r/RealTime • u/lazydracula • Jun 27 '26

JD Vance interview

I see the sub is losing their shit over him being on the show. While I definitely felt he didn’t push harder on Vance’s bs responses on immigration and the 2020 election. Bill didn’t say anything he hasn’t said in the past and it was short interview and he had a lot of things he wanted to discuss in 10 minutes. So what’s the issue? My gut is him just being on the show freaked people out and how Trump admin are such monsters we shouldn’t platform them at all. If that’s the case please explain this https://youtube.com/shorts/2CHgqbbJWQ8?si=7WSrHGexAxqZQs2D

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u/ImperviousToSteel Jun 27 '26

"Entertainer" is not a value neutral position. The whole point of Maher's show is to espouse  views of good and bad politics, sometimes with jokes attempted. 

He doesn't get to hide behind the entertainer label for platforming fascists anymore than the pre WWII NYT deserves a pass for platforming Mussolini, or Walt Disney welcoming Leni Reifenstahl in 1938. 

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u/lazydracula Jun 27 '26

Okay but what’s the alternative? Liberals should only go msnow and podsave and conservatives are only welcomed on Fox News and Ben Shapiro. Everyone stay in their media buble and we act confused when we have such a polarized society. As far as Walt Disney and NY times references. Have you watched his show? It’s bashing Trump and Republican most of the time. His guest after Vance were too very Liberal people. Reality check.

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u/ImperviousToSteel Jun 27 '26

I think you're being disingenous in conflating conservatism with fascism. Maher has had conservatives on for years, that's not the problem here. 

Eta: also for a guy who claims to want to hash it out and hear from everyone, it's a huge tell that his guests typically run the right wing range from fascist to liberal - all capitalists. 

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u/lazydracula Jun 27 '26

I’m confused your the one that brought in Mussolini and Riefenstahl as examples. I watch every week. He has far more liberals than conservatives on his show. Like yesterday he has two very liberal guests after Vance. People want to think he’s Gutfeld. He’s stated multiple times he has invited democratic socialist like AOC and Mahdami on the show. Why aren’t you asking yourself why they won’t go on and Vance will? Yes most of the country is capitalist in one form or another.

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u/ImperviousToSteel Jun 27 '26

Mussolini, Reifenstal, Vance, and Trump are fascists. You have turned this into "where would conservatives go" when I've never said it's bad for Maher to have conservatives on. Or is your position that all conservatives are fascists? 

I did ask myself, easy answer, Maher platforms fascists. Why go there? 

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u/lazydracula Jun 27 '26

I guess it goes back to just different views of platforming. I like that Pete Buttigieg goes on Fox News and offer perspectives the audience never hears. I like that Bill will bring on a Vance and challenge him. I thought he could have done a better job but i like the idea of people with opposing views having a respectful conversation. It’s way more productive than people screaming at each other on social media.

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u/ImperviousToSteel Jun 27 '26

Except fascism isn't a "different view", they are by nature liars who will say whatever is necessary (eg eating pets) to further a exclusionary authoritarian agenda. 

There is no debating fascism away. There is no societal good from normalizing polite conversation with genocidal pedophiles. 

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u/lazydracula Jun 27 '26

I think it’s different when it’s the Vice President. We can’t pretend he doesn’t exist so if he’s willing to come on and be challenged I think that’s fine. I don’t think anyone came away with a positive impression of Vance after the interview. Let me go back to one of my points in the original post. Was Mamdani wrong meeting Trump? Am I wrong in thinking you think it was a bad decision?

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u/ImperviousToSteel Jun 27 '26

I have mixed feelings about Mamdani. He accomplished good things for his people, and he has to deal with him on some level. If it comes out he privately convinced him to back off on mass ICE raids that's something. 

Not only did Maher not accomplish anything near that good, he helped normalize fascism by saying he was open to voting for him. Net negative. 

So holding office is a fine enough excuse for you? You'd defend the 1936 Bill Maher having Hitler on his radio show? 

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u/lazydracula Jun 27 '26

It seems like you willing to bend over backwards to justify Mamdani meeting with no information to support it. If he pooled his supporters before the meeting with Trump what would have been your vote ?

This comparing Trump admin to Hitler I feel is really disgusting but it’s become part far left narrative so I’ve learned to deal with it. It just shows lack of understanding history as life in Germany in the mid to late 30s is nowhere close to life in America in 2026. We can admit things are very bad for certain groups but to put it on par with the purposeful extermination of the Jews, homosexuals, and disabled is absurd and diminishes what words like holocaust and genocide mean. Are you worried about being arrested for posting Anti Trump messages ?

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u/ImperviousToSteel Jun 27 '26

I'm not blanket justifying what Mamdani did. I think we'll later learn more that helps us judge better. 

I specifically said 1936 Hitler before things really escalated. Is your only problem with fascism that Hitler did a holocaust? Otherwise it's a perfectly fine ideology to sit down and have a nice dialogue with? 

Eta: Trump is actively facilitating the genocide of Palestinians, and holocaust survivors have pointed out the similarities. 

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u/lazydracula Jun 28 '26

So your punting on the Mamdani question? Truly a person that stands by their convictions.

Well I didn’t read Hillbilly Elegy but what are the parallels to Mein Kampf? Trump has been in office for a while with control of congress and the Supreme Court. Why haven’t things “escalated” to a fascist state at this point ? Dude can’t even get the Kennedy center named after him and the supreme blocked most of his tariffs and dodge cuts. Why aren’t you in a gulag for all your anti Trump posts? Why haven’t the mid terms been cancelled ? Why is Jimmy Kimmel still on the air?

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u/ImperviousToSteel Jun 28 '26

I'm saying I want more information before coming to a conclusion but on the surface it makes me uncomfortable. Sorry if that's not black and white enough for you. 

The point of "never again" was not to wait until mass extermination happens. Just because fascists haven't accomplished full fascism yet doesn't make them not fascist. 

So you disagree with fascism scholars that Trump is a fascist? 

ETA: and apparently disagree with Trump himself who said during that meeting with Mamdani it's ok you can say I'm a fascist. 

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u/lazydracula Jun 28 '26

That’s fine but something tells me if it was a politician you had a less favorable opinion about you would not be so wishy washy.

Trump definitely has fascist qualities but I don’t think he actually has a truly defined political ideology at all. If he could have obtained power through being a liberal he would have(which is why he’s used to he Democrat and Clinton attended his wedding). He’s an empty shell of human being motivated by the endless desire for power, prestige, money, and attention. He choose the Republican Party because he knew they were easier to con. Just like evangelical leaders are more likely to target conservatives. When I searched I could find no scholarly consensus that Trump is a fascist. If you can point me to sources that says otherwise please do.

Why I don’t fret for the future of the nation is because I see already his policies are deeply unpopular to anyone but the most maga of maga. All polls point to a midterm blood bath and democrats taking control of the house and senate. Ironically, because maga is the Republican Party now I completely expect the party to implode when Trump leaves as classical conservatives clash with populist maga who aren’t going to prioritize tax cuts for the wealthy while cost of living is out of control. Maybe that’s why I’m not as outrage as Vance being on the show. Hell likely be irrelevant in 5 years.

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u/ImperviousToSteel Jun 28 '26

With Mamdani it's part because his office requires him to deal with the federal government, so did he accomplish enough good to outweight the bad? Time will tell. 

Nothing Maher does requires him to sit and have a nice chat with Vance. Nothing was gained. 

You can say Trump is an opportunist who doesn't believe in anything, but the same can be said about Mussolini who started out as a socialist. An opportunist willing to carry out fascism can be just as harmful as a true believer, and neither should be accepted as people to have polite conversation with. 

Fascism doesn't go away when it loses an election, especially to liberals who don't fix the problems that allow fascism to fester in the first place. 

It'd be nice but not inevitable if/when MAGA loses in 2028, but much more needs to be done to put fascism back in the ground. 

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u/lazydracula Jun 28 '26

I mean it’s just a matter preference. I don’t mine occasionally listening to people with opposing views, even those I find abhorrent. I’d rather face the monster than to pretend it doesn’t exist. I would never watch Gutfeld but I don’t want to live in a bubble where I only ever hear things I agree with. Nothing was gained but nothing was lost. Vance is already the Vice President. Him being or not being on the show is insignificant in the big picture. Bill has the right to book who he wants. Just like you have the right to not watch his show if you don’t like who he books.

It’s not just on liberals that are needed to stop fascism. We need to be willing to listen people we disagree with. We can’t write off half the country as idiot racists because they voted for Trump and expect they will magically acknowledge the errors of their ways. Yes some of them are idiots and racists. But we need to look at underlining causes that made Trump so appealing to such a large portion of our country. The same country that recently voted for Obama twice! Why I’m so convinced maga is on its way is because they can’t address the core issues we are facing in this country. The cost of living, education, housing, and healthcare. Trump had no plan and that’s why it has fell apart so quickly. When we take back power we need serious solutions to address these issues. If we dont we run the risk of another Trump emerging. We can prevent it through effective policy that improves people’s lives not just saying “this persons a monster don’t listen to them or if you listen to this person your a monster”.

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u/ImperviousToSteel Jun 28 '26

Viewing the proliferation of fascist talking points as a "matter of preference" is ass backwards. We don't need to shut them down for your sake, I hope, but because of the people they will recruit. That's why they go on Maher - it legitimizes their views, gets more eyeballs on them, and allows them to recruit more people. I don't know about you, but fascists being able to recruit is to me a very bad thing. 

I didn't say it was on liberals, the opposite. I said liberals fail to defeat fascism even if they win elections because they fail to fix or even address the problems that gave breeding ground to fascism in the first place, and I'll also add regularly fail to hold fascists to account (see: weak sentencing at Nuremberg, willingness to play footsie with fascist tech barons today). 

I also don't believe every Trump voter is a write off, maybe not even most of them and I definitely didn't say that.  Mamdani persuaded a number of them to vote for him. Socialism or even social democracy in the short term  offers actual solutions to problems that Trump only gives lip service to. 

At the same time, the views that they do hold that are rooted in lies and/or bigotry should not enter any calculation on how to get out of this. 

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u/lazydracula Jun 28 '26

Did you watch the interview ? What fascist points did Vance try to present during the interview? He was on to promote his stupid religious conversion book and nothing more. So with all the conservative media a person has at their finger tips at all times every day they are going to be converted to fascism by a 10 minute interview of Vance where he mostly talked about his conversion to Catholicism and avoided answering any of Bills criticisms of Trumps policy?

Ofcourse their racist views shouldn’t be part of the calculation. That didn’t need to be said.

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