Overtime – Episode #595: Nicole Perlroth, Laura Coates, Andrew Yang

Charlie Sheen is an icon of decadence.

I lit the fuse and my life turns into everything it wasn't supposed to be.

He's going the distance.

He was the highest paid TV star of all time.

When it started to change, it was quick.

He kept saying, No, no, no, I'm in the hospital now, but next week I'll be ready for the show.

Now, Charlie's sober.

He's gonna tell you the truth.

How do I present this with any class?

I think we're past that, Charlie.

We're past that, yeah.

Somebody call action.

Yeah, aka Charlie Sheen, only on Netflix, September 10th.

Tires matter.

They're the only part of your vehicle that touches the road.

Tread confidently with new tires from Tire Rack.

Whether you're looking for expert recommendations or know exactly what you want, Tire Rack makes it easy.

Fast, free shipping, free road hazard protection, convenient installation options, and the best selection of BF Goodrich tires.

Go to tire rack.com to see their BF Goodrich test results, tire ratings, and reviews.

And be sure to check out all the special offers.

TireRack.com, the way tire buying should be.

Welcome to an HBO podcast from the HBO Late Night Series, Real Time with Bill Ma.

Oh, look, we must have done good.

Okay, we're on overtime.

Here

for Laura, do you think Merrick Garland is taking too long to press criminal charges related to January 6th?

Will the movement lose momentum if he keeps stalling?

Yes, I think the public perception and the patience of the American public has a shelf life of dairy.

And I think that it's time to have more insight, more transparency.

And of course, public hearings on the congressional side, too.

But he has done something, that's true.

But I think people want more given the volume of people who were allowed to walk out of the Capitol that day.

And I mean, I saw that there was seven hours missing.

on the call logs.

Now, this January 6th committee looking into the event of that day wanted Trump to turn over his call records, and he did, except for seven hours when all the shit was going down.

It seems like this is not the first time he has just blatantly give you the slap in the face and nothing happens.

That's, I think, what people are upset about, is something like that can happen, and it's so blatant.

And then Merrick Garland, as Attorney General, maybe he's the new Robert Mueller.

You know, somebody we thought was going to be a badass and it's just not working out.

I talk to people all the time who are making the case that, look, maybe Trump won't run again in 2024 because of the legal proceedings against him.

And this is what a lot of Americans are asking themselves right now:

are some of the actions that led up to January 6th actually going to result in something that derails what looks to me to be him coming back and winning the Republican nomination in 2024?

Yeah, you think he's going to run and win.

I do, too.

I mean, at least the nomination.

I mean,

he is faltering in some ways, the crowds and so forth.

But when the campaign starts again and he starts attacking the people who

challenge him.

I know some of the people who I think are going to challenge him for the Republican nomination.

I'm obviously rooting hard for them.

Like.

I guess I cat out that.

You know, I'd have to ask their permission and all that jazz.

Qual him.

That's now.

Qualm.

Can't be that big a secret.

I know.

There are a number of people gearing up to challenge Trump the Republican nomination.

People that you have respect for?

Yes, yeah.

I call them sane Republicans.

Oh.

And there are many.

Somebody like that.

There are many that.

Larry Hogan in Maryland, a guy like that you're talking about?

I like and admire Larry Hogan a great deal.

So that would be an example of someone who I think could make a very, very strong case if the Republican primary electorate is actually ready to hear that case and move on from Trump.

Right now, though, Trump still has a very, very strong hold among the, you know, like the most fervent party activists.

So, but you know, but I do hear from Republicans who are going to run against him.

They're like, hey, maybe some legal action will come in and

take Trump out, or maybe Trump's actually just posturing because he wants to keep attention on him.

So, this is one of the major variables they suggest to me.

If something's going to happen, I agree with you.

It has to happen soon.

I mean,

if there were to ever be a criminal allegation against Donald Trump, until that happens, I think he remains Teflon Don to his entire base.

I mean, this is somebody who within recent weeks has praised Vladimir Putin as a genius and then wondered why people thought about collusion and Russia and then sued Hillary Clinton and DNC and others, including James Comey, for having the audacity to say that he was in favor of Russia and collusion.

I mean, I don't think this is somebody who views any part of the Justice Department to date as being truly threatening.

Now, what's happening in New York and the idea of the organization, children, et cetera, that might be something to raise enough eyebrows among people.

But I think until that happens, which is why the concern is, until there is actual action taken, he will be able to say, well, aha, there was no there there, whether it's true or not.

But I think that the American people have to realize that the Department of Justice has taken action, they have prosecuted, and much like we talk about how much there is disdain for the notion of Republicans catering to an audience of one, the DOJ does not cater to a defendant prospectively of one.

There were hundreds of people inside of that Capitol that day, and there are other crimes happening every single day.

And so they have to balance the priorities of those over being perceived as political.

Okay, maybe I'm just naive, but I heard, this is, again, with Trump, I only go what I actually have heard.

So we don't have to talk about speculation.

What I know,

like when he said, you know, I said to Comey that

this is a hoax.

Russia, if you're listening, you know, the crimes that are committed right, I heard him on the tape say to the guy in Georgia who counts the votes, if you could just find me 11,000 more.

Yeah.

I'm not a lawyer, but what?

If you can find me,

why is just that?

Why I don't.

If you do your crimes out loud, you won't get caught.

Maybe they're soft on crime, Bill.

You know, he doesn't just say he's that bad idea.

I don't know why that itself

take that one out.

And, you know, you can't do that.

Remember Bogdanov.

Didn't he promise like my old golf clubs?

And I mean, it was like

such a lesser version of that.

A thing of value.

Okay.

Republicans hold a 17-point advantage, wow, in voter enthusiasm.

Whoa.

To my point.

The last time the gap was this wide, Democrats lost more than 60 House seats.

Wouldn't a third party at this point, oh, this is a tee, this is probably you.

Oh, this is for me, thank you.

Somebody teed this one up for you, I see.

Wouldn't a third party at this point just hurt Democrats?

Oh, no.

Oh, no.

And the left hook came around.

Wouldn't a third party hurt Democrats?

Oh, sorry.

You got snookered there.

Well?

So if you look at it big picture, our system is uniquely vulnerable to authoritarianism because you have this two-party system where one party succumbs to terrible leadership like Donald Trump, then everything falls under him.

If you look at other countries around the world, the UK has five parties, Germany has seven parties, Sweden has eight parties, and then if one party loses its mind, the system goes on.

It's not an existential threat.

So the question is, how do you get from a two-party system that, by the way, is getting more polarized, more dysfunctional, more people are getting fed up?

And the reason why so many Democrats are unenthused is is that they came out and were told, look, you get Trump out, then all these great things will happen.

And then as

their lives have stayed the same or in some cases gotten worse, then they're just saying, why do you want me to come out again in 22?

Why do you want me to come out in 24?

You can't make every election existential and fear-based or else eventually your voters start to tune out.

Right.

Okay.

You were great.

I did want to mention that my podcast, which has only been out for less than two weeks, went to number one on the Apple of all parts.

I don't know.

So I want to thank the people who are like listening to this thing.

It's not like this show.

It's not political, but I guess it's fun to people.

So thank you, and it's out there.

All right.

Thank you, everybody.

You're a great crowd.

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.