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Bill Maher
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Charlie Kirk
No, I don't agree. No, I think people might think they are Club Random. There's a book of the bible I think you'd love.
Bill Maher
What?
Charlie Kirk
Song of Solomon.
Bill Maher
Song of Solomon. Crosby, souls and Nash.
Charlie Kirk
Song of Solomon's all about sex.
Unknown
Club random.
Bill Maher
Charlie Kirk here.
Charlie Kirk
I am here.
Bill Maher
Kirk reporting for duty.
Charlie Kirk
That's what they call me.
Bill Maher
How are you?
Charlie Kirk
Nice to meet you. Thanks for having us.
Bill Maher
Us?
Charlie Kirk
Well, our game or me?
Bill Maher
Is there someone with you?
Charlie Kirk
Thanks for having me.
Bill Maher
You're not expecting trouble, are you?
Charlie Kirk
Not quite.
Bill Maher
You travel with security?
Charlie Kirk
Unfortunately.
Bill Maher
You do?
Charlie Kirk
Yeah.
Bill Maher
Wow. Like what kind?
Charlie Kirk
You know, security.
Bill Maher
Well, I'm sorry that you have to do that, but that's the price of fame. And boy, you're you. I mean, man, you're everywhere. You're the new it boy. Podcast. No, it's true.
Charlie Kirk
We have different jihadis that want to kill me. The purple haired jihadis. The woke guys.
Bill Maher
Well, they want to kill me just as bad.
Charlie Kirk
Probably.
Bill Maher
Oh, they really do.
Charlie Kirk
No, you've been very outspoken on the WOKE stuff, big time.
Bill Maher
Oh, yes. I mean, and they just. The way within a religion, they hate their own apostates more. I would say they hate me more because I'm supposed to like, get on the short bus to crazy town with them and I won't. And yet I'm still a liberal and still like, you know, I mean, we probably could argue all day about Donald Trump and what he's doing, which I'm not down with. But, you know, it's always the people who are closest who think, oh gosh, you shouldn't have. You're a traitor somehow because they thought.
Charlie Kirk
You were one of them and that.
Bill Maher
I am one of them. They're not one of me. I'm. Okay. It's the liberals.
Charlie Kirk
So they've left you. Not you left.
Bill Maher
Well, I feel like there's. Liberal and woke are two completely different things. It was a theme of my last standup special that I just did a few months ago. And it's basically. I mean, it wasn't the whole special, of course, but it was a large part of it devoted to that, to proving that case that, you know, what liberals believe woke is something completely different. It's very often the opposite of it. You know, liberalism is let's live in a colorblind society. That's the goal. Woke's goal is we see race everywhere.
Charlie Kirk
It's obsession.
Bill Maher
Yes. Okay, so that's not liberal. You change. Liberal is their two state solution. Woke is river to the sea. Okay, so just don't take my word and say you're. That you took this and took it to. You got off the F train, you fell asleep and you got off the 20 stops too far. And don't blame me for that. Drink?
Charlie Kirk
No, I'm good, thank you.
Bill Maher
You don't drink?
Charlie Kirk
No.
Bill Maher
Or smoke pot? No. And you're married and super Christian. We're going to get along great.
Charlie Kirk
This is going to just be perfect.
Bill Maher
But can I just ask because I want to find out a lot about you because you're, you're obviously a super bright guy, but you do think that I have the right to live completely opposite than you do.
Charlie Kirk
I think you can get as drunk as you'd like.
Bill Maher
And you're, you're that kind of an American, right? You're not, you're not forcing your opinions.
Charlie Kirk
As I'm not here to say you can't. What are you talking about?
Bill Maher
No. Okay. So you think pot should be legal.
Charlie Kirk
That's a complicated. I Have a very unpopular view on pot, you know, Can I tell you my case on pot?
Bill Maher
Please do.
Charlie Kirk
It's not the depression that it might be causing or the fact that might be hurting kids brains. It's the smell, it's the stench that drives me crazy.
Bill Maher
Yeah, it's not hurting their brains. I mean, kids shouldn't do it. Of course kids shouldn't. It definitely hurt. Didn't hurt my brain.
Charlie Kirk
But let me ask, do you think that more, more teenagers are doing pot today or that before legalization or after.
Bill Maher
Legalization, you know, what do you think.
Charlie Kirk
Usage rates are going up or down? I don't know the answer.
Bill Maher
Oh, you'll be fascinated by this. You know, I'm not married, so I go out, so sometimes I'm out with like people who are a great deal younger than me. I don't know how they get in my group, but they do. And so I've been to sometimes parties like the Hollywood parties, and this is probably not most of America exactly this way, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's that different. And first of all, in this town, it's all run by like the Nepo babies. The Nepo babies, the trust fund kids. There's all these little funny two year.
Charlie Kirk
Old boys, the JB Pritzker types. Well, I'm kidding.
Bill Maher
No, no, I'm sure I, I know who you mean. The governor of Illinois.
Charlie Kirk
He inherited the Hyatt.
Bill Maher
Oh, sure, we invented Nepo baby out here. Okay. But yes, it's everywhere now, even on the Lakers.
Charlie Kirk
Hey, that, that's, that's real privilege there. You know, you got some privilege if you can get.
Bill Maher
Well, okay, I don't want to. I want LeBron mad at me like he is at my friend Stephen A. But I mean, that is, I, you know, but the point is that when you go out to these, I've been to these parties where like it's a bunch of 22 year old kids and none of them are smoking pot. Why? They're on real drugs. Pot's so like my generation, it's like I couldn't find pot at one of these parties. I was the only, they were asking me for it. The few kids, they're all, they take.
Charlie Kirk
This, this, they've got psychedelics, mushrooms, lsd, okay.
Bill Maher
Oh, ketamine, whatever.
Charlie Kirk
Ketamine, that, that has some medicinal property, but not at a party.
Bill Maher
They' all, it's all ingested before they even leave the house. So that's where the good news, parents, your kids aren't on pot.
Charlie Kirk
Yeah, but they're on way worse. I think they're on a big, big trip, so. But do you think that since we've legalized, less teenagers are doing like 13, 14, 15 year olds? Because that was always the argument, right? If we legalize it, less kids would do it?
Bill Maher
I don't know what 14 year olds are doing.
Charlie Kirk
No, I don't know the answer. I just.
Bill Maher
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Charlie Kirk
But we can agree that kids shouldn't.
Bill Maher
We can agree. Oh, totally. But we also should be able to agree that we shouldn't force adults to organize their lives around what kids might get into.
Charlie Kirk
That's a good argument. I mean, do you think that it's.
Bill Maher
I mean, you're not against porn, are you?
Charlie Kirk
Well, I actually once struggled with porn. Thankfully, I'm free of that.
Bill Maher
But I mean, how can you struggle with it? I mean, so easy.
Charlie Kirk
Well, you could, you could grow addicted to it. I mean, it can.
Bill Maher
I know. I was kidding.
Charlie Kirk
No, but no, I mean, yeah, I don't have that, that issue anymore, thankfully. But I would ask the question though, like, do you think since the legalization of marijuana in la, it's made it a better or worse place to live or just. It hasn't changed at all?
Bill Maher
It certainly hasn't changed my life.
Charlie Kirk
Okay.
Bill Maher
I grew up right outside here.
Charlie Kirk
Do you think the quality of life has gone up or down?
Bill Maher
Well, I don't know, but that's not really the relevant question. Isn't. Even if there is a deleterious effect, there is too many things we do and we would not use that as a reason to prescribe our basic freedoms.
Charlie Kirk
Should people be able to do drugs outside, like on the street or.
Bill Maher
No, definitely not on the street.
Charlie Kirk
Okay, so there are some limits. Of course there are limits.
Bill Maher
Yes. And maybe of certain drugs or certain drugs should be by prescription as we do with pharmaceutical drugs, you know, but certainly potential is more benign than alcohol. I mean, I could give you the stats on that. We all know that. Is it health food? No, I'm not crazy like some of my hippie friends are. Complain trying to portray it as something that's actually good for your lungs, but I don't think it's. Well, it's a trade off. When you're an adult, you have the right to make trade offs. Trade offs is the, is the essence of life. I'm gonna have this piece of cake tonight and be a little fatter tomorrow or I'm not gonna do that and feel better tomorrow. And we all make those choices on a Daily basis with everything? Yes. Have I probably cut off some years of my life, maybe with pot? Who knows? I may have increased them because it helped me, it made me, certainly made me richer, made me better at my job, better at writing, better at a lot of things I like to do. So, you know, I might be living in a two bedroom apartment in Van Nuys if it wasn't for pot. And I'm probably going to live longer.
Charlie Kirk
Here or who knows how successful you could have been without it.
Bill Maher
That's true too. That is true too.
Charlie Kirk
Do you, do you think there's any merit to the argument that the pot is, has more THC and it's more intense than it was 30, 40 years ago?
Bill Maher
It's so hard.
Charlie Kirk
I don't know. I hear these things and, oh, I.
Bill Maher
Hear those things too. And I'm sure that's true because once it became as commercialized as it has, of course you're gonna try to maximize the potency of it just because the customer comes back. Just like a restaurant is not interested in your health, they're interested in making the food selling more product, delicious as they can if you come back to that restaurant. But it's so hard for me to tell you because I've been smoking for 50 years and I'm different. Who knows what I was thinking? I remember when I first smoked, I, we would just sit in the car and laugh at nothing for an hour. That doesn't happen anymore. So my guess is the pot is stronger, but my resistance is weaker.
Charlie Kirk
Okay.
Bill Maher
Anyway, it's, you know, I, I'm, people think I'm some sort of giant pothead. I've always been very circumspect about my pot smoking. I mean, I don't smoke every day. The most I smoke is right here, once a week. I, I like to be in party mode when I'm with someone I'm getting to know. I, I, this is one of the joys of my life. And you know, I understand that it doesn't connect with some people or make some people paranoid or something, but other people, it's just, I mean, you know, some people like a scotch and some people like blah, blah, blah, and some people like complete sobriety. If that's your, if that's your thing, that's fine. But to me, the most interesting place I can ever travel is inside my own mind. And drugs do help you get there.
Charlie Kirk
Is there, do you think all hard drugs should be illegal, like heroin?
Bill Maher
Illegal? No. I mean, well, heroin. Is there any uses for it?
Charlie Kirk
I mean, like for what San Francisco did, they pseudo legalized it, right? I mean they said, hey, we're gonna have make it easier for you to do heroin.
Bill Maher
No, we shouldn't make it easier. That's crazy.
Charlie Kirk
Where they had drug injection sites, basically. No, I know, but that's, that was a public policy position of Seattle, Portland and San Francisco.
Bill Maher
That's the low lying fruit for you, right?
Charlie Kirk
No, that's a question.
Bill Maher
No, but, but isn't it? I want to create the low lying fruit. Who? It's like, sure, it's a right and it's a boundary.
Charlie Kirk
I want to create a boundary.
Bill Maher
And you're right, you know, I mean, again, I'm for picking that fruit too. It's silly to help drug addicts be drug addicts and keep them on the street. It's stupid to keep homeless on the street.
Charlie Kirk
Oh, I totally agree.
Bill Maher
It's another way. Liberals are different than the woke. The liberal thing forever was for compassion's sake, get them off the street. That's not the woke version. Their version is they're an endangered species. Don't touch them in their natural habitat, living under a river.
Charlie Kirk
Let them defecate, let them do whatever they want.
Bill Maher
It's their thing. And you know, I mean there should be nothing more basic than a government claiming the streets, the streets are for the citizens. Then it's not to live in. Build a barracks. I mean, why are these things, Maybe you can answer that. Why are these kind of things so difficult that you think such common sense. Build a fucking barracks. I know homeless people say they don't want to live there. You don't have a choice. Oh, we'll get robbed there. Hire security. It's pennies on the dollar. Why is it so difficult? I feel like I, with no real knowledge of this field could do it could just. If I had people who would carry out my, I would say, okay, get me specs. I want to see a place we could build it. I want to see what the barracks looks like. I want to see who works there. Is it really in the toilets? Whatever. And somebody must be able to. Mitt Romney, somebody who did the Olympics, somebody who could come in and we.
Charlie Kirk
Know how to clean up the streets. I mean, Gavin Newsom cleaned up the streets of San Francisco when Xi Jinping showed up. I mean, it's just an act of the will. They don't want to do it right.
Bill Maher
Like when they get the whores off the street when, when the mayor is like doing one of those cleanup or.
Charlie Kirk
Like when the MLB all star game goes To Seattle. All of a sudden it's America's cleanest city.
Bill Maher
Right. So you're saying if we can do it, that one day.
Charlie Kirk
I'm saying it's an act of the will. It's all that it is. And look, left woke. I won't even say left woke. Philosophy is they believe, they don't really believe in private property. And at its core, why shouldn't someone be able to defecate on the side of the street? Who are you to judge?
Bill Maher
Well, that's not woke. Yes, Maybe I'm saying woke.
Charlie Kirk
Not even liberal.
Bill Maher
Right.
Charlie Kirk
I'm making that distinction, which I think's a fair distinction.
Bill Maher
That's another reason. Another one we can add to the list of woke is not liberal.
Charlie Kirk
And I think left versus liberal or woke versus liberal is an important distinction.
Bill Maher
Right.
Charlie Kirk
I will say what makes you different is few liberals stand up to the woke, and that is few liberals are willing to stand up to woke.
Bill Maher
Absolutely. And few conservatives stand up to Trump.
Charlie Kirk
Fair enough. I mean, you can stand up or disagree, but I guess you could say the question is Trump woke is an ideology. Is Trump an ideology? I mean, he's a person. MAGA is an ideology. But I mean, we can. I disagree with Trump on a lot of stuff. I mean, I don't think we should go to war with Iran. I think that'd be a big mistake.
Bill Maher
Also, when you get to, we're gonna send homegrown American citizens to foreign prisons.
Charlie Kirk
Oh, so the thing he said, you.
Bill Maher
Mean homegrown to Bukele Americans?
Charlie Kirk
No, and if he were to do that, I wouldn't support it.
Bill Maher
Great.
Charlie Kirk
But I think that is a one liner that he gave to Bukele. I think that is. You met the man.
Bill Maher
Yes.
Charlie Kirk
Do you think he actually believes that? Like he would do that?
Bill Maher
It's worse if he does or would. It's still horrible that an American president would say that. Look me in the eye and tell me, if Obama had said that, what your reaction would be?
Charlie Kirk
Wouldn't like it.
Bill Maher
Wouldn't like it. I think it would be a little more vitriolic than that.
Charlie Kirk
We'd be apoplectic.
Bill Maher
Okay. I'm finding out how honest you are, Charlie. And so far I think you're doing good. And I hope I'm doing good with you, because if we don't have the honesty, we can't really, you know, look.
Charlie Kirk
But also to be fair to the whole, you know, topic in general, the outrage around deportations, as we've seen, you know, this, these last couple of, you know, last Couple of weeks is like, the American people voted for it. It's perfectly legal.
Bill Maher
Well, they didn't vote for.
Charlie Kirk
They did vote for mass deportations.
Bill Maher
People without any. I mean, the.
Charlie Kirk
So you mean that Maryland case is what you're talking about, right?
Bill Maher
The guy who they're trying.
Charlie Kirk
Who they say, the MS.13 member.
Bill Maher
Well, there's no evidence that he's. They did not present evidence. I mean, I don't really want to get into the weeds on this one because I got to do it on my show Friday. But. And. But the Supreme Court, I guess we have to get into the weeds there.
Charlie Kirk
You know, there's even new evidence in the last couple of hours that I don't. You lead the conversation. You tell me how deep you want to go on it.
Bill Maher
None.
Charlie Kirk
Okay.
Bill Maher
I mean, but I hope that if it comes to light. Let me button it up this way. I hope that if it does come to light, that there really is no evidence that this guy was a gang member, that he got swept up, which is very understandable. That when you do a sweep, when you're doing big things, yes, there's nothing is going to go perfect. But if it does come to light, I would hope that some Republicans have the spine to say, yeah, that's not right. This guy should not be there. I mean, the Bill of Rights, it's pretty clear that you can't just disappear people without any sort of trial.
Charlie Kirk
Well, but. Sorry to interrupt.
Bill Maher
And deportation is not the same thing as sending someone to a prison.
Charlie Kirk
But you are allowed to deport under the Alien Enemies act, correct? Someone who is part of a recognized terrorist organization, which Ms. 13 is pretty close to. A terrorist organization.
Bill Maher
Yeah. Okay. I mean, you know, you're bending all these words.
Charlie Kirk
He's not an American citizen. We got to acknowledge that.
Bill Maher
No, absolutely not.
Charlie Kirk
So that's important.
Bill Maher
But he wasn't here illegally, either.
Charlie Kirk
He was illegally. The Maryland men. As long as we're not talking about two different cases.
Bill Maher
Talking about Garcia.
Charlie Kirk
Garcia, yes. He was an illegal immigrant to the country.
Bill Maher
I thought he was waiting for asylum.
Charlie Kirk
You could be illegal waiting for asylum.
Bill Maher
I see. So we. Okay, so they could deport him. That's right.
Charlie Kirk
Yes.
Bill Maher
But we never did it. But to a prisoner, it's an edge case.
Charlie Kirk
I acknowledge it's on the edge.
Bill Maher
Okay, good.
Charlie Kirk
No, but the edge is. So there's three ways you can deport people. Could be the Alien enemies Act of 1798. It can be expat, used only three times. That's fine. But, hey, look. And you quote the First Amendment all the time. That's from 1787. Right. So old things are important. I'm just saying, just because that's been used.
Bill Maher
That's been used more than three times.
Charlie Kirk
Fair enough. But just because things are old doesn't mean. And I'm not saying you're using that talking point, but some people are trying to invalidate it just because it's old. It's also expedited release.
Bill Maher
They're trying to invalidate because it doesn't really apply to this, that it's stretching.
Charlie Kirk
I mean, how is ms.13 not a terrorist organization?
Bill Maher
Yeah, you can. Yeah, you can make that or trend.
Charlie Kirk
Aragua, I mean, Well, I mean, organized.
Bill Maher
Because terrorism really is a political movement. It's. It's. It's. It's the. It means terrorizing the civilian population to achieve a political goal. These guys just want to grab your locket, you know. This is a lot more than that. Oh, yeah. A lot more than that. Look, I've said that all this stuff I don't like about Trump, I did it in my piece the other week when I was talking about the meeting at the White House that. No, he was tweeting about me. I've never liked anything. No, check the tape. There are things I like, and one thing I liked was that the police have their morale back maybe now. And, you know, when you live in a city, it's not a good thing when the police lose their morale because they feel like they've been painted with a broad brush, which they were after 2020, you know, and they're like, okay, you know, And I've been very critical of the cops when I think they did bad things. But do I think it's a racist, you know, attack squad? It's not. There's issues. There's always issues in everything. Big organizations and, you know, when you insult the cops, they have a way of kind of brooding about it, and it's just not a good place to be. And when you're. When you're a city dweller. And so, you know, I don't want to be killed by a gang member because they do random killings, you know, just to. As gang initiation so they can get the fucking teardrop under their eye. Okay, I want to be someone's teardrop tattoo. You know, rando out to dinner. So I get it. You know, I mean, these are the things that lost the democrats, the election.
Charlie Kirk
100%, you know, you got to take.
Bill Maher
Care of this shit. I was just.
Charlie Kirk
And there's real Americans that die. I mean, Rachel Morin Lake and Riley. There's real. I mean Jocelyn.
Bill Maher
Well, probably not at greater rates than are killed by regular Americans.
Charlie Kirk
That's debated, but let's just put that aside. They shouldn't be here and so none of those murders should happen. Right?
Bill Maher
Right.
Charlie Kirk
And so anyway, back to the core question. Does the President have the ability to remove illegals that have come here under an enemy gang? Of course he does. Yeah, he has. He has the power given to him by that law.
Bill Maher
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Charlie Kirk
He was a legend. Yeah, I never met him and his.
Bill Maher
Thing was like I don't prepare. I'm like the regular guy who just wants to know he's curious about this person. So I don't know. So I asked the questions that this person would ask you. Charlie Kirk, you're 31 years old. You're Jewish, right? No.
Charlie Kirk
Yeah, that's Muslim actually.
Bill Maher
You're Married?
Charlie Kirk
Yes.
Bill Maher
How long you been married?
Charlie Kirk
It will be four years in May.
Bill Maher
Wow. And kids?
Charlie Kirk
Two kids, yeah.
Bill Maher
Two kids already.
Charlie Kirk
Yeah. Well, we got to work.
Bill Maher
Now, Charlie. It shouldn't be work. That's all I'm gonna say. I'm kidding. I know.
Charlie Kirk
It's an enjoyable.
Bill Maher
It's okay.
Charlie Kirk
We got to the fun, I should say.
Bill Maher
And you're gonna have more.
Charlie Kirk
God willing.
Bill Maher
Yeah, God willing. Right, right. And you know, we don't see eye to eye on the religion thing.
Charlie Kirk
You know, someone told me that I got.
Bill Maher
I gotta tell you, you should see my movie Religion.
Charlie Kirk
I actually saw it.
Bill Maher
Oh, really?
Charlie Kirk
And to your credit, what you did on Islam was awesome.
Bill Maher
The other one's not so much. Correct.
Charlie Kirk
Secondly. So if you just isolate the Islamic party.
Bill Maher
But it was fun.
Charlie Kirk
Secondly, Jesus, to your credit, you treated woke like a religion.
Bill Maher
Yes.
Charlie Kirk
And you criticized them with the same intensity and ferocity you did. And you deserve a lot of credit for that.
Bill Maher
No, thank you.
Charlie Kirk
I appreciate that. No, I mean that because you looked at it as. This has catechism, it has religious type undercurrents, it has almost a metaphysical presence to itself. And so you're an equal opportunity critic.
Bill Maher
Well, I mean, yeah. And it's funny because the director of Religion List, Larry Charles and I had dinner about a year ago and I suggested. And of course it went nowhere. We're both too old to like really act on it. But I said, people keep asking me, and I'm sure him also, to do religious too. But they, when they say it, they think we're going to. Oh, now we're going to go to India and make fun of the Hindus. I'm like, I'm not doing that. Okay. I'm not going to India. And the Hindus aren't that funny. Okay, we did it. The movie did great. And we, we love that. It stands the test of time. And people keep, always keep coming up to me and seeing it. Movies are amazing that way. But I said, somebody gave me a great idea, why don't we do religious too? But the religion is wokeness. And then that's what I was suggested to. And I said, yeah, but then you're gonna have to do the right side of it too, because that's also a religion. Christian nationalism. I mean, come on. Your boys, some of the people I think you're fond of, they mix religion and politics in a way that I think is not according to the constitution. But I have to tell you and give you a lot of credit, I saw a video of yours where you were talking about how Christy, the original documents were. Which is, you know, I mean, my view is that the Founding Fathers, we know a number of them were deists mostly. That was their religion. But you did, and, boy, you have your facts down. I mean, you can spiel when you get on a subject like that.
Charlie Kirk
You got the schtick down.
Bill Maher
You really do. And I trust you. You know, I'm going by what you. But, you know, that they were a little Christier than I thought, you know, and I'm always happy to learn new information. And if it doesn't satisfy people that I don't stay exactly where I am, it satisfies the people who are actually my fans who always want me to do that, to be like, oh, if I take in new information. I mean, that's why, you know, the far left hates me because I went to the White House and said, well, privately, Trump's different, and good for you for saying that.
Charlie Kirk
Yeah.
Bill Maher
And I didn't give an inch on anything. I believe I confronted him on things that I think, you know, he probably maybe never hears from anybody else, but that's not good enough for them because, you know, they had to. But, no, if you take in new information, just tell me. And so I do think, after listening to your spiel, that, yes, they were a little more into Jesus than I thought. I mean, I know Jefferson wrote that Bible and took all.
Charlie Kirk
He heavily edited it, took all the.
Bill Maher
Miracles out, he took all the religiosity out of it and just made him a moral teacher, a moral philosopher. Now, you have to admit, that's not exactly the act of a Christy person.
Charlie Kirk
No. But at least he acknowledged that there was something profound there. Gotta give them credit for that.
Bill Maher
I could even acknowledge that.
Charlie Kirk
Okay, that's good. I'm glad to hear you say, well.
Bill Maher
Jesus as a philosopher was a true revolutionary. I mean, when he said, the meek shall inherit the earth, I think the.
Charlie Kirk
Response was, blessed are the peacemakers. Right.
Bill Maher
Yeah. But the idea that it gets good in the next life was fairly, I think, revolutionary. And the fact that, you know, if you're a good person in this life, there's a much greater road. This is just the pregame. You want the after party, don't you? And the after party is just gonna be fucking awesome. You're up there with me and my dad, God, and it's just, you know.
Charlie Kirk
What do you think Crete would create a better society or better action? People that think that there is an afterlife based on how you act, or people that think there isn't one?
Bill Maher
That's A great question, because it certainly can turn people either way. It can make you fly planes into a building. I'm not speaking of any specific examp.
Charlie Kirk
I can't think of anything.
Bill Maher
I can't either. But it can make you do that, you'll admit that?
Charlie Kirk
Sure. It could also make you do, like, blow up Oklahoma City, too.
Bill Maher
Yes, and it can also, and I fully acknowledge that it also keeps millions of people in line, like Mark Wahlberg. I'm guessing without Catholicism, he just looks like a guy who'd be in a lot more trouble. But I think it just has made his life, you know, much more under control. So there's one Mark Wahlberg I think really benefits from Catholicism. But I think there's lots of people like that. They just, like, they truly are worried that if they do something out of line, illegal or immoral, that the devil will, in short order, after they die, be poking them in the ass with a pitchfork. And so they don't do that. And I gotta give it up. That's a. You know, that is a positive.
Charlie Kirk
Are you at all worried that when a nation becomes too secular it might not know what it believes? There's no cultural cohesion. There's no glue that keeps it together.
Bill Maher
Yeah, but this isn't that a nation. This isn't secular. This is a bunch of fucking religious reeks.
Charlie Kirk
It's increasingly secular, though.
Bill Maher
Well, thank you. I'm trying.
Charlie Kirk
No, but I appreciate. You are quite the evangelist for the cause of no afterlife and no creator.
Bill Maher
You know what? It creeps up a little. But people. People always are going to want it. People always are gonna wanna believe a story. It's much better than the truth, which is that things are random. We don't know the big questions. We don't know how we got here. We don't know why we're here. We don't know how the universe started. We're alone in the universe. You know, is there a God? What is the nature of God? Which one is the right God? We just don't. Nobody knows. I mean, that's why they call it faith.
Charlie Kirk
Do you hope you're wrong? That's the most important question.
Bill Maher
That's a great question.
Charlie Kirk
Well, how do you hope there's a heaven?
Bill Maher
I hope they figure out how I can live forever. I like it here with you, Charlie, drinking this and smoking pot. I'm having a great time. I really can't imagine it better. I mean, I can't. And maybe it is. I'm sure it is. I'm sure, you know, people Have.
Charlie Kirk
But, but something in you probably hopes that. I don't know.
Bill Maher
Yes.
Charlie Kirk
Hitler gets ultimate judgment or the most evil things. Right. Something in you wants to see your loved ones.
Bill Maher
And I don't think about Hitler.
Charlie Kirk
No. There's got to be a desire somewhere.
Bill Maher
A lot of people just think about Hitler. I know, but I'm just saying Hitler comes up a lot. He just, he really.
Charlie Kirk
Fair enough. That there's a desire that there's something beyond this. Well, that is just.
Bill Maher
Okay. Yes, I do. But I mean, it's very hard to find that justice on earth. Ask an AIDS baby.
Charlie Kirk
Bill. That's why when you say, hey, I'm happy here, there's a lot of suffering on earth too. And that's the.
Bill Maher
It is.
Charlie Kirk
That's the Christian argument.
Bill Maher
And some of it is, you know, we obviously can see it comes from no bad deed done. You know, child. Children with cancer, of course, it's.
Charlie Kirk
And it's, it's.
Bill Maher
And then they say, well, that's, you know, God works in mysterious ways. Which is sort of a get out of jail card. It's the hardest kind of non.
Charlie Kirk
Thing, admittedly. It's the hardest. We as Christians have to explain unjust suffering. Atheists have to explain everything else.
Bill Maher
How do you explain it?
Charlie Kirk
We don't. It's hard. It's a mystery. We can say God works in mysterious ways. We can say original sin. However, we don't have to explain creation or the miracle of life or love or justice or.
Bill Maher
We don't have to explain it either because it's not explainable because we don't know. We say we don't know. That's honest. You say, no, somebody told a story a long time ago and we're gonna stick with that. That, to me, I'm not trying to be insulting.
Charlie Kirk
You can't offend me. Trust me. I mean that. So you could be as crude or as blunt.
Bill Maher
Okay, I just, I mean that.
Charlie Kirk
It's not.
Bill Maher
But I find that intellectually embarrassing.
Charlie Kirk
That's fine.
Bill Maher
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Charlie Kirk
That's. And so are. Is there any part of the bible you think is true? Well, no, it's an important question. Meaning, like when they were documenting King David, like was king David a real figure?
Bill Maher
There. There are. There are. Are shards of it that are. I'm sure.
Charlie Kirk
So J was a real person?
Bill Maher
Well, that we don't know. That is not a definitive. Okay, so it really is not.
Charlie Kirk
Like, take Paul. We both agree Paul was legit and a real person. Paul was a Jew, persecuted Jews and then had his, you know, road to Damascus moment. Why would he do that except for the fact that he's crazy or like delusional. What incentive would Paul have to do that? Rich ruling class gave up everything.
Bill Maher
You know, you're saying to me, is there never a case of human delusion or mass delusion or people can.
Charlie Kirk
Why they're suicide cults. Of course there are. No, I acknowledge that the capacity, the.
Bill Maher
Human capacity to believe what's not true, to believe what you want to believe is infinite. I mean, you are literally the person I'm talking about at the very beginning of the movie, religious. Because the very first scene I'm sitting in the car and I'm saying, the movie is not a spiritual quest. I mean, that's what we told them. So they'd signed the release. The movie is me saying, I don't know how it could be that so many intelligent people can wall off a part of their mind and believe in something that part of their mind must know is not true. That's the question I'm going for in religion. And like, you're obviously a super smart guy.
Charlie Kirk
Well, and respectfully, go ahead. Sure.
Bill Maher
And again, I don't want to insult you on that and I appreciate you.
Charlie Kirk
Saying, I mean, have you seen me go to college campuses? There's nothing that fatal.
Bill Maher
But you understand my question.
Charlie Kirk
Interestingly, ironically, I have the same struggle. I don't know how somebody as intelligent as you, and I'm not trying to.
Bill Maher
Offend you, you cannot believe in a virgin birth.
Charlie Kirk
Time out. Hold on. All of that takes faith, I acknowledge, but that all of the fine tuning of our universe, if any of those fine tunings were off, a famous, a famous scientist.
Bill Maher
Some of them are off.
Charlie Kirk
A famous scientist said to believe that the universe and the earth in its current composition was an act of randomness, would believe that a hurricane would go through a junkyard and assemble a 737 flight ready Boeing.
Bill Maher
He's wrong.
Charlie Kirk
Okay, that's fine. But there are so many fine tuning aspects to our existence that I think defy the idea that this is all randomness and all chance.
Bill Maher
Now, you know that's not logical. You're saying, because I don't know the answer, I'm going to assume the answer must be that a divine intervention did it. That's not really a scientific way of looking at it.
Charlie Kirk
So the teleological view, not the cosmological view, is that all of these fine tunings when layered up one after the other, it defies, I think, reason to think that this is just a roll of the dice, that when you see a baby come into the world, when you see how we naturally heal, when you. Even consciousness itself, I think is a pretty miraculous thing to think that's all just a bunch of happy accidents. I think it's more rational to think that that's a byproduct of design.
Bill Maher
You're saying some prime mover made it so these. Correct. Made it so these things happen. I would say if a prime mover could do that, why don't skip all the suffering and why don't you just get us to where we're the perfect thing? Why you need things? I don't know. But okay, the perfect being, right away we're somehow on this journey to being, you know, completely immortal and healthy, I guess, and completely moral. And don't fuck each other up and don't have sex with children and all the bad things.
Charlie Kirk
All the evil of our world.
Bill Maher
Yeah, all the evil and the Holocaust. And why go through all that? If you are a prime mover, I assume that means you can do anything and just get us right to the end and then we can just. What? Why just a bunch of us walking around being perfect? I mean, why is that interesting to a God? You know, the whole thing just don't make sense.
Charlie Kirk
So that's a separate question though, of whether or not there is something behind our existence. I mean, so we believe that the universe started with a big bang. Do you agree with that?
Bill Maher
Yeah, but that's not the beginning of things. That's just the beginning of what the known universe is. The big question is what was before that?
Charlie Kirk
And we believe it's a being, a God, that's always, that's a constant.
Bill Maher
And look, I mean, you know, the misnomer about atheism is that we say, oh, there's no God. No, we just say we don't know, as Richard Dawkins always says, there's theism, which is belief in gods, and they used to believe in many and then it got to one and we just believe in one less. So there's just not.
Charlie Kirk
How would you differentiate that from agnosticism?
Bill Maher
There isn't. That's another thing. That's bullshit.
Charlie Kirk
No, I'm just asking a good faith question.
Bill Maher
No, I think a lot of atheists think that. A lot of people on my team with this, they have that view that, you know, don't split hairs with the atheists and the agnostics. It's like we're on some part of. I don't know when. I really. And I'll never know. So I really don't think about it a lot. I don't get up for church. I try to be a good person because I just think intrinsically it's good for society, it's good for me to be a good person as much as I can. And I don't need the threat of the pitchfork in the Ass to do it.
Charlie Kirk
Can I ask a question? So how. But you even acknowledge, though, that some people act better if they feel as if they'll be judged eternally?
Bill Maher
Totally.
Charlie Kirk
Okay, no, that's a big admission, but.
Bill Maher
Oh, yes.
Charlie Kirk
How do you think society best determines what is good?
Bill Maher
That's a great question. I mean, isn't that what government is always wrestling with, what makes society good?
Charlie Kirk
Do you think, even as an atheist, the Ten Commandments? The right side of the Ten Commandments is a good place to start.
Bill Maher
The right side?
Charlie Kirk
Well, because the left side, I think you'd have a big problem, right?
Bill Maher
I have a problem with eight of the 10 because only two of them are laws.
Charlie Kirk
You got a problem with eight of the 10.
Bill Maher
Two of them are laws. Only two?
Charlie Kirk
What do you mean? Don't kill and don't steal. Okay.
Bill Maher
And don't steal.
Charlie Kirk
Sure.
Bill Maher
Like, I mean, this idea that God is this.
Charlie Kirk
But you're good with those two.
Bill Maher
Like, the first four are just jealous God shit. It's just like. You know what?
Charlie Kirk
No, honoring your parents is not jealous God stuff.
Bill Maher
God's like a pimp who was in the next room. And he said, who you on the phone with there, girl? You know, I mean. I mean, I guess I'm testing that.
Charlie Kirk
Hold on. But no, it's. Again, I'm not offendable on this, but I think you could. I know you made fun of it in religious, but there's something beautiful about not working for a day. Oh, you mean like honoring the Sabbath?
Bill Maher
Oh, I. A week is even better. Well, the Sabbath. No, I mean, the Sabbath is slowing.
Charlie Kirk
Down and saying that we're not going to toil for a day.
Bill Maher
But do you need. Why would you need a religion to get to that? Why would you need a religion to, hey, let's not kill each other and take a day off? Like, again, I don't need a threat or a carrot for that. It's just so intrinsic. It sort of reminds me of the beginning of the Declaration of Independence.
Charlie Kirk
If it's intrinsic, then why is it that a lot of countries that don't have Christianity struggle to come to these realizations that. For example, you know, Communist China, again, no Hitler analogies. Right. Under Mao, which was. Which was resolutely atheist, right?
Bill Maher
Resolutely, yeah.
Charlie Kirk
I mean.
Bill Maher
Well, no, I did a monologue in religion.
Charlie Kirk
They might have Confucianism underlying it.
Bill Maher
I did a monologue in religion about that very subject, which is the people who say, oh, Bill, these atheistic societies, like North Korea and. No, those kind of societies they just replaced the leader of the country for a God. They are not atheistic. When you look at what the Korean, the North Korean people believe about Kim.
Charlie Kirk
Jong Un, it's a deification.
Bill Maher
I completely the same shit that he. When he was born, winter turned to spring.
Charlie Kirk
He once you'll be immortal in the heavens.
Bill Maher
The first time he played golf, he got 11 holes in one. He invented the hamburger. I'm not making that up.
Charlie Kirk
That's more improbable than a virgin birth.
Bill Maher
It is. It really is.
Charlie Kirk
We agree.
Bill Maher
I'm not making this up, but they believe that, so don't tell me North Korea is atheistic. They're not atheistic.
Charlie Kirk
But there is a. In China at least. And of course in the Soviet Union, there was a anti Christian movement. Very hardcore.
Bill Maher
Very hardcore.
Charlie Kirk
Okay, so I guess, like what code, and I'm not saying this sarcastically, like what code? What book do you think is best for humanity to live by? I say the Bible. What would you say? No, it's an important. It's an important philosophical question.
Bill Maher
I have a book called not the Bible. Not kidding.
Charlie Kirk
There's literally so not loving your neighbor and not like, you know, helping you. There's a lot of good stuff, though. Okay, but again, let me tell you why I'm asking.
Bill Maher
Well, you're cherry picking. Come on, Charlie.
Charlie Kirk
The story of the Bible is one of love and redemption. There's a lot in the Bible. It is. It's a story of love.
Bill Maher
This Old Testament.
Charlie Kirk
Well, the entire arc of the Bible is a story of love and a need for humans. Redemption.
Bill Maher
Well, that's a charitable way of looking at it. And that's in there. There's a lot of things in there because it's a giant anthology over centuries of many different writers.
Charlie Kirk
There is a lot in the Bible. There's.
Bill Maher
It wasn't written by God. Right.
Charlie Kirk
There's a book of the Bible I think you'd love.
Bill Maher
What?
Charlie Kirk
Song of Solomon.
Bill Maher
Song of Solomon, Crossway Souls and Nash.
Charlie Kirk
Song of Solomon's all about sex.
Bill Maher
I know it is.
Charlie Kirk
Yeah. Quote, it can't. It's not. It's not appropriate. No.
Bill Maher
What?
Charlie Kirk
No, it's. It's. It's too dirty for a podcast. It literally is about how a husband and wife can grow intimate to one another. And there's.
Bill Maher
Oh, can you tell me that? Can you give me the cheat sheet on that one?
Charlie Kirk
Oh, it's. I'm telling you, the Bible has wisdom in ways you might never imagine, Bill. But no, what I'm getting at though, is that human. This is Not a gotcha or sarcasm. I mean this like. Humanity will seek to find a book. They'll seek to find a code to live by. And I think it's incumbent on atheists to tell us what that should be.
Bill Maher
I agree with the first part of that. Humanity will seek to find.
Charlie Kirk
Seek to know. That's Aristotle's first.
Bill Maher
Well, seek to find something that mollifies their feelings. That's different than knowing. No, they don't really care about knowing. They care about mollifying their feelings. I feel empty. What will make me feel better? This book that purports to have answers it couldn't possibly have, but it does make me feel better because now I don't have to wonder about things that are very problematic to worry about. Like how did I get here? And what does it all mean? And why do you know kids get fucking cancer when they're two for no reason.
Charlie Kirk
And I don't have an answer.
Bill Maher
I know. I'm just saying.
Charlie Kirk
And I acknowledge that this book has.
Bill Maher
The answers to that question. Don't ask. Okay? Don't ask. A. And B, God works in mysterious ways. And that's the end of it. Go to your room.
Charlie Kirk
I think it's a little deeper than that. But it is. I mean, it is deeper.
Bill Maher
It.
Charlie Kirk
Of course it's that, hey, why are we here? Why were we created? But fair enough. I do want to know, though. But, like, what?
Bill Maher
I don't got it for you. We don't have it and we don't claim that.
Charlie Kirk
But that's a big problem, though. And let me pause, because the Bible was the document as you acknowledged that our founders read and believed that built this beautiful society that you and I both love. And I think it's treading on dangerous if we want to a cut our roots without an alternative. Because if we cut our roots, then we get all this other counterfeit stuff of wokeism and all this postmodernist garbage. So our contention is, let's go back to where we came from.
Bill Maher
You know who Eugene O'Neill is? No. Eugene O'Neill.
Charlie Kirk
No.
Bill Maher
Oh, wow. Kids today. Giant of American literature theater. A Long Day's Journey into Night. Have you heard of that play? Never heard of Long Day's Journey into Night. You kids. What are they doing with you in school?
Charlie Kirk
I never went to college, Bill. This is the problem.
Bill Maher
Okay. Anyway, he once said, a life. I find a life with illusions unpardonable and a life without illusions unbearable. And that's the essence of where we are. You choose the second, I choose the First, I find a life with illusions unpardonable. I just can't do it. Okay. And you find a life without illusions unbearable. And the fact that we can, I think, come to this moment where we go, okay, that's you type A, I'm type B, and still be friends to me, this is the future of where this country has to be.
Charlie Kirk
And nothing you have said has offended me in the slightest. And I appreciate it.
Bill Maher
And I appreciate that because again, that was my question in religionless. How can otherwise really super smart people. But this is the answer, like, and it's.
Charlie Kirk
Can I interrupt? Do you doubt those of us that have had religious experiences? Do you think it's just, like, neurological phenomenon?
Bill Maher
How would you describe it?
Charlie Kirk
If I say that Jesus changed my life and he's gone to work in my soul.
Bill Maher
Okay, but was he, like, getting. Did he jump in the car with you at the drive through?
Charlie Kirk
No.
Bill Maher
Okay. You said a religious experience. I have to ask how much that is.
Charlie Kirk
There was a moment where I realized that I'm not all that I would ever want to be, that I fall short of the glory of God's wish.
Bill Maher
And when was this?
Charlie Kirk
When I was in fifth grade, actually.
Bill Maher
Fifth grade, really?
Charlie Kirk
Yeah. That's when I gave my life to the Lord.
Bill Maher
You were thinking about this shit in fifth grade?
Charlie Kirk
Amazingly, I went to Christian school, so.
Bill Maher
So you don't see that as indoctrination?
Charlie Kirk
Well, you know, I actually went to a private school previously, but they didn't force it on us, to their credit.
Bill Maher
No, but you said you were in a Christian school. Okay, you're 10, you're in a Christian school. There's no connection of, like, maybe at a very early age they put a chip in your brain.
Charlie Kirk
I mean, I still had to make the decision for myself and to the cred. And there's a lot of kids that went to that school that aren't Christians anymore.
Bill Maher
And so, by the way, I went to Catholic. I was raised Catholic. I went to.
Charlie Kirk
Didn't stick.
Bill Maher
I had the opposite reaction to catechism, which was the religious training we would go to on Sunday morning where you would learn how to be a good Catholic. And it just really turned me off to the whole.
Charlie Kirk
Was it too forceful, too legalistic?
Bill Maher
Like, all of it, it was just giant. I mean, I was used to a room with 20 kids in it at regular school. And then on Sunday there's like 60 kids, and they're from different schools, and they're just like that, like. And the nuns were, like, mean. Because you got 60 kids you don't really know. You have to like. And of course they're mean to begin with to like, get them in order. And they scared you and they yelled at you and they hit you with a ruler on the knuckles. I really. I'm from that era where they still like fucking hit you on the.
Charlie Kirk
You know how often I hear the rulers from, like scorned Catholics. The ruler is like a very common thing.
Bill Maher
Again, the idea that you keep people in line, it's by fear. That's why you're keeping people in line. And that's a question an atheist really, I think, is due to ask a religious person. Do you really think fear is the best way for us to grow and become good people? Because if that's how we're doing it, I do have a problem with the methodology. Even if I believed in the religion.
Charlie Kirk
I hear that from a lot of people that were raised Catholic and. No, I do. I'm sorry, it's true.
Bill Maher
It's so true about the Catholic view.
Charlie Kirk
I'm sorry.
Bill Maher
No, no, you're right.
Charlie Kirk
I didn't mean to. You know, did I do an exorcism or something?
Bill Maher
Trust me. We have a whole highlight reel of spit takes. It's the highlight of any show. If the guest doesn't make.
Charlie Kirk
If I can make Bill Maher laugh.
Bill Maher
If the guest doesn't make me do a spit take. We consider this a failure. But you did. So go on. But yes, Catholics, yes. That's exactly who you would hear that from.
Charlie Kirk
It's an under. Emphasis on grace. Grace, yeah.
Bill Maher
What is grace? It's such a vague term.
Charlie Kirk
So justice is getting what you deserve. Yeah, we believe all humanity deserves damnation and judgment. Tough, tough stuff. And it started in the garden stuff.
Bill Maher
Oh, you believe in the garden? You believe in the Old Testament?
Charlie Kirk
Oh, yeah. No, Right to the I'm one of.
Bill Maher
Those Christians like 6,000 years old thing.
Charlie Kirk
Not necessarily.
Bill Maher
Because in religious. I went to see the.
Charlie Kirk
I'm not necessarily.
Bill Maher
I went to see the museum. You know, the museum that they have in.
Charlie Kirk
Oh, yeah, yeah. Ken Ham Steel.
Bill Maher
Ken Ham, yes. And we interviewed Ken. He was not happy.
Charlie Kirk
You gotta. You gotta admit the ark is pretty impressive. You've seen the ark? They built a whole ark there.
Bill Maher
We were there for a whole day.
Charlie Kirk
I don't know. I don't. Can't remember if it was before or after the ark.
Bill Maher
No, no, it was. And Jesus.
Charlie Kirk
That's impressive. Come on.
Bill Maher
And Jesus riding the dinosaur.
Charlie Kirk
Yeah, I don't know about that.
Bill Maher
Jesus riding the dinosaur. Do I really need to Elaborate, people. Okay, go ahead with your thing.
Charlie Kirk
Judgment is getting what you deserve. Mercy is getting less what you deserve. Grace.
Bill Maher
Wait, wait. Mercy is getting less than what you.
Charlie Kirk
Yeah, so we believe Jesus gives us grace. So you get a prison sentence, you get judgment, you get mercy, you get less of a prison sentence. Grace would be Jesus serving that prison sentence for you so you could live life eternal.
Bill Maher
Well, how. How is he serving that? Oh, you mean like in the big picture?
Charlie Kirk
Well, because we believe him living a perfect life and then suffering the death that he did on the cross.
Bill Maher
Right.
Charlie Kirk
Was him atoning for our sins?
Bill Maher
Of course.
Charlie Kirk
The sins of humanity.
Bill Maher
Jesus. Yeah.
Charlie Kirk
Which is a big claim, albeit, and a very compelling one, which we also believe one to be true because it redeems all of humanity of our shortfalling of the glory of God.
Bill Maher
I gotta say, it's really picking up the check for the whole table, you know? I mean, you gotta give it to your boy for, like, all of our sins. It's a very generous statement, but what.
Charlie Kirk
It does is it is, at its core, a statement of human equality, that we're all sinners, we're all screwed up, we all got problems, we all got vices. And, like, no one, no matter what you do, we all fall short of God's standard and Jesus makes us whole.
Bill Maher
But how do you think this view of life reflects your politics? And how much should it and how much does it. So look at me, Big pothead just turned into a real interviewer.
Charlie Kirk
I love it. It's a Larry King coming full circle here. You and I both agree it's very difficult to have separation of morality and state.
Bill Maher
Correct.
Charlie Kirk
So my morals come from the Bible.
Bill Maher
Right.
Charlie Kirk
And that definitely influences my public policy decisions.
Bill Maher
Mine come from Playboy After Dark. Is that a problem?
Charlie Kirk
It's a little bit different than, let's just say the book of Deuteronomy.
Bill Maher
I'm just. Oh, well, that's full of crazy shit.
Charlie Kirk
Oh, okay. Yeah.
Bill Maher
The book of Deuteronomy of me.
Charlie Kirk
Well, there's some good.
Bill Maher
That's the one, but that's the.
Charlie Kirk
I love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul strength and mind. That's good.
Bill Maher
Yeah. Also, like, no poking in the wrong hole.
Charlie Kirk
You're gonna have to ask a rabbinic Jew about that.
Bill Maher
Well, there's. There. It's. I think it's. Deuteronomy has the.
Charlie Kirk
Do not lie with another man.
Bill Maher
Right?
Charlie Kirk
Yeah. That's Leviticus 19.
Bill Maher
No, and that's not. That is wrong.
Charlie Kirk
Thou shall not lie with.
Bill Maher
Do not lie to another man. Because if you lie to a gay man, ooh, you are gonna pay for it.
Charlie Kirk
That's rough stuff.
Bill Maher
But lie with another man, that should be everybody's right, don't you think?
Charlie Kirk
Personally, you have a right to. To do what you would like to.
Bill Maher
Do personally with another person.
Charlie Kirk
But I, as a Christian, do not believe that would be holy. I think it would be sinful. But that's just. That's a personal theological. I don't want to get too deep in it. That's a personal theological.
Bill Maher
No, we need to get a little deeper on this because it's so important just to understand. Well, let me ask you what you believe. I believe that some people, a decided minority, maybe one out of 20, probably for whatever reason, that nature, this perfect nature that you describe as perfect.
Charlie Kirk
Well, it was designed perfect. It's all screwed up now.
Bill Maher
Okay.
Charlie Kirk
No, I mean, we have disease and we have all sorts of stuff. Got down syndrome.
Bill Maher
Well, then it wasn't designed perfect because it screwed up.
Charlie Kirk
We, we. You know, you know what we believe, though? We believe there was a rebellion and a contamination of nature.
Bill Maher
Right.
Charlie Kirk
Because that is sin.
Bill Maher
Right. Okay. If they did. Hadn't eaten the apple.
Charlie Kirk
Well, we actually don't know it's an.
Bill Maher
Apple, but yes, it's whatever the.
Charlie Kirk
Could have been a mango. Well, I know. No, don't get me started on mangoes.
Bill Maher
So, as they say in West Hollywood, there's nothing like having a mango in your mouth.
Charlie Kirk
It's George Costanza's favorite fruit.
Bill Maher
But.
Charlie Kirk
Yes, so.
Bill Maher
But. Oh, damn, now what was the point?
Charlie Kirk
I don't know. Tell me something about Deuteronomy. Homosexuality.
Bill Maher
Is that you want to say homosexuality.
Charlie Kirk
As we're keeping it on the lighter topic.
Bill Maher
Thank you. So about 1 out of 20 people, maybe even 1 out of 10, I don't know. And then people will say there's a spectrum. Maybe there's that, too. Of course there are. There is. Some people are like, you know what the kids. Kids call zesty, you know, not gay, but kind of on the waiting list. Okay, but let's say just gay. Like people who are just not attracted to the opposite sex. They're attracted and want to have sex with people of their own sex. Would you agree that that happens in nature?
Charlie Kirk
Yeah, of course it does. Yes. There are instances of species in the animal kingdom that do that.
Bill Maher
Absolutely.
Charlie Kirk
I acknowledge this.
Bill Maher
And we are in the animal kingdom. In fact, we're number one with a bullet. Okay. So given that we both agree that that's a phenomenon that exists.
Charlie Kirk
There's other things that happen in Nature that aren't so good too, but just. Yes, that's correct.
Bill Maher
Like on a par with this.
Charlie Kirk
No, I'm just saying, just to say that it happens in the species of the animal kingdom doesn't make it necessarily morally okay.
Bill Maher
But what's immoral about fucking in the ass? I don't understand why the ass in itself, ipso facto, is immoral. It's just an ass. And the fact that some people want to fuck in there. I done a million jokes about. I don't get that. I mean, it's where the shit comes out. I just don't get it. Even if I was gay, I'd find another way. But that's just me. But they do want to do it. Why is there a moral dimension to this?
Charlie Kirk
Again, I believe Scripture is God breathed. It's what the Bible says.
Bill Maher
Okay, because the Bible says.
Charlie Kirk
Yeah, I do. You're correct.
Bill Maher
But you do know, like the, you know, argument from people like me, that kind of logical argument is that, well, these books were really not written by a God, they were written by men. And it reflected.
Charlie Kirk
Well, of course they were transcribed.
Bill Maher
Reflected the primitive views of people in that era who would of course have had primitive views. They also didn't understand germs or atoms. So their views on this were primitive. And they believed that there was something wrong with that. I get it. That it was different than most of the people in the tribe that these two guys are going off and doing it, but that we can, as sentient beings now, logical intellectual beings, recognize that this was from a long time ago. And now it's just something that happens in nature, that some people want to fuck this way and some people want to fuck this way, and there's no moral dimension to it and no reason to call it a sin.
Charlie Kirk
Again, Christianity just disagrees with that. So, I mean, it's the only sin that God destroyed a city over. So, I mean, and I'm not trying to be legalistic about it, it's just the fact, right? And it's explicitly prohibited in the text, by the way. So is adultery, and so is stealing, and so is coveting. I'm guilty of coveting. And I mean, we're all guilty of many sins. I'm not trying to single that one out and try to be pompous.
Bill Maher
Or I think the phrase you're searching for is save your breath, this is what we believe, and I get it doctrine. So wait, coveting. What do you mean? Now? Coveting is one you can't control.
Charlie Kirk
No, that's not true.
Bill Maher
Oh, Stop it. You can control coveting. It's like saying you can control. If I say don't ever think of a pink elephant, you will think of a pink elephant.
Charlie Kirk
It's a little bit more than thinking. I would, we would say in the interpretation of coveting, it's to the place where you become obsessed. Oh, it takes your being.
Bill Maher
No, oh no, that's coveting. I thought coveting was just wanting something you don't have.
Charlie Kirk
That's, of course you can't regulate every thought that you have. But coveting gets to the place where it becomes your identity of obsession and that, Let me tell you why. Because it says do not covet a specific thing. You're your neighbor's wife, you know, your donkey. So it's like a very specific thing. So for example, if like, you know, someone says, I want to be. I, I can't stand Bill Maher, I want to be a comedian as successful as Bill Maher and it becomes their identity. I don't think that's good. I think, I think it ruins your soul. I think you would agree with that too. You know, people like that, don't give them any ideas. Come on.
Bill Maher
I mean, they're already there.
Charlie Kirk
But people that are consumed with, you know, jealousy, that's what we would say. Coveting is not just like, oh, don't think of the relevant. I'm not here to.
Bill Maher
Okay.
Charlie Kirk
Play air traffic control in your thoughts.
Bill Maher
Right. Because you know, you're an attractive guy. I'm sure there's lots of maga groupies and I'm sure coveting comes up. You know, how can you not covet?
Charlie Kirk
You know, and praise God that I have a great wife.
Bill Maher
Right. And you know, she understands about the coveting.
Charlie Kirk
Yeah. We have a very healthy, loyal, you know, wonderful marriage. And look, but male nature is, that's why there had to be a prohibition on adultery. Because it is male nature too.
Bill Maher
No, it's, it's, I think it's actually easier to be a female in that way.
Charlie Kirk
I completely agree.
Bill Maher
Right. I covet being a female.
Charlie Kirk
I, I wouldn't go that, I wouldn't go that far.
Bill Maher
But how wrong is that?
Charlie Kirk
But no, and again, it's, and again, good on you for being a liberal that acknowledges male, female distinctions. What a concept.
Bill Maher
Right? Of course. I mean, of all the low lying fruit that the Democrats just like hand the Republicans to win elections, that's the one.
Charlie Kirk
You know, it's so funny. I joked around with my team the other day. I said, are they really going to just let us win? Every national election on this. No men and female sports thing. Like, they can't surrender on this one issue.
Bill Maher
It's so ridiculous.
Charlie Kirk
It's a 9010 issue.
Bill Maher
Yeah.
Charlie Kirk
There's 890 medals and trophies of men winning these competitions.
Bill Maher
You lost Gavin Newsom on this. Okay, take that as a hint. Right? I mean, you were. I think you were.
Charlie Kirk
I was the one that asked the question.
Bill Maher
Right? Yeah.
Charlie Kirk
That's an issue of fairness, all that.
Bill Maher
No, that's what I started to say when you sat down. You're everywhere now. You're Gavin News, everybody's podcast. And, you know, look, I always say this. Everybody's a monster till you talk to them. Not to say that there aren't some people who probably are monsters, but, like, I mean, I've yet to find the horror show that is you. So keep looking, Bill. No, I want to. Tell me.
Charlie Kirk
You got to keep going.
Bill Maher
I do. I want it. So tell me. Cut me some slack, because we're friends now, right? We really are.
Charlie Kirk
Absolutely.
Bill Maher
Okay, so just cut to the chase. What is it that the 10% who hate me.
Charlie Kirk
Oh, yeah.
Bill Maher
Tell me what they are wanting me to press you on now. What is the thing that presses their buttons the most about why you're an incorrigible dude?
Charlie Kirk
I don't even think you would agree with their accusations.
Bill Maher
But I just wanna know what it is.
Charlie Kirk
They would say I'm hateful. They would say I'm a bigot. They would say that I'm a xenophobe. Those are the contentions.
Bill Maher
But based on what things that you've said specifically?
Charlie Kirk
I mean, I believe that transgenderism is a mental disorder as it was, you know, diagnosed in the.
Bill Maher
So you don't think any people are, like, born, quote, unquote, in the wrong body?
Charlie Kirk
No, I don't agree.
Bill Maher
No.
Charlie Kirk
I think people might think they are born a different body, but I believe it to be a mental disorder, as most of clinicians did up until the last five or ten years.
Bill Maher
Well, you know, this is another one where the woke hates me. I mean, I did a whole thing on how I think. And we do disagree on this, by the way, because I do think there is such a thing being born in the wrong body. But I said what's going on in the country is what I would call entrapment. Because entrapment by legal means is when you suggest to people something they really wouldn't have done anyway. And I use the example of the Liberty Seven, the seven African American gentlemen in Miami who were planning to blow up the Sears Tower. They were not. The FBI came in to seven people who were. Probably had good reason to be discontented with America and said, wouldn't it be great if we blew up those Sears Tower in Chicago for Allah? And they were like, yeah. And they didn't even have a gun. That's entrapment.
Charlie Kirk
Or the Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping case. Similar. Yeah, no, no, it's real. No, that's legit. Oh, the kidnapping, that was entrapment.
Bill Maher
So she really wasn't.
Charlie Kirk
No, no, that was an FBI entrapment thing. Absolutely.
Bill Maher
It was.
Charlie Kirk
Oh, yeah. It was like. It was like eight. It was like five feds and two guys.
Bill Maher
Anyway, for the record, I'm not acknowledging that I agree with that because I don't know if in the comments you.
Charlie Kirk
Guys can agree or disagree.
Bill Maher
I'm just acknowledging that I respect Charlie Kirk enough to look into whether that is. And it could be true because I say it all the time. I don't believe anybody like I do. You. You just lost my trust. All media. Right left. Very few people do.
Charlie Kirk
Right there with you.
Bill Maher
Do I have like, okay, I hear what you're saying. Now I have to go vet it.
Charlie Kirk
Hilariously, more people that I know that are center left now say, I think Trump is not a monster. Because Bill Maher of what he said on anything else.
Bill Maher
Well, I didn't exactly say that.
Charlie Kirk
Well, no, you said crazy person lives in the White House. That was what you said.
Bill Maher
Right.
Charlie Kirk
And you said he was respectful and serious.
Bill Maher
Yes, I said not a crazy, but a person who acts crazy on the public stage.
Charlie Kirk
Those are two different things, though.
Bill Maher
I know, but that's what matters. I also said it doesn't matter what he does in a private dinner with a comedian. What matters is who he's on the world stage. What bothers me about the critiques I get is that they don't acknowledge the points I myself made.
Charlie Kirk
Fair enough. Let me ask you.
Bill Maher
No, I don't mean you.
Charlie Kirk
No, no, no. But would you prefer him to be crazy in private or crazy in public? Public, let's just say. I'm not saying he's crazy for the.
Bill Maher
Rest of the world. I just took it as a positive. And I said this, I took it as a positive that at least there is this other person that I see that is undeniable. And again, for all the people who. We're losing truth. Yes. I was one of the first to say that we are losing truth. Okay. But I told you the truth. That's all I did. I went there and I told the Truth of what happened, would you have.
Charlie Kirk
Preferred good for you?
Bill Maher
And they would prefer that I had lied.
Charlie Kirk
I signed the bill. Maher cords. It was like a.
Bill Maher
Exactly.
Charlie Kirk
It was like the radical treaty.
Bill Maher
But he signed that piece.
Charlie Kirk
That was hilarious.
Bill Maher
It is hilarious.
Charlie Kirk
It's like you guys were negotiating.
Bill Maher
First of all, the thing I did was fucking funny. Give me a little credit.
Charlie Kirk
Sign the thing.
Bill Maher
No, but the whole piece I did on my show, I thought it was terrific. Yeah, it was funny.
Charlie Kirk
And honestly, good for President Trump for hosting you and. Right. He had the magnanimity to do that and listening.
Bill Maher
And again, the reason why I was the perfect choice for this was because nobody had been harder so on him. So it was a real Nixon to China thing. And by the way, if you don't know what Nixon to China means, you probably shouldn't be commenting on political matters to begin with. My critical friends.
Charlie Kirk
Your meeting, I thought, was a great window into the whole liberal world. That shows the Donald Trump that I know and that I've gotten to know, which is. And I just thought it was hilarious when he was, you know, asking you about Iran. Right. He'll ask anybody about anything. He loves asking people's opinion. He listens more than he talks.
Bill Maher
Right.
Charlie Kirk
He'll solicit opinions. I know. It blows people's minds when we say this.
Bill Maher
Well, it also blows our minds because then he doesn't do the right thing.
Charlie Kirk
You know, sometimes he does.
Bill Maher
Sometimes he does.
Charlie Kirk
The embassy to Jerusalem, I gave that whole list.
Bill Maher
I also gave the list of things that. That are horrible. Disappearing people and ignoring judges and gutting the government with glee. This tariff thing that even the conservative press has turned off on. So, yeah, it was just honest down the line on both sides. I just told you what I saw.
Charlie Kirk
And good for you.
Bill Maher
And didn't. And I just told this to Harvey Levitt on his show. I'm proud I looked him in the eye and said, you're scaring people. I'm proud I looked him in the.
Charlie Kirk
Eye and said, how did he react to that?
Bill Maher
I know, but see, that's the thing. I said that the night I gave it. I said, you're scaring people. Why do you want to scare your own citizens so much? And I know everybody wants to know what he said. And the truth is, I don't remember. But it wasn't.
Charlie Kirk
What kind of drugs were you guys doing that night?
Bill Maher
But it wasn't. Okay, I'll stop.
Charlie Kirk
Okay.
Bill Maher
Then you would have remembered that I would have remembered. So I have no illusions that, you know, my dinner with Donald Trump is going to change the nation. But to the haters, it's just like. As opposed to what? Not engaging at all.
Charlie Kirk
That is their.
Bill Maher
It's either me or Gretchen Whitmer with the binders in front of her face. I mean, I feel like I did it better. I went in there, I didn't give one inch on what I believe or saying to his face what I believe, but I told the truth about how he's different in private.
Charlie Kirk
Do you think, what do you think about the idea? Here's how I would frame it. You going to meet with Trump would be the equivalent of Biden inviting me over for dinner. Meaning, Is that fair?
Bill Maher
Absolutely.
Charlie Kirk
Okay. I don't want to put words in your mouth. Why do you think Biden or Obama wouldn't do that and Trump did.
Bill Maher
I mentioned that too. The thing I said, you know what you did? I said, you know, because look, this was kind of a guy's dinner. And I, look, Donald Trump is a man of a certain age, of a certain way of life. I just think he's comfortable with the guys, not I. And I also think he loves his wife more than is let on, but, like, he just likes being with the guys. And it was a guys dinner. We just had a good guys time. And so like the, I said it like I voted for Obama, I voted for Clinton. But the idea that I could talk to them as freely as I felt this conversation was going is emblematic to me of why the Democrats lose the elections because they just don't feel that this is like a real person. And I know it's so weird to say that about Donald Trump, who I've said a jillion times, is, you know, a whiny little bitch. I mean, I could go through my greatest hits of like, insults, but this was about getting past that and maybe seeing that if we met in person, we don't hate each other as much. And we don't. And I don't. And I'm sorry, I'm not gonna, like, pretend that's a bad thing.
Charlie Kirk
No, it's how you heal.
Bill Maher
Even though he's doing terrible things.
Charlie Kirk
I would say doing great things, but that's a separate issue.
Bill Maher
But I mean, sending American citizens to foreign prisons.
Charlie Kirk
He didn't do that. That was a one liner.
Bill Maher
He set a one liner. You're so forgiving.
Charlie Kirk
I am. It's. That's, that's the Christ in me. I know, but it's Jesus. You need Jesus again, you'll be more forgiving.
Bill Maher
You wouldn't have been Forgiving. If Obama said it.
Charlie Kirk
Well, if so, just let's speak. What. So what did Trump. Trump said that the homegrown ones. You could also argue that if it's an illegal alien. Homegrown. I don't even want to get too far deep into it. Let's just say you were. I don't think we should ever entertain American citizens going to prisons abroad.
Bill Maher
Great. Because, I mean, you're a student of American history.
Charlie Kirk
I try, yeah. I don't know who Eugene O'Neill is, but.
Bill Maher
Well, that's not history. That's the arts, and that's the 20th century. But, yes, I'm happy to fill the gaps in your knowledge.
Charlie Kirk
Thank you.
Bill Maher
That's a big one. Eugene O'Neill's big.
Charlie Kirk
You're my rabbi.
Bill Maher
I would not like.
Charlie Kirk
No, no, no. It's like, I.
Bill Maher
He's not like this. Some small guy, but. Okay, so the Iceman cometh. Another big one. But Iceman. You can see it's not recent. But I forget now what we're talking about. It's the pot. I blame the pot, Charlie. It's always the pot. You're right. It's terrible. I'm gonna quit tomorrow. Not really.
Charlie Kirk
It sharpens your memory.
Bill Maher
What do you think would happen if you smoked pot?
Charlie Kirk
Oh, my goodness.
Bill Maher
You never did?
Charlie Kirk
No.
Bill Maher
Even as a kid?
Charlie Kirk
No.
Bill Maher
But what? Seems just the. This is like sort of my version of the religion thing. Like, maybe you're missing out on the big picture. The way I am with Christianity. Maybe. Except I've already been exposed to Christianity. And you've never been exposed to Rastafarianism or whatever my religion is.
Charlie Kirk
Only one of those has an afterlife.
Bill Maher
But you could. I mean, don't you think that it would be a great thing to see corners of your mind that you have never looked into?
Charlie Kirk
Tell me more. What do you mean by that? I'm not. It's not a game I want to like.
Bill Maher
No, I will tell you. I'm happy to tell you. I'll put it this way. I've mentioned this before with potheads. I think on my show that when I have an important decision to make, I treat my mind the way Congress is designed, a bicameral institution. I will think about it sober and I will think about it stoned. And then if they agree, they can reconcile and present a bill and I will sign it.
Charlie Kirk
And there's a reconciliation process.
Bill Maher
But they both have to come agree on this, because I just have a different perspective when I'm stoned. And it's very often sharper. And more insightful and better. You know, I mean, just editing, I know, like just writing in general. But I mean, I don't do all my writing stoned. But like the final edit, it's like, oh, yeah, you're right, that should go. Like things I did not see sober, I will see stoned. And you know, you might get stoned and be like, oh, Jesus, what are we kidding? I'm back from the dead. No, I'm kidding. This is Sunday, so Sunday's Easter. What are you going to do? Must be a big day. He is risen.
Charlie Kirk
He is risen indeed. Bill, we're going to be celebrating the resurrection of our Lord.
Bill Maher
Why do we say that in the present tense?
Charlie Kirk
Because it is a constant truth in our life.
Bill Maher
He is risen. I always noticed that that was interesting to me, that it was.
Charlie Kirk
That's a really important question, actually.
Bill Maher
It is. Tell me.
Charlie Kirk
Well, because the fact that he has risen transcends time. It's not just in the present sense, it's that of all time, that promise is accessible to all of us. And so it's a proclamation to all people. Because if you said he was risen, it's like it's just merely a historical event. It almost underplays the metaphysics of it.
Bill Maher
I'm just always fascinated the way really, really fine intellectual minds employ themselves for the purpose of arguing things that are so inarguable. It's almost, it's almost. It does, because it's almost like a challenge. Like I'm so smart that I can make this thing, which is so fucking stupid, seem like a real. I'm. No, no, it's funny, but you get where I'm coming from. Like I'm going to take something that is so anti intellectual, even though I can argue like an intellect, however.
Charlie Kirk
But you have to acknowledge, even the greatest minds of history have been mesmerized by the scriptures. Isaac Newton, Thomas Aquinas. Well, Isaac Newton wrote more about biblical prophecy than even physics. And so there's something about the scriptures that are intellectual that does push your limits. And that's what I think is so beautiful about our faith, is it can be accessible to everyone, but also infinitely nourishing and exploration.
Bill Maher
So why the. If there's this other truth that's beyond this meta, you know, this metaphysical truth, why so many different versions of it that only seem to cause wars? You know, Protestants and Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Mormon. Someone asked me recently, like, you know, like, I won't say who, but sometimes people have, you know, don't know history that well and they're like, bill, like, okay, so Columbus 1492 lands on America and we don't really then have the first colony until 1607, Jamestown. So somebody said to me, what happened in that century? You know what happened in that century? Martin Luther at the beginning of that century said, there's an alternative to Catholicism.
Charlie Kirk
There's 95 theses that were nailed on.
Bill Maher
The door of Wittenberg in 1517. And for the next hundred years, they just fucking killed each other all over Europe about who was right about that. And that's why it took a century after Columbus landed to go back, because they were preoccupied with killing each other over whether the Pope in Rome was the devil. And, you know, and then. And then.
Charlie Kirk
Or is the Eucharist the liberal body of Christ?
Bill Maher
I mean, did his foreskin ascend to heaven with him, or was that left here because he was a Jew? I mean, there was just a lot of silly questions.
Charlie Kirk
There was a lot of debates.
Bill Maher
Arianism, Remember that for sure.
Charlie Kirk
Yeah. Or dualism or modalism or. I mean, how do we come to Trinitarianism as a whole?
Bill Maher
I find, I find the first few centuries of Christianity the most fascinating.
Charlie Kirk
Tell me part. Why?
Bill Maher
Well, because they were deciding on it. I mean, Christianity for you non history majors. Christ dies in 33, of course. And then it wasn't until three centuries.
Charlie Kirk
Later around Council of Nicaea.
Bill Maher
Well, that's even later. But the 330, I think, or maybe that was when the Emperor Constantine declared.
Charlie Kirk
He convened the Council Nicaea.
Bill Maher
Right. Okay. So that's when Christianity becomes the official religion of the Roman Empire. So it took 300 years and that's.
Charlie Kirk
When the Nicene Creed was created.
Bill Maher
Right. And in those 300 years, there were.
Charlie Kirk
A ton of debates.
Bill Maher
First it was like, you know, Christianity was just persecuted.
Charlie Kirk
You know, it was surviving the first hundred years.
Bill Maher
The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church was said by Tertullian in 202. So that's 200 years into it, and they were still martyrs. You know, they were fed to the lions that shit. And then slowly it catches on. The idea that it gets good in the afterlife was very attractive to an empire that was like a lot of slaves. If you're a slave, this is a good deal. And so finally in 330, it becomes the official religion. And then you have the church, Fathers Ambrose, Augustine. Augustine, right. And Jerome. And Augustine is writing in like 430, I think.
Charlie Kirk
City of God.
Bill Maher
Yes, he's writing in the. In the city of Hippo. And, you know, just the way they. The. I don't want to call them exactly, press agents, but kind of the way they formed the idea of the Church in those early centuries, you know, it was something that needed.
Charlie Kirk
It needed decisions to be made. Because when you. Our answer would be, which I don't think you'll find overly persuasive. See, I was going to do it right. When you were swallowing is that when you have something true, you have a lot of bad forces that try to pervert it. And you got. You have to. You have to be able to. You have to meet, you have to refine it, you have to clarify it. And I mean, the idea of the Trinity was one of the most important. One of those debates. Again, you had dualism, modalism, Arianism. You had. I mean, you had Gnosticism, which was a huge debate of the early Church. And of course, the. Was concluded in Trinitarianism, which I. We would argue. Go ahead.
Bill Maher
It's just so much arguing that's about how many angels are on the head of a pin.
Charlie Kirk
That wasn't the. The arguments were much more consequential than even like.
Bill Maher
Yeah, I guess if you believe eschatology. Yeah. You know, there's an old saying in comedy. Buy the premise, buy the bit. If you believe the premise that he's God and all the. Then you care whether the foreskin went with him or not.
Charlie Kirk
The big debate was like, is Christ God? That was the big one. That was the biggest of them all. And it nearly split the church in five different parts. And the idea of the Trinity was eventually decided upon, which we believe to be in religion.
Bill Maher
They went to a holy land and they have the Jesus there because they reenact the whole crucifixion. And so I interviewed Jesus and, you know, I hit him with that about like, you know, it's supposed to be very proud. They're very proud that they're monotheistic. You know, like the pagan people. They have many gods. These are these fucking heathens, these savages.
Charlie Kirk
The river, the sun.
Bill Maher
Yes. From shithole.
Charlie Kirk
The corn, the dirt.
Bill Maher
Right. Crazy people with so many gods. And then you have the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost. You can pray to the mother. I mean, it's just a lot of people involved.
Charlie Kirk
I won Godhead in three parts. The Trinity's very split.
Bill Maher
So this is what Jesus said.
Charlie Kirk
Oh, yeah, tell me what he said.
Bill Maher
Yeah, he said. He said. And this like, stopped me in my tracks for a minute because it's the kind of bullshit that makes you go, you know, that makes People go, oh. And to me, it went, oh, no. Okay. So he said, it's like ice.
Charlie Kirk
It's like water. Yeah. It's in three parts. Yeah. Water vapor. Water or ice. See, I'm glad I didn't use that one on you. You wouldn't have liked it.
Bill Maher
Well, Jesus already tried it.
Charlie Kirk
Did he say it in Aramaic?
Bill Maher
But it's a pretty good analogy.
Charlie Kirk
No, but that's what we would say. It's the same thing in three different parts. Right.
Bill Maher
But, you know, they did add the Holy Ghost, like, three centuries in because the Church needed another.
Charlie Kirk
Well, that's not true.
Bill Maher
Oh, it is true. There was no Holy Ghost in the beginning.
Charlie Kirk
In Matthew 4, Christ is baptized. And it says, the Spirit came upon him. God the Father says, it's my Son, and I am pleased. And he is the Son. So you have all three parts of.
Bill Maher
The Godhead right There, the Holy Ghost is named.
Charlie Kirk
There, the Spirit. It says, the Spirit of the Lord came upon him. Now, it doesn't use.
Bill Maher
It sounds like the Lord.
Charlie Kirk
Well, then God the Father said, this is my Son in who I am pleased. So three distinct parts of the Godhead. It's the best picture of the Trinity we have. And then in the Book of Acts.
Bill Maher
So they were all in the same room at the same time?
Charlie Kirk
Well, in the river. Right. I mean, the scene. Right.
Bill Maher
God the Father was.
Charlie Kirk
God the Father was audible. Right?
Bill Maher
Audible. Oh, so he was on zoom.
Charlie Kirk
Yeah, he was. He was phoning it in. Christ was being baptized by John the baptizer and the Spirit of the Lord.
Bill Maher
Baptizer. John the Baptist.
Charlie Kirk
It's actually baptizer. Yeah.
Bill Maher
That's what they call him now.
Charlie Kirk
Yeah. Yeah.
Bill Maher
Is that new?
Charlie Kirk
Got to keep up with the time.
Bill Maher
I mean, is that new?
Charlie Kirk
It's a fun, wonky, theological.
Bill Maher
Why did they change it?
Charlie Kirk
Because it was actually in the. Again, this is like, what's wrong with John the Baptist? It's so insignificant because it actually. In the old Greek, it was a verb. It was the baptizer. The one. It's completely irrelevant. It doesn't matter.
Bill Maher
It's like new Coke. Stick with what works. You know what? It was great. John the Baptist. There's nothing wrong with John the Baptist. It's a great title.
Charlie Kirk
And then in Acts, it says, the Spirit of the Lord came upon the disciples at Pentecost.
Bill Maher
Well, I can't tell you how much I enjoyed this.
Charlie Kirk
Well, thank you.
Bill Maher
I mean, again, I'm sure there's something that I'm not asking you to.
Charlie Kirk
I've been an admirer, Bill. Of yours for a while. We're on different planets, obviously, on the spiritual religious stuff. But when you spoke against the woke, that for me was a proving moment. And I have to say something, and this is 100% true. You had more moral courage than pastors that I know that went along with the woke crazy train. And you deserve credit for that because it was of high cost.
Bill Maher
Until we get rid of that shit, they're never going to win another election.
Charlie Kirk
I agree. They don't. They're not going to take political advice from me.
Bill Maher
No, but they might from me. They could not and they should not. Not the 10%. But that's 10%.
Charlie Kirk
But they're very loud.
Bill Maher
They're very loud, but that's it. And as FDR once said, I welcome their hatred because they're just. First of all, they have no integrity. They don't ever present the full argument. They just cherry pick. I mean, everybody does it to everybody. So I'm not saying I'm unique here, but that is part of the problem of our discourse is that everybody just wants to forward their narrative. No one is really interested in the full truth. Just the truth. Just gimme the truth. And that's the crowd I'm going for.
Charlie Kirk
You know, and to be honest, when I go to these campuses and we're drawing these huge crowds, in some ways we're benefiting from the ways that the old school comics would benefit on college campuses. Cause we're saying the stuff you're not allowed to say. Like we are the rebellion type energy.
Bill Maher
They must be so thirsty for it.
Charlie Kirk
Of course. And like kids. Yes.
Bill Maher
It's like innate that they want to be. Here's something that's not politically correct.
Charlie Kirk
Yes. And you think about it, it's like you're a guy on a college campus at any one of these tour stops we're going to. Right. Boise State University of South Carolina, you know, Oklahoma State University. And they are constantly in this bubble of if I say one wrong word, I could have my entire career ruined. If I say the wrong joke, if I laugh at the wrong thing, if I use the wrong pronoun. They're living in a totalitarian environment, a cultural totalitarian one.
Bill Maher
Okay, you're gonna have to stay a little more because I want to ask about this, because now you got me on colleges and you know, I've been. That's been one of my big.
Charlie Kirk
No, no, we got to talk about this.
Bill Maher
That's been one of my big fucking targets, big time. I mean, I've got. It was in My book, it was in my special, I called them the mouth of the river from which all the nonsense flows.
Charlie Kirk
It is the Wuhan laboratory.
Bill Maher
That was my.
Charlie Kirk
I probably got it from you.
Bill Maher
I did. I said if ignorance is a disease, Harvard Yard is the Wuhan wet market. That was my job.
Charlie Kirk
I got. Now we could say Wuhan lap, but. Yeah, that's right.
Bill Maher
Okay. And Trump's going after the colleges now.
Charlie Kirk
Which I fully support.
Bill Maher
Yeah. But as always with his shit, it's like it's not exactly legal the way he's doing it. You know, it's coercive. I get, I am behind the feeling of it. I'm not sure this is the way to do it, but the feeling of it. Yes. They have become places that. And this is again one of your big bailiwicks. This is one of the places you really got to. I think this has helped you get where you are. They have become places that are two things. Not really interested in teaching, just getting a point of view on the world into the kids heads, which is not the way it was when I went to college at all. And also just very anti Western civilization completely. And this is Western civilization. And you live in Western civilization, you're soaking in it, you're enjoying it. All the things that make your life and especially the life of minorities and oppressed people better come from Western civilization. Rule of law, scientific inquiry, freedom of speech, democracy, all the things, women's rights.
Charlie Kirk
Gay rights, all of it.
Bill Maher
All of it is Western civilization. And the question is, how do you like extirpate that from universities without, I mean, going after the research money? It has nothing to do with this.
Charlie Kirk
It doesn't, it doesn't. I mean. So first of all, you're right. Let's just start with our agreement. Colleges have become a place where they want everyone to look different but think the same. Their idea of diversity is like, okay, we look at the yearbook photo and everyone has race diversity, everything has to.
Bill Maher
Look like Angelina Jolie's Christmas card.
Charlie Kirk
But they all think as if they're at the Democrat National Committee meeting. There's no diversity of thought, there's no heterodox opinion. They tried to get Western civilization taught at Stanford, you know this story well over 15 to 20 years ago. And they removed it. They removed it from the core curriculum. Really, I'm going to be honest. These places have to be basically burned to the ground. Metaphorically.
Bill Maher
Okay, metaphorically, yeah.
Charlie Kirk
Well, meaning, like, I mean, look, you have take Harvard, so you say the research money, first of all, they take 10 to 15% of that in overhead. Why does Harvard, with a $50 billion endowment, need $2 billion in research money?
Bill Maher
Just ask Harvey the same question.
Charlie Kirk
That's a hedge fund with a college attached.
Bill Maher
Right.
Charlie Kirk
That's not. That's not a university. Right, Right. I mean, that's something completely different. Stanford, $40 billion endowment. Yale, $35 billion endowment. And look, some of this research is awesome, and I gotta agree with you, some of it. They should do a case by case basis. But a lot of it, though, is this woke stuff that would, like, take your breath away. I mean, research into transgender mice, I mean, it was just US Taxpayer dollars.
Bill Maher
See, I called that out on my show. That was bullshit. It wasn't transgender. See, that worries me about you, Charlie. You seem to have swallowed that one whole like a snake does a mouse without looking into it. It was transgenic mouse.
Charlie Kirk
I'm sorry.
Bill Maher
It was not. But it's hugely different. Transgender. That's just going along with what the mob thinks. It wasn't. He got it wrong. And no one was around to tell him that he got it wrong. He just went with it. Transgender. It wasn't transgender. It was transgenic. They were studying mice for health reasons. Serious cancer solving reasons. Nothing to do with transgender.
Charlie Kirk
So I stand corrected on that.
Bill Maher
Okay, but.
Charlie Kirk
But a lot of these universities have superfluous research departments that are bloated and then go raise your own money for it is my position if you want to go do this stuff, go raise your money.
Bill Maher
No, of course. So as Christian as you are, you don't want us to be the Christian United States of America.
Charlie Kirk
I want to see the body politic become Christian. But I want the Constitution to be our North Star.
Bill Maher
Not by coercion.
Charlie Kirk
No. Because that's not love. That's force.
Bill Maher
Okay.
Charlie Kirk
We as Christians believe you should voluntarily use your agency, give your life to Christ.
Bill Maher
And you think that someday we all will get on the train there.
Charlie Kirk
I don't know if I'm optimistic or pessimist. I don't know. It's tough. The church rates are going down.
Bill Maher
Right.
Charlie Kirk
I mean, we're seeing a little bit of a plateauing there. Your side's been winning, bill, the last 20 years.
Bill Maher
You know, you're gonna be tired of all the winning. That's all I'm gonna say.
Charlie Kirk
But, like, are you cheering for those church traits to go down?
Bill Maher
Yes.
Charlie Kirk
You think it would make the world a better place?
Bill Maher
I do.
Charlie Kirk
Has it made Europe better?
Bill Maher
The idea that you think we need Christianity as the pillar here to hold up this Edifice that I can't agree with.
Charlie Kirk
But I think you could agree that. That there's a Christian inheritance that is unique. And that's Tom Holland's argument, who's an atheist.
Bill Maher
That's true.
Charlie Kirk
And that there's something we've inherited.
Bill Maher
Well, there's no. Well, what we do know is that the ideas of the Enlightenment were ideas from people who were Christian. I mean, you know, obviously Rousseau and John Locke and the people here in America.
Charlie Kirk
He was very Christian.
Bill Maher
Yeah, Christian. I mean, Christianity to varying degrees. Again, Deism, again. You know, Thomas Jefferson taking Jesus out of his miracles, out of the Bible. So there was. But that's the basic tradition. It is a Western tradition that we seem to have to always apologize for. I'm sorry.
Charlie Kirk
No, no, no, I'm not.
Bill Maher
No, I'm joking.
Charlie Kirk
But no. If America was 81% Christian or 81% Islamic, what's a better country?
Bill Maher
Yes. According to the ideals I believe in. If you think faith, I know you do, is the most important thing, but I happen to think freedom is the most important thing. Personal liberty, again, human rights, rule of law, scientific inquiry, democracy, freedom of speech. All these things which are absent much more in those societies than the society I live in. Totally. All right, Charlie. Okay, Charlie.
Charlie Kirk
Bill, thank you.
Bill Maher
That was a real pleasure. Real fun.
Charlie Kirk
Thank you.
Bill Maher
Okay. Tell your friends.
Charlie Kirk
Happy Easter, Bill.
Bill Maher
Happy Easter. He is risen.
Charlie Kirk
He is risen. Indeed.
Bill Maher
He is risen.
Charlie Kirk
Thank you for having me.
Bill Maher
Oh, I see. Pleasure. We wanted to do it for a while.
Charlie Kirk
Yeah.
Bill Maher
And I know you wanted to do this before real time.
Charlie Kirk
Yes.
Bill Maher
But now that we did this, you could do real.
Charlie Kirk
I would love to. Yeah. I wanted to get to know you.
Bill Maher
Yeah. Yeah. I think it was better this way first.
Charlie Kirk
And I watch your show almost every weekend.
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Podcast Summary: Club Random with Bill Maher – Episode Featuring Charlie Kirk
Episode Information:
The episode kicks off with light-hearted teasing between Bill Maher and Charlie Kirk. Maher humorously addresses Kirk's need for security, attributing it to his high-profile status and remarks on the prevalence of "woke" adversaries seeking to undermine him.
Notable Quote:
A significant portion of the discussion centers on the legalization of marijuana. Both hosts debate whether legalization has led to increased usage among teenagers and its broader societal effects. Maher shares his personal experiences and observations from parties, noting a shift from marijuana to harder drugs among younger generations.
Notable Quotes:
Bill Maher emphasizes the distinction between being "liberal" and "woke," arguing that liberalism seeks a colorblind society, whereas "woke" focuses on identifying race and other differences. This differentiation sets the tone for their broader political discourse.
Notable Quote:
The conversation shifts to political figures, particularly Donald Trump. Maher defends his interactions with Trump, highlighting the importance of engaging with differing viewpoints. Both hosts critique current political strategies, immigration policies, and leadership styles.
Notable Quotes:
A deep dive into religion versus atheism forms the crux of their dialogue. Maher critiques organized religion, particularly Christianity, discussing its historical evolution and moral doctrines. Kirk defends the moral framework provided by Christianity, arguing that it underpins Western civilization's values.
Notable Quotes:
The hosts engage in theological debates, touching upon the Trinity, biblical stories, and moral commandments. Maher challenges the logical consistency of religious doctrines, while Kirk defends their theological significance and moral guidance.
Notable Quotes:
Both Maher and Kirk criticize modern universities for fostering ideological homogeneity and sidelining Western civilization's contributions. They argue that campuses have become echo chambers that suppress diverse viewpoints, leading to a decline in critical thinking.
Notable Quotes:
In their concluding remarks, Maher and Kirk reaffirm their mutual respect despite ideological differences. They emphasize the importance of honest discourse and maintaining foundational societal values rooted in both secular and religious traditions.
Notable Quotes:
Marijuana Legalization: The debate underscores the complexity of legalization, highlighting potential increases in harder drug usage among youth and the nuanced effects on society.
'Woke' vs. Liberalism: Distinguishing these ideologies is crucial for understanding current political and cultural dynamics, with "woke" often being portrayed as a more radical departure from traditional liberal values.
Engagement Across Ideologies: Maher's conversation with Kirk exemplifies the importance of dialogue between differing political and ideological perspectives to foster understanding and mitigate polarization.
Role of Religion in Society: The discussion reflects the ongoing tension between secularism and organized religion, debating how morality and societal cohesion are best achieved.
Higher Education's Role: Universities are critiqued for potentially stifacing diverse thought and failing to uphold the intellectual foundations of Western civilization.
This episode of Club Random with Bill Maher featuring Charlie Kirk offers a robust exploration of contemporary issues ranging from drug policy and political ideologies to the role of religion in modern society. The dynamic interplay between Maher and Kirk provides listeners with diverse perspectives, encouraging critical thinking and open discourse.
Note: Timestamps correspond to key moments in the transcript to aid listeners in locating specific discussions.