thought that you couldn't put U.S. Army and ice and shit in American neighborhoods, yet here we are. What's your fucking name, Santiago? It's my middle name. And I'm just like, I promise my mom just got off a wine bottle. I'm not from south of the border. But... Okay. I think that this country...

Sanders said at the end of his last campaign, we need to pay attention to the white working class. A lot of people in my community took that offensively as though he was ignoring us. And he wasn't. What he saw was the white working class was going to turn the tide. And they did. And they went to the wrong side. And that being realized now, I think...

that they're going to be looking for another white man. I think he's going to have to identify with some working class... So the Democrats just can't... We can't just pick the best person. Because I feel like when they get into this box-checking thing, it just leads them astray. Because, like, Kamala was like, okay, we had to have...

someone of color, we had to have a woman, and then when she gets the job, then she has to go the other direction and pick as vice president a lame white guy. Weird, super lame white guy, yeah. Okay, so we're always balancing it out.

As someone who's probably worked on more campaigns than I like to admit, we don't really pick... candidates that way. We don't go and look in a crayon box and say, ooh, I can't wait to get that little one. No. We actually have a very rigorous exercise that involve taking candidates through the early states. And Trump made it through that?

Trump can make it through anything, okay? We know that. But on the Democratic side, yeah, we're going to have a vigorous primary. It's an open season. And you know what happens in open seasons? We get a large number of people who are in...

So, of course, we're going to have about eight or nine governors, including Mr. Shapiro, possibly Mr. Moore, and maybe Mr. Newsome. We don't know. But there are many governors who are interested in Gretchen Whitman, because I want to mention some of the women. Women are not going to sit back...

and wait to be called. We are going to continue to march forward. We might also look at members of Congress. AOC is interested. Maybe Ro Khanna is interested. We have United States senators, some who've run before, like Klobuchar, like Booker.

like Chris Murphy, who might also decide to run. It's going to be an open season. We will have plenty of time to really go through it, but I agree with one thing you said. It's going to be a great year for Democrats because the American people are tired. Now...

They're tired of the overreach. They're tired of the overreach, and they're going to look for alternatives. Not just any Democrats. And let me say one last thing. I'm going to get myself in trouble. Please help me out. We're going to have a generational shift in our country. Democrats have been, for years, we like the candidate with the most experience, most gray hair. Bullshit.

We want somebody who is forward-looking, who's young and restless, searching for tomorrow, with one life to live, because the American people want something different. Did I put it all together for you, baby? As you always do. And I'm open to dating a young man. I can date anybody now, okay? You know, bring it on. My pot is big enough. I'm not talking about that stuff you're going to do late. I'm talking about... Oh, I know. I know. I've never seen you blush this much. I...

Are you going to smoke weed with us later and keep talking like that? Well, is it legal? Nah. Yes. No, but I still... Oh, I'm from Georgia. I'm still scared. Yo, what's up with them trying to ban marijuana now? Like, Trump, we thought more of you. Yeah. Like, they're going to get rid of it? Well, he talked about both. He's also said we're going to change it. It's not going to be a Schedule 1. Yeah, let's do that. I like that one. Well, this is, again...

Why it's good for people like me to talk to him. Yeah. I agree. And you have an open invitation, right? You have an open invitation to go back to the White House? No. Are you sure? I mean, it depends on the week. I mean, he still yells at me.

Yeah, I mean, he doesn't... He yells at everybody. I know, but... But he's never called you Piggy, because I know he wouldn't call you Piggy. No, he's called me... Are you kidding? I have a list of 56 insults that he has called me over the years. I brought it to the White House, and he signed it. I mean, it's an amazing document. But, I mean, that list of people...

What do you think of somebody way outside the realm? Because I think, I mean, you say they want somebody younger. I think we're like post-politician era. I actually think Stephen A. Smith. is kind of realistic. For president? Yeah. Well, he talks about it. Or people talk about it. No, LeBron fans are going to vote for him. It's not going to be. I love Stephen A. He'd run great as a Republican, I think. But I don't think he'd run well as a Democrat.

I do. I do. I think the Democrats need somebody who doesn't give a shit. And that's him who will say the thing. I like him. He talks bad shit. He does. And also, you know what? It is good to have a Democratic Party. a black person because they could... Well, why you got to talk about nigger shit? What? I'll just break you off. I'll just break you off. I'll tell you why. It's the way Obama was able to be a centrist. Yeah. It's able to be more of a centrist. A black guy. In the Democratic Party.

Because Democrats are very, the white Democrats are very afraid of being called racist. That's why we wound up with open borders and stuff like that. And they can, I mean, Stephen A. Smith can go, have you all lost your goddamn mind? in a way that Pritzer cannot. Well, maybe he would add to the sauce. I don't think he has all the necessary...

Spices? I think you've got to think outside the box at this point. I am thinking as far outside as I possibly can, and I like him. I like him, especially on ESPN when he talks sports. Just leave my damn New Orleans Saints alone. I know they're shitty, but that's nobody's business but our business. He does bring in, and I wore this today just to show solidarity with the working class in this country. I think he resonates with the working class. And I think, I do think...

And the reason I say it's Christopher, I think that Americans are going to want to lean into someone. He's willing to call Democrats on their shit, too. Charlemagne Tha God would make a great friend. We need that. All right, so... Ford Blue Cruise hands-free highway driving takes the work out of being behind the wheel, allowing you to relax and reconnect while also staying in control. Enjoy the drive in Blue Cruise-enabled vehicles.

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Before we have a break, people rely on us to get the news. We're not going to be here for a couple of months, so we do the future headlines. We actually can tell you what the headlines are going to be while we're off. Would you like to see this? The future headlines that we'll be seeing. For example, President Trump demands Nobel Peace Prize for ending war on Christmas. You will see that headline.

Billionaires admit they were bullshitting about leaving New York. Yes, that is absolutely true. They're not going anywhere. Zoran Mandami, speaking fee quadruples, embraces capitalism. Yes, I can see that. AI actress blows AI director on AI couch for role in AI movie. Trump demands South America change name to South North America. Ice agents raid nativity scene. Makers of Ozempic admit it's just speed. Tylenol unveils Tylenol White with 50% less autism.

And Trump claims dog ate the Epstein files like a dog. All right. Oh, no. Those are great.

Let me throw one more name out there that you didn't mention, and she was in the news this week. Michelle Obama. She has a book out, a coffee table book. Yeah. What? I like her. I mean, she said no, though. She said she didn't think the country was ready for her. Well, that's what we have to talk about. I mean, her statement, I was rather shocked by it.

She said, as we saw in the past election, sadly, we ain't ready. Okay, to me, this is logical fallacy 101. Just because we weren't ready or didn't like the candidates, Hillary and Kamala, that's... You know, doesn't mean we're not ready for a woman. Maybe. That's why I'm like, don't even look at me about running because you are all lying. You're not.

Ready for a woman. You are not, so don't waste my time. You know, we've got a lot of growing up to do. And there are still, sadly, a lot of men who do not feel like they can be led by a woman. I think it's a bad attitude. I do. I mean, we said we weren't ready for a black president and someone, I can't remember who, maybe she remembers. said maybe it just has to be the right one. So maybe we should stop talking about it and just do it, right? I'd vote for Dom.

If you talk can't shit in the White House like you out here, I'd love to have you talk in the foreign countries. Can I tell you something? I can't stay in the White House, man. They got an iron gate. You know I got to let loose. I can't let loose. There's some things you can't hide. First of all, Bill, America is 250 years old. For 125 of those 250, women did not have the right to vote. Let's start there. It's taken us longer to get...

I do believe that Hillary, what she did in 2016 with 68 million votes, along with Kamala, what she did with 75 million votes, we are ready. Eighty percent of the American people say they are ready. In fact... Over 84% of young people under 30 say they are ready. So the idea that America's not ready is bullshit. We may not be ready for this one or that one, but...

Let me zero in on that second half. A lot of men who do not feel like they can be led by a woman. Now, let me... That's what she said. Okay. Okay. Trump won the Hispanic vote. by one point this last time. Right. And yet, when Biden was the guy, there was a 34-point margin for him. Correct. Okay. So, that's a big swing. from voting for a man, Biden, for not voting for a woman, Kamala. And then, similarly, there was a 35-point difference in how black men voted in 2024 versus the...

2020 election with Biden. So I think this is what she's saying, partly. Yeah, yeah. It's like there are certain people, certain... How did white Southern women vote? Black guys are kind of tired of being in this debate. We usually vote within points of black women. So, like, when that stat gets thrown out, we take the blame in our community. But white Southern women are a very peculiar voting bloc.

they'll talk the women's liberation thing, and then their daughters of Confederate soldiers will be the ones who get statues erected in your town. So I would look at the Southeast in particular, and I would look at white working-class women.

versus looking at the Hispanic vote overall and black male vote. I think that the white working class in this country is going to have to get comfortable with women leadership. And if you're looking at white male podcasts and blogs now, it is a shit show of shitting on women. They, you know, whether it's your tapes or your fresh and fit guys who are of the darker tone, but all of them...

are taking time to point and say women are not leaders. So there's a growing weird sentiment in this country that seems to be against women leadership. But I come out of the community where... Everything is pretty much matriarchal anyway. So I trust a woman to lead. The question is, can you convince white working class people to do the same? To your point, in the last election on November 4th, women won gubernatorial. We now have 14 female governors.

which is the largest ever. So the American people are showing that they are going to support women candidates. And by the way, the First Lady said this the day after the election when you saw... A woman become the mayor of Detroit. Motown got some kick now. Syracuse, Albany. Women were winning all over the country. So I think the future is women. We need to encourage more women to run. We need to get more women in the pipeline.

Mexico, Sri Lanka, Namibia, Japan, we're going to see a female president. And guess what, Bill? I'm going to make sure you get invited to the inauguration. I'm sure you will. Okay. You can be my date because I'm going to tell you something. I know the dates you will bring can't last as long as I do. I'll pour some. Let me stop.

Because I don't want to bring you home right now. I got my dog at the hotel. I don't know if I want to. Zora's particular. You think that would be the deal breaker? Oh, hell yeah. Okay.

So let me ask you about education. It's going to be a big issue. Lyndon McMahon is the Department of Education secretary. She was talking this week about, now we know the Republicans have wanted to shut it down since 1979. When it was founded. So it's not been there forever. Not long. Okay. She said it's mostly a pass-through for funds that are best managed by the states. This stuff does not sound too unreasonable to me. She says it would not mean ending federal support for education.

Funding for low-income students, students with disabilities, that predates the Education Department, and that would continue, as would protecting students' civil rights. New York Magazine had an article. It came out today. It's called The Big Fail. Here's the quote that had on the cover. Student achievement has fallen off a cliff and neither Trump nor the pandemic is to blame.

Why do we need the Department of Education if it has done such a shitty job? Kids don't come out of school. First of all, they can't read or do math anymore. And... They don't know anything. I mean, if we went to the Blue Flame tonight... We... Let's. All those girls working their way through college, they deserve some money toward education. Okay. But don't ask them about the three branches of government.

But, I mean, I really do feel like the Democratic Party, this has been their portfolio for a long time, education. Right. Okay. So I feel like they, if they're going to get back into office, they have to own this issue a little. Because a lot of the states that are doing better now... are like the southern states.

Really? Which one? Mississippi. Mississippi's getting better than Louisiana? See, you're in a bubble. I'm in a bubble. You didn't get that story. Well, I'm glad. I'm glad Mississippi's doing better, and I hope Alabama. But look, I don't believe that this is a Democrat or a Republican problem. This is a whole society.

OK, I mean, we have put a lot of weight and a lot of pressure on our teachers to do the job that our parents and our community should also be doing. I am a proud graduate of America's public schools. I'm grateful for the support. It's the great equalizer. Have they fallen short in some areas? Yes. But to dismantle a huge federal department and to create all this confusion that the Labor Department is going to do this, Interior is going to take over Indigenous this, we still don't know what...

is the next step with this male in education. All I know is that we've made a lot of improvements, but we have a long way to go before we have a society where everybody get a head start and an equal start in life. What an improvement.

Well, we've got to fund them, and we've got to give teachers the money they deserve. We need to stop star-changing teachers. I agree. I, like Donna, am a product of public school education. And uniquely, in Atlanta, I'm from a city that's majority black, majority of the schools are named...

for and inspired by black revolutionaries, black educators. I went to Frederick Douglass High School. Our rival high school was Benjamin E. Mays High School. Benjamin E. Mays was president of Morehouse College. Of course, the famous college Dr. King went to. These schools...

had a great rivalry because you had working-class kids at school with working-class kids, poor kids, and rich kids. All these kids are black, but they have to sharpen their skills against one another. It was a spirit of competition. Before 79 and before education went strictly to 10,

taking and reading, writing, arithmetic, they also had trades in their school. At the time Dr. King went to Booker T. Washington High School, he not only had to learn reading, writing, arithmetic, he had to learn how to upholster a chair or how to build something with a hammer. Our educational system needs to look back into it.

when we were successful. And prior to 79, you had everything from archery in schools to track. Physical fitness was there. You had art and music, which Reagan sashed out in the 80s. So both sides are done. But you have to look at Democrats, I think, on a local level and say we...

need to do a better job. And that starts by saying, we fucked up. We fucked up by becoming test-taking centers. Well, no child left behind left a lot of kids behind. School Choice pulled the best premium kids out of public schools and left them alone together.

and then you got a bunch of kids who were aspirationally wanted to be better, but they didn't have a kid next to them saying, you can do it, who already understood calculus. So we failed our kids. And as adults, we need to say, pay teachers more. Give teachers the lowest home loans you can possible to live in their...

districts, teachers, policemen, and firemen, I believe, because these are some strong civil sergeant cornerstones. Our principals need to stay there for longer ten years. When Frederick Douglass High School only had two principals and had been in existence 40 years, they were a national school of excellence putting out kids in the...

thing from athletics to academics. The minute they went to seven principals within 11 years, they started to fall. So we are failing public schools in this country, both parties. We need to recommit on a very local level. We need to stop being test-taking centers. We need to... re-enter trades back into the schools and prepare our children for real life, including financial literacy, as young as fifth, sixth grade, versus what we're doing now. Thank you. Sounds like he's running.

And I support that. I mean, we need an apprenticeship program. I was talking to my brother, and he said, I'm going to tell my son, if he can't, you know, finish up the math, go and get a trade. So we need to know all that above. My son is currently in trade school. Shouts out to Ponyboy. You're saying we shouldn't test? Is that what you said in there? No, testing should not be the fact. There was a number. They stopped testing, and it got worse. No, no, no.

Testing has become the only thing that teachers worry about because it determines how much money comes in. So the administration is pressing them. There was a huge... Colleges don't... Some colleges now, a lot of the Ivies have gone back to testing, but before they did. Yeah, they ain't told...

at the black kids yet. My baby still had to take the ACT and the SAT. Okay. My accountant, though, God bless his soul, had his child deemed autistic and he didn't have to. So he was smarter than me. I wish I would have known that earlier. I would have just told my child, just say you're crazy like your auntie and we'll get in. Shouts out to my baby at Hampton University. But what I'm saying is that no child left behind and the focus...

on Are We Meeting Test Marks, did away with education. True education is when a teacher has a classroom of children and they're determined to find the talents of those children after meeting our base writing, reading, and arithmetic things and saying, what talent will send you to the next? level. And we are not doing that anymore in this country. Okay. Well, we're going to do it here starting again next year. But right now, it's time for New Rules, everybody. The final New Rules of the year.

Okay. New World, the next time the Russian tech company Idol tries to showcase their AI-powered humanoid robot... They have to try and make it look a little less like every drunk girl who's ever passed out at the club. This is not the way of the future. This is the way to make your Uber driver say, no, sorry, and drive off. Uh, new old Pete Hegseth has to explain why all the names of his military operations sound like gay porn titles.

Operation Rough Rider. Operation Midnight Hammer. Operation Southern Spear. Those don't sound like attack plans. They sound like the awkward pay-per-view charges on Lindsey Graham's hotel bed. Neural, instead of coming up with endless new flavors for Doritos, think about this. Take the existing flavor of Dorito and make every Dorito in the bag taste good.

Unlike now, when every eighth one has flavor and the others you just eat because they're already in your mouth. How hard can it be? It's paprika, not changing the quotas at Harvard. Mural, respect where respect is due. The kids wanted to come up with something that just fucked with adults for no reason, and... They knocked it out of the park with their stupid, pointless, meaningless catchphrase, 6-7. Even getting dictionary.com to say it's impossible to define. And we're all strong.

Still trying to figure out exactly what it means. Hey, dictionary.com, you're a dictionary. Telling us what words mean is the whole point of you existing. It's like if you turned on the GPS in your car and it said, shit, we're lost. Neuro, you can't put a headline that reads, Jelly Roll is unrecognizable after 200-pound weight loss right above a picture that makes me say, hey, look, it's Jelly Roll. He's still 350. No one's mistaking him for Ariana Grande. Please, Daddy's working.

If you really want to fool me with a celebrity I won't recognize, show me Kanye's wife with clothes on.

And finally, new rule, Happy Thanksgiving. I can't believe that even that now is a political issue. It is a real shame what's happened to this holiday, which used to be all about the good Fs, food. friends, family, football, fun. And now it's, fuck you. You're not even invited because you voted for the wrong person. I'm so tired of liberals ghosting half this country.

Conservatives do it too, but not nearly as much. Look, whoever's doing it, it's got to stop because we're at a point now where politics has broken up more families than letting your wife see your phone. Now, on the liberal side, there's two camps now. The we-need-to-keep-talking-to-people wing and the go-no-contact wing. That's what they call it now, go-no-contact. This belief that Trump voters, even if it's your own parents...

are too deplorable for human contact and must be cut off. You know, like Scientologists do to suppressive people. A former speechwriter for Obama named David Litt wrote an op-ed this year called Is It Time to Stop Snubbing Your Right-Wing Family? where he admitted he'd had a change of heart and that was the wrong approach.

So, of course, then the woke wing tried to banish him for breaking ranks on their policy of hating people who don't agree with you on everything. Because what fun is life if you're not cutting somebody off? Mr. Litt asked the question, what has all this banishing accomplished? Oh, I know, I know. A second helping of MAGA, that's what. Molly McNerney.

Jimmy Kimmel's wife and head writer went public on this topic recently, so I feel it's fair to comment respectfully in public. She says she's lost relationships with relatives because... She wrote them an email before the election with ten reasons why they shouldn't vote for Trump. And some still didn't obey. So, you know... Ten reasons.

I can think of a hundred. But I would never present it to someone as an ultimatum. Ultimatums don't make people rethink their politics. They make them rethink you. Somewhere along the way, my values became code for I'm the only one with a moral compass. You know what would have been a better exercise? Write a top ten list to yourself where you try to imagine...

Ten reasons why 77 million Americans didn't want to trust you with taking power. And I say that as someone who votes Democratic. As I like to remind my very pure friends, we voted for the same person. You're just why she lost. Can we please try to remember, especially at this time of year, that most people don't decide their politics. They inherit them. It's about where you grew up in America.

what your parents taught you, your life experiences, your religion. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia was here recently. And I was amazed by the number of people who reached out after the show to say, wow, I kind of like her. Yeah, that's been my line for a while. Everyone's a monster till you talk to them.

On our overtime segment that night, someone asked about the alien spaceship. Maybe you've been reading about it. The 3-1 Atlas comet that's headed to Earth and will arrive on December 19th to wipe out all life as we know it. It's a joke, don't worry. And when I quoted people in our own defense department who had said, well, hold on, what you think might be aliens actually could be fallen angels or demons. Marjorie agreed, saying, absolutely.

She said, I'm a Christian conservative, angels and demons, that's what we believe. Okay, I think that's nuts. But you know what? So is... Is this a girl or a boy? I can't tell by its penis. I'm not going to go through wokeism's greatest hits now, but, you know, the safetyism, the open borders, queers for Palestine, whatever this was.

I mean, I could go on. Really, there's a lot of stuff. The other side has their top ten list, too, and some of it's pretty hard to argue with. And I know, I know the president of the United States called a woman piggy this week, and you're a better person. than me because you hate it more than I do. But I hate it too, really.

as well as a thousand other things about the Trump administration I never stop pointing out on this show. But I'm an adult, and in the real world, there's some people you just can't stop talking to, like... your spouse or partner after a bad fight, tempting as that is. Like your dick of a boss, like your family, and like the president of the United States. This is so childish, so purely emotional. The people who got all butthurt because I had dinner with them.

You know, because he's Hitler. Except he's not. So unhelpful and dumb. Trump is the most supportive president Israel and the Jews ever had. You know... Every year, I used to ask Larry David to do real-time, and he'd always say, Bill, I can't. I'm not smart enough about politics to do your show. Yeah, I get that now. Because there is no argument here. There's just the sugar rush that the no-contact people get from never coming in second in a I-hate-Trump-the-most contest. Really?

That's your strategy, to go full high school and tell the guy with all the power he can't sit with you at the lunch table? To borrow a phrase familiar to HBO viewers, you are not serious people. I mean, what exactly is the argument that by talking to Trump, I'll elevate him? Oh, my God, don't tell me he could become president. Well, I guess, ma'am, Donnie. is going to elevate Trump because he went to the White House today, and look who's getting along now.

This guy, MBS, was at the White House this week. Biden thought he could cut him off, but a year later he found out he couldn't. There's no perfect way to deal with Trump, but not engaging is for sure nothing. Axios wrote a column in August entitled 11 Ways to Influence Trump, based on many interviews with people who have done that. Number eight, get face-to-face.

The trick is getting in the room, away from cameras and social media. Trump will say or write horrible things but rarely in person, one-on-one, where he comes off kinder, more interested, less erratic. Exactly. And there's a bunch of examples of this. Most recently, the CEO of Intel, who Trump was hating on, but then he met in person and now he's a great guy.

Trump was gonna send the National Guard to San Francisco, but somebody talked him out of that. Kim Kardashian, for fuck's sake, convinced him to sign legislation. Don't you get it? Do you really not get it at this point? Everything with him is done through personal relationships. He's a people guy. Trust me, he's not at home at night pouring over the briefing books. This is government by people is saying.

If anything, we need more people like me having dinner with him. You complain he's surrounded by ass kissers, but your strategy is to make sure no one but ass kissers are around him. You are not serious people. Hey.

Rachel Maddow went to Dick Cheney's funeral yesterday. We can do this, people. It's Thanksgiving. Do yourself a favor, get over yourself, and go have it with your family. Thank you very much for a great season. You are the best audience every week these days. I appreciate it so much. Thank you, HBO, my wonderful staff. We're back. After the holidays on January 23rd, I want to thank Killer Mike, Donna Brazell, and Mel Robbins.

Club Random drops every Monday while we're off on YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcasts. Now go watch Overtime on YouTube. Thank you, people. 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.