Rare News Desk
Bill Maher has been taking a break from his HBO political show “Real Time,” so he hasn’t had much chance to publicly voice his many opinions on the changing times in Washington, D.C. He decided to change all that in a sit-down interview with ATTN: — a wide-spanning chat that covered Russia’s possible interference in the election, the future of marijuana legalization and, of course, President-elect Donald Trump.
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ATTN: editor-in-chief Matthew Segal started Maher’s first exclusive interview during his hiatus by asking what’s it like to be sued by the President-elect of the United States.
“Well, right now, nerve-racking,” Maher said with a slight laugh. “It was funny before, and now he’s a man with power. So all I can think of is if he did that when he didn’t have power, what’s he going to do now that he has the FBI?”
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“Other presidents are not like this cat,” Maher continued. “I mean, George Bush hated me and I didn’t like him. But no matter how bad they were, all the Republicans, it was like a glass-bottom boat, I’m looking at those sharks, but they can’t really get me. And now I feel like the shark can get me, or anybody. I mean, we’re just in unchartered waters.”
Maher said Donald Trump’s cabinet appointments are “from Opposite Land. You know, for education, someone who doesn’t believe in public education. You know, Ben Carson, for example, surgeon general maybe because he was a surgeon. No, housing. Because why, he lives in a house? He’s just f—–g with people.”
Maher then directed the conversation to another topic, one that he discussed incessantly on his program during the buildup to the election: Russia.
“If you ask me what I’m most scared about, I would say the Russia thing. Again, I said, I went a little nuts before the election, I was screaming about this is a slow-moving coup. When there are factions in the government like the FBI who are dead-set against one candidate and they’re actively working with apparently [Vladimir] Putin… shouldn’t Comey, the FBI, shouldn’t he be checking Putin instead of they’re both working to elect Donald Trump?” he said.
Maher said he believes Russian interference absolutely affected the election.
“The Russia issue, to me, is the one that’s going to show where the Republican Party is. Whether Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell are willing to be patriots ahead of Republicans. I mean, this is a foreign country — this is so beyond politics — that attacked us. Yes, it’s a cyberattack, but that’s the world we live in now. If you can’t get behind opposing that, you are not a patriot, and you are certainly not a good American,” he said.
RELATED: After scorching Trump, Bill Maher returns singing a surprisingly different tune
Maher is an outspoken advocate for marijuana. His home state of California, in fact, just went all the way, turning its medical marijuana industry into legal recreational use. But, Maher warns, with Trump’s selection of marijuana hard-liner Jeff Sessions being appointed as Attorney General, the days of legal marijuana in an expanding number of states could be numbered.
“Don’t piss off your old dealer,” Maher told his pro-marijuana friends.
Maher was asked if he’s glad Trump is still tweeting.
“Take away, listen to how we’re talking about the man who’s going to be the leader of the free world, like a toddler,” he replied. “I heard that they took away and when he was good they gave it back to him. … The Twitter itself doesn’t matter. What matters is the instinct to always have to retaliate to anybody who opposes you, criticizes you, challenges you. His mentality is always to go right at them.”
“It’s just insane that he can’t let anything go. He’s like the pizza rat with a slice in his mind,” he added.
And finally, Maher warned Democrats to stop getting “baited on an issue of political correctness when no one gives a f–k,” like the perceived war on Christmas.
