Ep. #721: Sen. Adam Schiff, Don Lemon, Annabelle Gurwitch

Welcome to From the HBO Late Night series, Real Time with Bill Maher. Start the clock. How are you doing? Oh, thank you very much. Thank you everybody. Thank you very much. Oh, so much to get to. I appreciate it. Yeah, I know. I missed you too. Yeah, we were uh we were we were off last week. One week. Well, for one week I have more to catch up on I could positive.

Okay, well the State of the Union happened at the the the address. I tell him not to do it, he did it anyway. But in the State of the Union address, Trump was bragging that we were he was ending wars, that the gas prices are going down, the stock market is through the roof, jobs are doing great. Now we're in a war, gas prices have spiked, the stock market is going down, and we've lost a lot of jobs. It's it's like his even more evil twin replaced his usual evil twin. I I don't And this is uh

Republicans are very nervous about this because the big issue is affordability, right, in America right now? Well, Republicans are sweating like Britney Spears at a traffic stop. No. We uh not a good look we l losing jobs. We lost ninety two thousand jobs in February. Of course, uh Trump blames Biden and the Democrats blame Trump and Uh Nick Fuentes blames Black History Month. I Some terrible people in America, I tell ya. Uh

But that's the bad news. We lost 92,000 jobs. The good news, one of them was Christy Gnomes. That's right. Christy Gnome at a Homeland Security, she's she's finally gone. And Trump did it. Ooh boy, he's cold. He did it by a tweet while she was making a speech. She never saw it coming. Now she knows how her dog feels. Thank you.

You know, Trump used to brag he could shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue, right? Remember all that? I guess he didn't like the fact that there were two people in the administration who could shoot people in the street and get away with it, huh? But no, apparently with Christy Noam, the distractions just became too much. She testified last week before the Judiciary Committee, I think, and even the Republicans are going after her. Apparently, it's such an open secret.

in Washington that she's been having an affair. I mean her husband was sitting right behind But it's such an open secret that she's been having an affair with Trump's longtime henchman Corey Lewandowski that they were asking it this doesn't usually happen when they ask her directly, are you fucking this guy? Really? And what she said, she said, I am shocked that we're peddling tabloid garbage in this committee. True. Also, not exactly a no. Thank you.

So we have a new head of Homeland Security. You'll be excited to hear about this. Mark Wayne Mullen. Yes, Mark Wayne Mullen. I say Mark Wayne Mullen's gonna do it. Uh he's a senator from Oklahoma, total election denier, former MMA fighter, so you know. A bright guy. Uh but he he has pledged to continue all of the responsibilities that Christy Noam is doing. I mean not fucking Cory Walandowski, but the other ones. All the other ones.

Also, this week, war. Did you hear about that thing? And uh the w we bombed Iran and it's going on. Now have you expected me to say I hate it? I don't. Sorry, when he puts boots on the ground, yeah, then I'll hate it. Now I know too many happy Iranian Americans. Sorry. Uh and You you cannot name one horrible thing that has happened in the Middle East in the last fifty years and not connect it to this fascist theocracy. They're like six degrees of they don't eat bacon. Uh so I'm not so

And it's popular. I mean Iranians all over the world are doing the Trump dance. Have you seen that? The the whole world is jerking off two guys at once. Thank you. But you know, when it comes to the war, but comes to anything in this country, everybody assesses everything by way of did my team do it, then I love it. If their team did, I I hate it.

I mean Kamala Kamala Harris made a statement. She said, uh this is a war the American people don't want. And who knows more about what the American people don't want? She's right. Like six out of ten American people don't want this war. Okay, it doesn't mean they're right. We'll see. What's bizarre is, Don. I'm one of the few people on your enemies list who is backing you on this sort of we'll see, and yet today, today, this is today, March 6th. At eight fifty A.M.

He tweets about the war, there will be no deal uh un until uh we have unconditional surrender, important statements we put out. An hour later, eight posts about me. I'm not joking. An hour later. And what happened with the Valentine's Day massacre and his tweet about that?

Which I'll be talking about at the end of the show. But uh okay, this is today. And then fifteen minutes later he again back to the war. We are moving thousands of people out of the Middle East to s safer places. Okay, an important message to get out, then back to me. The people at uh Mediite wrote a headline that said, here's why Trump is raging at Bill Maher in the middle of an actual war. Why? Tell me. I I this is

This is getting weird. I I'm just telling you. Thank God I didn't spend the night. All right. Um but Thank you. But as far as the war goes, as he would say, we'll see what happens. Uh there's so many unanswered questions, of course, right now about it. One thing we do know for sure, Mullers mulers They Some people on the fence about that? Okay, here's my evidence. They've known for months we have all the entire military surrounding their country. Everything is aimed at them. We know we can

we're ready to take them out. They have their big meeting. They have everybody who's important in the country meet in one place. His office. You've heard of a Zoom meeting? This was a boom meeting. And then And then they get it again. They had another meeting of who was left. They call I swear to God this is not a joke, the Assembly of Experts. Otherwise known as the Leave Ex of Extraordinary Idiots. I'm gonna get blown up again. I mean...

We've heard the term all hat no cattle. These are all beard no brains, I'm telling you. But they're trying to find a new leader. They think Camini's son is gonna be taking over now. What did he pick the wrong week to be a Nepo baby? All right, we got a great show. We have Senator Adam Schiff and Don Lemon, but first up, she's an actress, activist, and best-selling author, his newest memoir, The End of My Life is

Killing me. The unexpected joys of a cancer slacker out March 17th. Available for pre-order now. Annabelle Gerwin.

Great to see you. Thank you. All right. Great to see you. Yeah, great to see you. All right, let's give the uh audience the trigger warning now. Right at the beginning, we're gonna be talking about cancer. Uh-huh. You know, just so you know, because you have it. I do. And that's what the book is about. But the uh the interesting well, many interesting things but

You look great. You're leading a very full life. Thank you. Even though you've had it for six years. Five years. And just I wanna say, when you see me, what you are looking at is pharmaceuticals. Caffeine and personal lubricants. This is what is powering my health. Very much like Diddy. But not at all. But explain this. How y how you can have cancer I mean when my father got lung cancer, you know, it it was a very different situation back in the nineties.

It's very different. It's just a pill you take. Uh it's amazing that you can I mean you were uh with me on the Hawaii trip like five years ago, right? And you can look this great, you feel great b a lot of the time I'm assuming you lead a normal life. What's the cat? Well there's a cat And the catch is, is that this is a new age of precision medicine. And I'm taking a drug that turns off one gene in my body. And so this is I'm the product of this amazing investment in science.

And what's the catch is is that we have to keep investing in science. The Trump administration The they interrupted science funding last year. Lung cancer research was zeroed out. Zero. And we I can't afford one year of lost research. And the thing about it is I take this one pill a day. Now, it creates a certain kind of existential dread because eventually it will stop working and I'll have to move to a treatment that has more toxicity.

But it's also a bitter pill because not everyone gets the benefit of this drug. You know, I thought that the differences in health insurance and not having universal health care. was about like choosing which doctor you get to go to, but it's not. It's not just about cost, it's about access. There are twenty eight states in the United States where you don't get the testing

that tells you you could get on the drug that I'm on. And that means survival differences, state by state. You have different survival rates for the same disease I'm on. And that Makes me feel you know, I don't feel good about taking this pill when everyone can't get it. You think that that the Democrats could make that more of a winning issue, wouldn't you?

You would think Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean I'm from Alabama originally. Yeah, I know you are. And I feel thank you, Alabama in the house. Right? So I feel Terrible that there's a lower survival rate in my home state just because you know I had dreams of working in Hollywood. I end up here and I can survive and they can't. That that doesn't make sense. Well, I mean I've uh of all the books I've read on this subject, because I am very interested in health

Yours is the funniest. I mean you you somehow made this issue funny. Which is not an easy thing to do. Well, you know, I thought I was gonna write, Bill, a book about dying. But because my life was saved by these drugs It's actually a book about living and it's a book about ordinary joys in extraordinary times and how to survive that. And I had no idea. Well, I've cultivated an appreciation of ordinary joys.

This is the strategy of how I've remained buoyant. Because at first I tried to carpe every DM. That did not work. This is how I ended up Selling merch on a low rent t van tour in Europe for a heavy metal band. Right. You said I'm fucking like crazy w with the cancer. Which is great. And you went to Europe with a band. So apparently cancer makes you Gen Z. It's never too late to write your sex, drugs, and rock and roll memory. No, I I guess no. Sixty-one

Leaving me almost famous green, you know. And just by the way, I know it's kind of a trope about like, oh, men and women get different treatment in the medical establishment. But you know, this drug I'm on does make your skin drier, right? Hence the need for personal lubricants. Oh, I see. Which is not covered by my insurance, right? But if it was a man's problem, you know it would be encovered. Thank you. Um

So and you got this during the pandemic. I did. Which is amazing that the and and you were going through a divorce. I did. I mean you just talk about a double whammy. But the the really Well that's a triple whammy. Yeah, it's a tri you're right. It's it's actually okay, is it a quadruple whammy? Because the really big thing is that, you know, we have a cognitive dissonance between how we look and how we feel and our actual state of our health, not to make people parent

But we don't always know we have underlying conditions. I was feeling great, I looked great, and look, you can't out crazy me. Just like Robert Kennedy Jr., I sorted cocaine off of dirty toilet seats in the 1990s. Okay? I, I. I'm not Jermafo. I I worked out in Saunas. I was an actress. I ate keto. I didn't even eat for 30 years. Right. But you that doesn't mean you're gonna be healthy. And so

I didn't even know I had this underlying condition which can be really dangerous. So we have to remember that how we look and feel doesn't mean we shouldn't get regular changes. And also I'm a big believer in the mind body connection. Oh I think that's totally

But Really? You think there's no mind body connection? I do. I really do. You you do know that they do studies with placebos and people you know what a placebo is, of course. Oh of course. When people I mean, before like two hundred years ago

All they had was placebos. They would do crazily bad, stupid things, doctors would to people and they would get better because they thought they were getting better. I'm not saying that's a cure and if I ever get something we love each other because we disagree on it.

You know, and and I n I know what you're saying and I don't wanna underplay the fact that it w you know, to have and this is what my book is about, is about maintaining engagement in life and about being curious And Forward thinking because This is what I try to do now. Instead of you don't think this this approach that we're talking about going on with the bandit that's you don't think that helped you survive.

I think it's all the drugs because I've I've gotten very involved in the support community of lung cancer. And too many people who've had a much better attitude than me have died. And you don't think it has the mind-body can has anything to do with why you got it in the first place? Oh absolutely not. Because we know now. That science has proven

that the number two cause because I wasn't a smoker, which is still the number one. Well there you go. That's what I'm saying. Maybe it was the divorce. That Maybe it was the marriage. No, definitely not. Uh what we know I don't know about that. No, but what we know And it's become an epidemic level for young women to be diagnosed with lung cancer. Particulate matter in the air. is what pollution and and also

Climate change because this particulate matter And wildfires. Yes, it comes from the wildfires. So annoying, California. Well this is part of what's so Incredibly bankrupt about the Trump administration. If they really cared, if Maha cared about our health. They wouldn't take away environmental regulations against pollution. Yeah, but the okay, but excuse me. One reason we had the wildfires. I know, everything is their fault. You know what? This is a democratic state.

They have a little to do with it. They protected something I think it was called the milk vetch, I'm not sure, don't quote me on that. It was some plant or something that caught fire. And we lost pretty much all the environmental gains we got for the last full part of the century, the since the beginning of the century, because of these wildfires. Because they were way worse than anything else we had before. And that is what's in the air.

Well that may that may be one case, but I mean we're talking about the global thing. Oh I understand. They don't believe in climate change and they don't and that's horrible. And believe me, I'm I'm but one reason why he's yelling at me all the time. Yeah. Yes. He's got a he's got a lot of time for that. Yeah. All right. Well I'm so glad you're here. I'm so glad you're well. And the book is hysterical and people should read it. Thank you, Anna.

It's my oldest, bestest friend. Alright. Alright, let's meet our panel. Alice, how are you doing? Hello, Bill Mo. All right, he is a Democratic senator from California. Adam Schaff is with us, a very popular Democratic senator from California. And he's an award-winning journalist and founder of Lemon Media Network, who now hosts a Don. Lemon Show podcast on Lemon. Oh boy.

So all week long I've been hearing we're at war. Now uh I'd like to first say we are not at war. We're all of us we do the same thing we always did. The American uh families and their the military people. Uh they're at war. Mm-hmm. That's who goes to war. Yeah. Everybody else stays home and watches. Okay. Just wanted to put that out there. Um I just want to reiterate what I said in the monologue. I'm cautiously optimistic unless he puts boots on the ground.

Then he's gonna lose me. We'll see for now. Um I just don't get what liberals don't get about liberation. I see so much happiness, I see it in Venezuela. I see it h uh here in Iran. Um could we skip the part where we talk about, oh, they had so many different reasons for going to war, regime change, and we gotta get rid of the nukes and they were supporters of terrorism. It's all of it. How about this?

This was a fascist theocracy and nothing in the Middle East was ever going to get better while they were still there fucking everything up. But I don't I don't think that okay, but I don't think we can skip that part. That part is very important. I think that the American people deserve Transparency, especially if you are sending boots on the ground, because that means that lives are in jeopardy. Families will be concerned, mothers will, you know, get the call, parents that

Your son or daughter is not coming back, or they'll knock on your door. So I think we can't skip that part. And this administration lies so much. that I think we're entitled to to the truth. And for once, uh no one is saying I don't believe anyone is saying But can it just be all those things uh well it can and it cannot be, but I don't think that anyone is saying that hominy or any Venezuela that they those folks should not be knocked out. But there is a way of doing things.

And Donald Trump has completely sorry about this, I think, neutered the legislative branch, and I think the legislative branch needs to gain get their power back. Certainly agree with that. And it's been uh y amusing to watch the Republicans tie themselves in knots to try to say first that this is a war and then it's not a war and it's a war they declared on us somehow.

The minute that they acknowledge this as war is the minute they have to acknowledge they haven't done their constitutional duty, because if it's a war, we should have had a vote to authorize it. It's also the moment they acknowledge that Trump betrayed his promise not to get us into new wars. But but to your point, Bill, in the beginning, Yeah, there are celebrations. When Saddam fell, there were celebrations. Twenty years later, not so many celebrations.

Twenty years later, Iraq is actually in a pretty good place. Well, people don't talk about that. Iraq is a much better country than it was. I'm not saying it was the right thing to do. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. But that kind of goes unnoticed. But Iraq is not a failed state anymore. They actually have elections, they have opposition parties, they have a media. Uh don't you think they got better after we left? Because when we were there

Right, but it but it would still be torture rooms in Saddam Hussein and his kids would be in charge, right? There would be thousands of American troops would be still alive. But for war. And that's too heavy a price to pay. And I say that as someone who, and this is I think was a terrible mistake, voted for that. I hope I've learned from that. Um I certainly would not vote to go to war with Iran because there are costs that you don't see in the front end, and this administration has no plan.

For how to get out of this war, no plan no really articulate justification for it. I hope that it ends as the president sometimes says in days or weeks.

Uh I hope they're smart enough not to make this go on forever. But as we've seen, once you unleash a war there are a lot of unforeseen consequences. Well that's right. Uh reportedly providing intelligence to Iran about how to more successfully target American forces. Um whether we anticipated that I don't know. Uh what's happening with our allies, hard to see how that allies. R Russia now has lost Syria.

They've lost Venezuela, they're gonna lose Cuba, and they've lost Iran. So he's lost four allies. Yeah. Yeah. That doesn't matter? But what you said about what you said about Iraq is I think that's why we need transparency. That's why you can't skip it. Remember, where are the weapons? We've never found the weapons of mass destruction.

And how many people lost their lives because we were going over there to look and get the weapons of mass destruction. So I think people need a rationalization and a real one for the work. We just don't like'em. They're bad people. And they are bad people. So w w th this statement from the administration. The president had the constitutional authority to direct the use of military force because he could reasonably determine

that such use of force was in the national interest. That's too vague for you? Totally vague. Okay, because that's from Obama about Libya. Well uh Obama made the argument um initially that he could go into Syria without an authorization. I and many others pushed back on that argument. Ultimately, he did not go forward with going after uh Assad, even though Assad was gassing his own people, because he thought he might lose the vote in Congress.

Um but I respect the fact that that uh that was important to him and the fact that he did not have the support of Congress meant that we weren't gonna go forward. Um we are unquestionably at war now. The founders made an extraordinary decision at the time, which was not to give that power to the President, but to give it to the Congress. because they worried, I think as Hamilton said, that a president would grow too fond of making war.

After Venezuela, after the earlier Iran conflict, after bombing Nigeria and Iraq and Syria. Um he's grown too fond of And Congress, Don as you're saying, needs to step up, uh assert its role or it's gonna be gone for good. And then anytime a president for any reason, anywhere in the world for any length of time will feel free to make war and that would be

Hugely dangerous for the country. The first article of the Constitution, everything goes through common. Everything should go through Congress. And and if that is not happening, it should. And you know, Donald Trump is not a king. He thinks that he's a king and he's being allowed to get away with all of these things that he's not a monarch. But he gets away with it and the last time we declared war was nineteen forty two.

So this has been happening for a long time. I mean nineteen eighty two kind this you're talking about the war powers. And trying to take that away. I mean eight times uh Congress has filed suit, various presidents, Reagan in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Grenada, Reagan in the Persian Gulf, that's the Iran Iraq War, George W. Bush. Uh j no, the first Bush in Kuwait, uh his son, of course in Iraq, Clinton in Kosovo, Obama in Libya. I mean, this horse is out of the bar.

Well uh you know to Bush's credit, he did seek a congressional authorization to use force in Afghanistan, in Iraq. But I will agree with the President on this. I think he's right to call for the unconditional surrender of Bilmar. Um I think uh I'm totally with him on that. That was the tweet I was expecting to see after you. A lot of the the things that you mentioned, they were based on

Some sort of imminent threat. There is no imminent threat. There's no intelligence as I understand from anyone who's on the intelligence committee that there was an imminent threat by that Iran was going to attack uh Israel. There was an a and all the intelligence shows that Iran was

Well they have been attacked from twenty years. They have true proxies. I mean But that doesn't mean uh if you listen to the administration, they were doing it because Israel was going to strike Iran and they wanted to make sure that That didn't happen. Okay. It just seem uh admit this much. There is a different approach here. I mean, I if I was surprised when he said we might put boots on the ground because I thought that was his red line and he would never do that.

We'll see. Uh but as opposed to what we have done before, which is we've invaded a place and then took it over Afghanistan, Iraq, we can make that better. They're gonna learn to love it. He that's the the pottery barn rule. You you bought it, you broke it, you broke it, you bought it. Hi his is more like we broke it, you fix it. Yeah. You know, he's throwing it back on them. I mean this would uh no Venezuela is not uh Iran, but Iran is not an unsophisticated population.

We'll see w maybe they're the same, but it seems like this is a very different approach, whereas you kill the lead the leader, then you bring up somebody else who's Not the opposition who's part of that administration, and you say, Look, we'll kill you. If you don't start behaving, because I hear something about leaders I've learned, they're not really ideological. They mostly just want to hang on to the job. I remember in Iraq.

Remember debathification? Yeah. And everybody said, especially all the people on the left, that we're a terrible thing to do. We we got rid of Saddam Hussein and then all the people were in his bath party. We got rid of and of course they were resentful and then the war started. Okay, well this is what we're not doing. This is the opposite of debathification. We got rid of the main guy, but we're not getting rid of the apparatus under them. We're just saying

Uh act more like a normal civilized country and we won't fucking kill you too. Yeah, but you don't know who's coming. You don't know who's coming after Pamene, right? And uh Pete Hexert said we're not in the business of regime change, but as you said, if we kill the leader... That's regime change. The other big factor here is we've already lost six American service members. That's a huge price to pay.

But we're also losing the opportunity to address the need to improve the quality of life for the American people. This is what Trump campaigned on. He said, I'm not going to go to war, I'm going to beat the peace president, I'm going to get my FIFA Peace Prize. Uh but instead um we're we're going to war and people can't afford their groceries and they can't afford now the fuel price at the pump has gone way up, they can't afford the cost of living and instead of fo focusing on that Um we're

spending probably a billion dollars a day um in Iran. And you know, with every bomb that we drop, it's another um investment we couldn't make at home. And I just don't think that's where the country is. Uh the the price is already too high high as far as I'm concerned with the loss of our service members. If there had been an imminent threat, I'm all with you. And and Bill, you're right. I d I I'm glad to see this regime gone. That's an unmitigated positive.

Uh I don't know though at the end of the day if we get You know, the Ayatollah's son or some other cleric whether it's a very good idea.

I'm glad you brought it up because we got a hold of the job application for they're they are looking for a new Ayatollah. Would you like to hear what's on the Okay, this is These are the questions on the job for the next Ayatollah. Finish this sentence. The most satanic thing about Donald Trump is A supporting Israel. B dancing. Uh, would you say you hate women enough to host a podcast sponsored by Protein Powder? Uh what words best complete this sentence? Deaf, A, by chocolate.

Cab for cutie. See to America. Uh where do you see yourself in 10 wars? Jihadmi at halal. Innocent Innocent wordplay or innocent death sentence. Uh, in order to reach Gen Z, are you okay with the name Ayatollah 67? Thank you. Um, where do you keep your wife? Uh have you ever accidentally smiled? If so, it's please explain. And uh which sex in the city character are you? That's the uh I don't know how that got in there, but All right.

Let's turn to domestic affairs. Don, I see you're in the news quite a bit lately. Oh, I was at the Clive Davis Grammy party when Clive introduced you and you got the biggest uh ovation in the room. Um Christy Gnome fired this week. Do you feel vindicated? Do you feel like doing the Trump dance now? Do you want to be jerking off two guys at once? Now I'll do that. Double DJ.

But uh Pam Bondi, she this week announced federal charges against thirty more people accused of civil rights violations there in the Minnesota Churchill. Explains it. The pastor there was we think part of ICE, that's why the protest was going on there? Well, according to the protest group, the one of the pastors was, I think, a regional director for ICE in in that region. Pastors do that?

Pastors are also regional directors of ICE. There's things I I there's things going on in this country. I'm just I I I try to keep up with the news and I just I that And they said you were uh stood in close proximity to the pastor in an attempt to oppress and intimidate him. That's some powerful bullshit there, isn't it, John? I mean, so where are you now? I know they

They arrested you out here. Uh right. And then what happened? You went to jail for a minute? I went to the federal courthouse and I was in um you know in a Isolation room or a room by myself and um Really? Yeah, yeah. I had to spend the night in jail. Like Steve McQueen in I spent the night I spent the throw the ball against the wall like in I spent the night in a holding room in the federal courthouse in the I had to do it once.

You did? Yeah, for a day. I'm 92. I got... pinched for I was this much over the limit. Had a couple of drinks, drove home. I was wearing leopard print shoes. I'm sure that's why the I'm sure that's why the cop was like this asshole has got to go to jail. But you weren't snipping cocaine off of a dirty colour. But it was the Beverly Hills. Oh well you were in a fancy jail. It was a nightmare. Jail is jail. Are you kidding? When I ordered room service in the morning I said

Raisin toast. No raisins in the toast. I was ups I had avocado toast. So uh there was a uh election down in Texas Big stuff this here in the Democratic Party. Adam, we've got to get you on this idea. This is uh James Telarico. He was on the show uh a couple of weeks ago. Very impressive guy.

Super talent. Okay. He beat Jasmine Crockett, who you know, until this moment I kept hearing rising star in the Democratic Party. Very charismatic, fiery, yes, but very bright. Okay. People across the political sp this is Talerico talking. laying out the two wings of the party. There's the Fuck Trump wing. Mm-hmm. You know, y your old friend Katie Porter.

holds up signs, actually that's a there if. Yeah, that's okay. That's one way to do a campaign. James says people across the spectrum are hungry for a new kind of politics Not a politics of fear, of hate, of division, but a politics of love. A love that can heal what's broken in America. The love part, James, that's a little too far for me. You can do both. Okay, but I think Tel Rico is is just a tremendous talent.

Uh and Jasmine is too, uh, and Texans had a choice, demos Texas Democrats, between two you know, up-and-coming rising stars. Uh Talerico is that unique talent that I think is deeply religious. deeply progressive, uh really resonating with people in Texas and outside of Texas. Uh Texas could very well be in play, and I say that with hesitation because we've Put our hopes there before but

I think if anyone at this moment uh can make a viable campaign and and turn Texas blue in the Senate, it's someone like Talarico. I think his message is perfectly suited.

Uh it's also perfect message for a Democrat in Texas, which may not be the exact same message for a Democrat in California. Uh and I'm hugely excited about his campaign. This is great news. I I think this could actually be the year. I think it could be the year. I think they had two, as he said, um two great choices and d both, you know, different approaches, but I think that this this could be the year, especially considering how the Republicans in the race are

basically killing each other at this point and will during this entire process until November. But you seem to be avoiding the question, or maybe you do think you can have it both ways. I don't know if you can have it both ways. I think these are the two wings. One wing is the cut them off. You know, don't have dinner with him. Worst thing you could ever do. If your family voted for him, don't have to having dinner with him and he hates you.

He he hates me because I never stopped criticizing him and I never promised I would. I think the the reality is You have to find a way to do both stand up to Trump and also deliver for people. It's just a little I mean it's a bit of an eye roll. When people see that they just think that's all you got. That's all you Democrats have is fuck Trump. And we're looking for something different. It seems like Taller Rico is making this case and I think the fact that he won in Texas

I think says a lot. Well, I think it says a lot too, but at the at the same time When Americans are getting killed in the streets of Minneapolis, it's not like you can ignore it and say, I'm gonna have a positive No, I think that's a good thing. But but you can do both and indeed I think all of us are a different mixture of both, a focus on okay, this is This is what we have to accomplish.

Shit done in California. This was really my theme in my Senate campaign. We have to get shit done. We have to be able to move forward. We have to be able to build things. We have to build a lot more housing. You have to have a positive message. It can't be just about fighting Trump. But as they say your opposition has a vote too. And when your opposition is taking the country to war without your approval in Congress, when the opposition is killing people in the streets.

You gotta you gotta stand up to that too. I think Democrats have to be careful of this sort of kumbaya message. Because the ultimately Democrats are gonna elect the Democrat, and you wanna energize the

part of your party that's really for you, like Donald Trump energized, the MAGA, the staunch MAGA. You're not going to do that by kumbaya to the Republican. And we should have learned by now. This is in normal times. I mean that is the argument. Katie Porter, I think, is the one who said, I don't need Trump vote. That's this is where the rubber meets the road.

Fuck the votes of the people who we are deplorable. We we don't even want we don't we don't care about you at all. We're just gonna go after that. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that I'm saying that you have to be careful because We are not in normal times where Donald Trump is not going to, you know, sit with a a a Democrat or anyone for that matter. It's all about Donald Trump.

He's no ideology. It's all about Donald Trump, but l just let me finish. And so they've they they've got to be careful with that because that is not what Democrats want right now. They want a fighter. So I like James Talarico, but I think he should be very careful about this sort of kumbaya have to win over Republicans. Jasmine Crockett did very well just with black voters in Texas. Seven out of ten Trump voters are not committed.

to to me sound somewhat gettable, especially in the atmosphere we're in now with a bad economy. And if they're not with him, they don't like him probably more than the Democrats don't like him. So why do you need to appeal? They already don't like him. This is exactly the point, Bill. To get them voting for you. It's one thing to oppose Trump. It's another to write off everyone who ever supported him. That's a terrible message.

Help me serve large parts of Red California. Uh people forget there are probably eight million people in California who are voting for Donald Trump or supporting Donald Trump. Um they're entitled to representation and if you don't make the case to them Uh if you don't speak to them with respect, if you don't uh appeal to them, if you don't solicit their opinion on things and show you're open to working with them, then why should they support you?

So I it's my favorite part of the job, frankly, is talking to folks in these parts of the state that don't expect me to go there. I had a meeting with a group of farmers in Butte County, red as red can be, and I knew the meeting was going well at the end when one of the farmers says, uh I don't know why the president calls you watermelon head. You've got a perfectly normal sized head. And that's uh that's when I knew I was making progress. Um but

But yeah, for for a porter or anyone else to write off a large part of people or even i uh uh say I don't need Republican votes. Well you whether you need'em or not, you should want them. Uh and you should court them and cultivate them. Um

And uh and so that's a I think a terrible. What did you think of the trap that Trump laid in the State of the Union address, where he uh just to show the tape there, because I think it's self-explanatory what he did. If you agree with this statement, then stand up and show your support. The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens. And the Democrats didn't stand. I mean obviously it's a it's a deliberate trap.

because, you know, they always played these games of Simon Says there at the uh State of the Union. Well I think you and I agree on this is all performative. I know, but is it going to look bad uh in campaigning? I don't think anyone's going to remember that cum campaign. Well they will if they put it in the air. That will drown that in the Democrats. That will drown that message out.

Uh for one moment. No one ever the the opposing party never stands up. It's just it's but I I had I didn't go to the State of the Union. They're trying to arrest this guy, they're trying to indict two of my colleagues, they're trying to go after me. Uh I don't think you treat this moment as business as usual. Uh but but it was a hard decision. I've gone to every state of the union for 25 years um out of respect for the office, but now we have a guy in the office who doesn't respect the office.

And this is a perfect illustration of that. Um had I been there, um, what would I have done? You'd had to wake me up um first. Um and then uh I don't know. I probably I probably would have gone along with the democratic strategy, which is Unless it's a war hero in the gallery or the US hockey team, you stay in your seat, you're respectful, you're silent, you're not holding up paddles, you're not being disruptive, um, but you're also not

giving the appearance that somehow this is okay. This presidency is okay. Um he's trying to jail the opposition. He's trying to put members of the press in jail. He's soliciting bribes from press organizations. He's going after law firms. He's going after universities. Uh he's having his ICE agents kill people in the streets. We just can't act like this is somehow okay. Um and I don't know.

Sitting there validating what he's doing, acting like there's nothing going on was was too much. This year was too much. Um what he said. Do you want to play my rules in the gentlemen? Time for new rules.

Alright, hero Pete Hegseth has to come up with a name for one of our military actions that doesn't sound like a nickname for his penis. So far we've had Operation Southern Spear, Operation Midnight Hammer, and Now Epic Fury. A ask any woman, when a guy talks like that all the time, he tends to be Operation Warp Speed.

New rolls someone has to tell the Kuwaiti fighter pilot who accidentally shot down three American F-15s this week because he mistook them for enemy Iranian pilots. Dude, all you have to do to tell who the bad guys are is watch movies. Enemy pilots, they all wear dark helmets to let everyone know they're evil. Our pilots, you can see them plain as day and they're always hot. Uh, neuro Gwyneth Poultra, who lost an earring sometime during the actor awards, mustn't worry, it'll turn up.

It's always in the last place you look, but let's not exor ignore the obvious. Have you checked your vagina? Uh No, now that they've opened the first ever dual Applebee's and iHop restaurant, Waffle House must combine with Denny's to battle them for white trash supremacy. With the winner getting to face the KFC Taco Bell combo in the championship round. White trash restaurants, they're just like movie studios. You gotta get bigger or you'll die. Welcome aboard, Paramount. I hope you like me.

But in case you don't, I ain't gonna change Uh New Rule, don't tell New Yorkers that the upside to the brutal winter they had this year is fewer rats in the street. Yeah, and also if you were weirdos hanging out in Times Square trying to fill you up, you know? And if the rats aren't in the street or dragging pizza up from the subway, where are they? Yeah, your apartment.

And finally, Noodles, someone has to help Donald Trump understand that I don't suffer from Trump derangement syndrome. He suffers from Bill Maher derangement syndrome. Okay. Three weeks ago I woke up to some things the president had written on his truth social media platform that somehow were not true. I don't know how they got in there. It's not like the president to just make things up when he's mad. But on this occasion he did, which I forgive, but on Valentine's Day, that hurt.

But just to set the record straight from what the president claimed, I didn't ask for the dinner. Our mutual friend asked me. It's on tape. From my podcast. Also, I wasn't nervous and scared and the dinner wasn't quick. I was there almost three hours. And it wasn't vodka, it was a margarita. I didn't ask for it right away. I had a drink before dinner and then a couple more during.

I was having a good time. So were you, Don, because we were talking like real humans, not like that crazy act you put on in public. But I know that's what you do. You are, if anything, a man who wears his heart on his sleeve, and so you did here, listing your accomplishments and how hurt you feel that people, including me, have not recognized them enough. I understand that feeling. You texted me soon after the dinner complaining I was still part of the lunatic lab.

You know, you should have won a Nobel Prize for ending wars. And I texted back, yeah, and I should have won 20 Emmys. We argued for a while and you ended by saying, Bill, you know what? Don't change. I wouldn't know what to do with you if you did. Okay, that's the normal human being I saw the night we broke bread, and as long as I think there's even a spark of a possibility to bring that guy out more, I will not consider the dinner a waste of time.

Even as I now see we're back to name calling, and that I have some new ones like highly overrated lightweight to add to the list you signed. Thank you, I'll be by with the new one. Thank you. But let's go through the things you're butthurt about people not having noticed because some people do have TDS. But you know what? I've called people out through making hating you their entire reason to live. Get a life.

Stop making him your whole personality. But Don, you have to take some responsibility for that because you make people crazy. Because you Because you do things that are racist, misogynistic, anti-democratic, and corrupt. But I'll prove now I don't have the dreaded TDS. First off, despite all the hate I got from my side, I never threw you under the bus and said, oh, you're right, I shouldn't have ate steak with Hitler. Because that's stupid.

Access to the president of the United States, are you kidding? You can't put a price on that. Although Don, quite frankly, you do put a price on that all the time. I consider myself lucky I got in to talk to you without giving you a 747 or buying you a cryptocurrency. Or giving you my Nobel Prize. But let's continue. You say no mention of the perfect border. The border is closed. The border's a win. The border's a win. You mentioned the mass removal of stone-cold criminals.

This is what got Trump elected. We're going to get the gangs out. We don't want to become the kidnapped country. The taking out of Iran's nuclear capability. I was very supportive of bombing the the nuclear facility in Iran. I thought that was great. Venezuela. Do I love everything about it? No. But do I hate it? No. If he somehow gets Venezuela, Cuba, and Iran all to be not these horrible places they were.

He should get a Nobel Peace Prize. The return of the hostages and the peace deal in the Middle East, where the liberal panel was praising you. A lot of people tried to pull this off. He did. Give him credit. If he's good at getting deals done overseas, give him credit for it. And here's a few you didn't even mention. The Golden Dome Missile Shield. Just because Trump thought of it, I'm not against it.

NATO. He said, look, NATO hasn't been paying their fair share. I'm gonna make them do that. He wasn't wrong about that. Israel moving Israel's embassy to Jerusalem loved it. Animals in marijuana. He did an animal rights thing that all my Peter friends loved. Pot is not a Schedule One anymore. Thank you. Penises penises do not belong in women's prisons. He's not wrong about that. And not just penises, ballrooms. We don't have a place when they have state dinners. They're doing it in a tent.

This is America. So do I give a shit that he's doing this to the White House? I really don't. And giving props for saying about the Nick Fuentes Jew-hating wing of the Republican Party, Trump is the one who said, and I give him credit for this, he said, we don't want you. And the economy? About a month ago I said, look, I'm I I had to own it. I said, I thought by July fourth the economy would be in the chitter and it wasn't. I was wrong.

Maybe that's the difference between you and me, Don. I can admit when I'm wrong, and I can be honest. In fact, I may be the last person from the lunatic left that is still an honest broker when it comes to you. But honest goes both ways. It's a shame you can't take criticism, because in an alternative universe where we could have further honest conversations, I could say things to you that might be quite helpful, like

I'm gonna live with you. I'm gonna give it to you straight. Some people don't like you. No, really. Now me, I go by what George Bush said to Obama on the day he was inaugurated. We want you to succeed. I always want the American president to succeed, and I do give credit. When you have. But there's lots of stuff you do that is not my idea of success, and I have every right to say so in a democracy.

Ice? Yeah, I'm glad you got rid of stone-cold criminals, but no one wanted the sadism and stupidity that went along with it. Doge, a complete disaster. People died for no reason, and it cut no government waste. Coal is not beautiful or clean. Criminalizing dissent is wrong, and so is the juvenile trolling and suing people into silence. Don, there are things that you do that we, not just me, but we, I mean even the people who are too scared to talk to you straight, just don't get about you.

Taking the side of autocrats instead of democratic allies around the world? Who hates Canada? And wind? You hate the wind? And then you wonder why I can't tell what's a joke and what isn't? It's not derangement for me to be always calling out the election-denying obsession you have. or the pardons from my friends and punishment for my enemies mode of governing or the side deals for your family that always seemed to be part of everything.

We see how rich you've all become, but the people of West Virginia don't seem to be feeling the winning. A Democratic senator recently said of your administration, they are the elites they pretend to hate. Free advice. If the Democrats ever learn to weaponize that message, your MAGA movement is in big trouble.

Thank you very much. That's our show. I want to thank my guests on another Adam Schiff, Don Lemon, and Annabelle Gerwich. Club Random drops every Monday on YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcast. Now go watch Overtime on YouTube. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. Log on to HBO.