Three thoughts I have on Bill Maher, the 3rd one new, and the first two not so much:
1. As a comic, Bill Maher's not now, nor has he ever been, nearly as funny as he thinks he is. But this is admittedly a subjective matter of personal taste.
2. As a political commentator, Maher's not nearly as smart or as savvy as he thinks he is, as witnessed by the demise of his lucrative Politically Incorrect gig in 2002 from his apparent desire to poke the skunk of controversy, which left him less than smelling fresh as a daisy:
< ABC decided against renewing Maher's contract for Politically Incorrect in 2002, after he made a controversial on-air remark six days after the September 11 attacks. He agreed with his guest, conservative pundit Dinesh D'Souza, that the 9/11 terrorists did not act in a cowardly manner (in rebuttal to President Bush's statement calling them cowards). Maher said, "We have been the cowards. Lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That's cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building. Say what you want about it. Not cowardly. You're right." >
3. As a supposedly staunch advocate of political incorrectness and free speech, he's a much more thin-skinned hypocrite than I actually thought he was before this latest faux pas of fake fair-mindedness, likely done in service to his giant ego and an eye toward free publicity.
But I have to admit, despite his hasty return to form after his friendly fawning over Donnie Two Dolls...
Maher proposing that Whitmer should follow any lead he sets about anything is a hoot, and his not being able to resist his assertion that Trump had actually "punked he twice" after their meeting at the Selfridge Air National Guard base prior to Trump's rally in Macomb County MI this past week is only revealing of his desire to deflect criticism for his own punking incident with Trump.
But - and I'll say here that as a Michigander who voted for Whitmer twice, I definitely do not care in the least for the optics of her interacting with Trump, either at the White House or at Selfridge - I'll posit that Whitmer at least had a much better reason for going to the White House and later being "punked" again at Selfridge than Maher did for his self-aggrandizing dinner visit, since her's and other state officials' interactions with Trump and his administration have resulted in this:
I wonder if Maher didn't actually have breakfast with Trump rather than dinner. Because while Gretch at least walked away from her Trump encounters with 20 shiny new F15-EX fighters to replace retiring A-10s at Selfridge and a dozen KC-46A refueling tankers to boot, Bill seems to have walked away from his Trump-whispering encounter with nothing more than egg on his face.
Hi Jim, thanks so much for all you're doing!! You're not on video 24/7, but all you're doing for us subscribers is truly and deeply appreciated. <3 okay so you have me curious - can you explain further why you're nervous about the upcoming international soccer matches? Me and my boys are huge soccer fans and wish we could go to a game. What have you been hearing that makes you uneasy?
After hearing Derek Thompson's CNBC rant on yesterday's pod, yes, I think we're going to see a lot of pro-recession Republicans talking about how a contraction is making houses and stocks cheaper. And the ones who aren't pro-recession will be like "under Sleepy Joe we'd be at 30% unemployment, so Donald Trump's doing a great job with just 8% unemployment!", sort of like how Trump acted like he saved millions and millions of lives during COVID when he's the one responsible for so many of the country's unnecessary deaths.
Yesterday’s secret pod gave me all the feel as I consider myself an OG reader and listener. Thank you for everything you all do. I am rooting for Winnipeg not because I have Trump derangement syndrome, but because I have lots of relatives living there :)
As a Marylander in the DC metro area, I root for the Capitals. It really stinks that the face of the franchise is a Russian who can’t/won’t speak out against Putin. An all Canadian final is probably what Canadians deserve. A US team vs. Canadian final probably isn’t great for North American unity, but who knows.
Instead of mass demonstrations, we should target Republicans who can be beaten on Nov. 3, 2026 by holding peaceful demonstration in front of their local offices.
SENATE
Dan Sullivan-AL, Joni Ernst-IA, Susan Collins-ME, Thom Tillis-NC, John Cornyn -TX, John Husted-OH
HOUSE
Ken Calvert (CA-41), Young Kim (CA-40), David Valado (CA-21),
Scott Perryn (PA-10), Ryan Mackenzie (PA-07) Robert Bresnahan (PA-08)
Thank you Jim for your great analysis!
RE: "3 'New Rules' for Bill Maher"
Three thoughts I have on Bill Maher, the 3rd one new, and the first two not so much:
1. As a comic, Bill Maher's not now, nor has he ever been, nearly as funny as he thinks he is. But this is admittedly a subjective matter of personal taste.
2. As a political commentator, Maher's not nearly as smart or as savvy as he thinks he is, as witnessed by the demise of his lucrative Politically Incorrect gig in 2002 from his apparent desire to poke the skunk of controversy, which left him less than smelling fresh as a daisy:
< ABC decided against renewing Maher's contract for Politically Incorrect in 2002, after he made a controversial on-air remark six days after the September 11 attacks. He agreed with his guest, conservative pundit Dinesh D'Souza, that the 9/11 terrorists did not act in a cowardly manner (in rebuttal to President Bush's statement calling them cowards). Maher said, "We have been the cowards. Lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That's cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building. Say what you want about it. Not cowardly. You're right." >
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Maher#Awards_and_nominations
3. As a supposedly staunch advocate of political incorrectness and free speech, he's a much more thin-skinned hypocrite than I actually thought he was before this latest faux pas of fake fair-mindedness, likely done in service to his giant ego and an eye toward free publicity.
But I have to admit, despite his hasty return to form after his friendly fawning over Donnie Two Dolls...
https://nypost.com/2025/04/26/us-news/bill-maher-goes-off-on-president-trump-weeks-after-friendly-dinner-with-prez-at-white-house/
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/bill-maher-s-verdict-on-trump-after-vowing-not-to-pre-hate/ar-AA1E0TFp?ocid=BingNewsSerp
... his latest schtick really is pretty funny:
https://www.cracked.com/article_46451_bill-maher-says-that-gretchen-whitmer-should-have-owned-her-white-house-visit-like-he-did.html
Maher proposing that Whitmer should follow any lead he sets about anything is a hoot, and his not being able to resist his assertion that Trump had actually "punked he twice" after their meeting at the Selfridge Air National Guard base prior to Trump's rally in Macomb County MI this past week is only revealing of his desire to deflect criticism for his own punking incident with Trump.
But - and I'll say here that as a Michigander who voted for Whitmer twice, I definitely do not care in the least for the optics of her interacting with Trump, either at the White House or at Selfridge - I'll posit that Whitmer at least had a much better reason for going to the White House and later being "punked" again at Selfridge than Maher did for his self-aggrandizing dinner visit, since her's and other state officials' interactions with Trump and his administration have resulted in this:
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2025/05/03/selfridge-air-national-guard-base-new-fighters-f15ex-a10-trump/83415317007/
https://www.michigan.gov/whitmer/news/press-releases/2025/04/29/whitmer-secures-new-f15-ex-fighter-mission-for-selfridge-protecting-michigans-defense-industry
I wonder if Maher didn't actually have breakfast with Trump rather than dinner. Because while Gretch at least walked away from her Trump encounters with 20 shiny new F15-EX fighters to replace retiring A-10s at Selfridge and a dozen KC-46A refueling tankers to boot, Bill seems to have walked away from his Trump-whispering encounter with nothing more than egg on his face.
Whitmer has interacted with Trump in the interests of her state.
I agree that Maher isn't as funny or politically sharp was he thinks he is.
Hi Jim, thanks so much for all you're doing!! You're not on video 24/7, but all you're doing for us subscribers is truly and deeply appreciated. <3 okay so you have me curious - can you explain further why you're nervous about the upcoming international soccer matches? Me and my boys are huge soccer fans and wish we could go to a game. What have you been hearing that makes you uneasy?
After hearing Derek Thompson's CNBC rant on yesterday's pod, yes, I think we're going to see a lot of pro-recession Republicans talking about how a contraction is making houses and stocks cheaper. And the ones who aren't pro-recession will be like "under Sleepy Joe we'd be at 30% unemployment, so Donald Trump's doing a great job with just 8% unemployment!", sort of like how Trump acted like he saved millions and millions of lives during COVID when he's the one responsible for so many of the country's unnecessary deaths.
Thanks for the conservative legal argument against Trump's power grab.
Yesterday’s secret pod gave me all the feel as I consider myself an OG reader and listener. Thank you for everything you all do. I am rooting for Winnipeg not because I have Trump derangement syndrome, but because I have lots of relatives living there :)
As a Marylander in the DC metro area, I root for the Capitals. It really stinks that the face of the franchise is a Russian who can’t/won’t speak out against Putin. An all Canadian final is probably what Canadians deserve. A US team vs. Canadian final probably isn’t great for North American unity, but who knows.
Instead of mass demonstrations, we should target Republicans who can be beaten on Nov. 3, 2026 by holding peaceful demonstration in front of their local offices.
SENATE
Dan Sullivan-AL, Joni Ernst-IA, Susan Collins-ME, Thom Tillis-NC, John Cornyn -TX, John Husted-OH
HOUSE
Ken Calvert (CA-41), Young Kim (CA-40), David Valado (CA-21),
Scott Perryn (PA-10), Ryan Mackenzie (PA-07) Robert Bresnahan (PA-08)
Tom Barrett (MI-07) John James (MI-10),
Juan Ciscormani (AZ-06) David Schweikert (AZ-01)
Zack Nunn (IA-03) Mariannette Miller-Meekls (IA-01),
Derrick Van Coden (WI-10), Monica De La Cruz (TX-15), Gabe Evens (CXO-08), Don Bacon (NB-02),
Mike Lawler (NY-17), Nick Begich (AL), Tom Kean Jr. (NJ-17)
We can do both! Holding weekly protests in front of Young Kim’s Mission Viejo office here in OC.
How will MAGA cheer when we enter the stagflation depression?
Trump and his cult will never ever admit that he is wrong.
Their propaganda machine is very good at scapegoating the out groups. So stay tuned.
It is hard to imagine. I’m sure they will find a way.
Hi Jim. Thanks for all you and the Bulwark do. I really appreciate it. Hope your Blues can knock of Winnipeg. Bring on that Caps-Blues final.