Overtime - Episode #423: Nukes, Gun Control, Obama Speeches

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

Ernest, how confident are you in the ability of the Iran deal to contain Iran's nuclear threat?

I'm quite confident.

Yeah, and you worked a lot on that, right?

I did indeed.

And the reason is something that is seldom talked about.

The deal puts in place verification measures that are completely unique and apply to this deal forever.

Donald Trump said it's maybe the worst deal in the history of the world

because everything he thinks of is the worst in the history of the world.

So is it...

This is another case where

I love the fact that information would help.

You've got the Secretary of State Rex Hillerson saying that so far Iran has been complying with the deal.

And on the same day, you got Trump saying we've got to get rid of it.

It is amazing the way, like I said in the monologue, they start off with

nobody knew, and they come back to, boy, I guess what Obama was doing is actually the best, you know.

There's no great answers.

There's no great answers out there.

Can I add?

We see what happens when you don't get in early enough and let's say

not get North Korea stopped before they have a nuclear.

The problem, though, is that with North Korea, you don't have as many players that you were able to put together.

The Obama administration put together a great coalition to put pressure on Iran.

Right now, we basically only have China.

And that's all we have to put pressure on North Korea.

So that's a little trickier.

Tara, do you think more sexism exists on one side of the aisle or is it a bipartisan problem?

Well obviously it's somewhat bipartisan.

We know Bill Clinton and then

but did you ever work at Fox News?

I did not work at work.

Have you ever been called hot chocolate?

Well I would actually probably be called like mocha, mocha margiato or something given my not chocolate, but

no,

not at Fox News anyway.

But I have appeared there and I had appeared on on Bill O'Reilly's show years past and I hadn't experienced that.

But I do have friends that have been over there and, you know, there was a very

problematic culture, obviously.

But I think it also is a reflection of the generation of the people who ran it.

You know, when you look at guys that are at that age.

The asshole generation.

The madmen generation.

But yeah, I mean, they come from a time where it was okay to slap the slap the...

No, I mean, I think that's a good idea.

That's the last okay prejudice.

I didn't wait to say that.

borrow with the broad brush.

No, no, I'm not saying it's okay.

Oh, yes, you were.

I'm not saying it's okay.

I'm saying that it's reflective, but it's reflective.

You asked the question one.

I know, but you're

alive.

And I'm saying that what happened at Fox News is an example of a generation where that was okay.

And now, when you see the way that the result of it, the generation now is saying, like, that's not okay.

We've seen a lot of advances.

And so I think you're going to see less and less of this kind of overt sexism.

It's not over with, but there's progress that's being made.

You see that people are paying a price for it.

Okay.

Nick, do you think there are.

Yeah, we're a woman with

a pleasure.

Yeah.

Nick, President Trump spoke at the NRA today.

Yes.

Do you think there are avenues to make progress on gun control?

Yeah, I mean, and I'm deeply involved in that issue, and there's a tremendous amount of opportunity to make progress on gun violence prevention.

in cities and states around the country.

And the only way that we will make progress on those issues is in cities and states.

And we passed background checks in Washington State.

We passed extreme risk protection orders in Washington State.

And in Maine, there's stuff going

around the country.

And there's a lot of progress that can be made in that way, but not federally, forget it.

But to be clear,

if you want to build a movement, you have to start in cities and states,

whether it's the $15 minimum wage, marriage equality, pot legalization.

If you want to change change a culture, you have to do the hard work of changing hearts and minds in localities first.

Okay.

Is it unseemly for former President Barack Obama to earn $400,000 for an upcoming speech to Wall Street?

Yes, he's doing two speeches, each for $400,000, one to Cantor Fisher.

Got it.

I wish he had spent a month building houses for poor people with Jimmy Carter.

Well, he was a community organizer, right?

I guess he figured he paid his dues with that.

Personally, as long as he's not running for office again, I don't care how much money he makes.

If people want to pay him that, it's a free market value, who cares?

I don't have a problem with that.

And I think that people, a lot of the people who are being righteously indignant about it, are also people who make lots of money doing what they do.

So I don't understand.

But wait a second.

The current president is trying to undo all of his Wall Street regulations.

And then he goes to Wall Street and takes 200.

Isn't that what sort of cost Hillary the election?

Are those horrible speeches she made to Wall Street and different?

She didn't release the transcripts on it?

Because she released the credit transcripts.

No, they didn't.

But the difference is, are you in the pocket of Wall Street?

And she's running for office.

He's not running for anything right now.

He's not going to.

Now, Michelle Obama might be a different person.

No, she's not running.

She doesn't want to run.

I don't have a problem with this.

It kind of looks like when he's on our team, we're okay with it.

No, no, I don't feel that way.

I mean, if he were running for president, I would have, and in other words, if there was a time lapse and he had done those speeches, then I do have a problem with that because

then you get into the whole area of conflict of interest, which this administration is just one big difficulty.

Yeah, of course it is.

But you could say that

when a guy is president, he's looking ahead to that $400,000 payday, and he's not going to get it.

If while he's president, he's going to do something that's going to piss them off.

So isn't the best thing to do?

Take your $10 million book deal.

Can't you live on that?

Yeah, well, that's up to his choice.

It's individual freedom if he's not.

Yeah, what's his

argument whether it's

going to be able to do it?

The truth is that the country is being torn apart because a few people are doing well and most people aren't.

And this is the canonical example of that.

It's such a pure expression of that.

I'm surprised.

I'm a capitalist.

I'm a capitalist.

I don't have a problem with when I don't know when America became I covet my neighbor's success country.

This was a country where you could come from nothing and be something.

That's why it would be free.

It is, but it is not.

If he is not going to run for office again, he's a private citizen and someone's willing to pay him $400,000 to pay speech.

I don't care if, as long as no laws are broken, that's fine by me.

That's America.

You know what?

It's never about hating.

Nobody hates anybody else's success.

I don't know about that.

A lot of people, there's a lot of class warfare.

Why?

What are you saying?

Oh, I think a lot of people hate other people's success.

Oh, you talk about show business?

Fuck yeah.

That's what I'm doing.

I thought you meant

that.

Politics, too.

I've got news for you.

Thank you very much, everybody.

You were a great audience.

You were a great panel.

And I hope you have a great night.

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