Ep. #733: David Sedaris, Ian Bremmer, Hagar Chemali

Summary

---

Real Time with Bill Maher – Episode #733 Summary

Guests: David Sedaris, Ian Bremmer, Hagar Chemali
Air Date: June 13, 2026
Theme: Wealth, power, international disorder, and the absurdities of American life and politics

---

Episode Overview

This episode blends sharp satire with substantive analysis, as Bill Maher hosts essayist David Sedaris, geopolitical analyst Ian Bremmer, and foreign policy expert Hagar Chemali. They discuss America’s new trillionaire, the rise and danger of “the Epstein class,” dysfunctional wealth gaps, the Iran and Ukraine crises, and the nature of broken American politics—all shot through with wit, skepticism, and pointed cultural critique.

---

Highlights & Key Segments

1. Opening Monologue: Sports, Trump, and American Irony

Timestamps: 01:38–06:56

• Maher riffs on New York sports, Trump's effect on the Knicks' luck, and the culture's obsession with sports.

  "I'm offering a million dollars not to go to this game. That's a joke, by the way...Please. That is a joke because last time I offered money like that, I got sued." (Maher, 02:50)

• Compares the negotiation prowess of NBA teams to U.S. efforts with Iran, pokes at American soccer, and lampoons presidential “celebrations.”

Memorable Zinger:

“There’s more scoring at Bible camp. But, okay, if you love it, you love it, and I’m glad you have it.” (Maher, 05:03)

---

2. Interview: David Sedaris on Observation, Travel Guilt, and Marriage

Timestamps: 08:56–19:46

• Sedaris discusses his writing process and New Yorker essays, emphasizing how observing (not phone-scrolling) brings stories.

  "Most people are just looking at their phone. That's the difference. I'm the only one not looking at my phone." (Sedaris, 10:46)

• Sedaris and Maher commiserate about the guilt of wealthy tourists in poor countries, citing intrusive beach hawkers in Zanzibar and price-gouging cab drivers.

  "We found out when we got there that the town...they cut off the electricity for two weeks for people on the island...then you felt even kind of worse...you'd go on the beach and people would try to sell you stuff...even when you were in the water." (Sedaris, 11:45)

• On marriage, Sedaris reveals his secret marriage, criticizes the tax advantages for married people, and lampoons sentimentality:

  "I think it's unfair that married people get any kind of tax break because what if you're just really ugly and nobody wants to marry you or have sex? Why should you be financially penalized?" (Sedaris, 15:14)

• Sedaris on modern relationship language:

  "What are the odds, out of the billions of people who live in the world, that your one person lives in your same apartment complex?" (Sedaris, 16:24)

• Tells a story from his book about being bitten by a dog in Portland, where bystanders side with the fentanyl addict owner over him.

  "Nobody said, how awful that you got bitten by a dog. They said, what kind of a dog was it?...If I had said I was walking down the street and these tech bros...had a dog and it bit me, they'd be incensed. But because they were drug addicts, then everybody took their side." (Sedaris, 18:09)

Memorable Insight:

"Why is it so hard for people like this to say that it's wrong for a drug addict's dog to bite you? And your answer is because then, oh, then you're a Republican. Which is crazy, because then it puts the Democrats in the position of the pro drug addict dog biters." (Maher, 18:54)

---

3. Panel Discussion: Trillionaires, Wealth Gaps & "The Epstein Class"

Timestamps: 20:19–32:12

• SpaceX IPO: Maher marvels at Elon Musk becoming the world’s first trillionaire, asks about the implications of such massive wealth.

  "Can you be a good capitalist, as I think I am...and still think there should be some cap on wealth?" (Maher, 21:14)

• Bremmer argues the root problem isn't wealth itself, but lack of mobility and the erosion of public trust in elites and the social contract.

  "It's not about the money. It's about the lack of mobility, the lack of opportunity, the fact that we don't believe in America should be able to have a trillionaire." (Bremmer, 22:34)

• Chemali warns against targeting billionaires as the root cause of economic problems and opposes demonizing the “Epstein class”:

  "There's a danger in viewing the billionaires as the problem because then...people to say it's our economic system that isn't working, therefore it's capitalism that isn't working." (Chemali, 22:49)

• Maher distinguishes: some ultra-rich are “shark soup people”—obsessed with doing things just because they can, not because it matters.

  "It’s just that we can do it. We can get away with it. Just like we can Epstein with the young girls on the island. We can do it. Nobody’s going to stop us." (Maher, 31:21)

• Discussion of charity, taxation, and the dangers of blanket demonization; comparison to populist movements elsewhere.

---

4. International Affairs: Iran, Sanctions & American Foreign Policy

Timestamps: 33:37–41:45

• Iran Peace Deal:

  • Maher and Chemali parody Trump’s flip-flopping on peace deals, with Chemali noting he’s “desperate for a deal” that won’t look like the Obama-era deal despite similar substance.

    "He's trying to achieve all these goals at once. He's trying to communicate to the American public, don't worry about gas prices. They're going to go down soon. I'm cutting a deal...He's bored. He said that. He has said it enough." (Chemali, 36:28–37:29)

• OPEC and Oil:

  • Ian Bremmer notes OPEC’s fracturing as a major structural change, ushering in more market-driven oil and climate investments.

    "OPEC is over. The Emiratis have pulled out and that means that they want to produce as much oil as humanly possible because they don't want that to be a stranded asset...turns out orange is the new green. Trump is going to end up going down as the President has done more for renewable energy than any president in history." (Bremmer, 38:33–40:26)

• America's Shifting Role:

  • Maher and Bremmer discuss the post-unipolar world, European defense spending, and the unintended impact of Trump’s “America First” rhetoric.

---

5. Ukraine War & Geopolitical Shifts

Timestamps: 41:45–47:53

• Ukraine’s Comeback:

  • Maher marvels at Ukraine’s military reversal, comparing it to Knicks’ playoff comeback.

    "Did any of us think—I didn't. I didn't think Ukraine could beat Russia, but they did." (Maher, 42:44)

• Musk's Starlink & the Battlefield:

  • Bremmer highlights Starlink’s battlefield impact in favor of Ukraine as a tech-driven equalizer.

    "Starlink. He shut Starlink off for the Russians back in February, which means that their drones are no longer working. Now the Ukrainians...are able to actually take territory." (Bremmer, 42:56)

• Dictatorships' Staying Power:

  • Chemali and Bremmer discuss how dictatorships can outlast setbacks, and how AI and new technology further empower or destabilize global actors.

• China's Lessons from Ukraine:

  • Chinese leaders, according to Bremmer, see cautionary tales for Taiwan as Goliath doesn't always win.

    "They do want it [Taiwan]. But they're learning some lessons near term because they're seeing that Goliath, as you just said, Bill, isn't always winning the way Goliath thinks they are." (Bremmer, 47:44)

---

6. “New Rules” and the Broken System

Timestamps: 47:53–59:42

• Satirical Segment:

  • Maher skewers wedding etiquette, urine-based fertilizer startups, and non-alcoholic Coors Light.
  • He attacks the absurdity of candidates with sketchy backgrounds becoming plausible national leaders due to the “reflective” nature of democracy.

    "America is a country filled with a lot of broken, horribly educated, phone addicted, sort of nutty people. And as long as we live in a representative democracy, we are always electing our reflection in the mirror." (Maher, 53:24)

• Key Motif:

  • The public is both intensely political and profoundly ignorant about substantive issues, leading to a collision of memes, trolling, and conspiratorial thinking on both sides of the spectrum.

• Final Words:

  • Maher points out that unhinged personalities, bizarre scandals, and performative politics are the new normal rather than the exception.

    "Politics has always been a crazy game, but the people running weren’t this crazy." (Maher, 56:08)

---

Notable Quotes / Memorable Moments

• David Sedaris:

  • “I identify as a boyfriend. Even though I’m a husband. I would be sad if he died…If he died, I’d be sad for a long time.” (16:39)

• Ian Bremmer:

  • “If America becomes a coin operated democracy, you will see pitchforks and the Epstein class is a reaction on the left just as it was a tagline ‘drain the swamp’ for Trump.” (28:55)

• Hagar Chemali:

  • “There’s a danger in viewing the billionaires as the problem, because…that’s a very dangerous road to go down. They’re laying blame in the wrong place.” (29:45)

• Bill Maher:

  • “Why is it so hard for people like this to say that it’s wrong for a drug addict’s dog to bite you?…Because then, oh, then you’re a Republican. Which is crazy.” (18:54)

• Maher’s Satirical Sign-off:

  “America is a country filled with a lot of broken, horribly educated, phone addicted, sort of nutty people. And as long as we live in a representative democracy, we are always electing our reflection in the mirror.” (53:24)

---

Conclusion

This episode explores the American and global dilemmas of extreme wealth, political cynicism, and the contradictions at the heart of both progressivism and populism. With biting cultural observation and expert-driven discussion, the panel dissects how international events, the tech economy, and national mood feed into a landscape ripe for both comic and tragic absurdity. Whether reflecting on the nihilistic drift of modern politics or the awkward hilarity of a destination wedding, Maher and his guests keep the tone wry, skeptical, and uncomfortably close to the truth.

---

Guests:

• David Sedaris: Author, Essayist
• Ian Bremmer: President, Eurasia Group
• Hagar Chemali: Former US Mission to UN, Foreign Policy Analyst

---

For listeners (or non-listeners):
This episode delivers both laughs and insight, delving into why even as America chases trillionaires and TikTok trends, it can’t escape the existential questions at its core.

Transcript

[Announcer]

You survived the Miami weekend, nailed the speech and maxed out your credit card in the name of friendship. Now you've got one hangover, four pastel dresses and zero reasons to wear them again. Sell them on Depop. Just snap a few photos and we'll take care of the rest. And you at least get some of your dignity money back. Someone on Depop wants what you've got. Start selling now, Depop. Where taste recognizes taste. This episode is brought to you by Redfin. You're listening to a podcast, which means you're probably multitasking, maybe even scrolling home listings on Redfin, saving homes without expecting to get them. But Redfin isn't just built for endless browsing. It's built to help you find and own a home with agents who close twice as many deals. When you find the one, you've got a real shot at getting it. Get [e-mail] own the dream. Welcome to an HBO podcast from the HBO late night series Real Time with Bill Maher.

[Bill Maher]

Hey, thank you people. How you doing? All right. So many friendly faces. Thank you people. I appreciate it. Thank you. Okay, well. Oh yes, we're still here. Thank you. Thank you. And. Thank you, people. Thank you. Let me start with this. Any New Yorkers here tonight? Any New Yorkers? We saw the greatest come from behind team ever this week. I'm talking about the negotiators for Iran, unfortunately. But the Knicks were fantastic too. I mean, yes, the Knicks did that. My team, my team that I've been with since 1973. I was in high school the last time they did. I have never wavered on the Knicks, so this is important to me. Game five, okay? My life. I didn't do anything but suffer. So. But thank you. But game five is tomorrow night and Trump is not going. He went to game three and they lost. And you know, no, look, the knicks had a 13 game winning streak in the playoffs. That's almost unheard of. Then he went. They lost. I'm not saying he made them lose. I am saying I am offering a million dollars not to go to this game. That's a joke, by the way. Please. That is a joke because last time I offered money like that, I got sued. So that's joke. Complete joke. Judge whoever's going to see this. And at the next game he went to, he brought his granddaughter Kai. And this is unfortunate. Then of course when they showed him on the cam, the whole crowd booed. And it was a very tender moment when he said to her, I'm sorry, they booing you, honey. And then a little controversy. Little controversy here. The next day, a video was posted of this, and the booing had magically gone. And we don't know who did this, but the speculation is going to either Kash Patel or Pete Hegseth, because if anyone knows how to make booze disappear, there you go. I did. That's why I didn't do that one. At the end, you have to think for a second. You can't finish with one of those thinkers, you know? But not a lot of sports going on. The World cup is here in la. Most of the world, people love it. Yeah, most of the world considers soccer the number one sport here. It's for where you put your kids when you don't want to pay for daycare. I don't get the attraction of soccer. I don't. There's more scoring at Bible camp. But, okay, if you love it, you love it, and I'm glad you have it. But the really big sporting event is this weekend. You know, I'm sure you know what's going on. Our redneck president is turning 80. And to celebrate, there is a UFC fight on the lawn. So the emperor is holding gladiator games on. Nothing to see here. I wouldn't think about it too much. Don't worry about it. And hopefully the big fight will also serve as a celebration for a peace deal with Iran, which the President says is imminent. But he says that every week. They counted now, he has said it 38 times. 38 times. You know, last week, the same thing. It started with, we have a peace deal. And then by the end of the week, we're going to hit him very hard. All caps, very hard. We're going to hit him. And then he thought. He thought about it with himself and went back to peace. Do we even really need Iran in this war? I mean, really, do we? Every time they pipe up, he says, who asked you? Stay out of it. But drums said, if you don't agree. Said to Iran, if they don't agree to this peace deal, they will pay the price. Pay the price. Gas is $6 a gallon out here. The Iranians who pay the price are living in Beverly Hills. Okay, that's. And every week, every week, as the president gets more frustrated, he blames somebody else. Last week it was Oman.

[Ian Bremmer]

Oman.

[Bill Maher]

They were like, oman, What'd we do this week? It's the Kurds. The Kurds. He said, the Kurds let us down. And I won't forget Kurds. We've gone from threatening every country in the world to threatening somebody who just wants to be a country. They're on the, the Kurds, they're on the waiting shit list. But none of that will be remembered in the future. But we were remembered in the future from this week is what happened in the stock market today. SpaceX, are you familiar that's. Yes, the company, one of Elon Musk's companies went to initial public offering. You can buy stock in it now, biggest one ever. And Elon is now a trillionaire. A trillionaire. Now I give Elon his props. He has created amazing things. Yes, SpaceX is amazing. So is Tesla, Neuralink, Starlink. Elon owns a company that can rewire your brain. It's called Twitter. But a trillionaire, I mean, now Elon says he will use his wealth to get to Mars because he believes one thing above all. If you have to leave Earth to avoid California taxes, you do what you have to do. All right, thank you very much. We have a great show. Ian Bremmer and Hagar Shamali are here. But first up, he is a contributor for the New Yorker and author of the number one best selling book of essays, the Land and His People. One of the funniest people on Earth, David Sedaris is over here. I knew you would. There you go. All right. There you go. All right. And what lately?

[David Sedaris]

Lately, I don't want to wear a pile of clothes. That's just my thing. This pussy bow, it comes to the ground sometimes. I don't tie it and I just leave it dangling. But we decided backstage it would look good. Tie.

[Bill Maher]

Is that is. What is that? Is it a shirt? You.

[David Sedaris]

It's a shirt with a massive pussy bow attached to it.

[Bill Maher]

What's a pussy bow?

[David Sedaris]

A pussy bow is like a oversized bow. So this.

[Bill Maher]

That's a term people know? That's a term people know.

[David Sedaris]

It's a term. It's a term.

[Bill Maher]

It's a perfectly polite term in the heterosexual community also. I don't know, I never heard of it, but. So the book is number one. As it should be. Maestro, you've done it again. I guess at best. I mean, I loved it as I love all your books. Do you think that more interesting things just happen to you or do you just see things we all see and make them interesting? I think it's probably a lot of the second, but seems to be a little bit of the first. You seem to put yourself in places where interesting things happen that prompt these. Awesome.

[David Sedaris]

I think I just have a notebook. I think that's the only difference. I mean, Most people, they see things and they forget about it. But I have a notebook and I just write it down so I remember well.

[Bill Maher]

But you also say at one point, and so many things I do relate to because we're about the same age that, you know, at one point you moved to New York. Right. And you didn't. Things were not going well and you were going to go back to Chicago, but you don't want to go back. And, you know, we don't want to face that. Or you didn't make it in the big city.

[David Sedaris]

Yeah, that'd be the worst.

[Bill Maher]

Right. And you say the one reason you wanted to stay in New York is there's just a lot more chance. If you're walking around New York, you see weird shit, right. You see interesting stuff that's gonna prompt a story.

[David Sedaris]

Yeah. Just things that you could possibly write about. But I don't know, I feel like it can really happen anywhere, you know, if you just. Most people are just looking at their phone. That's the difference. I'm the only one not looking at my phone. But now when I look around, this is what I see, people looking at their phone.

[Bill Maher]

Right. And you go all over the world. I mean, this one. I mean, the stories about the safari, I thought was fascinating, where you didn't take any pictures. Probably the first person who never took

[David Sedaris]

a picture, they seemed so disappointed. And they would say, get out your camera. And I just didn't.

[Bill Maher]

I just don't think again. We're the same age, so that's how I think. It's like, I'm really going to forget the hippo. You know, I have a camera up here. I've had it my whole life. You know, there was a long time we didn't need that camera when we just would take a picture with our mind. But other thing I kind of related to is you said you went to Zanzibar, right?

[David Sedaris]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

And you couldn't help forget that there was such an income gap between the tourists and the people who live there. That's why I don't go to.

[David Sedaris]

Well, we stayed at this resort, and then we found out when we got there that the town. That they cut off the electricity for two weeks for people on the island. I mean, it was intense, insanely hot and humid, and they didn't even have fans. And then they said, don't worry, the resort has generators. And then you felt even kind of worse. And then you'd go on the beach and people would try to sell you stuff. And even when you were in the Water. They would try to sell you things, so I couldn't waste time.

[Bill Maher]

I don't go to places like that. I just feel guilty the whole time.

[David Sedaris]

Well, Hawaii is the only place where you go.

[Bill Maher]

Well, Hawaii.

[David Sedaris]

And it's.

[Bill Maher]

People around, it's a state of America, you know, they're doing quite well, actually.

[David Sedaris]

But if you want to go to a hot place. If you want to go to a hot place in the winter, most. Most places are sad.

[Bill Maher]

Are sad. Exactly. And also, you tell a story which is exactly what happened to me in Mexico once, which you get into a cab. I mean, this happened to you in Zenzvor. It happened to me in Mexico. And the cab driver, you say, how long? How is it? How much to get to? And he says, it's 30,000 pesos. And you get there, thank you. That'll be 90,000 pesos. And you wait, you said, no, you must have misheard me. And we both know that he's lying, right?

[David Sedaris]

And then you feel like, I was going to give you that as a tip. You didn't have to rip me off. I would have given it to you anyway. And then you think, God, he didn't have any electricity. And the snails in Zanzibar, they're like that big. That's all really, they have to offer in terms of, like, just really big snails. That's really the only reason.

[Bill Maher]

Well, and the beach to go. And the beach and the weather.

[David Sedaris]

And the beach. But again, you're in the water and people are trying to sell you shit. In the water. In the water.

[Bill Maher]

No, I'm not. I know.

[David Sedaris]

If I may, I think that it's fantastic that you're winning the Mark Twain Award. I think that's great.

[Bill Maher]

Thank you. Thank you.

[David Sedaris]

The last time. The last time I was here, I predicted that Jeff Foxworthy, for Jeff Foxworthy, was going to get it next, you know, because Kennedy center had been taken over. So where is the ceremony then?

[Bill Maher]

At the Kennedy Center?

[David Sedaris]

Oh, it's going to be at the Kennedy Center.

[Bill Maher]

Well, let's not talk about it too much. We don't know what's going to happen. I mean, at one point it was canceled. You know, the president tried to stop it, and then we were back on. And then, then a judge ruled that. Let's fucking not talk about it, please. Because it's just. It could only make it worse.

[David Sedaris]

You know, do you put things up, like, let's say if. If. If you get it, will you display it in your home or.

[Bill Maher]

No, there's plenty of room on the. Well, let's talk about you. And we're here to talk about your book, not my long awards history. But one thing I love about it is you're never sentimental. You know, this one moment I feel like you allowed yourself. You're talking about the fact that I didn't know this until I read this. You actually been secretly married for 10 years.

[David Sedaris]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

And at the very end, at the very end of it, you allow yourself a nice word about your husband. He's so controlling, but he's so handsome. That's the only little moment I find like that. Because that's what I love about you.

[David Sedaris]

Well, I didn't want the only reason it was a shotgun wedding arranged by my banker. I think it's completely unfair. I think it's unfair that married people get any kind of tax break because what if you're like just really ugly and nobody wants to marry you or have sex? Why should you be financially peaceful? So I think they should get rid of the tax break for everybody for, you know, instead of make. Yeah. Get rid of it for all married people.

[Bill Maher]

I couldn't agree more.

[David Sedaris]

I mean, that's the only reason I did it. And then when people say congratulations, I don't know what they're talking about. It takes me a minute. And then your marriage. Oh, right.

[Announcer]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

Yeah. I always thought the coolest thing about being gay was that you couldn't get married.

[David Sedaris]

I wanted. I wanted. I wanted gay people to fight for the right to marry and then not a single one of them to do it.

[Ian Bremmer]

Right.

[Bill Maher]

I thought that was the best. I also love that you say you hate when people use the term like my person. You know, they used to say, you

[David Sedaris]

know, right, people, it used to be my soulmate and then it was my person. But what are the odds out of the billions of people who live in the world that your one person lives in your same apartment complex?

[Bill Maher]

I know it's always silly or goes

[David Sedaris]

to your community college. So I don't feel like Hugh is. That's my. I can't even say I identify as a boyfriend. Even though I'm a husband. I identify as a boyfriend. I would be sad if he died.

[Bill Maher]

Right.

[David Sedaris]

If he died, I'd be sad for a long time.

[Bill Maher]

That's enough. Yeah. That's all you would need at the ceremony.

[David Sedaris]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

If I was going to get married, I'd be like, I'd be sad if you died. Ok. So before we run out of time, the best story, the best one, I think in the book, maybe the best of the year, the decade this is just an immaculate story. The one about the dog. Oh, called you little dog too, first of all. Perfect title for the story. Just tell him a little bit. You're in Portland, which is, you know, let's call it a peak woke city. During peak wokeness, it went crazy, right? I mean, like, police were the enemy and all that stuff. They've retrenched that. And you got bit by a. You know, you can walk down the street there and there's a lot of fentanyl addicts that are just out and about, right? And one of their dogs bit you. And the people around there sided with the addict. And the dog I got, they were like, they're still better off. An addict is still better off than you. And like, the sad part is that there's no good place for these animals. And you were like, is that really the sad part? Because do you see this bite hole in my leg?

[David Sedaris]

Nobody said, how awful that you got bitten by a dog. They said, what kind of a dog was it? They said, but one person said, did. One person said, did you get the names? And I said, oh, they're fentanyl addicts. They weren't giving me their names. No. Of the dogs. It would help to rescue them. And it was. But if I had said, if I had said I was walking down the street and these tech bros, I don't usually use words like that had a dog and it bit me, they'd be incensed. But because they were drug addicts, then everybody took their side. They felt like they couldn't say that it was. They treated me like it was my fault. Or you just, well, that's the way it goes. You're better off than they are.

[Bill Maher]

And you get to, I think what is just the heart of so much of our fucked up politics. You say, why is it so hard for people like this to say that it's wrong for a drug addict's dog to bite you? And your answer is because then, oh, then you're a Republican. Which is crazy because then it puts the Democrats in the position of the pro drug addict dog biters.

[David Sedaris]

Well, I got a letter from this woman and she was walking after dark and a man was following behind her. And she turned around and said, can I help you? He said, I'm homeless. Do you have some money? She said, I don't have any money on me. She kept walking. He followed her. She turned around. She said, this really making me uncomfortable. He said, I also take cash apps. She said, I don't have that either. When she told People the story, they said you don't have cash app. Like that was the whole.

[Bill Maher]

Thank you, maestro. You've done it again. Great to see you. David Tadaris, as always, laugh your ass off. You're breathing. All right, let's meet our panel. Hey, how are you? All right. He is the founder, president and founder of Eurasia Group and Gzero Media, Ian Bremmer. And she is the former spokesperson of the US Mission to the UN Co founder of the Lebanon Israel Peace alliance and host of YouTube's oh My World. Hagar Shamali. Great to see you.

[David Sedaris]

Thank you.

[Bill Maher]

For the first time. And we're going to start with the big economic news, because I feel like even though it's a big story today, it is not big enough story. I mean, initial public offering. If people don't follow economics, that's where something goes public. It's been SpaceX been around for a while, right? Oh, yeah. Okay. And it does other things besides send rockets to space, right? Doesn't it do the satellites he has? Okay, so it's a viable company. It's worth a lot of money. 1.77 trillion. Is it worth. What happened to irrational exuberance? This is. First of all, it's insane. Over 4,000 people who worked for the company in the past became millionaires, not just Elon becoming Elon shares now are worth 866 billion. That's on top of the money he already had from his other companies. This is really AI money, first of all, right? Is that what they're really investing in? Is that what. Okay, and then is it going to be like five people who have all the money in the world and can you be a good capitalist? Here's my question. Can you be a good capitalist, as I think I am, or a believer in capitalist, and still think there should be some cap on wealth?

[Ian Bremmer]

Well, you have to. Americans believe that people should be able to make it. They should be successful. It's one of the things that really makes our country work. We don't think necessarily that someone who's worth 100 million, even a billion, maybe even a trillion, is necessarily a bad thing. Where many other countries, they do. But there has to be opportunity for the average American and their kids to get there. And the fact that we saw Graham Platner came out immediately today. There should never be another trillionaire. You know, you see Elizabeth Warren, you'll see Robert Reich. Every billionaire is a policy failure. That reflects the fact that a whole bunch of Americans feel like they don't trust their leaders. They don't trust these elites. That Elon, the first trillionaire also happens to be the person that gave the most money to the Trump administration, $250 million. They don't feel like that's a coincidence and they don't have that kind of access, no matter how smart they are, no matter how hard they work. So for me, it's not about the money. For me, it's about the lack of mobility, the lack of opportunity, the fact that we don't believe in America should

[Bill Maher]

be able to have a trillionaire. Do you agree with that? Not a billionaire.

[Announcer]

I don't really have a problem with it because I don't have a problem with how these billionaires and now single trillionaire made their money because they've grown these companies, they've built them.

[Bill Maher]

And.

[Announcer]

But you know, the wealth gap that you're talking about, it's important because you don't want people to feel that their very real economic suffering is because of the billionaires. You want it when the tides rise, that all the boats rise with it. Right, but. And I think that there's a danger in viewing the billionaires as the problem because then it leads from there. People to say it's our economic system that isn't working, therefore it's capitalism that isn't working. And the problem with that. And you're already seeing those seeds being planted, right? Mamdani, that's his big, his big arguments were about socialism and things like that. And the thing is, what you need, you need certain regulations, certain. Maybe it's taxes, maybe things that can indicate to people it's not because of billionaires. The billionaires are doing business and innovation and hopefully that has job growth. It's other ways that you want them to believe that there's opportunity that they can pursue. But it's not because of the billionaires.

[Bill Maher]

Okay, you guys keep saying billionaires. And the story today is trillionaire. It's trillionaire, fair trillionaire. Okay, can we just get real about this Trillion. Would it be crazy to have a law that said you can't go above 1% of gross domestic product, gross national product? You as one person. Because when John D. Rockefeller reached that, they did make laws 1%. I think it's still a pretty big flex. If you're trying to pick up a woman.

[Ian Bremmer]

I'm a happy.

[Bill Maher]

You know, if you're like, what do you drive? What do I drive? I'm worth 1% of the United States. That's me. I mean, even that is money that, that no one could possibly spend. I Just think things get so out of whack, and I don't. And again, he's not going to be the last one. I think he's the other four or five AI Incel, you know, on the spectrum types. I just don't see this turning out well.

[Ian Bremmer]

I think it's the lack of trust. I think when you had Bill Gates and when you had Warren Buffett, and they were not only making billions and tens of billions of dollars, even $100 billion, which back then felt like real money, they were also doing things to change the world. They were showing that they cared. We have a story about trust and inequality right now in my city, in New York City with this team, right? We've got 10,000, $10,000 to get in, right? $100,000, $200,000 to sit just right there in the front row. And yet everyone in New York, every single person, Staten Island, New Jersey, the Bronx, they're rooting. Why are they rooting? First of all, because they feel like they have a connection to the team. Second of all, because the star, Jalen Brunson, who is extraordinary, gave up over $100 million so that he could actually have more money that the rest of the team could benefit from. And they play like a team. So it's not that Americans have a problem with people making a lot of money, but you've got to have some stake in it. You've got to have a part of it. And that's why we want the Knicks to go and buy.

[Bill Maher]

Yeah, I do.

[Ian Bremmer]

I never use props, by the way, but I felt like today we needed to.

[Bill Maher]

What a winner that was. But one seat went for a million. They sold a courtside seat for a million dollars. And by the way, I thought this was so interesting. Trump, only, like two weeks ago, was talking about. He sounded almost exactly like what I've said about sports and the way it has migrated to streaming. You have to buy all the. All these streaming channels. You have to hunt for the game. Cost you a lot of money. They work worse. And he was. He said there's something very sad when they take football away from many, many people. Very sad. I don't like it. He said, they're making a lot of money. They could make a little bit less. You got people who live for Sunday, and then all of a sudden, they're going to have to pay $1,000 a game. And exactly. Then they asked him at the game the other day, the cheapest price, the reporter said, for the game going in is $8,000. Everyday, Americans can't afford these sporting events. I expected him to say this. What he already said about sports. He said, well, they can watch it on television, but that's the way life goes. This is my point about. Keep talking to him. Because he has no fixed beliefs other than wind is bad and tariffs are good.

[Announcer]

Not very principled.

[Bill Maher]

You might as well be the last person who has his ear because, you know, he went from it's terrible to them, fuck you, sucks to be you. That's the way life goes. And I don't. But let me. Let me get back to something you were talking about, which is people. Because people. Yes, Jalen Brunson did give up money. He's also got being paid hundreds of millions of dollars.

[Ian Bremmer]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

Yes. And a lot of Americans are doing well. You know, when people say, oh, a lucky few. Lucky. It's a lucky many. The upper middle class has grown three times. That's like a third of the country who are doing very well. That's still two thirds that aren't doing that great. Okay. But it's enough to make people think, I could be one of them, you know? Okay. So they have a slogan now that is catching on. It's ironic because it's. It started on the right and now it's migrated to the left. And that's the Epstein class. Let's not forget where Epstein obsession started. QAnon. I remember when I was doing jokes about it. QAnon. They're nuts. And by the way, they are nuts. They think Democrats eat babies. They went after me as a pedophile because they got a picture of me with red shoes. Red shoes equals a ped. You know, they're. But they weren't.

[Ian Bremmer]

I see a pope.

[Bill Maher]

Right. Well, the member. Well, obviously pedophile in chief. I mean, not the present one, but present one. But I guess that's where they got it from. I don't know. And the shoes were burgundy, by the way. Point is, I think they're onto something here. That's what the left now is using this term, the Epstein class. And what they mean by that are people who just. These elites, they can be on both sides. Trump was good friends with Epstein and so is Bill Clinton. It is a nonpartisan thing to a degree. It is.

[Ian Bremmer]

A group of people are getting away with murder. Right. It's not that they're making it through their intelligence and their capacity. It's that they're networked. And therefore it's a two tier system. The legal system doesn't apply to them. The judicial system doesn't apply to them. The political system works for them because they capture it. If America becomes a coin operated democracy, you will see pitchforks and the Epstein class is a reaction on the left just as it was a tagline drain the swamp for Trump until he decided that he wanted to get his and billions and billions of dollars that they're making because of connections through power. Right? I mean you tell me that World Liberty Financial is worth all of those billions that that is because they just happen to be brilliant or because they happen to be in a position of power. He shouldn't be making billions.

[Bill Maher]

No, I think it's very issue is

[Announcer]

what I'm saying, you know, I want to be. I'm not trying to say I believe this term the Epstein class. I understand it because what they're trying to say is billionaires that get away with murder basically, I mean as you said, but get away with everything. They're infiltrating politics, they're influencing politics, how people vote and so on. The thing is, you know where else we used to see this idea or view that this is the fault of the elite. This is the elite's. My suffering is because of the elite. It's the elite's fault. I can't move ahead because of the elite. That's a very dangerous road to go down because they're laying blame in the wrong place. And that's why I would love to see our government take control more. Perhaps, maybe, I don't know if the what shaving the 1% like you said, Maybe there's a cap. I don't love the idea of a cap.

[Bill Maher]

No, I didn't say 1%. I said worth 1% of gross marginal product. That's different than the 1%.

[David Sedaris]

Fair.

[Bill Maher]

But then I'm all for money.

[Announcer]

Does that money go to the government? Are we sure we can trust the government with what they're going to do with that, with that money? I think to your point it's better to have if you can instill that social contract where you have people who are pursuing charity and you have a lot of those billionaires who are doing that who believe in donating a large portion of their wealth, who've signed these pledges for that. And so I'm trying to say is I don't think they should all be labeled the Epstein class. I think there's a danger.

[Bill Maher]

Well, they're not all in the Epstein class. It's just there are just people. I call them the shark soup people, you know, the people. You know it's illegal to have shark soup to kill sharks for soup. But people do it. And I bet you the soup tastes like shit. It's just that we can do it.

[Ian Bremmer]

We can.

[Bill Maher]

We can get away with it just like we can Epstein with the. With the young girls on the aisle. We can do it. Nobody's going to stop us. That's. I think this is what I think

[Ian Bremmer]

the Epstein class is a big piece of it because it's the sense of corruption, the sense of entitlement that we will never have access to. But it's all. Also American young people right now are more skeptical about AI than almost any other country in the world. And it's because they think that they're being lied to. They think that this technology that's going to be rolled out is going to take jobs away from them, take opportunities away from them, and that their leaders will not give them a shot.

[Bill Maher]

Right.

[Ian Bremmer]

The Generation Alpha is going to become Generation F'd. Right. That's not going to get you anything but pitchforks. And what we've seen is when there's high inflation and we see when there's mistrust on these issues, they vote the bums out.

[Bill Maher]

Yeah.

[Ian Bremmer]

That's what you're gonna see happening in the midterms.

[Bill Maher]

Well, we'll see. I just do think this is migrating to the left. It's their issue. Trump said he would drain the swamp and he bottled it. Basically. They've known it. You have one new message translating.

[Announcer]

Disney and Pixar's Hoppers is now available on Disney.

[Ian Bremmer]

You could say that again.

[Bill Maher]

Critics are calling it Pixar's funniest movie ever.

[Announcer]

And a wildly entertaining ride.

[Bill Maher]

Blizzard Potato. It's certified fresh and verified hot.

[David Sedaris]

Now we party.

[Bill Maher]

This is incredible. Wow.

[Ian Bremmer]

I am clearing the rest of the day.

[Bill Maher]

Disney and Pixar's Hoppers now available on Disney. Rated PG. Study and play come together on a Windows 11 PC. And for a limited time, college students get the best of both worlds. Get the unreal college deal. Everything you need to study and play with select Windows 11 PCs. Eligible students get a year of Microsoft 365 Premium and a year of Xbox game Pass ultimate with a custom color Xbox wireless controller. Learn [e-mail] studentoffer while supplies last ends June 30th terms at aka mscollegepc.

[Announcer]

Tomorrow morning is knocking. Stock your fridge now. How about a creamy mocha frappuccino drink? Or a sweet vanilla smooth caramel maybe? Or a white chocolate mocha? Whichever you choose, delicious coffee awaits. Find Starbucks. Frappuccino Drinks wherever you buy your groceries.

[Bill Maher]

All right, so listen, it is June. June is wedding season. Anyone here getting married this month? It's always a. You know, I love weddings, just not mine. No, because they're funny and one of the. They are. One of the thing that's funny about them is that somebody is always making the wedding toast and it's always inappropriate. And we thought as a public service because, you know, they have a few drinks in them and they're caught up in the moment and then it just ruins the hallway. Thought as a public service, we would like to offer if you're one of those people, things not to say if you're giving the way. Would you like to hear those? All right, well, let's do it just like they do at the wedding. Right there with the mic and the, and the. Okay, so for, for example, don't say I first met the bride in college during her lesbian phase. Don't say that. Here's another one. Don't say for the bride and groom it was love at first sight. So don't ever say nothing good ever happens on Only Fans. Don't, don't go. Forget your other marriages. I've got a really good feeling about this one. Don't say if she kisses half as good as her mom. I think you two are going to be okay. Don't say these two are proof that there really is someone for everyone in this world. But damn, that's gonna be one ugly baby. Don't, don't. Am I crazy or is this stripper at the bachelor party and the wedding plan are the same chick? Is that. And whatever you do, don't. And to the groom. I apologize. Apparently I was wrong. You can pray away the gay. All right, that's okay. Now back to the issues. All right, let's do it this week. We have to. It's the law. Talk about Iran. Yeah. Look, I don't know what the latest is and even if you told me what it was, I wouldn't believe you because it's just the same thing. It's just Groundhog Day. All these things I heard. Now we're going to have a for sure. We're going to have a deal and a peace signing. I mean, there's no way out of this for him. For Trump, I mean it's. The only way out is if he comes up with a deal that's better than the one Obama got. And the only way to do that is with a full on invasion. And he doesn't want to do that. What does he Do.

[Announcer]

He's looking for an off ramp right now. Right now. It's very clear he's desperate for a deal. Yeah, he's desperate for a deal. He is showing his cards. The Iranian regime very much knows that. And he's trying to achieve all these goals at once. He's trying to communicate to the American public, don't worry about gas prices. They're going to go down soon. I'm cutting a deal. The deal is coming closed. We're going to be this weekend, et cetera. And we're seeing this over and over and over again, as you said.

[Ian Bremmer]

Was that your Trump impersonation?

[Announcer]

I can do a better one.

[Ian Bremmer]

I wasn't ready for that.

[Bill Maher]

Everyone can do it.

[Announcer]

Very beautiful. He's also trying to communicate to the Iranian regime and flex his muscles and say and back his language, the threat of force, which I don't believe he's going to actually carry through on those threats anymore. He's also trying to placate the Gulf. The Gulf allies are really trying to encourage him not to go back into war, to make a deal of some kind. That's why he's put Jared Kushner now on this process. The problem is he's desperate to come to a deal while also trying to make it look like it's not the same as the Obama deal, which he spent forever criticizing. And I personally am worried about where this deal is headed. I work a lot on Lebanon, Israel, as you mentioned, and I'm afraid Lebanon will get sold to Iran. I'm afraid about sanctions relief. Sanctions relief? I sound like a sanctions monger. There isn't a sanction I don't like. But I'm afraid that if he gives sanctions relief, it's too strong, it's going to fund all the proxies. But he's. He wants to move on. He's bored. He said that. He has said it enough. Frankly, I'm bored with the talking points as well. But you know who's not bored are the Iranian people who have been suffering under this regime, who have had families, victims, lost and slaughtered, 40, 30 to 40,000 of them. And they're watching to see what he does.

[Bill Maher]

Yeah, I mean, he took a shot at a festering problem. It didn't work.

[Ian Bremmer]

Not even close.

[Bill Maher]

Not close?

[Ian Bremmer]

Yes.

[Bill Maher]

Because first of all, I think they just did it the wrong time. If they'd done it when the people were in the streets, maybe the uprising would have happened. They wouldn't. Until everybody got slaughtered and then sat around for a couple of months and then did It. So they fucked up the whole thing.

[Ian Bremmer]

I'd love to believe that. I hope that that's true. I don't think it is.

[Bill Maher]

But we'll never know.

[Ian Bremmer]

We'll never know.

[Bill Maher]

We are where we are.

[Ian Bremmer]

Yeah, exactly. Look, I'm with you right at the beginning. The headlines every week are the same. They're relentless. Is there a deal? Isn't there a deal? But there are some really big long term things that have already happened that we can talk about. So, for example, OPEC is over. The Emiratis have pulled out and that means that they want to produce as much oil as humanly possible because they don't want that to be a stranded asset. They know it's not going to be worth so much over time. They want to become a global node as a city state. That's, by the way, that's a monopoly. It's a cartel over energy, over fossil fuel energy. That is not good for anybody. Glad to see them go. The Americans are the largest producer in

[Bill Maher]

the world right now.

[Ian Bremmer]

That's number one. That's a big thing that has happened. Not because Trump was planning it, but it matters. Second, Go ahead.

[Bill Maher]

Yeah, well, also they're building pipelines now.

[Ian Bremmer]

That's right.

[Bill Maher]

I mean, again, he does things in such a clumsy way and sometimes fumbles forward to a good result.

[Ian Bremmer]

That's right. Second piece.

[Bill Maher]

And they are, because the straighter Hormuz will never be as strategically important as it is now. Because they got the memo, we got to build, we got to send the oil the other way through pipelines.

[Ian Bremmer]

So when the traffic Chinese hit back hard and put that gun on the table, said critical minerals, we're going to shut you down. We didn't think they could. As soon as they did it, what do we all do? Start investing in critical minerals in five, 10 years. They can't use that again. It's exactly what's happening in response to the Iranians, the Emiratis build a new pipeline. But the most important thing is people move away from oil and gas. It is electric vehicles, it's solar. Because we now know not just in that strait, but in Malacca, the Houthis in the Red Sea. You take some drones and you can hold a $110 trillion economy to ransom. So it turns out orange is the new green. Trump is going to end up going down as the President has done more for renewable energy than any president in history.

[Bill Maher]

So that's what's our strategy, Cut and stay. Yeah, well, I think, you know, in the big picture, people just, I mean, the reason why he lost part of his coalition is because they thought he ran on America First. And we thought America first meant America has been too generous to a lot of countries. They thought. And some of that was true. I'm sure they also thought we were too overextended and they wanted to pull back, and now we're not doing that. Another thing that worked out, actually, I don't think it was necessarily the way he intended, but he certainly got some credit for it. He wanted European countries to pay more, to pay more and to take. You know, Clinton once made a speech and said America was the indispensable nation. And Trump was like, yeah, we don't want to be. Why do we have to be indispensable? Okay. I mean, I kind of like that we were indispensable. And I would like to think there are things about us that are indispensable. But, you know, there is truth to that, too. They. He was right. They. European countries could step up, and they did step up. Germany is spending more money, I think, now on their defense than they have in, like, 40 years. In one year.

[Ian Bremmer]

I give Putin a little more credit for that than Trump, but Trump deserves some credit for that.

[Bill Maher]

Right?

[Ian Bremmer]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

Because Putin threatened. That's right. And he said, well, this is a European problem. Not like we haven't already given a hell of a lot of money to Ukraine. Have we? Given something like $170 billion already. Okay. And then we kind of stopped, which was wrong. And you know his big line, he said it about the Iran war, too, at one point. He said, the Iranians don't seem to realize they have no cards. Exact same thing he said to Zelensky. Well, both of them have cards.

[Ian Bremmer]

Turns out they have cards.

[Bill Maher]

We're not the only one with cards. He just manifest these things. They're begging for a deal. No, they're not. Just because you say it doesn't mean it's going to happen. That's the problem we have. But the cards thing, tell me what your thought about that. Is this idea that the Ukraine, which is, apropos to your hat, the biggest comeback since the Knicks.

[Ian Bremmer]

Oh, my God.

[David Sedaris]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

I mean, did any of us think. I didn't. I didn't think Ukraine could beat Russia, but they did.

[Ian Bremmer]

Well, it turns out, right, that necessity is the mother of invention. These guys are getting very seriously threatened, not like the Europeans. And let's go back to Elon for a second. Starlink. He shut Starlink off for the Russians back in February, which means that their drones are no longer working. And now the Ukrainians, without people on the front lines, are able to actually take. Take territory. And that is a very serious change. Ukrainians have a hell of a lot of cards right now, and they're putting a lot more threat against the Kremlin that the Kremlin is presently putting on Kiev. And, you know, Trump should back a winner here, so you'd like to see him engaging a little bit more with. I'm not expecting an apology. You know, I'm not expecting a thank you for doing all of that, as president. Vice President Vance would say. But the American might want to pivot a little bit towards a winner.

[Bill Maher]

That's the one thing he would understand, is winners. And Zelenskyy doesn't need an apology. Winning, winning, winning is the best apology there is. And, I mean, where are we a year from now in this war in Ukraine? I mean, it could be. I mean, Russia can't just constantly put people into this meat grinder. How many people do they have left? They emptied the prisons. You know, they got all the dregs of society, put them as cannon fodder on the front line. Who's left to fight this war?

[Announcer]

Russia could go for a while, though. And dictators do that, right? They sustain a lot. They don't care as much about. They certainly have no value for human life. We already know that. And they have constant feed, not just from prisons, but from other countries. North Korea, China. They have ways of fueling this machine, but it's not. But, but your point about Elon Musk is major, because this is really what shifted things for the Ukrainians, because Russia is now going into the front lines blind, whereas the Ukrainians see everything now in a year. I mean, who's. Who's to say, because there's a peace process, allegedly, or a deal. I mean, Putin said that he's going to do this. He's offering talks with Zelensky. The administration is overseeing it under Steve Witkoff, I believe. You know, who knows which way it'll go? But I actually have. I have some hope for this one even, because there's a. Because all of these, The Ukrainians are being very creative and they're finding ways to push the Russians back up against the wall. And that, by the way, in Iran would be the same. The only way you're going to get a deal that you really. Any deal that you could try to fashion that would work in our favor and in our national security interests is if you have their backs up against the wall. Otherwise, Russia and Iran similarly, they're just looking to survive as long as possible, outlast Trump, get to the next leader, last as long as possible without collapsing. And dictatorships have a way to do that for a very long time, even with sanctions.

[Bill Maher]

And I wonder if the world will take note that no matter what form of government you are, if you're Goliath, doesn't mean you win.

[Ian Bremmer]

That's right.

[Bill Maher]

Doesn't mean you win. Just because you're bigger and your budget is a zillion times more and you have more of this and more weapons and more of that, it's going to be a stalemate.

[Ian Bremmer]

The good news is that the Chinese are seeing that, and they understand that for Taiwan, for South China Sea, they're like, their lesson is, you know, this could actually go very badly for us with the military that's been hollowed out and that we haven't actually engaged in fighting for decades. The issue, though, is that Putin himself, he's not getting any younger. He looks pretty bad. He's spending most of his time isolated. Right. Not with good advisors around him. His former bodyguard is one of his top national security advisers. Right now, I worry a lot that as things get worse, especially if Zelenskyy is able to bring that direct threat to him and his inner circle, that that's when you get something really bad. Yeah, he can last for a long time, but there are very few constraints on him. The Chinese really recognize that this is going badly. Putin just went over there, and a couple Chinese leaders told me right after the meeting, they said, yeah, we. We know this is going badly. We want a cease fire. We're prepared to push harder. And I said, well, do you feel more optimistic? Like he's not listening to us?

[Bill Maher]

You talk to Chinese leaders?

[Ian Bremmer]

Sure.

[Bill Maher]

Yeah. And Xi's okay with that?

[Ian Bremmer]

I can't talk to Xi. He's okay with me talking to Chinese leaders.

[Bill Maher]

Sure. Really?

[Ian Bremmer]

The foreign minister had a press conference with me last time I was in Beijing. I think it was. Yeah, right. Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

Okay. Yeah. As long as they toe the party line.

[Ian Bremmer]

Well, look, they are going to talk about what they want to talk about. You shouldn't be trusting that they're not. Suddenly, they're giving you some secrets that they're not interested in. The point is they understand the war in Russia has been bad for China. This is an ally of the Chinese. I think the big reason why Xi Jinping went to Pyongyang last week was because he was hoping to get more information and some leverage on a country that's close to Putin right now, that's provided to China.

[Bill Maher]

I still think they want Taiwan. I think that's their Cuba. And they're.

[Ian Bremmer]

They do want it.

[Bill Maher]

They're never going to give up until they get.

[Ian Bremmer]

I agree. But they're learning some lessons near term because they're seeing that Goliath, as you just said, Bill, isn't always winning the way Goliath thinks they are.

[Bill Maher]

Okay, let's leave it there. Time for new rules, everybody. New rules. Okay, all right, new rule. If you work for Vuna Nexus as the company that collects human urine and turns it into liquid fertilizer, and I sit next to you, and I sit next to you on a plane and ask, so what do you do for a living? Just lie and tell me. Urine sales. I don't need to hear about how the urine is collected and then processed to spread on the food that I eat. There's enough going on right now that scares the piss out of me. Now that Jill Biden has released her memoir, A View from the East Wing, Melania must release her memoir in which she describes her view from the east. A backhoe, a mound of dirt, and a porta potty. Oh, we kid. New rule. The steeplechase, the track and field event which starts with a gunshot and then is a foot race where you have to keep jumping over a thing and landing in a puddle. Must be renamed Running from the Police. And it must end with. With climbing over a chain link fence while a dog bites you on the ass. Neural. People who get a tattoo of their area code must tell me how I'm supposed to respond to that, because all I can think of is two things. So you really like your phone number, huh? And can I see one of the zip code on your ass? No rule. You can make the new non alcoholic Coors Light if you like, but first you have to show me the person who was drinking Coors Light for the taste. Because really, if you take the getting drunk part out of this, if you're taking sip of this and thinking, mmm, yum. I hate to tell you this, but you have long Covid. And finally, new rule. Let's get real about Graham Platner. If you've been sleeping on politics lately, well, who can blame you? But the big story is the Democrats can likely take back the Senate in November if they win Maine. But their local candidate, official now up there, is after the primary this week, let's just say a guy who has a backstory that screams don't ask. Now, I don't judge Graham Platner because I'm just learning who he is. Problem is, so is he. What I do know is he served his country in the Marines in war, and you can never discount how big that is. But then there's the sexting while married scary behavior. So say some of his exes old posts about how he's a communist and all cops are bastards and black people don't tip. Well, they don't tip cops. I can't. Here's a typical Platner quote he said about the Iraq war. You can think it's dumb and also kind of not want to miss it. Oh, Graham, I feel the same way about so many things. The Oscars, Christmas, Taylor Swift's wedding, that little speech Nicole Kidman gives before the movie comes on where she looks insane and. And then, of course, there's the Nazi tattoo on his chest. I mean, seriously, this guy's whole life is the movie the Hangover. He doesn't need a term in the Senate. He needs a gap year in Costa Rica. And yet I would still urge the folks in Maine to vote for him for two reasons. One, we need to restore balance in our government, and a Democratic Senate would help a lot with that. And two, get used to it. America is a country filled with a lot of broken, horribly educated, phone addicted, sort of nutty people. And as long as we live in a representative democracy, we are always electing our reform. Reflection in the mirror. I wish the tattoo was the scariest thing about Platner. It's not. That would be his solution to a home invasion, which is to rape the home invader. And no, of course that's not policy he's proposing. It's a fantasy his ex says he talked about next week. It'll be policy. And to be fair, he said the raping wasn't something he'd do in a gay way, because that would be weird. Okay? This is the kind of thing war does to people. That's who we created. Our society is not healthy. We create broken people. So don't expect politicians to suddenly become Lincoln esque again. Tom Keene Jr. Is running in New Jersey despite the fact that he's gone completely missing for the last three months. No biggie. He says in the future, he'll be completely transparent. Tom. Completely transparent is what you are now. Are you okay, Tom? Are you curled up in a ball? And he's favored to win because I'm just guessing, a lot of people say, hey, we've all been there. Oh, there's going to be more bad tweets from Candidates that haven't aged well, more bad tattoos. Did Platner know the tattoo was a Nazi symbol when he got it? Maybe. But people today are so inundated with misinformation and Internet bullshit, I wouldn't trust he knew what it stood for. Anyway, everything people know now is from social media and shit, posting and whatever some other idiot sends them or whatever the Chinese are feeding them on TikTok. Every single violent actor in the last five years from Trump's assassin to Luigi, has prompted a headline that said some version of experts find markers of both right and left wing political views. Yeah, because we have a new breed of voter today. People who are intensely political but somehow know almost nothing about politics. Liberal, conservative, they don't know what makes you either one. Conspiracy theories that they know and memes and trolling. That also might be true. Maureen Galindo is a Democrat who ran for the House in Texas this year. Describes herself as a judgment free sex therapist. I hope so. Who wants a judgy one? What would that be? Well, plainly your dick's too small. Okay, so she's judgment free. Namaste. But she's also said during the campaign she wants to turn the ICE detention center in her district into a prison for Zionists and ICE officers. But she says putting Zionist billionaires in prison does not mean putting all Jews in internment camps. So a moderate. I guess she thinks she's progressive because hating ice. Okay, check. And hating Jews, sure, that's progressive now. But concentration camps, I associate that more with conservatives. Is that just me crazy? It's just not a deal breaker anymore for running or serving. The Secretary of Health keeps a freezer full of roadkill. Even the worm in his brain is like, I'm not eating that. I mean, our current president just speaks out loud. His internal monologue. You know what the internal monologue is, right? It's just that stream of thoughts that we all have pouring through our heads all the time and that we all edit. We edit our thoughts. We don't just fling all of our feces. We have a straight of Hormuz between our brain and our mouth where we don't let everything through. But not the President of the United States. You're either crooked or you're stupid. I am the chosen one. Who knows better about surprise than Japan. You're just a lightweight. You're a terrible person. I don't like mosquitoes. He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured. I know you're not thinking. You never do hey, I'm president. Can you believe it? I mean, Look, politics has always been a crazy game, but the people running weren't this crazy. My winner though, this year, Victor Marks. Yeah, I just heard of him recently. Victor's a Christian minister who may soon be governor of Colorado and who performs exorcisms over the phone, which I think gives the devil an unfair edge. I do. The power of Christ compow. Shit, I'm in a tunnel. Victor Marx that he just seems to have hallucinated the way AI does sometimes when it tells you that the key ingredient in fettuccine is glue. Victor says he rescued 45,000 people from predators, which is about 45,000 more than anyone can verify. He says he called in an airstrike that killed 70 ISIS fighters, which is impressive considering at the time he was not in the military. He says he was forced to kill a man when he was 7. And when a reporter asked, do you think you've killed people as an adult? His answer was, does it matter? I think it does. Thank you very much. I want to thank my guests, Ian Bremmer, Pagar Shamali and David Sedaris. Club Random drops Every Monday on YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcast. They'll go watch over to time on YouTube and thank you, ladies and gentlemen, I appreciate it. Thank you very much.

[Announcer]

Catch all new episodes of Real Time with Bill Maher every Friday night at 10. Or watch him anytime on HBO on Demand. For more information, log on to hbo.com

[Ian Bremmer]

Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile with

[Bill Maher]

a message for everyone paying big wireless way too much. Please, for the love of everything good in this world, stop with Mint. You can get premium wireless for just $15 a month. Of course, if you enjoy overpaying, no judgments. But that's weird.

[Ian Bremmer]

Okay, one judgment anyway.

[Bill Maher]

Give it a [e-mail] Switch upfront payment

[Announcer]

of $45 for 3 month plan, equivalent to $15 per month required intro rate first 3 months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra.

[Bill Maher]

See full [e-mail] the right window treatments change everything. Your sleep, your privacy, the way every room looks and feels. @blinds.com, we've spent 30 years making it surprisingly simple to get exactly what your home needs. We've covered over 25 million windows and have 50,000 five star reviews to prove we deliver. Whether you DIY it or want a pro to handle everything from measure to

[Ian Bremmer]

install, we have you covered.

[Bill Maher]

Real design professionals, free samples, zero pressure. Right now.

[Ian Bremmer]

Get up to 45% off site wide.

[Bill Maher]

Plus get a free professional [e-mail] rules and restrictions apply.