Ep. #700: Dave Barry, Rep. Wesley Hunt, Paul Begala

Summary

Real Time with Bill Maher - Episode #700: Dave Barry, Rep. Wesley Hunt, Paul Begala
Release Date: June 21, 2025

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Introduction

In the milestone 700th episode of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, host Bill Maher is joined by Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Dave Barry, Democratic strategist and CNN political contributor Paul Begala, and Republican Congressman Wesley Hunt from Texas. The episode delves deep into the current political climate, exploring intra-party divisions, foreign policy dilemmas, cultural shifts, and the ongoing impact of political violence in America.

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Opening Remarks and Milestones (00:00 - 08:37)

Bill Maher opens the show with light-hearted banter, referencing the presence of Marines in Los Angeles and making humorous remarks about their attire changes from camouflage to floral khaki for the summer. He acknowledges the 700th episode milestone, reflecting on how much has changed since the early days of the show. Maher remarks on the persistent focus on Middle Eastern conflicts, particularly the war between Iran and Israel, and introduces his guests.

Notable Quote:

• Bill Maher (08:00): “This is our 700th episode of Real Time. It’s hard to believe, 22 years ago… things have changed a lot.”

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Discussion on U.S. Military and Foreign Policy (08:38 - 22:30)

The conversation shifts to the contentious topic of whether America should bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities. Maher poses a direct yes-or-no question to his guests:

• Bill Maher (17:46): “Should America bomb the nuclear facility in Iran or not?”

Paul Begala argues against a simplistic binary approach, emphasizing the complexity of the issue and the need for strategic deliberation:

• Paul Begala (18:59): “We want peace in the Middle East. President Trump is the one that brought us the Abraham Accords. He has said repeatedly that Iran should not have a nuclear weapon.”

Congressman Wesley Hunt highlights the division within the Republican Party, noting how different factions interpret Trump’s policies differently:

• Wesley Hunt (26:48): “I think what you're seeing is you never disagree.”

Dave Barry critiques the administration’s military readiness and the efficacy of their leadership:

• Dave Barry (20:18): “What happens the day after? And are we ready? And the answer is no.”

Notable Quote:

• Paul Begala (21:25): “President Trump is committed to Iran not having a bomb.”

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Intra-Party Dynamics and Leadership (22:31 - 35:10)

The panel discusses the leadership within the Republican Party, particularly Trump’s influence and the lack of substantial opposition within his base. Begala contrasts this with the Democratic Party’s leadership structure, highlighting ongoing debates and leadership changes within his own party.

• Paul Begala (29:14): “We have someone that is absolutely our leader of the party. It is Donald Trump, but we are actually behind him.”

Wesley Hunt expresses frustration with Trump’s decision-making and execution of policies, citing the lack of consistency and reliability:

• Wesley Hunt (31:02): “He just destroys it. I don't understand why it would take the entire staff of the Harvard School of Psychology to explain to me.”

Dave Barry acknowledges some of Trump’s achievements but criticizes the administration’s failures in maintaining and building upon those successes:

• Dave Barry (31:23): “He created the best vaccine in the world faster than anybody else for Covid.”

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Political Violence and Partisan Divides (35:11 - 45:00)

A significant portion of the episode addresses the troubling rise in political violence in America, referencing recent shootings of politicians and their spouses, and comparing incidents from different political spectrums. The guests debate whether such violence is equally perpetrated by both sides or predominantly fueled by one faction.

• Bill Maher (39:03): “How do you have insurrection with no guns, though, Bill?”

Paul Begala emphasizes that while political violence is unequivocally wrong, the majority of such incidents are perpetrated by the far right:

• Paul Begala (40:30): “He's an absolutely our leader of the party.”

Wesley Hunt and Dave Barry argue about the asymmetric nature of political violence, with Barry citing statistics from the Anti-Defamation League:

• Dave Barry (41:06): “They found 450 murders. 75% of them by the far right, 20% by Islamists, and only 4% from the far left.”

Notable Quote:

• Dave Barry (41:06): “This is not. In the 60s and 70s, the political violence was mostly from the far left. Today, it is mostly from the far right.”

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Cultural Shifts: Depiction of Fathers and Gender Issues (45:01 - 55:40)

The discussion transitions to cultural representations, particularly the portrayal of fathers in media and the societal handling of gender identity issues among minors. Maher and guests critique the stereotypical depiction of fathers in sitcoms and express concern over legislation restricting gender-affirming treatments for minors.

• Wesley Hunt (53:49): “The Supreme Court ruled the other day about transgender… states have the right to regulate this.”

Paul Begala underscores the importance of biological distinctions in gender and criticizes the Democratic Party’s stance on transgender policies:

• Paul Begala (46:53): “If you can’t tell me the difference between a man and a woman, then what happens is I don’t want to hear your other argument.”

Wesley Hunt advocates for parental rights and cautions against political interference in personal family decisions:

• Wesley Hunt (48:13): “Why do politicians decide what parents do?”

Notable Quote:

• Paul Begala (34:12): “If you can’t tell me the difference between a man and a woman, then what happens is I don’t want to hear your other argument because it’s just that simple.”

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Closing Remarks and Satirical Segments (55:41 - End)

As the episode winds down, Maher presents a satirical "New Rules" segment, humorously critiquing various societal norms and cultural phenomena. The guests engage in light-hearted exchanges, maintaining the show’s characteristic blend of sharp political commentary and humor.

• Wesley Hunt (55:02): “Your EQ is off the charts, Nick. Aha. Nick. I’m Nick now. What happened to dad?”

Maher signs off by celebrating the show’s longevity and teasing future episodes, ensuring listeners are left with both laughs and thoughtful reflections on the discussed topics.

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Conclusion

Episode #700 of Real Time with Bill Maher offers a comprehensive and engaging exploration of America’s current political and cultural landscape. Through incisive dialogue and a blend of humor and seriousness, Maher and his guests provide listeners with insightful perspectives on pressing issues, embodying the show’s enduring relevance over its 22-year run.

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Notable Quotes Summary:

• Bill Maher (08:00): “This is our 700th episode of Real Time. It’s hard to believe, 22 years ago… things have changed a lot.”
• Paul Begala (18:59): “We want peace in the Middle East. President Trump is the one that brought us the Abraham Accords. He has said repeatedly that Iran should not have a nuclear weapon.”
• Paul Begala (21:25): “President Trump is committed to Iran not having a bomb.”
• Dave Barry (41:06): “This is not. In the 60s and 70s, the political violence was mostly from the far left. Today, it is mostly from the far right.”
• Paul Begala (34:12): “If you can’t tell me the difference between a man and a woman, then what happens is I don’t want to hear your other argument because it’s just that simple.”

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This summary encapsulates the key discussions and insights from the episode, providing a comprehensive overview for both regular listeners and newcomers alike.

Transcript

[Bill Maher]

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Line pant in select stores [e-mail] welcome to an HBO podcast from the HBO late night series Real Time with Bill Ma. Start the clock. Thank you. Happy Friday. Happy summer. Thank you very much. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to our show. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Okay. So much to get to. I know you're excited. It is the first day of summer and you can tell because you know there's still Marines here in town. What? And they've. They've changed from their camouflage greens to the floral khaki for summer. It's really. And they're. Why are they still here? I'm not sure. I guess to protect the immigration agents who are. Did you see this? Yesterday they tried to pull off a raid on Dodger Stadium. I'm not Dodger Stadium. One thing we will not stand for in America, it is Latinos and baseball. Yeah. And. And the National Guard is still here. You know, a lot of security here in la. Appeals court ruled that Trump can keep them here pretty much indefinitely. And I think the National Guard is, I think the LA lifestyle is going to their head. I, I notice now, before they take a. Put a raid on Home Depot, they call TMZ first, tell them they're coming. But of course, the really big news is that this is our 700th episode of Real Time. It's hard to believe. I know. I of course, started as a child, so. But 22 years ago. 22. Wow. Back then, by the way, if the Arabs wanted to surprise the President with a plane, they flew it into the Pentagon. I'm just saying things have changed a lot. Well, maybe they haven't changed so much. It's still all about the Mideast, isn't it? I mean, there's a war going on now between Iran and Israel. And it's interesting it's really split. The MAGA coalition, the Trump people, half of them want to bomb Iran, they always did. And half of them want to just stay out of all foreign wars. And everybody there just wishes that it was something morally clear cut like deporting 5 year olds. Irony. That's what we do here. I don't, not really for, you know, 22 years. But talk about a cliffhanger. I mean, we're off now for the next month, our summer break and we, you know, boy, season ending. Cliffhanger. This war, we don't know what's going to happen. I mean, nobody wants Iran to get a nuclear weapon. And of course the Israelis took out everything in Iran except the facility that can build the nuclear weapon because it's. Well, because it's inside a mountain. And listen to this. America is the only country that has a bomb that can reach it. And it weighs 30,000 pounds and can only be flown there by Tom Cruise. And to make it even more of a cliffhanger, we can't just give the bomb to Israel because we also are the only country that has the plane that can deliver this fucking thing. And it is quite a plane. Pete Hegseth has already given it a name. The Enola Strait. Oh, Pete. Pete Hagg said Pete's in hot water because did you see the parade? He's in charge of the defense Department. And Trump had his big military parade last Saturday and it was kind of lame. O and Pete was in charge and you know, well, you put on a military parade, at least do it right. The whole point of it is kind of scared the shit out of people that were a big. More Americans were frightened by Kendrick Lamar's super bowl halftime show. Are you kidding? This did not look. Oh, listen to this. Yesterday was Juneteenth, right? So Trump, President Trump tweeted or truth, whatever he does there on the phone. Here was his comment on Juneteenth. There are too many non working holidays in America. Now stop honoring the end of slavery and get back to work. Sorry, Trump. Trump once called himself the least racist person in the world. I gotta say, the runner up guy must be a doozy. But way it's. But of course it all balances out because the Trump family, proprietors of shitcoin cryptocurrency bibles that they sell watches and mail order meats, now have in addition to all that they this week announced they are selling a gold cell phone. I have never seen a presidency with more commercials. I'm just gonna say that if you'd like To. You can order this phone now. Operators are standing by. All sales are final. You just can't get it because it doesn't exist. When you go to the website, they just have a drawing of a phone. They don't have a phone. They have concepts of the phone. I gotta say, when P.T. barnum sold tickets to see the bearded lady, at least there was a bearded lady. All right, we have a great show. We have Paul Bagala and Congressman Wesley Hunt. But first up, he is a Pulitzer Prize wise winning columnist. His new book is called Class the Memoirs of Professional Wise how I went 77 years without growing Up. Dave Barry is over here. Dave Barry, how are you? Great to see you. Good to see you too, man. Been too long.

[Dave Barry]

Been a while.

[Paul Begala]

It's been a minute.

[Wesley Hunt]

As the kids say, you always look the same. 77 years old and you still have the Dennis the Menace haircut.

[Unknown Speaker]

They worked on this. They worked on it backstage, man.

[Wesley Hunt]

That is unbelievable.

[Unknown Speaker]

Yeah, well, I mean, I. I thought about going, you know, straight back.

[Wesley Hunt]

Don't.

[Unknown Speaker]

No. Have you ever thought about bangs? Using bang.

[Wesley Hunt]

You know, me, bangs? Yeah. No.

[Unknown Speaker]

You have no credibility at all.

[Wesley Hunt]

No, no, I'm not. You know, we're just. We're just different dudes, you know, like that. That works for you. It wouldn't work for me, but I.

[Unknown Speaker]

Don'T know that it really works for me. Like, I think my wife kind of revealed to me after 30 something years the other day that she would like it better if I slicked it straight back like you. She didn't use your name, but. But she did sort of say that, you know, so. I don't know, man.

[Wesley Hunt]

Well, I got to tell you, the fact that you wrote a memoir is just good news for all of us who have always enjoyed your writing so much.

[Unknown Speaker]

Thank you.

[Wesley Hunt]

It's just so much fun because, you know, you wrote about everything else for your whole life. You know, you wrote about a guy who married an alligator or whatever the fuck was going on in Florida. But this is about you. I'm going to ask you the same question I asked a few people who've been here with Memoirs of a Certain Age. Barry Diller was here recently. Like, when you're 77 and you write a memoir. This is why I don't want to do it at some point, because doesn't it feel like I'm saying my life is over?

[Unknown Speaker]

But it is.

[Paul Begala]

I mean.

[Unknown Speaker]

Yeah, okay, well, 77 is. It's not. I mean, it's the new 74. It's not like it is old and you can't, like. You can't pretend it's not old.

[Wesley Hunt]

Right.

[Unknown Speaker]

That's true. So, I mean, when am I gonna write it? When I'm dead?

[Wesley Hunt]

No, no. Well, you could not write it at all. That's what I'm saying. I'm always about tomorrow. But, I mean, when I look back at your life. What a life. I mean, you're a guy who. A comic, really, because you're just more than a humorist. They say that, but when you laugh out loud, which you make people do. And me, that's a comic. Okay. A comic who's won a Pulitzer Prize, had a sitcom about him that was on for quite a while with Harry Anderson as you and has been in a band with Stephen King for your whole life.

[Unknown Speaker]

But not a good band.

[Wesley Hunt]

No, no.

[Unknown Speaker]

We play our genre. We call it Hard Listening Music. I should stress, there's a lot of good authors in this band. Stephen King's in it. Amy Tan, Scott Turow, Mitchell, a bunch of them. And we raise money for charities, but no charity ever asks us to come back, you know, even the chick.

[Wesley Hunt]

Well, one thing I loved reading about in your book. Please. You know, bits of your life would come through in your columns, but this is really about your life. I never knew that much about your childhood. Anybody our age, you know, I'm almost 70. Our childhoods were so interchangeable. I feel like that's something that kids today don't have. Like, we could. I mean, you grew up in Armonk, New York. So did I. Even though I didn't. But we did. Your house was my house. I'm sure it was. I'm talking about, first of all, I'm talking about the white kids. Was your town all white?

[Unknown Speaker]

Yes.

[Wesley Hunt]

So was mine. Yes. And this is. This is the East Coast. This in Alabama.

[Unknown Speaker]

Yeah.

[Wesley Hunt]

These were the liberals of the day.

[Dave Barry]

Yes.

[Wesley Hunt]

So don't get too, you know, snooty about this.

[Unknown Speaker]

We were the good white people.

[Wesley Hunt]

Yeah, but, you know, you went to a high school called Pleasantville. Pleasantville. So did I. Even though it wasn't.

[Unknown Speaker]

Were you elected class clown of your.

[Wesley Hunt]

I was not. I was. I was. I felt I was more the class wit. The class clown would, like, throw spitballs. No, no, no.

[Unknown Speaker]

But I was a wise ass.

[Wesley Hunt]

I will say a wise ass. But did you do anything physical?

[Unknown Speaker]

Never.

[Wesley Hunt]

Well, then you were a wit.

[Unknown Speaker]

Okay, but I was disrupt. I got told more than once, like, that's very funny, but you can't joke your way through life, which turns out to be inaccurate.

[Wesley Hunt]

Very inaccurate. No, no. Once you, Once you caught on with the newspaper. And that's another thing, I must say, that is so great. When I was remembering that era when newspapers were king. Kids, do you know, the newspaper, I mean, it's, you know, they get their news on TikTok now. And of course, we're talking about the heyday, the 80s, the 90s. Is it just meat or was the time really a lot gentler than it is now?

[Unknown Speaker]

Much, much.

[Wesley Hunt]

Okay.

[Unknown Speaker]

I mean, it's. Everybody has gotten more vicious. Everybody has gotten more, you know, determined to savage the other side in the days when, like, a guy like Art Buchwald was the beloved humorist and Johnny Carr. We're sounding like old farts here. But it's true, you know, that they were, they were. They were laughing at both everybody and everybody laughed. And people they were making fun of laughed at him. And it wasn't like, oh, you scored points against the wrong team. You can't do. So we've lost.

[Wesley Hunt]

I don't remember anybody using the word existential, you know, about the other side.

[Unknown Speaker]

No. Right. How many existential crises have we been in?

[Wesley Hunt]

Right. And, you know, I remember we spent maybe two whole years obsessing about Clinton's blowjob.

[Unknown Speaker]

Good time. Good times.

[Wesley Hunt]

Good times. They. But I just.

[Unknown Speaker]

I miss those blow jobs.

[Paul Begala]

I mean, not.

[Unknown Speaker]

Not the way it sounds, but, you know.

[Paul Begala]

I just, Just want to point.

[Wesley Hunt]

Out that maybe a round of applause.

[Unknown Speaker]

We've gotten so far for blow jobs.

[Wesley Hunt]

Maybe if you slick back your hair, you'll start getting them again. But do you. I mean, you stopped the, the weekly column in like 20 years ago.

[Unknown Speaker]

20, 20, 25.

[Wesley Hunt]

And it is a demanding mistress. This is a TV show. I mean, it's a mistress I love.

[Unknown Speaker]

But we didn't get hiatuses for like 14 weeks in our.

[Wesley Hunt]

Not 14 weeks. We will be back Aug. Aug. 1. But you must miss it on some level.

[Paul Begala]

I did.

[Unknown Speaker]

And I started writing a sub stack, as did every other ex journalist in the free world. But I was glad to get out of the rat race for at least a while.

[Wesley Hunt]

Yeah. And what about running? I mean, you ran as a libertarian.

[Unknown Speaker]

Oh, yeah. I ran for president multiple times.

[Wesley Hunt]

Multiple times.

[Unknown Speaker]

And it used to be considered kind of a joke, but not so much anymore. I'm thinking I'm looking pretty good right now. I think. I think I have a genuine shot next time around.

[Wesley Hunt]

I mean.

[Unknown Speaker]

Thank you.

[Wesley Hunt]

Low jobs.

[Unknown Speaker]

I'm a natural.

[Wesley Hunt]

I see you are. Well, you're only 77. Biden proved age doesn't matter.

[Unknown Speaker]

Doesn't matter at all.

[Wesley Hunt]

Doesn't matter at all. But what else? I mean, you must, you got to look forward in life. Podcasting, maybe?

[Unknown Speaker]

No, that's everybody's doing. I'm doing a substack, which is the other thing that everybody's doing. Yeah. And this show, this is like, pretty much the highlight for me.

[Wesley Hunt]

But why not podcasting? You seem like you'd be a natural.

[Unknown Speaker]

Because I, I mean, you have to talk. And I'm better when I'm sitting down, you know, coming up, joke, joke, joke than I am. Well, if you're asking me questions, it's okay. But if I had to think of what to say, man, I mean, look.

[Wesley Hunt]

At all the fucking laughs you got here today.

[Unknown Speaker]

Damn.

[Wesley Hunt]

All right. Well, whatever you do, I will remain your biggest fan. Thank you. I appreciate it. Dave Bowery, everybody. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Dave. Let's meet our panel. Hey, guys. All right. He is a Democratic strategist and CNN political contributor. Paul Begala back with us. And he is a Republican Congressman representing the 38th district of Texas, Congressman Wesley Hunt. Congressman, great to see you. Thank you for having me, sir. Yes, sir. All right, I'm not going to have a big lead in question today. I'm just going to say we're thinking about bombing Iran. We're thinking about joining that war. The Republicans are split over it, so you can imagine what the rest of the country is. But let me just get a yes or no answer. No screwing around. Should America bomb the nuclear facility in Iran or not? Go.

[Paul Begala]

Oh, come on now, Bill. We gotta have a little more big of a debate than that, sir. Come on.

[Wesley Hunt]

Yes or no? Trump says he's spending two weeks. It's always two weeks. He's thinking about it for two weeks. And. But he says he also is demanding unconditional surrender. I mean, come on. This is what we're deciding. Should we bomb Iran? Should we get involved on Israel's side? Trump is already using the word we when he talks about we. Like we took out there. We didn't do anything so far. Should we get involved? We only. We were the only ones with the bomb, the only ones who can do it. Yes or no?

[Paul Begala]

Let me get to this. So, no, hold on, hold on, hold on. This is a far more robust conversation than that. Hold on, hold on. What I really want to point out is the difference in the Republican Party that we had 30 years ago, if Cheney were in charge right now, 30 years ago, we would already have boots on the ground in Iran and surrounding Iran right now. So at the end of the day, I want people to understand how far we have come as a party. We want peace in the Middle East. President Trump is the one that brought us the Abraham Accords. He has said repeatedly that Iran should not have a nuclear weapon. And President Trump does not want to put boots on the ground.

[Wesley Hunt]

No one, everyone agrees with all that.

[Paul Begala]

So 60 days ago, he gave the Ayatollah warning. He said, hey, look, you know, you got 60 days to wrap this up, and if you don't, you're gonna play stupid games, you're gonna win stupid prizes.

[Wesley Hunt]

You see how well that worked with Putin?

[Paul Begala]

We know what happened. We know what happened with our Baghdadi, though. And imagine waking up every day wondering if you're gonna eat a missile for breakfast. This is how this man negotiates, and this is exactly what we're going through right now. This is a negotiating tactic to get peace. No boots on the ground, and you cannot have a nuclear weapon. Like Denzel Washington said in Training Day, do you want to go home or do you want to go to jail?

[Wesley Hunt]

All right, well, you get this season's award for best avoidance of the answer.

[Dave Barry]

Look, I advised a president, and the most important thing with presidents isn't even answers the questions. The first question is should we? We don't want Iran to have a nuclear weapon, but have we exhausted every non military option? I think the answer to that is no, but I'm not privy to all the intel. Second, can we. Will this bomb work? This GBU 57, this 30,000 pound? Probably, but there are some. I saw Admiral Mike Mullen the other day saying, not entirely sure, no one knows, right?

[Wesley Hunt]

It's a mountain.

[Dave Barry]

But here's the big question.

[Wesley Hunt]

We're attacking a mountain.

[Dave Barry]

But this is the question that he's. That the President has to ask. And I know he's watching. Mr. President, ask your team what happens the day after. That's a question the President needs to ask. What happens the day after? And are we ready? And I know the answer to that is no. Right?

[Wesley Hunt]

Why?

[Dave Barry]

Because this President has diverted resources away from intelligence, away from counterterrorism, away from Homeland Security, and all toward deportations. He seems to think the greatest threat to America is a guy with a leaf blower in Encino, not a guy with a suicide vest in Manhattan.

[Wesley Hunt]

We are not ready for this militarily.

[Paul Begala]

Here's why I disagree. Here's why I disagree a little bit on this. And that is, as somebody that has fought in wars, as somebody that's a West Point grad, my Brother and sister are also West Point graduates. There's six years of military service in my family. We have to be very careful with how we handle this. We have to measure once and cut twice, because if we don't handle this right, then we're going to end up putting boots on the ground. And this is exactly what President Trump ran on. For decades. He has been saying we should not be putting our soldiers at risk unless it is absolutely necessary. So that's why this can't be a binary conversation.

[Wesley Hunt]

A lot of people would say Iran getting a bomb is about as necessary as it gets.

[Paul Begala]

And that's why President Trump is committed to Iran not having a bomb.

[Dave Barry]

Even today, the president was asked, your intelligence team says they're not very close to getting a bomb? And he said, I don't believe them. Well, if you don't believe your own intelligence team, get a new one. I mean, what the hell? We spend billions and billions of dollars to try to give that man that answer. And this is the problem, is he says he's going to take two weeks. I like that, by the way. I'd rather take two weeks and think it through. But who's he talking to? You know, at least in the first term, he had General McMaster, he had General Kelly, he had General Mattis, he had serious national security professional. I didn't support his agenda, but he had serious people with him. This team. Are you kidding?

[Wesley Hunt]

No.

[Dave Barry]

I'm saying Ikea's got better cabinets than Trump does.

[Wesley Hunt]

He did. I think he's talking to, like, four people. One of them is the head of the Joint Chiefs. I assume he's fairly serious.

[Dave Barry]

Okay.

[Wesley Hunt]

One of them is John Ratcliffe, head of the CIA. He's not serious.

[Dave Barry]

Not terribly. Okay, I'm sorry. He's a former congressman from Texas, and I love congressman from Texas.

[Paul Begala]

I appreciate it, sir. Thank you.

[Wesley Hunt]

You can look it out. But he did cut out Pete Hegg, Seth and Tulsi. So the children are out on the kids table. Okay, so they're. They're not. I hope they're not in the room. Let me ask you. Go ahead.

[Dave Barry]

Okay. And so why have them. Why have a Director of National Intelligence. Don't listen to. Why have a Pentagon chief that you don't talk to?

[Wesley Hunt]

Casting cast.

[Paul Begala]

So we are. We're forgetting one thing now we aren't sure. Forgetting one thing, that President Trump was president before and we didn't have an issue with Iran. And the reason why is because, well, Iran was broke and it is time for us to unleash American energy and continue to fight wars against our enemies by ensuring that our allies have the energy from US made in this country so they can't rely on Iran and Venezuela and Russia. This is how we have to fight wars in the future. So the reason why he can say this is because he's done this for four years already.

[Wesley Hunt]

I know you love him, and let me say I think he's gross. No, no, no. Let me say one thing about this in defense of him, which is that he is hardly the first president to cut out people in his own cabinet. Presidents have done this before. They lose faith and you just don't get in the room even though you have a big title. You're just he people. Presidents have their kitchen cabinets within one year.

[Dave Barry]

Bill Clinton fired his defense secretary his first year.

[Wesley Hunt]

Okay, let's ask a bad job.

[Dave Barry]

He fired his ass. That's what you do. If you have.

[Paul Begala]

You said one year. It's been five months.

[Wesley Hunt]

It's a shit, Joe. It always is.

[Dave Barry]

We are putting our lives in the hands of Pete Hegseth and Deportation Barbie and Tulsa Gabbard. I'm sorry.

[Wesley Hunt]

Let me ask you this because I know. I think of all the people in Congress, I think you're the one who is most always backing whatever Trump does.

[Paul Begala]

Yes, sir.

[Bill Maher]

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[Wesley Hunt]

I think you're on mute.

[Bill Maher]

Workday starting to sound the same.

[Wesley Hunt]

I think you're on mute.

[Bill Maher]

Find something that sounds better for your career on LinkedIn. With LinkedIn job collections, you can browse curated collections by relevant industries and benefits like Flexpto or hybrid workplaces so you can find the right job for you. Get [e-mail] jobs finding where you fit.

[Wesley Hunt]

LinkedIn knows how my day kicks off with a refreshing Celsius energy drink. Then straight to the gym, pre K.

[Bill Maher]

Pickup back home to meal prep time.

[Dave Barry]

For my fire station shift.

[Wesley Hunt]

One more Celsius. Gotta keep the lights on when the three alarm hits. I'm ready.

[Paul Begala]

Celsius Live Fit.

[Bill Maher]

Go grab a cold refreshing Celsius at your local retailer or locate [e-mail].

[Wesley Hunt]

Okay with this decision about Iran. Is it really predicated on how you feel about Trump. In other words, whatever, because the Republican Party is split about this. Ted Cruz and Tucker Carlson, who usually would be agreeing on everything, had a. Had a Real Housewives fight the other day about this, because Tucker Carlson is on a side, which, you know, you were expressing before. A lot of Republicans love Trump. Trump because he is like, we don't get involved with foreigners. That's not us. America first. And then there's a lot of Republicans who are like, oh, no, we gotta bomb Iran. Because that's, you know, the enemy of Israel. And Israel is where, you know, who's going to come back to earth. This, to me, is if it's between a political party and a cult, cults by what the person does and parties are what ideas. I think, you know, I'm going to make my decision based on the ideas. I feel like some people do it just by the person. Whatever Trump does, you're going to go along with.

[Dave Barry]

Right.

[Wesley Hunt]

I think what you're seeing is you never disagree.

[Paul Begala]

No, there's certain things we disagree on. But here's the thing. What you're seeing is a healthy debate. But to your previous question, what you're seeing is a healthy debate between two pieces of our party. And I think it's actually a very good thing. You know, I'm in the House of Representatives, and over the course of the past 20 years, the Democrats have had one speaker of the House, and that was Nancy Pelosi before Hakeem Jeffries. We've had five people in our party actually will debate. We will actually look at a person and say, you know what? We don't like this. Let's have a healthy debate and let's move on. You want to talk about no kings and no queens? I mean, having one speaker of the house for 20 years is something else. So you're seeing this open up in our party again. You have two factions, you have two pieces of the party that care about each other immensely. Let's let this play out. Let's talk about it, and then let the President make the ultimate choice was.

[Wesley Hunt]

The fact that he had an assassination attempt and survived it. And look, I've heard idiots on the left say to me, bill, you know, that was staged.

[Paul Begala]

Yeah, that wasn't staged.

[Wesley Hunt]

No, it was not staged. That would be ridiculous because the guy behind him got shot. Right? And we don't really seem to care about that guy anymore. But anyway, they did try to shoot him and he did survive it. And I know a lot of Republicans think that is Determined. They think God saved him and therefore he cannot make a wrong move. Is that what you believe?

[Paul Begala]

Well, it wasn't just. It wasn't just that. It's just you guys had a really bad candidate in Kamala Harris. And people also have to understand is that that was one of the most undemocratic things I've ever seen. What you did was you took Joe Biden, you put him in a room, put on Golden Girls, gave him some choco choco chip ice cream, and then by the time he walked out, he was no longer running for president. He had no idea what was going on. So when you combine that with the candidate that not a single Democrat voted for in that primary, it creates a disaster. That's another big reason why President Trump won is because the Democrat Party lost faith in the American people, because they broke the process in order to get the right candidate to actually run for president.

[Dave Barry]

But I want to come back to this point you made about cult of personality, because I think you're right. When Donald Trump was the most against TikTok, and I try. I can't stand a guy, but I try. I thought, he's right about that. TikTok is Chinese Communist. I don't like it.

[Wesley Hunt]

He.

[Dave Barry]

He was against it. And every MAGA guy I knew was against it. Then he met with a TikTok billionaire. He's all for TikTok and they're all for it.

[Paul Begala]

Now.

[Dave Barry]

It's like, come on, they're still Chinese Communists. He. But he will win. Whichever side he chooses, his team will. His base will come along with him.

[Paul Begala]

This is most. Sue. He's also. He's also in charge. We have a leader in our party. Who's the leader in your party?

[Dave Barry]

Well, you just said it was bad.

[Paul Begala]

Democrats, like, but not. Not for 20 years. So we have someone that is absolutely our leader of the party. It is Donald Trump, but we are actually behind him. Who is your leader? Is it going to be Bernie Sanders? Is it going to be aoc? Is it going to be Jasmine Crockett? Are you kidding me?

[Dave Barry]

Anybody who gets in the way of the Dear Leader. I remember when Roger Ailes and Fox News took him on. He crushed them. I remember when Elon Musk a few weeks ago took him on. Trump crushed them. So whatever Trump does, I guess if I was advising him as a political advisor, I'd say, sir, whatever you do, they're going to be with you. So figure out what the right thing to do is. In that sense, he's free. It's only about 35% of the country, but it's about 65% of the Republican Party. They will do anything the Dear Leader says, and that's terrifying. But for Trump, it ought to give him some space to be able to, you know, do or not do what he thinks is best.

[Wesley Hunt]

You know, what my issue is with him is, like, I've said this, and I said this way before I had dinner at the same table. Like, he does not always. He always have bad ideas. Sometimes he has ideas. You agree, right? Of course. I mean, like, close the border or get order on the border and like, get the gangs out of the country and make Europe pay for their own defense. And, you know, or how about two things? Go back to equality instead of always equity and universities are out of control, a lot of these things. But what I can always depend on that administration do is to reliably fuck up the execution. Doge, you know, like, all these things, all these issues I mentioned, you know, should we see if the government has too much bloat and fat in it? Yes, but reliably, like clockwork, like, you could depend on it. They will fuck up the execution just like they did with the parade. Like, do I think it was a good idea to have a parade? No, but if you're going to do it, if you're going to have a vaguely fascist parade, do it right.

[Dave Barry]

In his first run, he did two things that were great. Honestly, two things are great. The first, warp speed. He created the best vaccine in the world faster than anybody else for Covid. The COVID vaccine. And then he now never talks about it. And his team all renounces. He puts a guy in charge of the Health Department who's a vaccine skeptic, to say the least.

[Wesley Hunt]

Right?

[Dave Barry]

He never talks about the best thing he ever did. The other thing he did was the usmca. IT updated nafta, US Mexico trade deal. What did he do? The first time he comes back, he blows that up, too. So even the stuff that he does that is good, you're right, he just destroys it. I don't understand why it would take the entire staff of the Harvard School of Psychology to explain to me.

[Paul Begala]

But I do want to say something about that parade. I want to say something about the parade to offer, to offer another opinion from our side of this whole thing. And that is, it was the 250th birthday of our United States army, as I said, thank you very much. And somebody that served this nation as an Apache pilot, my brother and sister going to West Point 6 years of military service, mostly in the Army. My great, great grandfather fought in Civil War. And you know what I saw? I saw the president salute the corps of cadets as they walked past them. I watched him salute the 75th Ranger Regiment as they walked past him. I sat there and watched the fireworks behind the Washington Monument. And you know what I thought? Damn, that's absolutely outstanding. And it's far better than Joe Biden checking his watch when bodies were being returned to Dover.

[Dave Barry]

Okay, wait a minute.

[Paul Begala]

This is a. Hold on. This is a contrast that we're talking about in why you lost. Because we are talking about a man that's talking about patriotism. And in parades like that, when I was growing up, I served because I used to go to these parades and watch my dad participate in them. I saw the Blackhawks Landing. I visited my sister at West Point, and I said, by God, I want to serve this country, too. And so the dichotomy of what we're seeing with President Trump and his patriotism, saluting the flag, actually making an effort, whether you like it or agree with the execution, the effort is there. That's all we want to see.

[Wesley Hunt]

Execution does matter. First of all, thank you for your support, Bill. No, I mean that. I say that to everybody. Always have. For 22 years.

[Paul Begala]

I've watched you for 20 years. Yes, you have.

[Wesley Hunt]

Absolutely. I've been behind the military, and you have been. Nobody compares to the military. Everybody says that. They're brave, they're brave. Oh, you're so brave. Military, that's who's brave. And cops and firefighters and people like that. But mostly the military. But I gotta ask you this. As far as, like, again, good ideas. Here's another thing. I. I think it's a good idea that he has. Yes, we should love our country more. The left is way too down on this country. But the execution, as always, I don't understand it. I don't understand some of the things he does in support of that idea of America, you know? Do you think it's right? He had a poster that we put out last week, Uncle Sam wants you to turn in foreign invaders. Do you think that's right? Turn in foreign invaders. He's talking about basically, immigrants who come here and take jobs, want to give them.

[Paul Begala]

So you talk about.

[Wesley Hunt]

You want to be snitches, like, we're East Germany.

[Paul Begala]

Let's get that.

[Wesley Hunt]

We don't want to turn. You want citizens turning on each other like that.

[Paul Begala]

You talk about big ideas. You know what a big idea is? Running for president in 2016. And winning and then losing. Do you want to know what even bigger idea is?

[Wesley Hunt]

Oh, you say he lost.

[Paul Begala]

Coming, coming. No, no, hold on.

[Wesley Hunt]

Whoa.

[Paul Begala]

We can get on that. No, the point I make. The point I'm making is the big idea. The big idea. And then losing that election, then coming back and then returning and then becoming the president again because he's the president as we live and breathe. Those are some pretty big ideas. Those are the biggest ideas that you could ever have in America. That is, in fact, the American dream. He's executed very well, and he's one of two people in the history of this great nation to ever serve as president twice after not winning his. After not winning reelection. Those are big ideas.

[Dave Barry]

I want to come back to this Trump in the military and about President Biden, whose son served and enlisted, something Donald Trump's son never did. Donald Trump. Donald Trump went to a military school for high school. Okay. But he didn't serve. He avoided service in Vietnam. He said he had bone spurs. Then he said avoiding STDs was his Vietnam. Then he said John McCain was not a war hero.

[Wesley Hunt]

Right.

[Dave Barry]

Then he said troops are suckers and losers and are war dead.

[Paul Begala]

Yes, he did.

[Dave Barry]

He was going to World War I cemetery. My grandfather fought in World War I and was wounded in Europe.

[Paul Begala]

For this country, that's for proven.

[Dave Barry]

And I honor your service, and I honor his. And Trump pisses on our veterans at the military every day.

[Wesley Hunt]

No messy die.

[Bill Maher]

No, it is not.

[Paul Begala]

And I'm asking. I'm asking you a question. If that is the case, that's the case. If that is the case. December, January and February, we've seen the highest recruiting numbers for the military than we've seen in years. Why is that the case? You could say that all you want, but I am somebody that has served, and the people that are in my ranks overwhelmingly look at President Trump and they say, if I really want somebody that's going to defend us and put us in harm's way if necessary, I would absolutely take President Trump over Joe Biden.

[Dave Barry]

Why does he stab him in the back?

[Paul Begala]

Well, then if that's the case, then why do we have record recruiting right now?

[Wesley Hunt]

All right, please. This show is not about Oregon. No. Really?

[Paul Begala]

Oh, no.

[Dave Barry]

I just want.

[Wesley Hunt]

No, it is. And it always has been a. And we love it. And it's our 700th show. I wanted to just pause to say, first of all, thank you to my incredible staff, who's here every morning. Your incredible morning, whatever that is. And to hbo, which has put up with Me for all these years and to the audience who's been so loyal. And we will be back. We're going to take a month off as Larry. We'll be back on August 1st. And whenever we take a month off, what we do is we give you the future headlines. Because the headlines are so predictable these days with the way the news is. This is what we always do. We're going to take a break. So would you like to see the future headlines? There they are, future headlines. This is what you're going to be reading the next month. Gen Z are shocked to learn their phones make calls. Heartbroken. Elon Musk stands outside White House with bimbo. Oh, that's ocean fish. Found to contain more plastic than plastic fish. Travis Kelce draws line at buying tampons. America's Got Talent announces America officially out of talent. Madonna marries Mexican who stood on flaming Waymo. Oh, well, that's inevitable. Diddy goes to prison has freak off in cell block D. And ice mistakingly deports Marco Rubio. All right, all right. So I have to bring up a very unfortunate club that has formed in America and that is politicians who've been shot at. Because we saw this last week. There's two more people and their spouses, by the way, in Minnesota who were shot by somebody just yesterday. Now we have a new one, the Memphis Mayor. He was. Somebody came to his door. The people go right to their houses. Now, his statement was the link between angry online rhetoric and real life violence is becoming undeniable. I would agree with that. I mean, we saw, remember Gabby Gitford got shot. Steve Scalise. So it can happen on. Thank you for bringing that on both sides. Paul Pelosi in his home. This is becoming routine now. Do we say that both parties are equally guilty? Because when I think about January 6th and pardoning all the people who were involved in that insurrection or whatever you want to call it.

[Paul Begala]

Insurrection. How do you have insurrection with no guns, though, Bill? That's like having. That's like making coffee with.

[Dave Barry]

They brought tons of guns.

[Paul Begala]

It's just 100 guns currently in. 600 million guns currently in speculation. One person was killed that day. It was Ashley Babbitt. She was a white unarmed person that was killed by a black Capitol Police officer. Imagine if that had been the other way around. When I think of an insurrection as a war fighter or somebody that has seen some real nasty stuff. Hold on. When I think about that, what people have to understand is that the summer of Love leading up to that was something else. We're talking about $2 billion in damage. 200 cities had to go under curfew. 22 people lost their lives. And I understand, I understand that January 6th was a Democrats white Rhino and they were going to run in that they were going to win the next election. And Donald Trump is still president, last I checked.

[Wesley Hunt]

Okay.

[Paul Begala]

And I bring up these issues because.

[Wesley Hunt]

But many cops were injured that day. Many, many police officers. And they tased Michael Panone.

[Dave Barry]

He's a hero cop. I know Michael. Michael Pinon is a hero DC Cop. He stood in the breach to defend our Capitol, by the way, he voted for Trump. And he stood there and they tased him until his heart stopped. They gave him a heart attack for putting on the uniform and standing in defense of our United States Capitol. And then Trump pardoned him. That's the difference is that first thing Trump did was pardon these.

[Paul Begala]

Well, Biden pardoned his whole family. Biden pardoned his whole family.

[Dave Barry]

We're talking about.

[Paul Begala]

Biden pardoned his entire family.

[Dave Barry]

By the way, it has happened on both sides. When Steve Scalise got shot, it was terrible. And the guy did it because he was a Republican. No question. It's not an equal. It's an asymmetric hatred. And this is what I mean. The ADL, the Anti Defamation League, did a study three years ago. They looked over 10 years of political murders in America and they found 450 murders. 75% of them by the far right, 20% of them by Islamists, and only 4% from the far left. And I decry all of it on all sides. But this is not. In the 60s and 70s, the political violence was mostly from the far left. Today, it is mostly from the far right. And you got to clean up your own.

[Paul Begala]

What I'll say to that, get back to my response to that, and that is, thank you, Bill, for bringing up that President Trump was shot and then he had another attempt on his life yet again. And then when you have people saying that we are a threat to democracy, when you are calling him Hitler, when you call him Hitler, you're calling him 77. Hold on. A threat to democracy in Hitler, you're calling 77 million people a threat to democracy. And this is exactly what this is. Fission starts. So I totally agree with you. I want to condemn all violence. I am a politician. I'm the only one sitting up here. I got three kids at home and my wife is sitting up here right now. I love her dearly. What people have to understand is that we are all human beings. First, it all has got to stop.

[Wesley Hunt]

Can I ask you one question about January 6th? One question about January 6th. Take the politics out of it. I mean, look, they were there for a specific reason, and they attacked the Capitol. A specific place on a specific day at a specific moment, which was the exact moment that the votes were being counted, which to me makes it even worse. But, okay, let's just say they were there because they were, I don't know, furious about the price of eggs. No politics. They were just like, Congress has not done anything about the goddamn price of eggs. And we are going to. I don't care how many cops get hurt. We're going to. Would it be any different?

[Paul Begala]

Well, again, we were talking about.

[Wesley Hunt]

Is it just okay? Because it was defending Trump?

[Paul Begala]

This wasn't necessarily about defending Trump.

[Wesley Hunt]

Okay, but. But what if it was? What if it was? What if it was what? It was over 100 cops getting hurt and people taking over a building over the price. Now you're talking to Summer over the price of.

[Paul Begala]

Now you're talking about the summer of love. That's where people are actually really getting hurt.

[Wesley Hunt]

Well, that.

[Paul Begala]

That's when 22 people died. That's when we watch mayhem in our streets. And even just a couple weeks ago here in la, we are watching people throw pieces of concrete at law enforcement officers and cars burning in the street in our cities. You cannot have that anywhere.

[Wesley Hunt]

Okay, let me go back to what happened in Minnesota, because this is the last one. This guy named Vance Bolter. Of course it is. He's plainly a Trumper. Oh, come on.

[Paul Begala]

No, go ahead.

[Wesley Hunt]

He voted for Trump. He was at Trump rallies. He's a super Duper Christian. His big issue was he hated abortion, that we were performing abortions. He had a list of 45 people. The two people he shot were Democrats, State Democrats. He had a list of 45 other people, all Democrats. The fact that so many people in your party. Donald Trump, Jr. Representative Derek Van Orden. I don't know who he is, but he's a jerk. I think he must be Senator Mike Lee. We all pretended that this guy, who's plainly a Trumper. I mean, look, we just admit it, it happens on both sides, but the level of lying here. Donald Trump, the guy who committed these atrocities this weekend, is a Democrat. No, he's not. Mike Lee. This is what happens when Marxists don't get their way. Van Orden, this guy, he said he did it because the people he shot weren't far left enough. You know, these are lies. See, I mean, you guys, I know.

[Paul Begala]

You, the pharmaceutical CEO that was murdered was wrong. The gentleman that did this is wrong.

[Wesley Hunt]

And he's a Trumper. The person is a Trumper. This guy is. This is right killing me.

[Paul Begala]

We are talking about people arbitrarily murdering people we are talking about that are off the reservation. They're crazy. This man is crazy. I don't care if he's a Trumper or not. I don't care from the left or not. That's crazy. We don't murder people in this country. That's not the way I hear your point, but I don't care if he's a Trumper or not. It's wrong.

[Wesley Hunt]

Crazy is a little different.

[Paul Begala]

He is absolutely crazy, by the way. Clinically insane.

[Wesley Hunt]

You know what? Crazy is a little different. This is political violence. People commit political violence all the time.

[Paul Begala]

Who aren't like, will you agree? Political violence or not? If you're going to go murder somebody, you're off.

[Wesley Hunt]

If. If this had been the reverse, I would admit to you so easily. I would just say, yes, the guy who shot Steve's face. Right. Was left. Just see this thing. I know you guys, you like me. You respect me. You know why you respect me?

[Paul Begala]

You've been consistent for 30 years.

[Wesley Hunt]

Because. Yes. And because when I make fun of the last, I do it even better than your people. Because I'm honest. Because I'm honest about it. You gotta give it back to me. You gotta give that honesty back to me. I put myself out. All right, I got one more issue, which is this is a big issue. The Supreme Court ruled the other day about transgender. Okay, There was an issue in Tennessee. Now the states can restrict minors from transitioning. They were just saying the states have the right to regulate this. Now, I think a lot of people, again, I'm critical when I think my side goes too far. And they go too far often. And they went too far on this for a long time. Gender affirming, all this gender dysphoria, all these terms they use to try to just say that, you know, biological sex isn't a real thing. It's all gender. It's all a social construct. This was always nonsense. Not that there isn't such a real thing as trans people. There are, but it's rare. And they made it unrare. I think over a thousand, over 100 clinics opened in the last 10 or 20 years because this became a thing. Well, now the blue states, by the way, will not be affected. They are just saying states have the right to regulate this. And I think it's a great first step to getting the Democratic Party back to something that people can respect and normal people can vote for.

[Paul Begala]

So this is a sanity check. If you can't tell me the difference between a man and a woman, then what happens is I don't want to hear your other argument because it's just that simple. If you don't think that biological men should not compete against biological women, if you can't say that's not a good idea, that's ridiculous. We saw the issue with Riley Gaines and Simone Biles. We saw that debate go unfold. And Simone got destroyed on this because again, this is a sanity check. We had a Supreme Court Justice, Ketanji Brown, that was asked, can you tell me the difference between a man and a woman? And she said, I'm not a doctor. This is a sanity check. If you can't answer that basic question, then how can you possibly tell me about policy? And this is one of the reasons why the Democrats are losing on an issue like this. Because again, if you can't definitively tell my. I have a six, four and two year old. My six and four year old, they think that they're Anna and Elsa. And my little boy thinks he's Lightning McQueen. By the time you're 18 years old, if you want to change your body, you can live and do whatever you want as long as you want to pay for it. I fought for the right for you to be able to do that. But when we are talking about children and undeveloped human beings and allowing them to make decisions that are going to impact the rest of their life, we must protect them.

[Wesley Hunt]

From whom? From whom?

[Dave Barry]

I think we're people of faith. Belle's not.

[Paul Begala]

We believe.

[Dave Barry]

I'm sorry. We believe God gives.

[Paul Begala]

Religionless. Fair enough.

[Dave Barry]

We believe that God gives children to parents, not politicians in Nashville. The Tennessee legislature doesn't give a rip snore about children or they would address the chief cause of childhood death in Tennessee, which is guns. Why do politicians decide what parents do?

[Wesley Hunt]

They're two completely different issues parents. And by the way, the issue is quite the the reverse. Like out here in California and in New Jersey, it's the schools who are not allowed to even tell the parents.

[Dave Barry]

That's crazy. I'm consistent. Parents should not pools and not politicians.

[Wesley Hunt]

Who's not being protected. I don't understand your point. I think they're not protecting the children from people coming in and taking advantage. I think of young folks who don't know what's going on. I mean, I didn't Know what the fuck was going on when I was eight years old, I was unhappy when I was a teenager. If someone offered this as the solution, I might go for it. And they have done studies since then. That's why America is an outlier country with this. All the other countries pulled back on this because they said, we don't know. And sometimes they're just gay, and sometimes they're just confused, and sometimes they're just depressed. But once you start taking off body parts, you can't reverse it. Thank you very much. I gotta go to. All right. Okay. New rules. Someone has to tell ICE agents that we understand they have a difficult job to do, but we will defend these taco stands with guns. You want to hit the car washes? Bad idea, but okay. Outside Home Depot. So stupid, but whatever. But the people working the taco stands, they're on base. Signed, everyone who walks out of a bar at 2am now we'll know that there's a movie called Bride Hard. Someone has to tell Hollywood screenwriters that it's not inherently hilarious to call your movie hard. We've had Spy Hard. Walk Hard, Love Hard, Get Hard. Please. I'm saving my money for Mel Gibson's sequel to the Passion of the Cries. Diane, come back from the dead Hard. New rule. You can't call if a stripper refuses to get you off in the champagne room. That is what a Mr. Sultan. Al Nofi, of course. A Florida man. That's what he did recently. And I'd like to say to him, come on, man, the cops have enough on their plates. This issue can be resolved by a simple upgrading of bathroom walls. Call Jenny for a good time. Call Tiffany with an issue with your bill and call Jasmine to continue in Spanish. I mean, it's very simple. New rule. The two women convicted last week of forced labor who are running a sex cult that practices orgasmic meditation have to admit there's no such thing as orgasmic meditation. In the Venn diagram of orgasms and meditation, there's no overlap. And if there is, you're doing it wrong. I've seen a lot of Buddha statues in Thai restaurants and the backyards of actresses and actors. Not once is Buddha making the O face. New rule. If the Catholic Church wants to be seen as modernizing, they have to reconsider putting St. Teresa on display as they have done periodically over the years since her death in 1582. The church says it's practically a miracle how well preserved she is. Well, here she is, as Bernini sculpted her in 1652. And here she is today, ageless. I mean, just look at her amazing Bernini reality. And that's why. And that's why St. Teresa is the patron saint of the photos on OkCupid. And finally, new rule. Let's make the Father's Day we just celebrated. The last one. That takes place in a culture where dads have become such punching bags. Literally the last demographic group that TV ads and movies can still depict as clueless, useless dipshits. Basically just another child that mom has to look after. Every sitcom is tonight on abc. Larry burns down the house. And the tagline in the commercial for every household product is basically because your husband is a moron. Moving in together, it's a big step. A test.

[Dave Barry]

A test that Jeff failed miserably.

[Wesley Hunt]

You know, I'm not sure when this trend started, but I'm going to blame the 1987 movie Three Men and a Baby, the premise of which is that three grown men can't manage to keep a baby alive. The same year gave us Married With Children with its idiot shoe salesman of a father, followed by an endless parade of eye roll, Short Bus Dads, Homer Simpson, Family Guy, Modern Family, Malcolm in the Middle, Everybody Loves Raymond, Home Improvement, According to Jim. And it's not just the old school broadcast TV sitcoms, it's everywhere. It's high brow streaming stuff. It's major motion pictures, it's minor motion pictures, it's in everything. And look, I know I don't have any kids. I made a different choice in life and decided to have money.

[Paul Begala]

You're not lying.

[Wesley Hunt]

But all these shows, they can't all be lying about what it's like to have kids. Your EQ is off the charts, Nick. Aha. Nick. I'm Nick now. What happened to dad?

[Paul Begala]

Well, I don't know.

[Wesley Hunt]

Nick.

[Bill Maher]

What happened to dad?

[Dave Barry]

You're an asshole.

[Wesley Hunt]

Hey, coming here. Why are you acting so dickish? I mean, it is only $10.

[Paul Begala]

Do you hear how they talk to me?

[Wesley Hunt]

Do you hear how.

[Paul Begala]

You gotta say something.

[Wesley Hunt]

Whoa, hold on. When are you guys planning on coming home? By 11 or 12?

[Paul Begala]

Yeah, soon.

[Wesley Hunt]

You know, you both have school tomorrow.

[Paul Begala]

That's true, we do. Yeah, he's right.

[Bill Maher]

Solid parenting gets.

[Wesley Hunt]

Kids today. They're like Trump. They think the rules don't apply to them. And mom, mom is always the smart one, the good one. He's just lucky to be in her orbit. And I get, I get it that this is a correction to centuries of women being deemed the weakest sexual. But how long does the correction last? And when will Men stop making me throw up in my mouth with the way they pander so nakedly. Ryan Gosling says, I think women are better than men. They're better than us. And Harry Styles T shirt agrees. Terry Crews believes it. He says women are smarter than men. For real. Even Barack Obama says about women that what I can say pretty indisputably is that you're better than us. Really? Because I don't remember Michelle taking out Bin Laden. And here's Will Ferrell's quick human history recap. Man, we've been running the Show since what, 10,000 BC? Something like that. And we're not doing so good. Isn't it just time for women to run the planet? Yes, a sentiment Leonard Cohen concurs with, saying, I wish the women would hurry up and take over. Well, you know what? Many of them have, and it wasn't that different. Queen Mary burned 300 people at the stake just for being Protestant. Cleopatra, Catherine the Great, Golda Meir and Dera Gandhi. None of them were any less violent or hard ass than men. Hillary voted for the Iraq War. Marie Antoinette let them eat cake. So besides being historically naive, this cringy pandering is why teenage boys flock to jerks like Andrew Tate. Now, if you don't know who he is, your teenage son does. He's an accused rapist turned influencer whose videos get billions where he says things like women should bear responsibility for being sexually assaulted. Yes, he's a huge asshole and your kid thinks he's cool. Because that's the choice of role models that an American teenage boy has. Either performative pussyhood or the manosphere. Jesus. Can't the pendulum ever land in the middle in this country? Can't we have something in between? A complete cuckoo who dares not open his mouth for fear of mansplaining and owning a tiger. The Democrats are always asking, how do we win back men? Just be real, not a monster and not a doormat. Is that so hard? And as far as the last 10,000 years thing, well, who invented the wheel and figured out fire? I don't know. No one knows totally. Could have been a woman. And women throughout history undoubtedly would have contributed more if men had taken them more seriously. Like those African American math whizzes at NASA who helped put a man on the moon. But. But let's not pretend, my fellow humans with a penis who are so down on yourselves, that your convenient, pleasant, cushy lives would be anything close to that without a few little things that men did contribute, like electricity and batteries. And movies, Microphones, the plow, the compass, the clock, the alarm clock, the printing press, the Internet, the toilet, the telescope, penicillin, planes, the Magna Carta, the telephone, the smartphone, rockets, the theory of universal gravitation, refrigeration, air conditioning, the theory of evolution, the computer AI. Oh, sorry about that one. And the George Foreman Grill. You know, men built the railroads and the road roads, not to mention democracy and the Bill of Rights and, oh, yeah, dying by the tens of millions to end slavery, defeat fascism and face down communism when your power goes out and comes back in 20 minutes. That's because a man in a raincoat went out in the wind and the lightning and climbed a pole and fucked with live wire. I'm just saying, men were not completely useless. So if you want to. You want to know what to get dad next Father's Day? How about a little respect? All right. Thank you very much. You were terrific. We're off the month of July. I want to thank these guys. Dave Barry. I want to thank my guests, Paul Begala, Wesleyan and oh Club random drops every Monday now on YouTube or listen. Wherever you get your podcasts. Go watch Overtime on YouTube. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. Catch all new episodes of Real Time with Bill Maher every Friday night at 10 or watch him anytime on HBO on Demand.

[Bill Maher]

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