Ep. #538: Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, Colin Cowherd

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

Thank you.

Thank you, people.

Sit down.

Sit down, please.

Oh, I know why you're happy today.

Russia says they have a vaccine for the coronavirus.

Isn't that exciting news?

I think it's very exciting.

I mean, when has anything ever gone wrong when Vladimir Putin said, here, take this?

But I tell you, America, we were just a loser country.

I mean, we've got more cases than anybody.

We're just giving up on trying to control it.

Now, for America, just like something you want to live with, like school shootings or homelessness or, you know, drug stores that have the condoms locked behind the glass case.

Well, the president this week was commenting on the Spanish flu.

You know, he's quite a history buff, the president.

And he said that in 1917,

there was a great pandemic,

which probably ended the Second World War.

Okay, I don't even know where to start with that.

It wasn't the Second World War.

It was the First World War.

It didn't end it.

But okay, fine.

This weekend actually is an anniversary of World War II.

It's the 75th anniversary of VJ Day, which Trump got interested in for about a half a second because he thought somebody said VJJ.

But oh, the president, you see, got mad at me?

You saw that tweet this week?

Yes, well, last week I gave him a eulogy.

Good fun.

It was not mean too much.

But I think everybody benefits from hearing a eulogy in their own lifetime.

That was my point.

He did not see it that way.

He wrote a tweet.

He said, I watched Bill Maher last week for the first time in a long time.

He told me he's either accidentally watching me or watching me for the first time in a long time.

And then, oh boy, did he level it up.

He said, Bill Maher, totally shot, looks terrible, exhausted, gaunt, and weak.

Perhaps, but in my own defense, earlier that day, I had to walk down a ramp.

So

anyone would look bad.

What a man this president is.

He this week reached out to South Dakota's governor to see if he could get his likeness on Mount Rushmore.

which, of course, raised the question that is very important and on everybody's mind.

Can granite be combed over?

Oh, yeah, the president had a big week in the Oval Office.

He made a big show of signing some executive orders to halt evictions, which we're going to have to do, and to boost unemployment pay.

Of course, these executive orders will have exactly as much effect in the real world as that time he redirected a hurricane with a Sharpie.

So, don't worry if you're out of work or about about to lose your apartment.

Imaginary help is on the way, folks.

But maybe real help is on the way.

The Democratic ticket got set this week.

Kamala Harris is going to be Joe Biden's vice president.

I think that's very exciting, very historic.

A black Asian American woman whose mother is from India and whose father is from Jamaica.

Trump was so confused, he didn't know where to tell her to go back to.

But I'm excited.

I think she's going to be great.

I think she's great.

I think she is ready to wake Joe Biden from a nap on day one.

But of course, you know, no sooner had they announced that name, you know, that they didn't get to the Harris, and then the Republicans pounce.

Trump was attacking.

She's nasty, disrespectful, phony.

Geez, can she get in the door?

Could you let mommy put her purse down?

But it's exciting, and it's historic.

A daughter of immigrants from India and Jamaica, or what we stoners call Indica.

Yeah,

she ticks a lot of boxes, yeah, for the left wing of the party.

A woman who's half black and half Asian, not a lesbian, but she says she's willing to learn.

All right, we've got a great show.

Tonight we have Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms from Atlanta, Pete Budigedge, Andrew Yang, and Colin Cowherd.

I spoke to them all yesterday.

Let's get right to it.

Okay, my first guest is the Democratic Mayor of Atlanta, Georgia.

Wow, on our show.

Please welcome Keisha Lance Bottoms.

Madam Mayor, is that the right term?

Keisha is fine.

But Madam Mayor works, too.

Okay.

Well, I'm going to say Madam Mayor, because

that's a big job you have.

And as a big city mayor, I'm sure you've noticed that one of Donald Trump's themes for the election is that Democratic cities are going to hell in a hand cart.

I mean, he talks about Portland, and we see there's unrest there.

There have been in other cities.

And Chicago.

had looting in the Miracle Mile last weekend, and they've pulled up the drawbridges in town.

That's not a good look.

So it's interesting in Donald Trump's ads, he shows this kind of footage and says, this is what you're going to get under Biden, even though it's happening now under him.

But it still looks like it could be an effective campaign.

As a big city mayor, what is your response to that approach?

Well, it's a tough time to be a mayor.

I mean, we're having challenges across this country, and they are made even worse because this man is president.

There's no partnership or or true coordination with the White House.

And my understanding in the good old days under the Obama-Biden administration, you could look to the White House for leadership and guidance.

And you had an opportunity to pick up the phone and call when you needed assistance.

But this is, it's very different.

And he doesn't make it any better.

We have so many things on our plates that we have to contend with as mayor.

And then to add the White House and this president on top of it.

It creates a big distraction and it takes up a lot of our time and energy.

All right, let's talk about policing for a minute.

You must have a new police chief there.

I'm not sure who it is because I don't live in Atlanta, but I know the one that was there until very recently, Erica Shields, right?

She resigned after the incident.

There was a police shooting incident.

And she was a very progressive mayor, a gay woman.

I mean that's pretty good for a police chief.

Police chief, I'm sorry.

And in Seattle,

the police chief, a black woman, just resigned because they are defunding the police there and they didn't even consult her.

And she made the point, she said, well, you know, when you defund the police, most of the people who get fired are the young officers of color who, because of seniority, will be the first to go.

So it seems like, in the name of social justice, we're getting rid of the most progressive minority police chiefs and black officers.

That can't be the right approach, right?

Well, I can't speak to what's happening in Seattle, but I can't speak to what's happening in Atlanta.

Chief Shields is actually still a part of the city of Atlanta.

She's still working with us on some public safety initiatives.

We did make a change in leadership,

and we had a really big conversation citywide regarding defunding the police and that's been happening across the country.

Our approach has been very different in Atlanta.

We had begun some meaningful criminal justice reform when I came into office in 2018.

It included eliminating cash bill bonds in the city of Atlanta and for uh people who don't understand what that means.

It means if you get stopped for a busted taillight you have 200 in your pocket you pay you go home.

If you don't, you could sit in jail for up to six months.

We ended our contract with ICE,

and it allowed us to begin to reimagine public safety in the city.

So we are transforming our 450,000 square foot city jail into a center of equity, health, and wellness.

And we're taking the savings that we have experienced from moving away from mass incarceration to putting it towards some of the community-based initiatives and redirecting our personnel in a way that benefits our neighborhoods.

So thankfully in Atlanta, we were ahead of the curve.

Chief Shields has been a great part of this conversation and leadership in that area, and she continues to work with us.

But, you know, when you lead an organization, you sometimes have to make changes.

And my belief is you get the

right people on the bus and then you figure out the right seat for them.

So, we've just done some reconfiguring of the seats on the bus,

but we're still setting the bar really high in Atlanta and continuing with criminal justice and police reform in a responsible way.

But why did she have to go?

I mean, she was only on the job a few years, and I read that the average tenure of a police chief is very short.

It seems like that turnover itself is not good for trying to accomplish the goals that we're all trying to accomplish it's it seems to me like there's a there's a part of the left that just won't accept anything except perfection and i don't know any perfect people

well with chief shields it was a little different she has been a part of the police force for over 25 years

and she had been the assistant police chief She was the police chief under my predecessor.

And I've been in office

three years now,

two and a half, three years now, and she was my police chief.

So her tenure was a bit longer.

What was unusual was that I didn't come in and replace the chief immediately because that's what's happened with the past several mayors we've had in Atlanta.

But I wanted the opportunity to get a feel for my entire cabinet.

And probably,

and I'm just thinking of the numbers, I probably now have one or two people left over from the previous administration.

So that was the extraordinary part about her tenure as my chief.

Okay.

Can I ask you about something else?

Can I ask you about, I know you had coronavirus, but you're okay.

And now,

I don't know what the school situation in there, Atlanta is.

I mean, that's something they're wrestling with in all the cities of the country.

Are the kids going back to school?

And if they do, now that parents are somewhat going back to work, how is that going to work?

Well, today was our first day in my household with virtual learning, and it was a disaster.

I had four kids, one starting college, but of the three who were supposed to be in school today, I could only get one logged in.

So the only thing that went according to plan was that I had lunch ready at the same time that I made breakfast this morning.

So this is going to be an adjustment.

It was a very stressful day, but that's what people are experiencing all across america atlanta public schools have decided to go for nine weeks virtual and then uh reassess at the end of nine weeks nobody ever thought that we would be in this spot when we came out of school in the spring we all assumed that our kids would be going back immediately when school resumed but here we are in august and and we're no better off than we were last spring wow well i hope things get better i'm glad you got better,

Keisha,

Madam Mayor.

I'll try both.

And I really thank you for joining us.

And boy, you're right, challenging times, but good luck with what's ahead.

Well, thank you so much for having me.

It's a pleasure to join you.

Okay, thank you.

All right, here's our panel.

The former Democratic presidential candidate and former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Pete Budigej,

and the former Democratic presidential candidate whose foundation Humanity Ford recently launched an initiative to provide people with $1,000 a month for three months, Andrew Yang.

Wow.

It's great to see you.

Pete, it's great to see you too.

Yeah.

I saw you.

We were beaming together for something not that dissimilar.

No, I'm so excited to have both you guys on and together, sort of.

And I guess the last time most Americans saw you,

previously on real time,

You know, it was the debates and you guys were on the debate stage and now we're heading into the presidential debates and vice presidential debates.

I got to ask first about this debate thing.

It's just a terrible way to do it, isn't it?

I mean, it doesn't really advance anybody's knowledge of anything except who can come up with zingers and put-downs and whoever is the winner is not the winner on substance.

I think we just got to find a different way to do it and I really am not looking forward to these debates because I don't think it favors what Biden is selling, which is substance.

Anybody?

Well, I called the debates a reality TV show at some point during the debates, and I said it was one reason why Donald Trump became president in 2016.

So TV

was an innovation in the 60s, and we started having these televised debates, which ended up changing politics.

And media and technology have advanced a long way since the 60s.

We should have a different modern-day debate that takes advantage of the fact that you can ask someone a question and then get an answer and you could compare them side by side

in a debate setting, essentially by playing clips back like the New York Times did.

I think there are many interesting things we could do to compare candidates on the substance instead of turning it into a zinger match.

To your point, Bill.

Okay.

Yeah, you definitely felt that pressure all the time to just, you know, come up with good television, which may or may not have shed any light.

But I'll say, if there's ever a time for these things to change, it's now.

I mean, you look at the conventions, the same thing.

Conventions have been roughly the same since what, the 50s, and now we're being reimagined.

I don't think we're ever going to go back to the way conventions used to look, even after the pandemic.

And it will be good to see what we can come up with this time that might just update that entire setup to make it meet the reality.

And, you know, to the point that debates are really a bunch of bullshit, I mean, we see that the vice presidential candidate now is Kamala Harris, who I think is a terrific choice.

I'm guessing you guys do too.

But I mean, her big debate moment was saying some stuff that was good television about the guy who she's now running on the ticket with, which is all forgotten because, again, it was all just theater and nobody really cared.

Okay, my next question.

I don't want to do what the Fox News and I must say sometimes the MSNBC people do, which is just just ignore news that your team doesn't want to hear.

And so Trump did a good thing,

or somebody in his administration did, big news today, Israel has had a treaty with an Arab country, the United Arab,

I'm sorry, yes, the UAE, the Emirates, that's Dubai, right?

That's

places where lots of people go for vacation now.

I mean, there's some pretty high-falutin stuff going on in that part of the world.

That's That's on the Gulf.

Of course, Trump lied, and he said it's the first treaty Israel has had with an Arab country.

That's not true.

They made one with Egypt, which has stayed for a very long time.

Jordan has stayed for a very long time.

This is, to quote Joe Biden, a big fucking deal.

Or maybe it isn't.

I'll ask you.

What do you think?

You think this is a big deal?

I think it's good news.

I mean, there's no question that it's good news, and we shouldn't let politics get in the way of that.

It'll be especially important to see if there's real follow-through on this backing off of talk around annexation because that would have really destroyed any chance of a two-state solution.

So

hard to tell as usual

what role or credit is appropriate for the president.

But look, anything that adds peace or stability to that region, we shouldn't be afraid to say that that's good news.

Yeah, I agree, Pete, and you spend time in the region, but when something good happens, you have to call it out because you can't get in this trap or this mode where anything that Trump does is automatically bad.

You know, Democrats need to have a clear vision for what we want to see in the world.

And anything that moves that vision closer to reality is a good thing that we should applaud regardless of who's in power when it happens.

Right.

And an Arab country like that, making a treaty with Israel, exchanging ambassadors, having normal relations, and that's a Gulf

state, you know, that's the first time that's happened.

I think that's going to be

a big deal in that part of the world.

I mean, now that's three countries that

have treaties with Israel.

It's happening slowly, but the normalization of Israel in that part of the world, I think, you know, it didn't happen quickly, but it's going to happen because everyone realizes it's inevitable and they're not going anywhere.

All right, let me ask about the convention.

Andrew, I heard today you are going to speak at it.

Yes, thank you, Yang Yang.

Andrew Yang is back.

What happened there?

At first, you were not invited, and now you are.

Was that pressure from your Yang gang?

Is that what you're saying?

I think a lot of people were disappointed that I wasn't included in the original slate of speakers.

Pete was there, of course.

So glad to be joining Pete and others.

And, you know, they made their disappointment heard, and the DNC did what I thought was the right thing, which is they announced a new slate of speakers, including me.

I'm going to be there next Thursday when Joe receives the nomination.

So thrilled to be a part of it, thrilled to help make the case for Joe and Kamala as who we need in the White House.

Yeah, I mean, when I hear you two guys, it's just, it's like, why can't America have that now?

You know, I get it, you're a little too young for the country, a little too new.

But man,

people like you guys who are just problem solvers, who want to just fix stuff and get on with it and have the energy.

And not that Joe's not a good guy, and it's not because he's old, but he's kind of been around a while.

I don't know if he understands the technology and a lot of some of the things that you guys understand better.

Anyway,

we all wish him luck.

I mean, we got to take care of this guy.

You know.

Let's get Donald Trump out of there, and then we'll have our hands full trying to solve the problems that have been building up for years.

So, I mean, Biden's ahead, but he's not, to my view, comfortably ahead.

Not for my comfort.

I mean, Hillary was ahead by more at some point.

And I just got to ask, what is your party doing against this walking disaster that you can't close the gap better than that?

I read the other day, 5.3 million people have lost their employer-based health insurance since COVID hit.

That could be 10 million by the end of the year.

Republicans never had a plan for health care, still don't.

It's like, how could, what do you think it is that keeps the Republicans so close to a party like that?

I mean, look, it's never just about policy, right?

The policies of this administration are a disaster.

The leadership of this administration is a disaster.

We know that.

But still, I think there are a lot of folks who heard a message, fraudulent though it was, a message that, you know, here is somebody who sees you and who cares about you.

Now's our chance to change that.

And I

I think Joe Biden is really focused on making sure that we reach out because we've had a chance to draw more people into the Democratic Party than I think we've had at any point in my lifetime, precisely because of the way this president is acting.

Federal troops being

brought in in a way that are federal agents against protesters,

an affront to any traditional conservative values as well as liberal values.

It's a huge moment for us to grow the party.

But the reality is we should never be comfortable, no matter how good the polls get.

We've got to work every day to make sure that this is a success all the way up to Election Day.

And then we've also got to be ready for the fact that on Election Day, we're probably not going to have final results.

And after what we went through in Iowa, I very much know the impatience of wanting to get results on Election Day.

But the reality is if mail-in voting goes the way it should and election officials are diligently doing their jobs, it may be days before we have results.

And so we've got to be motivated all the way through that entire process.

But is your party too

captured by its far left fringe?

Should it talk that?

I wouldn't say that, Bill, but I will say that when I was campaigning around the country, I said, I'm running for president.

And then someone would say, what party?

And I said, Democrat.

And you could see

this negative reaction.

oftentimes.

And this was from truck drivers or waitresses or retail clerks that I thought the Democratic Party was fighting for.

And the fact that our message is not reaching certain

Americans, I think the Democrats need to do some soul searching and say, why is it?

Why is it that so many people think the Democratic Party isn't speaking to them, isn't fighting for them, is patronizing them?

I think the Democratic Party has a tendency to deliver a message in a particular way and then say, if you don't get that message, it's your fault.

Instead, we should be going to people where they are and speak to them in a way that they appreciate and understand.

I think Republicans unfortunately get that to a higher degree than Democrats do.

And as a result, we're in danger of being perceived as this urban party or

the party of the educated elite.

And that's what's created an opening for Republicans to make their case over the last number of years.

Right, because, I mean, economically, it does seem like you should be getting a lot more votes.

I mean, and Andrew, your big

proposal was $1,000 a month to everybody, which is sort of what the country has done during COVID.

I read the other day that poverty, the poverty rate, we all thought it was going to go up and it went down because everybody living or dead got a check for $1,200.

It turns out giving people money reduces poverty, Bill.

And that's what we found out.

And now 74% of Americans are for cash relief during this pandemic.

In 2020, 74% might as well be 98%.

So this is something that Americans Americans can all see.

It's common sense.

We have to get more money into people's hands to allow millions of families a path forward during this time when we've lost millions of jobs and they're not coming back.

But we are just printing the money.

I mean, you know, it is funny money, right?

I mean, and at some point,

do you not worry that at some point with funny money, the whole thing comes crashing down and then we're all poor?

Well, we need to do a better job of harnessing the gains of things like the Amazon trillion-dollar stock market valuation that right now the American people are seeing zero of.

If we got ourselves our tiny fair share of the hundreds of billions being generated by Amazon and being made off of our data every year, then we can start to pay for universal basic income and other measures that are necessary in this time.

But right now, the house is on fire.

We have to put the fire out.

And the danger is really doing too little, not too much.

I'm in despair, just like millions of Americans, that our legislators went home without another stimulus deal.

You know, you're looking at tens of millions of Americans who are facing eviction and desperation right now because our government could not get its act together and do the obvious in a crisis.

Congresswoman Ayana Presley tweeted last week, cancel

student debt, cancel rent, cancel mortgage.

That sounds pretty radical.

Is that part of why Americans sometimes are skeptical?

Because they think the Democrats are a little too radical?

Or maybe that's not radical?

What do you think, Pete?

Well, I don't think it's radical to have relief for Americans.

It doesn't mean you can just waive it all the way.

But

the reality is, if we don't do something, a lot of people are soon going to be homeless.

It's why, for example, we should at least extend this moratorium that exists on evictions.

You know, for all the show that the president made of signing an executive order, it didn't actually do anything to provide that kind of relief.

Andrew's right, the house is on fire, and we need to take extraordinary measures to bring relief to ordinary Americans.

We've already done it in the form of cash.

It worked, although it would have worked better if we had acted more quickly.

And, you know, over time, we'll develop more ways to look out for the long run.

But what we've got to do right now is just make sure people don't go off the cliff.

Okay.

Bill, when you talk about pushing money out to people, you know, 10 years ago or 12 years ago, we printed $4 trillion for the Wall Street banks, and Americans remember that.

So you see that we have the resources when it comes to Wall Street.

Now it's time for the American people to experience the same kind of, frankly, benefit that the big corporations have seen.

I'm just wondering, you know, landlords are people too.

You know, I mean, my first apartment here, the guy only had four apartments.

I don't know if you cancel all rent, mortgage, I mean, I just think it's

why I'm putting my money into people's hands so the landlord gets paid too, and the small business owner, and the garage, and the grocery store, and the mom and pop businesses that are going to shut otherwise.

Okay, so I read this week that Fox News is now the number one channel in prime time, not just among news channels, among all channels.

That's pretty astounding from someone who remembers when TV was like nine channels.

That among all channels, including the entertainment ones, this is what people are watching.

And I think it was 63% of the people who get most of their news from Fox say that Trump has done an excellent job fighting COVID.

You know, when he loses the election, if he does, these people are not going to believe it.

And I remember asking Probably both of you, I know I asked you, Mayor Pete,

what are you going to do when he doesn't go away?

And back then, everyone was laughing me off.

And now, of course, everyone is kind of like saying, yeah, what are we going to do?

And they've gone right to baking it into the cake that he's not going to leave.

And my point was always, we need to get people on the record now.

Now,

you have to get the people on the record saying, this can't happen.

So what are your positions on that?

Yeah, I mean, again, this is one of the reasons why we've got to hold his protectors and his enablers accountable.

You know, one of the extraordinary things after that Lafayette Square episode, where he basically politicized the military, was that military leaders who were involved realized that that was wrong and apologized.

Whether we're talking about our institutions, like the military, or whether we're talking about elected officials, everybody needs to make clear now that there needs to be that orderly and peaceful transition of power.

You know, a lot of people used to roll their eyes every four years when the inauguration is going on and the commentators talk about the transition of power because

it seems so,

you know, something we ought to be able to take for granted.

But this president doesn't care about any Democratic norm.

Why would he care about this one?

To me, the only real solution to that is to make sure that it's not even close.

An election with this president shouldn't even be within arguing distance.

It shouldn't even be within cheating distance.

But shouldn't the Democratic Party be able to win by one vote, just like the Republican Party?

Why are there always two rules for these two parties we shouldn't have to win big this is america we should just have to be able to win one vote should do it bush won by 537 in florida and they gave it to him i feel like we know how it's moved on the golf post

right i mean look i remember being in high school learning about the electoral college and thinking well that's a that's a quirky thing but if it ever actually overruled the american people i'm sure they'd get rid of it the next day it's happened twice since then and if we want to call ourselves a democratic country it's got to go.

Now, the only way to do that is a constitutional amendment, but there's actually a compact circulating among the states that if enough states sign on, promising to give their electoral votes to the person who wins the popular vote, it'll have the same effect.

We're not going to see that happen before November.

One more reason why we got to make sure it's not even close.

But I do think these kinds of structural reforms that I made the case for in my campaign, whether it's the Electoral College, whether it's making sure that our fellow Americans, U.S.

citizens in D.C.,

get a senator, making sure that Puerto Rico gets real political representation, or some of the other basic reforms that we got to do to our system and our courts.

If we don't do that, then we're always going to be chasing our tail with election results that just don't reflect what the American people actually believe.

Yeah.

Are either of you concerned about QAnon?

If people don't know what that is, they're a crazy conspiracy theory group.

They're the ones who think that Hillary Clinton was running a

pedophile sex ring out of a pizza parlor in Washington, D.C.

I mean it's on that level.

And now, you know, it started on the internet, then it migrated, of course, to right-wing radio and stuff like that.

And now we're seeing people, QAnon people, in Congress.

Someone won the primary in Georgia.

There's going to be a Republican congresswoman who's a QAnon person.

They believe a satanic ring of,

you know,

pedophilia fans are running the world and reptilians stuff like that.

What do we do about that, or can we do anything about that?

One feature of the internet and the way people are getting information now, Bill, is that negative sentiment and conspiracy theories now spread more virulently and effectively.

Where, if you remember, and you and I are old enough to remember the days before the internet, if you had someone with some crackpot theory, they couldn't find someone else, you know, like they were in the town square or whatnot.

But now they can connect with each other.

And this is a feature.

This is here to stay.

This is something that we need to get our arms around as a society because it's going to get worse when you have deep fakes and you're able to present compelling videos of you, me, and Pete doing things that we never did.

And

there's going to be this real question of what is truth in that kind of era, especially now when we're all sort of interacting via video.

I mean, we take this video as truth and we're having this conversation.

But then, you know, if you can present another video that says something else.

So this is something that to me is fundamental to a functioning democracy.

That we are decades behind the curve in terms of regulating or figuring out or governing what the rules are in terms of hate speech online, in terms of the formation of various online communities.

And it's getting more and more dangerous over time.

It's only going to continue to get more dangerous as time goes on.

I think there's one other thing.

I agree with all of that.

I think there's one other thing going on.

Look, conspiracy theories are actually nothing new.

I mean, you can go all the way back to the 1790s and find conspiracy theories about the Illuminati.

It's just something that's part of America.

What's unusual is for it to have this much power, for a conspiracy group to have an ally in the White House or a member in Congress.

But I think part of the appeal, especially right now, these groups, if you just look at the way they work,

their little codes and stickers and logos, is they're offering

a kind of membership.

I think they're speaking to a sense of belonging that people are looking for anywhere they can find it.

And if we don't build real sources of community, including right around us at a local level, then really

dark and creepy and harmful things will come in to fill that void.

And I think we're seeing that right now.

Yeah, I think that's very true.

Hey, I look forward in the years to come to watching you two guys fight it out with each other for the presidency.

Me and Pete have a a pact.

Don't worry about it, Bill.

Like an alliance.

I'm on the yang gang.

Okay.

Whoever wins, I don't think we can lose.

Thank you guys.

See you soon.

Stay well, Bill.

Take care.

Okay, to no one's surprise, this is going to be the nastiest election ever.

And I want to read you some quotes.

These are real quotes from the President of the United States talking about what the world's going to be like if Biden Biden got elected.

He says, Biden's following the radical left agenda.

Take away your guns, no religion.

No religion?

Wow, no anything.

No anything.

Hurt the Bible, hurt God.

He's against God.

He's against guns.

He's against energy.

Trump says, if I don't win the election, China will own the United States.

You're going to have to learn to speak Chinese.

And then he was talking about Biden's environmental plan, which involves saving energy in buildings.

He said basically means no windows.

No windows, no windows, no God, no anything.

Well,

so this is just the beginning.

We got to hold to some of the things they're going to say next week.

Listen to this.

Sesame Street will start teaching children gang signs.

All public restrooms now will be transgender only.

Cats

will eat at the table and humans will drink milk out of a bowl on the floor.

Wow, this Biden world is tough.

Coal miners will be retrained as prostitutes.

There will only be brown MMs.

Married men will only be allowed to have sex with their wives.

I think that was just for him.

That he may have.

The next James Bond will be RuPaul.

RuPaul,

if Biden gets in.

All bags will be banned, and you'll have to grocery grocery shop using your pants.

And all the animals at the zoo will be replaced

with paintings of lettuce.

That's the world if Biden gets in.

So make your choice now.

All right.

He is the best-selling author and host of The Herd with Colin Cowherd, which airs on Fox Sports Radio and Premier Networks.

Colin Cowherd,

how are you, sir?

I am a big fan, longtime fan, fan, watcher all the time, and I think we agree on a lot.

And one thing I think I know you're on my page now because I hear you, is a couple months ago I did a whole editorial about the inconsistencies about how we're handling coronavirus.

And one of them was, how come we can be on a plane, which is, you know, recycled air, and we're sitting with one seat apart, although sometimes they don't even do that, and wearing a mask, but we can't sit outside at a baseball game.

And now I see Jerry Jones is coming along to our way of thinking.

And he said, Yes, we're going to have cowboy football.

And yes, our fans are going to be in the stands.

Are we coming to our senses on that, you think?

Yeah, you know, it's funny, Bill.

So I'm in a restaurant a couple of weeks ago in Park City, Utah.

I walk in with a mask.

They take it off.

I sit with friends and family next to six people in a next table and tables.

Nobody has masks.

That's indoors with average ventilation.

I can't go to Dodger Stadium, wear a mask, take it off in my seat outdoors in the sun with wind, which is remarkable when you consider, I'm not sure it's easy to contract outdoors.

If it was, then California coastal cities would be overwhelmed.

It seems that outdoors in the wind and sun is helpful.

It does not 33,000, a cylinder at 33,000 feet.

Okay, it doesn't seem.

That's facts.

That's science.

They've studied it.

They know that.

It's not nearly as contagious outside, and outside is good for you.

We should be fighting this by having better immune systems.

Part of that is fresh air, sunshine, vitamin D.

But I take your point because I've been to restaurants too, and it's so ridiculous.

You wear a mask to walk in.

You have to wear the mask to walk in.

You have to wear a mask to go to the bathroom.

But while you're sitting there eating, no mask.

Nobody has a mask on because the virus is like, oh, please, we're not going to jump in their mouth while they're eating.

He's with people.

We're a virus, not a monster.

It's just so stupid.

Well, it is.

And the inconsistency, I mean, it starts at the top.

We don't, I think sports commissioners, Bill, have done a better job than most governors.

I'll give you an example.

Adam Silver.

So COVID hits mid-season.

He loses his mentor, David Stern, passes away suddenly.

Kobe, a global icon, tragic death.

You have Kyrie Irving has a mini revolt, a star player saying we should not have the season.

They lose $2 billion

in a deal with China because NBAGM

supports democracy for protesters.

All that said, in four months, the aesthetic is outstanding.

The quality of play has been excellent.

The intensity is remarkable.

They haven't had a positive test bill in a month.

Well, they did it right.

I mean,

the jury is in on who did it right and who did it wrong.

Basketball did it right by having a bubble.

Why did Major League Baseball not do that?

Why are baseball teams flying around the country to empty stadiums?

Well, the answer is in unions.

So the baseball union, the players' union, is the strongest union.

So when it was suggested to play in Arizona, Texas,

the baseball players said no, thank you.

I will say this in support of baseball: 13,000 tests, 0.1% positive.

Okay, these are 25-year-old guys, alpha males, millionaires, a lot of testosterone.

Okay, the birthright of being young is poor judgment.

Okay, 13,000 tests flying all over the country, and about a handful of guys were positive.

Okay, maybe they were at a hotel, they wanted to go to Applebee's, there were no tables available.

Can we slow down, you know, lecture?

Baseball guys, baseball has not done it as well, but the media is hyperventilating.

Baseball's done okay.

Yes, well, they're also hyperventilating about the idea that young people, anyone can die from this.

Of course, anyone can die from this.

Anyone can die from anything.

Young people get cancer sometimes.

It's not the usual thing, but it happens.

But we know basically the numbers here.

I talked one week about the USS Theodore Roosevelt.

It's a ship of 4,000 sailors.

There was one death.

Because basically when you're a healthy person, the terrain is difficult for

the virus to make mischief in.

Russell Westbrook, I heard one day, he has it, you know, the breathless reports.

And then like a week later, I turn on the TV, he's playing.

He said he had a stuffy nose.

Yes, can it get you?

Anything can get you, but they're not honest about who mostly dies from this.

Older people, of course, because they die more from everything and their immune system is more frail.

And obese people.

The people I worry about sports-wise with this, NFL linemen.

Yeah.

Don't you agree?

If the football plays, those 350-pound linemen,

you could see some deaths there.

Yeah, I talked to Andrew Whitworth.

Great lineman, about 315 pounds for the Rams two days ago on my show, and he goes, I get tested every day.

So the therapeutics, Bill, as we know, with this virus, have gotten significantly better.

They figured out ventilator use, turning people on their back, on their stomachs, from their backs.

There's different therapeutics being used.

Andrew told me he got it.

He was mostly asymptomatic.

It is the question in the room that people are most concerned about.

Now, we know the lung capacity of a 315-pound offensive lineman in the NFL is better than the 315-pound guy at Walmart.

We know that.

That's kind of a given.

But I think it is, it's the question I ask.

Now, in college, a lot of colleges don't want them to play because of fear of linemen.

But the difference is NFL players have collectively bargained to take the risk and college players are unpaid.

And to ask somebody unpaid to take a physical risk is crossing a threshold the Pac-12 and Big Ten aren't comfortable with.

Well, yeah, so there's not going to be college football.

I'm wondering, let me ask you a semi-political question here, because I think this could really affect Trump, the fact that there's no college football.

Because I think a lot of people in this country are like, well, Trump, you know, you can kill Granny and you can tank the economy, but you know what?

Don't take away my football.

If I can't paint my face like it's Halloween and get blackout drunk at nine in the morning in a parking lot and go watch 19-year-olds give each other brain damage, you have just lost my vote.

Do you think that actually could affect the election?

Listen, we have two people running for president that are in their late 70s.

I don't think it's the most dynamic presidential election of my life.

I'm not sure how we got here.

I think people in America, there's a referendum bill, and they're going to vote against the sitting president, not necessarily for his challenger.

I believe that to be true.

I believe suburban housewives have turned.

That's my guess.

I don't think football would affect it.

NFL will go on.

It will make it through.

I mean, again,

we're going to have a lot of players test positive.

Let's not freak out.

Like, they're not promising us in the NFL.

They're not promising us.

Nobody's going to test positive.

College football right now, two conferences out, three in.

My guess is in a week, they're all out.

Yeah.

And baseball, if I can go back to that for one minute, I mean, they are flirting sometimes now with canceling their season because we've had teams that did get a lot of players sick.

The Marlins, I think, and the Cardinals, right?

And then, you know, you have to go to basically the next man up, and, you know, it's a lot of Scrubs playing.

But I must, I hope they don't cancel the season for any reason.

I think it would be terrible for morale.

I think somebody has to run the flag up and say, we're the can-do people.

We played sports during World War II.

You know, during World War II, the Steelers in football, I'm sure you know this, and the Eagles, the two Pennsylvania teams, combined to make one team, the Stegles.

That's what they said, because there's an emergency on, and we're just going to get through it.

Ted Williams probably would have hit 800 homers if he didn't have to fight in two wars.

We're the can-do people.

We don't quit.

We keep playing.

Don't you think that's important?

Well, Bill, if you really look at what's worked here, UFC, Dana White, aggressive, Reneden Island.

NASCAR, aggressive.

We're going for it.

golf early no fans we're going for it the people that have bulldozed through social media fear-mongering the people who have been steadfast in their beliefs those sports and those leagues of work if you're going to sit around and worry about what they say on twitter you're in there's a there's a lot of fear porn you're in big trouble and so dana white nfl nfl bill you know this those owners want a season we're going to have a season what'd you think speaking of twitter what do you think of Popovich, Greg Popovich standing?

It's interesting.

You know, we went from like for only a year ago, I mean, almost nobody was kneeling.

I remember when that issue first came up, and I said, well, given the history of this country, it wouldn't be such a bad idea if everybody in the stadium, all the fans, kneeled too.

I mean, and now that's kind of what's happening.

Everybody's kneeling.

And Greg Popovich, who has impeccable liberal credentials,

he just said, look, I just made the decision at the moment.

Everyone was kneeling, but they played the anthem and I just felt like standing.

And I thought, yeah, you know what?

You can do both things.

You can say Black Lives Matter and I love my country.

And how about just you do you, I'll do me.

We don't have to do all the same thing at the same time all the time.

Well, your resume should matter.

Okay, LeBron James did not put Black Lives Matter on his jersey.

He didn't give us an answer why.

Right.

He has equity in this.

Sopovich, isn't it nice that your resume matters and you're not judged in a singular photo on social media?

You know, Bill,

I've never talked about this, but I've always had this feeling that all sports asks something of us.

Baseball asks us, no clock, be patient.

It'll take a while.

Football asks us, there's a regulated level of violence.

You have to be comfortable with some of it.

And the NBA with LeBron James asks us,

there are social causes in the black community that we care about, and we'll wear a t-shirt or we may kneel.

And that's okay.

I opt in on that.

Now,

I don't think we should be arrogant.

Let's not be naive.

Kneeling doesn't land the same for everybody.

You're a talk show host, I am.

You say something on the air, it lands completely different.

It's not contextualized on social media, and you can't believe what's happening with a clickbait.

So, that kneeling to me lands as police reform and social justice.

Not for everybody, but it's okay.

You know, I think you may have talked about this.

If we're demanding growth from people, you can't simultaneously demand perfection.

Right.

Drew Brees was tone deaf, but that's okay because then

his teammates, he discusses this and he goes, okay, I was tone deaf.

That's what growth is, Bill.

It's making mistakes, the ability to make mistakes.

Too often now, we want perfection and growth, and they can't coexist.

Right.

And as I've said many times, you can hate Trump, you can't hate all the people who like him.

It's just too many people, you know, and they have issues too.

All right, listen, I got to cut it off there, but it was great to talk to you.

I'm going to keep watching you and hope we do it in person soon.

Thanks, Goliath.

I was ready for your marijuana questions, Bill.

I'll tell you, I was ready.

I've got files on that.

Let's do that when we see each other personally sometimes.

I'll hook you up, man.

All right.

Take care, Bill.

Thank you.

Okay, time for new rules, everybody.

Nope.

New rules.

New rules.

Backyard edition, once again.

New rule, instead of arguing whether to shut down TikTok or buy TikTok or ban TikTok, let's skip ahead 10 months to the part where we're like, hey, remember when everyone used to use TikTok?

Oh, geez, life is so much better now that we're on Click Dick.

New Rule, quarantine quarantine parents have to admit there's nothing they wouldn't do, no place they wouldn't go to get just one hour away from the kids.

And before you argue with that, let me remind you: you're eating lunch out of a plastic box on a piece of astroturf in a Glendale parking garage.

Neural Jeffrey Epstein must be reanimated so we can ask him two questions.

One, who were your guests on Sex Island?

And two,

why was the one road called Giz Lane

New Rule while we're discussing white privilege let's talk about the lack of diversity in background music in stores elevators and on hold

Peter Zotero hasn't had a hit since 1986 unless you're in CBS then it's like nobody else has had a hit since 1986 have you heard Kenny G's new album you have if you've been in an elevator just once I'd like to hear a service representative will be right with you.

Until then, enjoy Cardi B's wet-ass pussy.

New rules, when it comes to popping the question, keep it simple.

Last week, a man in the UK set up a hundred candles to create the perfect setting to propose to his girlfriend, then left to pick her up and bring her back for the big surprise.

Oh, it was a surprise.

But happily, she still said yes.

And they're planning to spend their honeymoon in Pompeii.

And finally, new rule, be careful what you apologize for.

Last week, Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively apologized for having their wedding eight years ago at a plantation in South Carolina.

And while I'm sure we could all do better in being aware of the presence of racism, including in the past, if this is the new rule, it's going to be hard to go to a lot of places in the South.

It was kind of one big plantation.

And not just the South.

The Stock Exchange is two blocks from New York's first slave market.

And in 1991, construction on a new building in Lower Manhattan unearthed a massive slave burial ground from the 17th century.

Among the businesses that stand over that ground today are a dance studio and a ballet academy.

So people are literally dancing on those graves.

Because America,

America is poltergeist.

We're all six degrees from genocidal assholes.

If we start turning history into a big game of guilt by association, it never ends.

Are we really going to make everyone apologize for standing somewhere that humans used to stand when they were even more barbaric than they are now?

Ryan Reynolds said of his wedding, it's something we'll always be deeply

and unreservedly sorry for.

And it was a giant fucking mistake.

Yeah, the Green Lantern was a giant fucking mistake.

This was you got married at a beautiful venue you saw on Pinterest.

Look, every wedding, Every funeral, every slip-in-side on this blood-soaked land is inappropriate.

The country itself is named after a slave trader named Amerigo.

But we can't just pack up our government and pretend none of this country ever happened.

Here's a crazy idea.

Let's live in the present and make the future better.

Of course, tear down statues of Confederate traders.

But in San Francisco, protesters tore down one of Grant

because Grant was once gifted a slave who he then freed.

Okay, not a perfect score, but Grant was the guy who kicked the asses of the other statues you've been tearing down.

You know, while they were alive and could fight back.

A little braver, I'd say.

There's even a drive to remove a statue of Lincoln at the University of Wisconsin, because as one student put it, I just think he did, you know, some good things, but the bad things he's done definitely outweighs them.

Yeah, I wish I had been raised with the kind of self-esteem parents give their kids these days, where you can think that when it comes to accomplishments and racial justice, you're just a little bit better than Abraham Lincoln.

Washington and Jefferson are also up for cancellation because they owned slaves, and being a product of your time,

that's not an excuse anymore.

But if that's the case, if being a product of your time is no longer an excuse,

what do you have to say about this guy

and his dad?

He was really strict.

And neither one of them had any problem whatsoever with slavery.

The Confederacy used the Bible to justify their cause because it has plenty of passages from both testaments to back them up.

Slaves, obey your earthly masters.

Slaves, be obedient to your human masters.

Slaves, submit yourself to your masters.

You see a pattern?

If we're going to be consistent, I think we're going to have to cancel God.

Jesus himself says at one point in the Bible, the servant who knows the master's will and does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows.

Thanks, Son of God.

Would you let those words slide?

If it was somebody's tweet today,

Jesus did heal a slave once, but not to to free him, to get him back working.

Because this is how slavery was back then.

They didn't see it as a problem because no one did.

And if you had been back there, you wouldn't have either.

You're not better than Jesus or Ulysses S.

Grant.

You just cater.

But I got to say that Jesus, you know, being God and all, really should have known better.

So when he comes back to judge the living and the

I say he's got a lot of explaining to do.

Like, hey, you were always performing miracles.

Instead of the bar tricks with the loaves and the wine, why didn't you zap the chains off a slave?

With all the preachings and the sermons on mounts, why not one time throw in a little, oh, and this whole people owning other people thing?

That's not right.

But no, Nada.

On the subject of slavery, Jesus says, sweet fuckethal.

So, first thing when he gets back is,

we're going to need an apology.

And I mean a real apology.

And any of this, I'm sorry if my condoning of slavery caused offense.

And then I think rehab would be in order.

And also sensitivity training.

Oh,

he can forget about hosting the Oscars.

Okay, that's our show.

I want to thank my guests, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, Pete Buttigieg, Andrew Yang, and Colin Cowherd.

We'll be back next week from the yard.

Thank you, folks.

Catch all new episodes of Real Time with Bill Maher every Friday night at 10, or watch him anytime on HBO On Demand.

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