A thread about Bill Maher: The Good, The Bad, and The UGLY!

Gern Blansten

My wife and I are in disagreement about Maher.

Honestly I don't have a problem with his meeting with trump. I think it solidified my belief that trump is just a great actor. He doesn't really believe most of the shit he spews. Unfortunately he is very likely compromised and that is what is playing out here.

PJ_Soul

benjs said:

PJ_Soul said:

I saw Bill's monologue about his absolutely delightful dinner with Trump on YouTube.... I think they way people, now including Bill, characterize Trump as anything other than a disgusting, megalomaniacal tyrant just because he was pleasant in a social setting is revolting, and I have zero respect for anyone who does so. Normalizing Trump is straight up dangerous, especially on a huge stage.

I'm not exactly sure what Bill Maher's point was. He discovered that Trump can act sane when the ramifications are nil, but otherwise - can't or won't. How should this be comforting to anyone?

Totally. The whole spiel really irritated me.

brianlux

None of this relates to my thread of nine years ago or what I think today.  Come on people, there should be a new thread.

Gern Blansten

PJ_Soul said:

benjs said:

PJ_Soul said:

I saw Bill's monologue about his absolutely delightful dinner with Trump on YouTube.... I think they way people, now including Bill, characterize Trump as anything other than a disgusting, megalomaniacal tyrant just because he was pleasant in a social setting is revolting, and I have zero respect for anyone who does so. Normalizing Trump is straight up dangerous, especially on a huge stage.

I'm not exactly sure what Bill Maher's point was. He discovered that Trump can act sane when the ramifications are nil, but otherwise - can't or won't. How should this be comforting to anyone?

Totally. The whole spiel really irritated me.

Bill said he was just going to give his interpretation and that we should interpret it however we felt.

His main point was that he didn't see any of the psychotic dear leader that we see daily. In private he was relatively normal, he took criticism from him without lashing out, he didn't go on and on about Biden's age, his greatness, etc. He had no idea that he had reversed some Obama era directives that he was complaining about in the meeting.

DE4173

brianlux said:

None of this relates to my thread of nine years ago or what I think today.  Come on people, there should be a new thread.

It is interesting reading through the comments though. 🍿

HughFreakingDillon

brianlux said:

None of this relates to my thread of nine years ago or what I think today.  Come on people, there should be a new thread.

I don't know. I searched for a Bill Maher thread after his dinner with trump and found about 400, so I just didn't bother starting a new one, or commenting at all. I do think that this might be a good showcase of the evolution of Bill's relationship with Trump. We obviously know the thread is old, and may not reflect your current opinion of him. 

tbergs

Gern Blansten said:

PJ_Soul said:

benjs said:

PJ_Soul said:

I saw Bill's monologue about his absolutely delightful dinner with Trump on YouTube.... I think they way people, now including Bill, characterize Trump as anything other than a disgusting, megalomaniacal tyrant just because he was pleasant in a social setting is revolting, and I have zero respect for anyone who does so. Normalizing Trump is straight up dangerous, especially on a huge stage.

I'm not exactly sure what Bill Maher's point was. He discovered that Trump can act sane when the ramifications are nil, but otherwise - can't or won't. How should this be comforting to anyone?

Totally. The whole spiel really irritated me.

Bill said he was just going to give his interpretation and that we should interpret it however we felt.

His main point was that he didn't see any of the psychotic dear leader that we see daily. In private he was relatively normal, he took criticism from him without lashing out, he didn't go on and on about Biden's age, his greatness, etc. He had no idea that he had reversed some Obama era directives that he was complaining about in the meeting.

I watched it the other day as well. I mean, it was what we already knew about him. The campaign/politician Trump is an exaggerated caricature playing to the base of sycophants with divisive rhetoric and the private Trump is a schmoozer looking for attention. If nothing else, it just confirms what a piece of shit he is who will do whatever it takes to make money and stomp on those who get in his way. Bill was a useful idiot for a night, congrats I guess?

brianlux

HughFreakingDillon said:

brianlux said:

None of this relates to my thread of nine years ago or what I think today.  Come on people, there should be a new thread.

I don't know. I searched for a Bill Maher thread after his dinner with trump and found about 400, so I just didn't bother starting a new one, or commenting at all. I do think that this might be a good showcase of the evolution of Bill's relationship with Trump. We obviously know the thread is old, and may not reflect your current opinion of him. 

Good point, bud.  I do suppose one could say it shows the devolution on Maher.  Sad.

Gern Blansten

tbergs said:

Gern Blansten said:

PJ_Soul said:

benjs said:

PJ_Soul said:

I saw Bill's monologue about his absolutely delightful dinner with Trump on YouTube.... I think they way people, now including Bill, characterize Trump as anything other than a disgusting, megalomaniacal tyrant just because he was pleasant in a social setting is revolting, and I have zero respect for anyone who does so. Normalizing Trump is straight up dangerous, especially on a huge stage.

I'm not exactly sure what Bill Maher's point was. He discovered that Trump can act sane when the ramifications are nil, but otherwise - can't or won't. How should this be comforting to anyone?

Totally. The whole spiel really irritated me.

Bill said he was just going to give his interpretation and that we should interpret it however we felt.

His main point was that he didn't see any of the psychotic dear leader that we see daily. In private he was relatively normal, he took criticism from him without lashing out, he didn't go on and on about Biden's age, his greatness, etc. He had no idea that he had reversed some Obama era directives that he was complaining about in the meeting.

I watched it the other day as well. I mean, it was what we already knew about him. The campaign/politician Trump is an exaggerated caricature playing to the base of sycophants with divisive rhetoric and the private Trump is a schmoozer looking for attention. If nothing else, it just confirms what a piece of shit he is who will do whatever it takes to make money and stomp on those who get in his way. Bill was a useful idiot for a night, congrats I guess?

I just don't see it that way. Bill is doing the same thing that Newsom did by meeting with the "enemy"

I agree that it confirms that trump is a complete piece of shit. To me that was the point.

tbergs

Gern Blansten said:

tbergs said:

Gern Blansten said:

PJ_Soul said:

benjs said:

PJ_Soul said:

I saw Bill's monologue about his absolutely delightful dinner with Trump on YouTube.... I think they way people, now including Bill, characterize Trump as anything other than a disgusting, megalomaniacal tyrant just because he was pleasant in a social setting is revolting, and I have zero respect for anyone who does so. Normalizing Trump is straight up dangerous, especially on a huge stage.

I'm not exactly sure what Bill Maher's point was. He discovered that Trump can act sane when the ramifications are nil, but otherwise - can't or won't. How should this be comforting to anyone?

Totally. The whole spiel really irritated me.

Bill said he was just going to give his interpretation and that we should interpret it however we felt.

His main point was that he didn't see any of the psychotic dear leader that we see daily. In private he was relatively normal, he took criticism from him without lashing out, he didn't go on and on about Biden's age, his greatness, etc. He had no idea that he had reversed some Obama era directives that he was complaining about in the meeting.

I watched it the other day as well. I mean, it was what we already knew about him. The campaign/politician Trump is an exaggerated caricature playing to the base of sycophants with divisive rhetoric and the private Trump is a schmoozer looking for attention. If nothing else, it just confirms what a piece of shit he is who will do whatever it takes to make money and stomp on those who get in his way. Bill was a useful idiot for a night, congrats I guess?

I just don't see it that way. Bill is doing the same thing that Newsom did by meeting with the "enemy"

I agree that it confirms that trump is a complete piece of shit. To me that was the point.

I really don't care if he had dinner with him or other people meet with him because they need to for business relations. I just don't see what the point of this event was. Some of the other meetings I get, but this one, not really besides to be able to get some ratings for it, which I guess is business related for Bill. 

Gern Blansten

tbergs said:

Gern Blansten said:

tbergs said:

Gern Blansten said:

PJ_Soul said:

benjs said:

PJ_Soul said:

I saw Bill's monologue about his absolutely delightful dinner with Trump on YouTube.... I think they way people, now including Bill, characterize Trump as anything other than a disgusting, megalomaniacal tyrant just because he was pleasant in a social setting is revolting, and I have zero respect for anyone who does so. Normalizing Trump is straight up dangerous, especially on a huge stage.

I'm not exactly sure what Bill Maher's point was. He discovered that Trump can act sane when the ramifications are nil, but otherwise - can't or won't. How should this be comforting to anyone?

Totally. The whole spiel really irritated me.

Bill said he was just going to give his interpretation and that we should interpret it however we felt.

His main point was that he didn't see any of the psychotic dear leader that we see daily. In private he was relatively normal, he took criticism from him without lashing out, he didn't go on and on about Biden's age, his greatness, etc. He had no idea that he had reversed some Obama era directives that he was complaining about in the meeting.

I watched it the other day as well. I mean, it was what we already knew about him. The campaign/politician Trump is an exaggerated caricature playing to the base of sycophants with divisive rhetoric and the private Trump is a schmoozer looking for attention. If nothing else, it just confirms what a piece of shit he is who will do whatever it takes to make money and stomp on those who get in his way. Bill was a useful idiot for a night, congrats I guess?

I just don't see it that way. Bill is doing the same thing that Newsom did by meeting with the "enemy"

I agree that it confirms that trump is a complete piece of shit. To me that was the point.

I really don't care if he had dinner with him or other people meet with him because they need to for business relations. I just don't see what the point of this event was. Some of the other meetings I get, but this one, not really besides to be able to get some ratings for it, which I guess is business related for Bill. 

For wanting ratings he didn't hype it...not that I saw at least. Really didn't even spend that much time on it.

Tim Simmons

Never understood the appeal of this guy. Even when he had Politically Incorrect, it just reeked post Regan-era wry baby boomer cynicism. Basically a living Dunesbury character. Not my type of humor I guess. 

HughFreakingDillon

Newsom is in the same profession. Maher is not. This is normalizing, even humanizing him. To those of us who can see past the bullshit, it makes it worse. But to many, it will soften their view of him. 

brianlux

HughFreakingDillon said:

Newsom is in the same profession. Maher is not. This is normalizing, even humanizing him. To those of us who can see past the bullshit, it makes it worse. But to many, it will soften their view of him. 

Newsom is an enigma.  There are certain things about him I like and respect.  Other things, not at all.  He's like an actor that plays very different roles.  Definitely a career politician. 

Halifax2TheMax

The tell is that Bill felt “more comfortable” and found COOTWH to be easier to be around than both Hillary and Obama. Bill is out of his league with people who are smarter and have higher intellects than his. Of course he’s “more comfortable” around that idiot COOTWH. I view the dinner as a lame attempt to stay relevant.

On a scale from 1 -10 of relevance or importance, it rates about a .5.

HughFreakingDillon

I do find it odd that he felt more comfortable with trump than hillary, and more so obama, but intelligence? I don't think so. Bill seems like a pretty intelligent guy. I know he has writers for his monologue, but he's able to hold his own with intelligent discourse during the rest of his show. 

Tim Simmons

Its because he had no right to be in the company of Obama or even Hillary. They are accomplished individuals, wonky, and intelligent. Trump is a doof who entertains other doofs.

Lerxst1992

brianlux said:

None of this relates to my thread of nine years ago or what I think today.  Come on people, there should be a new thread.

Mods generally speaking tend to like using older threads instead of cluttering with new ones. There was no attempt on my part to correlate his free speech with your opinion here.

DE4173

That Vedder/Maher/Penn group chat is probably an entertaining read 😄🍿

Lerxst1992

Halifax2TheMax said:

The tell is that Bill felt “more comfortable” and found COOTWH to be easier to be around than both Hillary and Obama. Bill is out of his league with people who are smarter and have higher intellects than his. Of course he’s “more comfortable” around that idiot COOTWH. I view the dinner as a lame attempt to stay relevant.

On a scale from 1 -10 of relevance or importance, it rates about a .5.

The right runs to bullying and the left runs to condescension. Not sure which is worse.

.tbergs said:

Gern Blansten said:

tbergs said:

Gern Blansten said:

PJ_Soul said:

benjs said:

PJ_Soul said:

I saw Bill's monologue about his absolutely delightful dinner with Trump on YouTube.... I think they way people, now including Bill, characterize Trump as anything other than a disgusting, megalomaniacal tyrant just because he was pleasant in a social setting is revolting, and I have zero respect for anyone who does so. Normalizing Trump is straight up dangerous, especially on a huge stage.

I'm not exactly sure what Bill Maher's point was. He discovered that Trump can act sane when the ramifications are nil, but otherwise - can't or won't. How should this be comforting to anyone?

Totally. The whole spiel really irritated me.

Bill said he was just going to give his interpretation and that we should interpret it however we felt.

His main point was that he didn't see any of the psychotic dear leader that we see daily. In private he was relatively normal, he took criticism from him without lashing out, he didn't go on and on about Biden's age, his greatness, etc. He had no idea that he had reversed some Obama era directives that he was complaining about in the meeting.

I watched it the other day as well. I mean, it was what we already knew about him. The campaign/politician Trump is an exaggerated caricature playing to the base of sycophants with divisive rhetoric and the private Trump is a schmoozer looking for attention. If nothing else, it just confirms what a piece of shit he is who will do whatever it takes to make money and stomp on those who get in his way. Bill was a useful idiot for a night, congrats I guess?

I just don't see it that way. Bill is doing the same thing that Newsom did by meeting with the "enemy"

I agree that it confirms that trump is a complete piece of shit. To me that was the point.

I really don't care if he had dinner with him or other people meet with him because they need to for business relations. I just don't see what the point of this event was. Some of the other meetings I get, but this one, not really besides to be able to get some ratings for it, which I guess is business related for Bill. 

Guessing folks on here don’t know the backstory. He had kid rock on a few weeks ago and they seemed to be friends. They talked about how the right and left can not talk to each other anymore. Bill made a lot of the usual attacks on trump, and KR held his own. They both tried to be reasonable to each other, that was their challenge. Something both sides can benefit from, especially because we are stuck with 47 as president for nearly four more years.

as a result of their civil discussion KR offered to try to get Bill an invitation to the White House. His rationale was that trump was a reasonable in person and a lot of his act is theater. I definitely disagree with that but agree both sides need to give to get. Which can not happen if both sides are screaming at each other.