Normally, watching an episode of Real Time With Bill Maher usually benefits from a familiarity with the pressing national issues of the moment. This month, things have been a little different — largely due to the response to Maher’s own visit to the White House. This week’s episode featured some political heavyweights, including a sitting Senator and a former Vice President, but the response to Maher’s meeting with Donald Trump cast the proverbial long shadow over the proceedings.
Earlier this week, Larry David penned an opinion piece for The New York Times satirizing Maher’s White House trip; Maher subsequently responded. Maher didn’t mention David specifically on this week’s episode, but he did allude to navigating a backlash as of late. Maher took time to emphasize that, after his meeting with Trump, “I went back to my day job of tearing him a new asshole every week.”
The current state of the nation was a recurring theme this week, with the first 100 days of the second Trump administration giving the night a general structure. (“Time really flies when you’re in the fetal position, huh?”Maher said early on.) During the panel discussion, both California Senator Adam Schiff and New York Times opinion writer Bret Stevens offered their criticisms of the current administration. Stevens called it “[t]he worst first hundred days in U.S. presidential history,” while Schiff described the period as “characterized by economic self-destruction.”
Former Vice President Al Gore showed up for a comprehensive interview, and compared the Reinventing Government initiative to Elon Musk’s DOGE work. Gore pointed out that his own initiative had played out over the course of seven years. And he wasn’t terribly subtle in comparing the work that he and his collaborators did to Musk’s ongoing efforts.
“We went to Congress to get legislation,” Gore said, and later pointed out that “[n]ot a single lawsuit [was] ever filed.” He was also skeptical of DOGE’s ability to achieve its stated goals. “I’m not sure they’re going to save any money whatsoever,” Gore said.
Overall, Maher expressed frustration with the increasing polarization of the country. “Earth Day is now a partisan thing,” he said.
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Hint: it’s not “Gladiator II”He concluded the episode by raising the alarm over increasingly authoritarian language from the current administration — and its defenders’ tendency to write it off as jokes. “That’s the problem with dictator jokes — they don’t stay jokes. And flirting with authoritarianism doesn’t stay flirting,” Maher said. Later, he grew more succinct: “Not everyone who flirts cheats, but all cheating starts with flirting.”
Other notable moments from the episode:
- Maher on Elon Musk’s plans to step back from DOGE soon: “He wants to spend more time meeting his family.”
- Gore on aging well: “I benefit from low expectations.”
- Maher on Gore: “He does not look like he’s in his late seventies.” (It’s true. The former veep has aged very well.)
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