Ep. #668: James Carville, Rep. Dan Crenshaw, Kaitlan Collins

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Potential savings will vary, not available in all states or situations. Welcome to an HBO podcast from the HBO Late night series real time with Bill Maher.
Thank you very much. Welcome back.
Thank you for staying. I appreciate it.
Okay. Wow.
All right. Thank you very much.
Oh, please.

We've got a big show.

There's so much to cover. So much to cover because we've been off for a whole month.
Man, one month? What can happen in a month? I mean... A month ago, the Democrats were so resigned to going into battle with the skeletal remains of Joe Biden.
And now, you know, they're ecstatic because they have this youngish, hotish woman. It's like a rom-com.
You were there all along. And we didn't see her.
And, uh, so shit, now she's leading in the polls. Ever since Kamala took over in the polls, I mean, Trump has been petty and vindictive and lying and whining, so no change.
Um... But, yeah.
A month ago, it was just a month ago, our last show, when Joe Biden was saying the Lord Almighty would have to tell him to step down. And then the Lord Almighty knocked on the door and said, Joe, it's me, Nancy Pelosi.
But I got to give it to the Democrats. They did what they never do.
They got organized right away. They got united.
Joe out. Cam in.
Vice President, get the dad bod guy in Minnesota.

We need someone to appeal to the red state white guys.

It's like coaxing a cat that's under the car.

You know, like, come on out, it's okay, I've got an old white guy with me. But, yeah, I mean, it was a good choice for them.
We relate to Tim Walz. We know who Tim Walz is.
He's the guy at the end of the bar who wouldn't shut the fuck up about high school football. No, I mean, I like him.

He's a lot of energy, a lot of hugging.

It's like Vice President Cocaine Bear.

But no, you've got to give it to the Democrats.

They had a great convention with a message,

and the message is we're the party that talks to its people like adults and respects their intelligence, and we're going to say it until you get it through your thick skull. Now, the message was we're a normal political party.
We're not great. We're a Corolla.
Not great, but just remember, the other choice is a child molester's van that's also a car bomb. Of course, the one big disappointment at the Democratic convention, it was widely reported that Beyonce was going to show up and did not.
But that's the difference between the Democrats and the Republicans. It's a pointing when Beyonce, for the Democrats, doesn't show up.
And for the Republicans, that they can get Hulk Hogan to show up. But look, I mean, I'm sorry, Republicans.
You, a month ago, you had it in the can. Now you've lost your mojo.
I mean, today, J.D. Vance's couch said, not tonight.
I'm just not in the mood anymore. And no, I'm telling you, Trump did not see this coming, and he is now shitting in his pants.

And Biden said, when I did that, they made me quit.

Trump is getting desperate. Today, he asked if someone would shoot him in the other ear.
And, you know, he is his own worst enemy when he gets like this. So the Republicans are trying to cheer Trump up through this difficult period.
Today, in the middle of his speech, Lindsey Graham stood up and went, That's my dad! All right, we've got a great show. We have James Carville, perfect.
And Congressman Dan Crenshaw. But first up, she is the former chief White House correspondent for CNN and anchors the primetime show, The Source, with Caitlin Collins.
Caitlin Collins! Hi. How you doing? How are you? How you doing? Good.
How are you doing? Oh, you know. Well, I know I've been watching you each night at the convention.
You must have just flown last night or today. This morning.
Oh, wow. I mean, it was, like, truly insane.
I've never shaken so many hands or been, like, so close to so many people because the Democrats have so many more delegates than the Republicans do. So the floor is like totally insane.
Yeah. I mean, look, I've been watching conventions for a long time.
There is still something exciting about being on the floor. There is something.
Oh, the floor is the best assignment. That's what I did at the Republican convention.
And then I did it at this convention. But it's you're just kind of walking around.
And it's like all these lawmakers and people that you typically try to interview and wrangle to get on the show. And then they're just there, and you can just, you know, pop a question to them.
But also, you can really get a good read on how they're feeling, where the party is, you know, what they're nervous about, what they're excited about. And I think it's the best way to report on what's actually happening at the convention.
So you win both conventions.

Who won?

I mean, if we do this by convention, what do you think? What's your measurement?

Well, I mean, I guess...

Is that like an Obama dick joke? I mean, excitement. I mean, I would say a lot of it is, I would say the Democrats, because, I mean, I thought the Republicans had it in the bag.
I think it turned out so well for the Democrats, because it's one thing to, like, think you're dead in the water, and then you have this extra energy from, oh, my God, we were out of it, and now we're ahead. You could, that's why we love politics.
Yeah. Because it's so unpredictable.
And they're totally shocked by it, too. I mean, the way we are, as reporters, is we're kind of measuring and seeing what's going on and just learning and talking to people.
They feel that, too. I mean, they're just as shocked as we are that this actually happened and that they did coalesce behind a candidate and that they are where they were this week in Chicago.
I think as far as terms of, I mean, conventions are never surprising anymore. They used to actually be, you know, you didn't know what the outcome was going to be.
But in modern times that you've always kind of known, they're just highly produced affairs. And so they're both well-produced.

I think the Republican convention and the Democratic

convention. But there was

just kind of this energy to the Democratic

convention of, we didn't know this was going

to happen. And they weren't taking it

for granted was kind of the vibe that I got

from the delegates that I talked to. What do you think about

the fact that Kamala doesn't talk to the press?

In a way, I feel

like it's more insulting than what Trump does. Trump says you're the enemy of the people, which is pretty bad.
But she's kind of saying, I don't need you. I'm not talking to you.
You don't matter. You're not relevant anymore.
To me, that's even worse. I hate you.
It's like, I don't think about you. I don't know if it's worse than denigrating the press on a daily basis, which is what Donald Trump did.
I mean, I covered him in the White House every day as a correspondent. And, you know, oftentimes to kind of, you know, shake you if you were asking him a question, he would try to get into a personal argument with you or just deny or lie about what you were asking about.
And so I don't know if I would compare the two. I do think she should talk to the press.
I think anyone who wants to have access to the nuclear codes should be willing to sit down and take questions. And we'd love to have her on the show.
I'd love to, too. But I'm not going to hold my breath.
We'll see who gets her first. Well, I think she'll do you before she does me, but...
Oh, stop it.

I love this crowd.

You started it.

I paid her, actually, before I came in. I mean, you made press

because you were on Stephen Colbert's show,

and he said something like,

you guys at CNN

just report the news straight,

and the crowd burst into laughter.

Look, I'm on CNN now. I guess we're on it right now.
I mean, they show this show the next night. I don't know how we get away with it with all the fucks, but they do.
And all these dirty jokes. But I'm glad.
And I'm a big rooter for CNN. But that tells you a lot, doesn't it? I mean, how do you guys think you are doing in that arena of like, this is a terribly divided country.
We're not only politicized. A lot of people just hate the other side.
And CNN, in my view, should be the place where both sides can watch. How do you think you're doing with that? CNN is the place where both sides can watch.
And I think, you know, my show is evidence of that.

We have lawmakers on from both parties.

We'll have Elizabeth Warren on one night.

We'll have Ted Cruz on another night.

I think lawmakers from both parties should take questions,

and you should push both of them.

But on CNN being a place of credibility,

I mean, look at what just happened in Chicago. We had 300 people from CNN on the ground covering that convention.
There were several reporters from just our team alone on the floor, bringing it in real time to people. And I think CNN puts resources behind things and just brings a level of news that you don't get anywhere else.
And I think CNN does a great job of that. Yeah, but I'm talking about the people on CNN.
And I know what the conservative side of America thinks, and I don't blame them. I watched Kamala's speech last night.
It ended at 8.09, I guess, 11.09 in the East. It wasn't until 11.23 till the one conservative guy, what's his name? Scott Jennings.
Lonely Scott, I call him. David Urban was there, too.
Wait a second. Wait a second.
I watched from 809 to 823, they were just gushing about how great a speech it was. And I think she did fine.
I didn't think it was as good as they were making it out to be. But if I'm a conservative in America, and I'm watching CNN, just for the straight middle of the road, that's what I hear for 15 minutes, is it it's great and then Lonely Scott.
It does look, I mean, and when you see the panel, it does look like tokenism. It's kind of like the same as The View.
It's like it's almost better to have nobody there, like MSNBC, than to have this... Well, I don't think you can say it's better to have nobody there than also lament the fact that you don't think the conservative guy, Scott Jennings, who is great, and we have him on my show all the time, spoke up early enough.
I think it was a Democratic convention. They turned to Democrats, people like David Axelrod, who ran successful presidential Democratic campaigns first for their analysis of this.
And I don't think that you can say that CNN is anything but fair. I mean, look at that.
We covered President Biden's exit from the race very closely, the pressure on him to get out. And I feel like I can speak with authority on this.
I'm from Alabama. I'm from a very red state.
I have a very conservative family. A lot of them who are Trump voters.
They watch my show every night. And I think they know that they can they can trust me that, me, that we call bullshit on every side, not just whatever leaning our audience may be.
And I think that's something that people actually want more of, is to hear from that. I think Scott's voice is really important, but I think other voices are important to hear from.
And everyone who was speaking last night, it's not like they were all Democrats. I mean, Dana Bash, Jake Tapper, Abby Phillip, all my amazing colleagues giving analysis.
They come across that way. They come across that way.
In a moment like that. It was like 5 to 1.
It always looks like 5 to 1. Okay, I'll move on.
But I feel like in this era we're in, until Donald Trump goes away, which could be never. The important thing for a network like CNN is to be able to talk about Donald Trump, which is so difficult because he is awful.
There's no two ways about it. He is an awful person and a terrible person to be running the country.
Okay, all right, all right. How do you...
But if you just say that, half the country turns off. I saw the town hall you did with him.
Yeah. Now, I don't know who was in that audience.
Rather, I should say, I don't know how they picked that audience. But whoever was in that audience loved them some Donald Trump.
Republicans like Donald Trump, that is a fact. Was that a Republican audience? They picked him as their nominee.
I mean, they said it was an independent and Republican audience. Because, well, the timing is important.
That town hall was done in May 2023, ahead of the Republican primary. And of course we knew a lot of Republicans were expected to get in.
And so you're not going to put Democrats in the audience because it's for Republican primaries. In New Hampshire, so it was Republican and Republican-leaning independents, because those are the people who decided who was going to be the Republican nominee.
And I think it was jarring for people because they hadn't really heard a lot from Donald Trump. That was his first major interview that he had done, besides Fox News, since he left the White House.
And I just think, you know, as a journalist, my view of it, one, I'm only in charge of the questions that I asked and the follow ups that we asked him, which I think we did a very good job of that night. But but I think, you know, if you think not putting Trump on TV is going to make Trump.
No, no, no. That's not what I'm saying.
What I'm saying is I watched that and that you did do a good job. You held his feet to the fire.
But the crowd loved him. It didn't matter that he was spewing bullshit.
He always spews bullshit. They loved him.
But that's representative of America. OK.
Republicans do love him. And they may very well be.
But then they cut to the panel where it's like five people shitting on him. So they just saw like 90 minutes of this guy saying things, people loving him.
And then five people who look like elitists because they're you don't get it. You see, you don't get what we like about him.
Well, I think two things can be true. I think people can like Donald Trump and maybe not care about the veracity of his statements or what he promises to do and whether or not he fulfills that or changes his position on it.
And I think you can have people, you know, talk about that and analyze it after. I don't think that those two things can't exist together.

Okay, so can I ask you one last thing about...

It's interesting the way certain memes take over in this culture now.

And, uh, brat.

What do you think about this?

Somehow Kamala got to be brat.

Are you jealous?

Um, I'm not. Well, I want you to read, I'll read what Charlie XCX herself said about it.
But I'll ask you first what your opinion on this, was that a smart move to embrace that? What does brat mean to you? Is it smart for the Harris campaign to embrace it? Yeah. I mean, I think at a time when everyone wants young voters who historically don't turn out in large numbers, they're leaning into it.
And it was a moment. I don't think everyone on the Harris campaign or certainly not in the White House fully understood BRAT either.
It's not really Washington's strong suit. I lived there for close to a decade.
But I think they leaned into it in the sense of how does it appeal to young voters? And if older voters don't get it, it doesn't. It's not a big deal.
But I think anything that campaigns can do to reach out to young people, Trump is doing this. He does a lot of podcasts, people that maybe most people haven't heard of.
But he's trying his campaign. I've talked to them.
They're trying to reach that same subset of voters, obviously different leanings, but I think that's how they're trying to go out and meet young people where they are, whether it's a meme or a podcast that somebody likes to do. This is how she herself defines it, Charlie.
That girl who is a little messy and likes to party and maybe says some dumb things sometimes, who feels herself and maybe also has a breakdown. Are you identifying with this? How are you feeling? I'm saying I don't want my president to be this.
But kind of like parties through it, a little bit volatile, like does dumb things. It sounds like Trump.
It doesn't sound like... You think Trump is brat? I think he's very brat.
I think you're great. Thank you for coming on our show.
Thank you for having me, honestly. Great to see you.
I wish there was another convention. We could see you again.
Caitlin Collins, everybody. All right, let's meet our panel.
Hey, you guys. All right, who co-hosts the Politics War Room with Al Hunt podcast and is the subject of a new documentary, Carville.
Winning is Everything Stupid, coming out this fall. James Carville is over here.
All right, and he's a Republican congressman who represents Texas' 2nd District and the host of the podcast, Hold These Truths, with Dan Crenshaw. Dan Crenshaw, back in this.
Thank you, Congressman. All right.
So, Democratic convention. Let's start with the Democrat.
I think, James, you and I have been on the same page for a while on this. One, we said Biden had to go for a long time.
Correct. Got our way there.
And the other thing I think we've been pretty aligned on is that the Democrats do better when they're center-left and not far-left. Certainly.
It's better policy and it wins elections. Right.
How do you think they did their convention with convincing the country that they are now back to the center left as opposed to the far left?

Well, first of all, you and I agreed, but that was one tough extraction getting Biden out of the race.

Yes, it was.

Anyway, we brought in the head of oral surgery at UCLA, Nancy Pelosi.

You and I were like a couple of hygienists, like, hacking away at it. Dr.
Nancy came in and did it. Look, every country wanted something different.
And the Democrats, they weren't looking for ethnic cleansing. They weren't looking for a war.
They weren't looking for a new entitlement. The country wanted something different than Trump and Biden, and we gave it to them.
And I'm not surprised the country's responding favorably. I really not.
Yeah, I thought that, for one thing, they sounded like they liked America, which, you know, has been a problem with the left in recent years. They didn't sound like they liked America too much.
And this convention, I heard a lot of it. You're lucky to be an American.
You're privileged. It's the greatest country in the world.
Like, thank you. Did you hear that, Congressman? Did you feel like that was sincere? I will never criticize Democrats for putting on a good show.
I will never criticize Democrats for being good at politics. What I criticize Democrats for is being bad at policy and governing.
They put on a great show. They got those celebrities in there.
They dusted off those American flags that they had previously held in the attic or burned occasionally. And then they brought them out for that freedom wave.
Very few Democrats burned the floor. Democrat activists burned down cities.
As members of Congress, just a few weeks ago, we had to go put American flags back up over Union Station in Washington, D.C. They put on a good show.
It's full of hope and joy, and I get it. Like, that's great.
Starry-eyed views of optimism of the future. But on policy, not so great.
And in the end, this is going to be about policy. They were very light on that.
Why? Because they don't want to contend with the fact that they own the last four years of policy. We do have a very unique opportunity here where we have two candidates where you can look at four years and four years.
You know exactly what they're going to do, and you know exactly what the outcomes are. And on every metric, Donald Trump wins on this.
And so that's what we're going to keep pushing this election toward, is what are the metrics that will actually make your life better? Donald Trump wins on this, on the policy and the outcomes associated with that. I don't want to teach anybody, so I'm not going to mention January 6th and burning flags and anything like that, because that just never happened.
We're just going to... By the way, you know they have a celebration on September 5th.
Trump celebrating the J6 people. I thought my boss, President Clinton, made an undeniable point of democratic policy.
Since the end of the Cold War, there have been 51 million jobs created in the United States. 50 million were created under Democratic presidents and 1 million under Republican presidents.
That's 50 to 1. You've got to be able to tie.
If you're going to make claims like that. First of all, I love you, I love Clinton.
That's a bullshit thing to say. Okay.
Because as we both know, well, am I right? Yeah. As we both know, jobs created, it has a lot to do with what the last guy did.
Clinton got rid of Glass-Steagall. Did it have anything to do with the collapse in 2008 of the economy? I think it did.
So maybe some of the jobs that were lost. I'm sorry.
It's just a bullshit thing to say. I don't think it is.
You've got to tie a policy to an outcome. I can tie policies from Donald Trump to outcomes.
So you cut taxes, you cut regulations. What does that do? It makes it easier to do business and hire people.
So you're going to have job growth. You had 8% wage increase after inflation under Donald Trump before the pandemic.
Actually, 16% if you're talking about the lowest quintile of earners. Under Biden, it's been zero.
So on every metric he wins, and I can go down the list. I guess that the climb is down 30%.
The stock market is up. The metrics that y'all choose are just BS metrics.
Not all of them, just that one. I would even agree that 50 to 1.
You say it doesn't count, I do. I think 50 to 1 is a blowout.
But it's a bullshit number. I would agree that Democrats have done a better job at job creation, but it's not 50 to 1.
So don't lie to me. You know what? I'm an ally till you lie.
Please fact check. Either Bill's right, I'm right.
But the numbers don't necessarily meet. But it's 50 to 1.
You understand what I mean. We had the lowest unemployment in 50 years under Trump.
And again, you have to associate an outcome with policies. And you can't tell me what Biden policy resulted in better jobs.
If we're increasing our jobs... Also, there was a pandemic that had a lot

to do with how many jobs. There's a massive...

There's a lot of factors that go into it.

It's a bullshit thing. Let's move on.

Let me ask you about...

You, Fama State, said something about the Democratic Party

used to be dominated by preachy females.

I did. Okay.
So,

where are we...

And I think you should get a cojone award for that. Okay.
So where are we? And I think you should get a Cajoni Award for that. Okay.
But where are we now with that? Kamala is not... I say things, Bill.
If I tell a Marine down something, I know what I'm saying. And I'm being provocative on purpose because the identity left and NPR messaging drives us in a ditch every time.
And I'll tell you why I was right. When they picked Tim Waltz, all right, this guy is the most male guy that could come aboard, a soldier, a football coach, a hunter, all right? Minnesota, Paul Bunyan, you name it.
And our presentation, and it wasn't issues. It was all about presentation.
And I think there's a recognition of that. And to the extent that if I say something provocative, it didn't come after me.
Don't vote for me. But I do think that our messaging had become too feminine.
I do. I understand about it.
And I get your point about Tim Walz. He kind of makes the case that you can be a man without being a dick about it.
All right. Which is truly, I think, a problem that Republicans have.
Yeah, I mean, I don't know how you can say that the Democrat Party has become too feminine when they don't even know what a woman is. So what the Democrat party has become is far more extreme.

And the Democrats say it's about Republicans, but you provide no evidence for it.

Our party platform has basically been the same for decades.

The Democrat platform has changed radically since you were doing things in the night.

It is commonly referred to as the Democratic party.

That's the name of it.

Okay, I just want to be clear.

The other thing is, we always get advice from Republicans. You realize you hadn't won an election in two years? Not a single one.
I wonder what's wrong. And you have all these people giving the Democrat Party advice.
Well, come win an election and then come and give me some advice. I'm not giving you advice.
Last thing I want to do is give you good advice. But my observation is you're correct.
Republicans are bad at selling good policy. Democrats are very good at selling bad policy.
Democrats have gotten way more extreme, way more extreme than the American people. If you want an honest discussion about who's more moderate, if there's independents out there looking for a more moderate candidate on every issue, you're actually looking for Donald Trump.
You may not like his crass tweets. I'm telling you, I'll go toe-to-toe with you on any issue on this.
It's very easy for me to show you this. I'm not going to argue with you.
Just say it's 50 to 1. So I'm right.
And we win every election. Can we do a great experiment? Can I read something and you tell me where this came from? If you think we've gotten so extreme and it's the other guys who are so tolerant and normal.
Okay, I'm going to ask you what year this came from. This is a policy platform.
We cannot tolerate illegal immigration. For years, Washington talked tough but failed to act.
Criminal immigrants deported after committing crimes in America returned the very next day to commit crimes again. On government, this is what our party stands for, the end of the era of big government.
The American people don't want big government. They want a government that gives a moderate, common

sense agenda that will improve people's daily lives,

not increase the size of government. There's a lot more.

Where do you think that comes from? That was Bill Clinton before he, when he

was outfoxing Newt Gingrich and making

Republicans look stupid. The DNC's

platform from 1996.

Will you let me know when I can talk, okay?

I know you're an O4, I'm an

E4. Let me know when I can talk.

Alright? I knew you'd recognize him. Again, let me know when I can talk.
That was good. Okay? Now, the truth of the matter is, immigrants commit less crime than Native American.
That's a fact. Just like it's gifted them once.
The thing about this world is, people can see if what you're saying is right. And to tell you the truth, I like migrant people.
I just kind of do. I think they're kind of hardworking.
I think they contribute a bucket load to the American economy. I think they tend to enlist in armed forces at a higher rate than other people.
So I'm very, very pro-immigration. I really am.
So are you. But I would hope you would also say you're against illegal immigration, because if you're pro-legal immigration and all these hard-working people, which I agree, my stepmother's a legal immigrant, I don't want people cutting in front of them in line, which is what happens when you allow an open border.
Eight million illegal encounters under by and a quarter of them released into the country. That is very disproportionately unfair to legal immigrants trying to do it the right way.
I will make the point. Border crosses are down.
And by the way, Senator Langford, I know him. He's hardly a left-wing Democrat.
And Senator Murphy had a bill that was endorsed by the Border Patrol, and Trump killed it. Okay, that's fine.
But that's just where we where we are. Which you, yourself...
I think I love migrant people. I'm just going to tell you that right now.
If you're in this country and you come in and you work hard, that's great. But, I mean, you yourself...
I'm not for any kind of criminal. You yourself was on this page.
I mean, they had the bill. That guy who wrote at Lankford, he's a conservative Republican.
You yourself spoke on this. Trump killed that bill because he didn't want the issue to work against him in the election.
That's your boyfriend. How you got...
Well, I mean, you've got to defend that. Yeah.
Well, first I have to tell you what I actually said about it. What I said about that bill before it even got released was, hey, let's read it.
And anybody who has an opinion on it without reading it, you know, it's kind of stupid. That's what I said, and I stand by that.
What happened with that bill is a lot more complicated. You had a very complex bill written in a dark room.
They come out. You've got this extremely...
Immigration law is very complicated. And everyone turned their guns on it and fired it down.
That's a revision of what you said. You said it was a good bill, and you have a lot of grifters in your party who didn't want to pass it.
Yeah, you did. We can fact-check this.
I never got a chance to have an opinion on it. That's the problem.
And I stand by that that's the problem. Somehow I read it.
I'm telling you, Trustee, what I said was, it's foolish. I'll tell you exactly what I said.
It was the height of stupidity to have an opinion on something you haven't read yet. And none of us had read it yet.
Now, there's more complexities to that. And I think the cynical people were rightfully cynical, saying, why are you coming up with this in the last year of your administration? You had a height of 300,000 illegal crossings just a few months ago.
Oh, because you know it's a campaign issue now. Why don't you first start with putting back in place all of Trump's executive orders that had gotten the border down under control, down to 14,000 illegal crossings a month, which is pretty much well within good range.
That's kind of what they put in the bill that you were for until Trump wanted killed. Anyway, I've got to move on because we have so many issues to get to, and one of them is, it's funny how like, you know, sometimes a single word will encapsulate the campaign.

I remember when Obama ran, all the posters just said hope.

And now it's funny, the word in this election, weird.

That's how Tim Walz got to be the vice president.

Everybody, he changed the narrative to like Trump is not a threat to democracy. He's just going to ruin your weekend.
He's weird. We're still weird.
But I kept thinking, you know, Trump is weird. Everybody's weird to a degree.
But there is one guy in this race who's actually really weird. And that's the guy who pulled out today, Robert F.
Kennedy Jr. And I like Bobby a lot.
But I just want to read... I mean, these are...
These are actual headlines in recent days. RFK Jr.
says, Worm got into my brain and ate a portion of it. That's weird.
RFK Jr. denies eating a dog but not assaulting nanny.
RFK Jr. admits to dumping a dead bear in Central Park, solving a decade-old mystery.
That one was weird. RFK Jr.
says he once had a freezer full of roadkill meat. And these are the real headlines.
But, of course, those aren't the only ones. Would you like to see the other ones?

Okay.

RFK Jr. claims he's the first presidential candidate

who can blow himself.

RFK Jr. campaign pledged

the supply of falcon to every child in need.

That's good. RFK Jr.
claims JFK had an affair with Marilyn Manson. No.
Releases his campaign autobiography, Shit My Ass Says.

RFK Jr. claims Beatles Revolution 9 contains the backwards message, Vaccines Cause Autism.
Well, that's just weird. RFK Jr.
reveals he once led an expedition to the Titanic in the Wienermobile. too soon JFK Jr.

confesses to once going to bathroom on Pigeon saying it was payback. That's so weird.
And he announces his new podcast, Club Extremely Random. All right.
So

this

just broke

today. RFK is

pulling out, although it's a little murky. He says

he's still on the ballot in some places, but he

did say, I am giving my

endorsement to Donald Trump.

I mean, take it.

I'll take it too. For those of us who have a certain age, who grew up with the Kennedys, I mean, to have a Kennedy endorse not just any Republican, but the worst one ever, what do we make of this, gentlemen? Well, you know, every family has a whatever.
That guy is not weird. There's something that...
There's an expression he uses in yours. That boy ain't right.
Okay? There's something weird. You're weird.
Okay? That's nothing wrong with being weird. But that boy ain't right.
He just did something wrong. He hit his head or something.
I don't know what.

I wouldn't go that far.

I would.

Okay.

So let me ask you about the tone of some of the speeches

in the convention. I thought the Obamas

were great.

Like a lot of people. It made me miss Obama as being president.
He said, if we want to win over those who aren't yet ready to support our candidates, we need to listen to their concerns and maybe learn something. See, this is something that was missing, I think, for a very long time, And he is the one in the party who has the gravitas to say this to his own people, to gently scold them for being a little, you know, too purifying.
He said, after all, if a parent or a grandparent occasionally says something, it makes us cringe. We don't automatically assume they're bad people.
We recognize that the world is moving fast. They maybe and a little encouragement to catch up I loved it I also see how your people hear things like need time to catch up and find that to be very condescending a lot of my people aren't listening to this speech but what we are listening to what we are listening to is what Kamala Harris has said when she's running for president.
And then what has happened in the last four years in a Kamala Harris and President Biden administration. So we have really hard facts to go off of and we know what kind of extremist policies to expect.
So Biden is is one version of that. But Kamala is actually way further.
She ran to the left of President Biden. She was for the Green New Deal.
She's for Medicare for all. She's for not jailing illegal immigrants.
She says they shouldn't be jailed. They should get free health care.
Maybe that's what Tim Wall's brought to the table, because, as you know, he can provide that for them. Therefore, allowing a 12-year-old girl to get a double mastectomy without telling her parents and calling it, you know, gender affirmation therapy.
These are very extreme policies. And I'll go toe-to-toe with you on every single one.
In every single case, the Trump administration is more moderate and more in line with what more people want in America, and the outcomes are just better. Well, yes.
Vladimir Putin, okay, is moderate. He wants to pull out an A-tope.
That's really moderate. Project 2025.
That's really moderate. I mean, we can go.
The truth of the matter is, in 2019, she listened to the identity left, and that always ends up a disaster. And she's evolved, to say the least.
And she'll be asked about it, and I think she'll have a starting... Okay, so she's either a far-leftist or a chameleon liar.
I don't know. Wait a second.
Everybody tacks to the middle. Everybody, as Mitt Romney said, shakes the etch-a-sketch.
And by the way, it's a little odd, isn't it, that the Republicans had no former presidents, vice presidents, there was no Mitt Romney there, no Bush, no Dick Cheney. It's a little like Tom Cruise with his daughter.

I don't know you anymore.

I mean...

I don't know if I know that reference.

Well, I mean, Tom Cruise never sees his daughter

because she's a suppressed person.

Because, you know, whatever. She doesn't believe in

Scientology. And I feel like I've never

seen a convention where the party

just disowned its complete past like that. Yeah, well, again, it doesn't really matter.
Do we put on the best show? I don't know. I know we have better policies that have better outcomes.
It's an indication that you have made a clean cut with what Republicanism was up until Trump. But you can't...
Let's get through the clapping. But I can show you party platforms going back decades that show basically the same Republican Party to include this Republican platform.
You're talking about Project 2025. Trump disowned that right away.
You know, the only person, the only politician... Yes, he did.
...with Project 2025 on their website is Kamala Harris. None of us actually know what that is.
It came from a think tank. They wrote a big thing, whatever.
A lot of that Trump already disowned. What you can hold our feet to the fire on is what's actually in the party platform.
And as a congressman, what you can hold my feet to the fire on is what I actually vote on in Congress. If you want to know what Republicans are going to do with power, just look at the last two years.
We've had control of the House. That's what we do.
One of the first bills we put in was the Parental Bill of Rights because we didn't like parents being labeled as terrorists. The second bill we did was H.R.
2, the immigration bill. That would fix the border.
That was a serious look at closing the loopholes on paroling, on asylum reform, the things that need to get done to fix the border. If you want to know what we actually stand for, that's what we stand for.
When it comes to abortion, which everybody wants to talk about, the only thing we've put on the floor is the Born Alive Bill. We've only ever gotten a couple Democrats to vote for that.
So who's more extreme? We're just saying don't kill the baby if it's been born. That's all we're saying.
The Democrats are like, no, it's okay. I don't want to go.
Look at abortion planking every Republican platform from 1964 on. But I really don't want to argue this.
You know, sometimes people's position evolve. You realize that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in 2008 were both against gay marriage.
Now, who in the hell is against gay marriage now? Nobody. Okay? It's in Project 2025.
Okay. By the way, the Speaker of the House, who is from Bosia Paris, Benton, Louisiana, had to tell the Republican caucus to cut out the racial crap.
Now, when a guy from Bossier Parish has to tell you to cut out the racial crap, that's pretty extreme. You've got to tell members of Congress to stay off of that issue.
But your best argument is that personalities have changed. It's not a really good argument.
Because in the end, what affects you, the viewer at home, is the policies that are put in place. It's the taxes you pay.
It's the regulations your business has to deal with. It's the border that you face.
It's crime. It's everything.
And by the way, it's a world that's on fire that wasn't under Trump. You say he was pulling out of jail, but he didn't.
It's on fire. I can assure you that the world is on fire.
Okay, who didn't invade Ukraine under Trump?

I'm not going to argue.

The world can be on fire, and we're all full of joy at the same time.

That's ridiculous.

Under Trump, they have the Abraham Accords.

Under Biden, you get October's Britain because you're appeasing Iran.

It is a very different situation.

The metrics just don't lie. Can I just say a thing about this Project 2025? Because this is apparently the, if you just watched the left wing, this is apparently the platform of the Republican Party.
I thought it was. I saw Kenan do a very funny bit about it.
But when I looked at it a little further, okay, this is Trump. This is Trump on Project 2025.
Like the day it came out? Some of the things they're saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal. Well, I couldn't ask for a better statement about it from a Democrat.
So there's that. Then again, okay, here are some of the main things in it.
Gay protections are going to be over. He's not going to do that.
Trump is not going to do that. He don't hate gay people, and he loves Peter Thiel.
Okay, that's not going to happen.

Pay more for

prescription drugs. Yeah,

that could happen under Trump.

Abortion ban. Yeah, that could happen under

Trump. Purge the civil service.

That's definitely going to happen under Trump.

And eliminate the Department of

Education? Well, I wouldn't eliminate them,

but how about a little

accountability?

Yeah.

There's some agreement there, it sounds like.

I mean, this

Thank you. education well i wouldn't eliminate them but how about a little uh accountability yeah i there's some agreement there it sounds like i mean this but there's so much yeah a couple of those though trump has already disowned i mean abortion ban at the federal level trump has very very clearly said he doesn't want to do that that should be decided at the state level so that's not going to happen and again if you if you if you want further proof of what republicans believe just look at what we actually put on the floor.
The most restrictive abortion thing we've ever put on the floor is the Born Alive Bill,

which just says you can't kill a baby in a botched abortion if it's still alive outside the womb.

Democrats overwhelmingly vote against that except for like a couple.

Why is that funny?

I mean, it's true.

That's what we do.

So that's just not part of our platform. Does the other side get to play here?

So ask Trump one question.

There's a referendum in Florida on a six-week abortion ban. How are you going to vote on it? Just tell us.
You're a resident of Florida. The Republican Party of Florida has passed this.
That is the law of Florida. I'm sorry.
It's an absolute ban after six weeks. Most women don't even know they're pregnant in six weeks.
How are you going to vote on it? Well, that's not the contradiction you think it is. We can shut and dive all we want.
How would you vote on it in six weeks? That is the issue. Oh, that's easy for me.
I mean, I'd definitely vote for it. Okay.
But at the federal level, the party platform is, we don't do that from the federal side. You think it's a contradiction, but it's not.
States' rights matter to us. If you live in Florida and there's a six-week ban, you live under that.
But remember, Ohio's a red state, and what did they do? They put it into their Constitution that you have a right to abortion. So it doesn't always end up the way you say it.
No, they put it in the Constitution because the voters said. Exactly.
The Republican politicians didn't say that. A democracy.
Look at that. Okay.
So you would vote to maintain the six-week ban? Yeah, I'm a conservative Republican. All right.
Look at Republican. But this issue, this is what lost the Republicans the 2022 midterms,

and it's going to lose them this 2024.

That is my prediction.

I would not have believed it a month ago.

I mean, a month ago, right after he got shot by the incel?

I mean, it was like over.

That's an accurate way of describing him.

Right.

They were measuring the drapes.

It just shows how fast things change,

which is why I would say this two-month election

we're having with Kamala, we should do that every time.

Catch up, politics.

The world moves much faster now.

All right, we've got to go to New Rules.

Thank you, guys.

All right.

New Rules. Thank you, guys.
All right. New Rules.
Okay, New Rule. The New Zealand man complaining that he went into surgery for a partial circumcision, but they ended up giving him a full circumcision, has to answer two questions.
What the hell is a partial circumcision? That was my question.

And two, if you were so dissatisfied, why did you leave such a big tip?

New Rule, before the 2024 election season launches into the final stretch, Kamala Harris

and Tim Walls have to tell us, what's so fucking funny? Because at this point, I don't want to share you to share your vision of America. I want you to share whatever it is you're smoking before the rally.
New Rules, someone must explain how a society that knows how to create AI,

design driverless cars, and land rockets on distant planets,

has no idea what to do with a broken chair.

We can replicate the power of the sun in a lab,

but if a spring pops on a Barker lounger, fuck it, leave it on the sidewalk.

Broken chairs get kicked to the curb faster than Joe Biden. Now that Czech and warlord Razman Kedarov has attached

a machine gun to a Tesla

Cybertruck Newral, now that Czech and warlord Razman Kedarov

has attached a machine gun to a Tesla Cybertruck, L.A. residents must admit we're torn.
Part of us thinks it's a symbol of Russia's descent into crude totalitarianism, and part of us thinks, ooh, this would really make the commute sweet.

Neural, the 58-year-old Australian woman currently on trial for making a porn video

where she was having sex with a trout...

Why?

...has to apologize to every guy on Match.com

whose profile picture is him doing this. But honey, don't give up on online dating.
There's plenty of fish in the sea. And finally, new rule.

The Republican ticket of Trump and Vance can say what it wants about Mexicans, Muslims, journalists, sharks, windmills, low-flow toilets, the FBI, Brittany Griner, and me. But for the love of God, leave childless cat ladies out of it.

While we were off last month,

America got to know Donald Trump's new piss boy,

Andrew Dice Vance.

The VP candidate who has now reopened the question at the very foundation of the Republican Party.

Bitch, why ain't you pregnant? Really? So the biggest threat to America now is not a nuclear-armed Iran or $35 trillion in debt or another leaky lab in China. It's cat ladies.

Vance says... is not a nuclear-armed Iran or $35 trillion in debt or another leaky lab in China.

It's cat ladies.

Vance says the country is being run by them.

In 2020, he said not having kids makes people more sociopathic and less mentally stable,

and the people who are most deranged and most psychotic

are people who don't have kids.

Have you met your running mate?

He's got five kids, and he's out of his fucking mind.

And again, it's 2024, and you're still saying that people who don't marry and raise kids are inferior weirdos?

Thanks, Phyllis Schafly.

Let me check my beeper to see if 1993 called. You know...
1993, that's the year I went on the air with my first show, Politically Incorrect. and

and

one of the themes that made that show different and, you know, incorrect, was that the host was always pushing back against the idea that choosing to remain childless and single your whole life was, to say, the least odd. Well, now that there have been a thousand think pieces standing up for the childless, I'd just like to say, I was barren before it was cool.
Yeah. I've been on this wall.
So just as there's nothing wrong with marriage as an institution,

there is nothing wrong with being single either.

As a single person, I pay thousands in local taxes

to support my neighborhood schools when I have no kids at all.

But if I spend just a few hours hanging around

the Barbizon School of Design,

suddenly I'm a stranger.

I'm dating inappropriately.

I'm a stranger. I'm dating inappropriately.
I'm resisting arrest.

I can't believe it's

30 years later, and here I am

still having to defend not having

kids. But okay, hear this,

Mr. Vance.
One, you sure think about other people's pussies a lot. And two, having kids isn't a triumph.
It's just a choice. It's morally neutral.

I personally think it's really stupid

when parents say, my kid is my hero.

But what I really hate is when they say, I'm a hero because I had a kid. No, you didn't raise the flag at Iwo Jima.
The condom broke. You can shit out spawn until the sun explodes.

That doesn't make you a better citizen than the people who don't. And by the way, the joke's on you Republicans.
Have all the babies you want. We'll just keep eating them.
and

and

you know Mr. Vance

I often say on this show, let's live in the year we're living in. And when I do, it's a critique of the far left, who think it makes them more virtuous to never acknowledge the incredible progress we actually have made on progressive issues.
But I never forget that the right, even more, wants to live in another time, a time when men thought a woman's uterus should be like 7-Eleven, always open. But a funny thing happened on the way to buy a minivan.
In 1940, only 8% of households were comprised of a single person, and in 1970,

it was still just 18%. But today, the share of American adults under 50 without kids who say

they are unlikely to ever have them stands at 47%, almost half. You're welcome.

Yes, we are many now.

We are many.

The number of single American households has more than tripled since 1940,

when the only single women over 16 were nuns and the Andrews sisters.

Did you know that back then, anal sex was only practiced when the vagina was actively pushing out a baby? You know, it's funny, back in the 90s when I said I liked being being single, people would humor me. It was like saying I didn't believe in God.
I know, crazy, right? But yeah, people would always be telling me that I'd eventually get bored with my independence and crave the shackles of family life. Who doesn't love the warm sensation of fresh baby ick on your shirt? You'll have a kid one day,

Bill, and you'll change your tune. No, I like my tune.
I like disposable income and free time. I like that I always know where the scissors are.
I like that my bathroom is always free, that I don't have to drink in the garage. I never step on Legos in the middle of the night.
It's not that I dislike kids. I just don't want them.
It's not like when I see a sign that says, drive like your kids live here, I speed up. Really, really, I don't.
Not that much. In 2021, J.D.
Vance said, and I quote, let's give votes to all children in this country. When you go to the polls as a parent, you should have more power than people who don't have kids.
No, your life choices are not more valid or worthy than mine. I think people who don't smoke weed are missing out.
But... That doesn't mean Woody Harrelson gets to vote twice.
There we are. Yes, we have a pop store together in L.A.
The woods. You should check it out.
This is a big problem with Republicans. Always trying to force their way of life on the rest of this.
You want to get married and have kids? Do it. You think there should be prayer in schools? Say one.
You believe homosexuality is a sin? Stop blowing, guys. Just don't mandate that I live how you live.

I'm so sick of hearing that I'm somehow deficient

because I haven't surrendered my independence

and taken on a better half.

Well, let me tell you something.

I complete me.

And someday soon, I'm going to reaffirm my vows to myself.

Well. Well.

Well, it seems that day has come.

Bill.

I take thee to be my lawfully unwedded self.

For better or worse, richer or poorer, live or in reruns. And I thank you, me, for loving me unconditionally.
You make me want to be a better man. And I promise I will continue to surprise me and to finish my own sentences.
Never go to bed mad at myself. I vow to honor me and to cherish me and to do what I want, when I want, without having to ask permission or explain myself or work through feelings or hear about anyone else's fucking day.
You may kiss my ass. Alright, that's our show.
I'll be back at Combs, Center, Atlanta on September 7th at Riverside and Milwaukee, September 8th, and New York, even in Memphis, September 28th. I want to thank James Carville, Dan Crenshaw, and Caitlin Collins.
Now go watch Overtime on YouTube. Thank you very much, everybody.
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.