Geopolitics of the cold war through the lens of two double agents who were pulling the strings behind the scenes threatening, did he stabilize diplomatic efforts? >> all right i always i think the early version, at least from the agency who really had a pretty good understanding of how the kgb worked there are no other the powers our everyday was so for little black he'd write these studies. >> everybody would read them and say, oh, that's really great work, rick and then that would. be the end of it. you know, they didn't really send it anywhere and all new episode of secrets and spies, a nucleus and now, the hbo original series, "real time with bill maher". ♪ ♪ ♪ how are you doing? how are you doing? thank you very much. i appreciate it. thank you, people. thank you very much. i appreciate it. all right. good to see you. thank you. please, there's so much to get to. oh, wow. i feel great about that. yes, the big news this week is hunter biden's trial. let's get right to that. it led to absolutely fucking nothing, but let's get right to it. i know the republicans -- they are like, if you take down trump, we are going to take down hunter biden and the democrats are like, knock yourself out, we barely care about joe biden. >> [ audience reacts ] >> but, this trial is only about one thing in america which is very important, you cannot mix drugs and guns! seriously, we don't take a lot seriously in this country, but this is one we are very serious about, and hunter biden was buying a gun on crack -- i mean, at the moment, he was literally on crack and buying a gun, he almost had the gun in his hand. so, the prosecutor gets up and says, no one is above the law in this country, it doesn't matter who you are or what your name is and all the republicans stood up and fist pumped and went, yeah. and then they went -- oh, wait. yeah, that's -- [ audience reacts ] that's not what they were saying last week, was it? interesting. in april, they took a survey, 17% of republicans said it was okay -- only 17% -- okay for a felon to be president. now, they took the survey again, 58% said it is okay for a felon to be president. gosh, what happened? usually, to change this drastically in the space of two months, hormones are involved. i -- [ laughter ] but, if hunter biden does get convicted, this will be a historic first. it will be the first time republicans ever objected to somebody buying a gun. >> [ audience reacts ] >> and there was testimony from hallie biden, because she was married to hunter biden's brother, who sadly died, beau biden. and then, hunter went out with her. so, she is the ex-girlfriend and the widow. i know. she is -- she testified that when he was with hunter, she got her into crack, and she is ashamed and embarrassed about that part of her life. really? >> [ audience reacts ] >> you bang your dead husband's brother and the part you are embarrassed about is the crack? okay. but -- >> [ audience reacts ] >> she said she found hunters going at one point, she knew she couldn't have it, so she took it away and threw it away in the supermarket dumpster, perfectly. [ laughter ] so, when hunter throughout -- found out she threw away his gun, he called her insane, called her stupid, said, are you on crack? if you are, can i have some? we all saw this stuff from hunter biden's laptop, right? they did a reality show about hunter biden, it would be called "naked and afraid of running out of crack." and it's just -- >> [ audience reacts ] >> and it is just bad optics for the president. the jury is looking at sex tapes of hunter biden and the rest of us are worried about if his father can walk all right. kidding. well, actually, joe was doing the d-day thing. you saw that yesterday? he did very well. i thought he did very well. he was over there commemorating the 80th anniversary of d-day. in america, you know what they did? non-congressman -- oh, gosh -- nine congressman dressed up as military people. world war ii, you know, vintage stuff, and jumped out of a world war ii vintage plane to commemorate d- day. sadly, they were wearing parachutes. >> [ audience reacts ] >> [ laughter ] and george santos -- you know, when i do dress up, you bitches make a whole thing out of it. well, yes, it is pride month again, and the spirit of pride -- >> [ audience reacts ] so, listen to this. this is a pride month story, five dry greens in philadelphia did a children's books reading as they do, made a guinness book of world records for the fastest way to get trump re- elected. >> [ audience reacts ] >> not that there aren't still bigots in this country, but did you see this? this is the head of the colorado republican party sent out an email saying, calling gay people godless horrors, which in california is not even an insult. i get my hair cut at a place called godless groomers. we have a great show. we have matt welch, abigail shrier, but first up, the democratic senator from the great state of pennsylvania, john fetterman! welcome back, it's been too long! >> good to see you. >> welcome back to the show. it's been 13 years. >> it's an honor to be here. i am a fan boy, so -- >> right back at you. i have been badgering my staff for a long time now to get you on this show, and i will tell you why i have been badgering them, and eyeglass -- i guess they badgered you. when i have seen you the last couple of years, you speak so freely. you speak like politicians who i get on this show who aren't in politics anymore, the ones who are out of office, and they can be honest, that is the way you speak now, and it is a beautiful thing. >> [ audience reacts ] >> well, honestly -- and this is true -- you speak for a lot of democrats that are afraid to say a lot of that stuff. it is a lot of release for a lot of democrats who are like, thank god, somebody is actually platforming like that. >> no, i think we are very much on the same page. but, it is very rare -- i don't have to worry about being re- elected, except by the audience. >> [ audience reacts ] >> it is, i think, even more brave for you to do it. the question i want an answer to is, is this connected to some of your health issues? when you have gone through what you have, both physical and mental health issues, does it give you a freedom? like, what can you -- >> yeah, absolutely. there is a line from the first "batman," joker is like, i have been dead once already, it is liberating. that is not reckless, that is really just freeing. it is just freeing, in a way. and i think after being all of that, i would just be able to say the things that i really believe in, and not be afraid if there is any kind of blowback. >> and what about mental health in america, at-large? what is the prescription for this? because we are going to talk about it on the show to a degree tonight. it is certainly a big issue in this country. we have, what, 50,000 suicides in the last year? >> absolutely. >> this is an outstanding number, i think. what are your thoughts on this? >> well, actually, after i signed myself in to walter reed to get help, with depression, it is not really a big clinical winter, to talk about depression. and when i started to have that conversation, i realized that if i started to be honest, i have to talk about self-harm, you know, harming myself, because you pointed at the 50,000 americans who took their lives, and i started talking about that and said, hey, i have been in that place. i now tell people, i promise you, i am begging you, please, don't harm yourself. stay in the game. now, i am being contacted by people on the regular saying, hey, thanks to hearing this, i got help, or it even saved my life. i never thought that would resonate and that is why i decided to have that conversation, because i was lucky i got help and got better, and now i want to be the kind of guy that can say something, that could have helped someone like me, who was in that situation. >> [ applause ] >> so, let's talk a little politics here, because that is your game. pennsylvania is going to be -- probably, could be, come down to three states, pennsylvania will definitely be one of them. >> i have always said, pennsylvania picks the president and there really is no legitimate path for the president if he doesn't win, and i believe he will win, actually, because trump was able to flip pennsylvania and that helped deliver his first victory. but, joe biden carried it in 2020 because he has a really strong connection thereto pennsylvania and i believe he will again, but it will be close, and that is the same conversation i have been having with pennsylvania, that it is going to be very close, because trump has a strong connection in pennsylvania and it will be very competitive and all of that. i have also been saying, i don't think that whole trial is going to be anything meaningful with people who have already decided, that is my guy. i will never understand why somebody would say, i love that, or i want four more years of that. but, i do believe joe biden is going to carry pennsylvania and he is going to win. >> [ audience reacts ] >> but, as he was -- as he has not, yet, officially been nominated by the democratic party, is he really the best one to put forward? >> joe biden? >> yeah. >> yeah. he is actually the only american that has ever beat trump in an election, and i do honestly believe that he is actually the only democrat that could win. and let me just say this -- let me just say this, i know it might be provocative -- but the last time there was a hotshit governor with $2 million, thought he was going to beat trump, then trump through him in the wood chipper and he finished third in his own state, in florida. and again, trump is pretty tough, and that is what the republicans want and i can't imagine why -- how he is feeling right now, but trump has a very -- and i do believe joe biden has that ability to win, and we have a great bench. it is a distinct kind of situation right now. >> i'm surprised at that, but i will move on. i'm sorry, i'm not on the same page there, but okay. it is probably going to be joe biden and i will vote for him. but, you mentioned desantis. this is very curious to me, desantis wants to ban fake meat in florida, and you agreed with him. i don't get this? >> really, it is not so much about making it illegal, but it is also just talking about -- i really wanted to stand with american farmers and ranchers, and those kinds of things, and i don't believe it is helpful, and that is the direction i want to move in that. but, if somebody wants to consume that, that is okay. but, i think there are going to be states that are going to decide, i don't want to ban this, or i really want to invent and create that time, so the product stays the same. >> i wouldn't eat it either, quite frankly, but i wouldn't ban it. that is what desantis wants to do, so you can't get it. i thought that was the freedom part of this freedom country. if people want to have fake meat or fake anything, fake tits, fake anything. it is los angeles. >> [ audience reacts ] >> i don't -- yeah, i don't know about that, either, but i don't know if that is going to solve anything other than -- i don't get why that would appeal to anybody. >> you have been very up front about legalizing weed, marijuana. >> yeah, of course. i've heard that from you, too. >> [ audience reacts ] >> i heard that, john, that is just a character i play on television. never in my life -- look, i heard you once say, or maybe read it, a tweet, you said once, "i am not a progressive, i am a democrat." what does that mean? because i don't think i have used the word "progressive," i think i have said "woke." i know that word triggers a lot of people because it has a great beginning as a meaning, but words migrate and it went to something else. i think there is a difference between an old-school liberal and woke person, you say old- school democrat, how do you describe this? >> look, i agree and i have been saying that for years, actually. i didn't leave the label, it left me on that front. and after that happened on october 7th, i really knew that the whole progressive stack would be blasted apart and they are not going to have anyway for the democrats to reply to that, or respond to that, and i really decided early on that i was going to side with israel throughout all of that, and i knew that democrats would continue to peel away and kind of walk away from standing with israel on that, but that is where i decided -- >> how do you explain that, if you can, that the people who considered themselves the most liberal have abandoned israel -- which was always a liberal drawing -- for the terrorist organization, for the people who outwardly say that they want a genocide, who outwardly are the one side of this who is against the two state solution. so, now that they wound up with then, why do you think that is, and will this split the democratic party? >> well, it does, because there is an appeal there. and you talked about it, last week, you really hit it with the gender apartheid. talking about some of these issues, some of the most progressive and left parts of the democratic party are standing for the kind of side that has organizations like hamas, or these kinds of nations where there are no rights for women and they certainly don't embrace the lgbtq lifestyle, and even in philadelphia, the queers for palestine blocked the pride parade in philadelphia, and i never saw that on the bingo card. but -- >> [ audience reacts ] >> all right, well, it may seem lonely out there sometimes when you are brave like you are, but you have a lot of fans. you have a lot of fans here and a lot of fans all over the country. when i told people you were coming on, a lot of them were really excited that you are here, but they all have one question they wanted me to ask you, which is, what is the deal with the wardrobe? >> [ audience reacts ] >> people are very curious. it doesn't involve me, i'm just saying, people are saying, p please ask him. >> last year, i know this, you had a great joke, you really nailed it, you put up a picture of me, you said, she dresses like a guy where the airline lost his luggage. and it's true! it's funny, because it's true. and i know i dress like a slob and i am not making a statement or anything, but, i am into comfort, it is just comfort, and it is kind of like -- i don't have to iron, and -- >> [ audience reacts ] >> but, it is kind of hard to find suits and all of those things. but, i never understood why anybody thought that was interesting. and i want to be clear, i wasn't behind the changing of the dress code or anything, i really wasn't. but, more people seemed more concerned about me wearing a hoodie on the floor, as opposed to, we have senators taking bribes from foreign entities, and -- >> [ audience reacts ] >> but, i'm learning. i'm learning. i'm still a freshman. >> you seem like you are in a really good place. >> oh, well, i'm sitting across from a great person. but -- you know, having a near- death experience and going through that kind of a blowtorch of $100 million and attack acts and all of those kinds of things to emerge on a side where i am grateful to be sure, both with you and back with my kids, my family, everything, and i just decided, i really want to be the kind of voice that is consistent, and has a moral clarity on issues that may not be controversial for democrats, but i am not sure why any of that is democrat -- controversial for democrats, whether it is about israel, or the border, or -- >> because people just want to bitch these days, john. everything is controversial to everybody, but you keep doing what you are doing. i appreciate it. >> [ audience reacts ] >> all right. see you again, john fetterman. hi! all right, here is the editor at large at "reason" magazine, met -- matt welch is back with us. a journalist and author of the new york times best-selling book, "bad therapy", abigail shrier. great to see you. okay, so, this is the week where we celebrated the greatest generation saving democracy so we can learn about hunter biden smoking crack. i feel like that has been this week in a nutshell. i feel like this is one of those stories where both sides have a lot of wrong in their handling. i remember when the laptop came out, the left-wing media would not even admit it was a thing, it just had to be a hoax, or it had to be russian disinformation, it just didn't exist. they went right about it, that was wrong. and the right is wrong to pretend it means something, except possibly about joe biden's parenting. the question i want to ask -- because i know your book is about it, you have written about parenting -- okay, why do all of the political families have this fuck-up family dynamic? is it just because they are famous, and if we went into every family that had a billy carter, a roger clinton -- george bush himself was the ne'er-do-well. >> since the beginning of time, we have learned that children basically need three things, and these are essential. they need parental authority, they need to hear "no," they need independence, and loving community. kids with high profile families often get none of those. no one is willing to tell them "no," they don't get independence because they don't want anyone to make them look bad, and they don't have loving community -- they are raised in a political battlefield. unfortunately, too many american kids today also don't have those. >> the way you describe it, it sounds like everyone is from a prominent family, because i read in your book when kids go off to college and they have never heard the word "no," or the word "wait," then -- >> that's right. kids today are under a microscope, they are under a microscope, literally, because of the projection of social media and whatnot, but also because their parents are so afraid of traumatizing them, they have been told by mental health experts that saying "no," can be punishing and traumatizing, so they don't assert their authority. we basically have a generation raised with these kids that are miserable. >> and a link with your d-day tie in, which is that we understood that generation and others, but especially that one, to have a sense of stoicism. like, you are going to go through some bad stuff, you are going to fail, there is going to be unfair things that happen to you. the question is, what are you going to do with that? a 15-year-old and a 9-year-old, they are not teaching a lot of stoicism in the public school system, last time i checked. at some point, she starts to use it as an excuse to get out of chores. like, "that is not my journey." >> [ audience reacts ] >> [ laughter ] >> it doesn't make sense to fold the laundry, so they are making fun out of it, but there is something to that. but also, when you think about the greatest generation, they probably could have used a little bit more therapy than they got, right? >> yes, there is a happy medium. you mentioned d-day, but i couldn't help but think of it because the new york times said ptsd among adolescents is surging. ptsd. the fact that we have so -- >> [ audience reacts ] >> my father was in that campaign, he wasn't in omaha beach, but he was on that campaign. anyone who would allow kids to think they have ptsd? >> that's right, they don't have ptsd. kids raised gently in suburbs don't have ptsd. but, combat those -- our combat vets sometimes do have ptsd and they need treatment when they have it. >> always. >> it is real. but, that is not what kids that universities have. what they have, what i call in my book, "bad therapy", they have emotional hypochondria. they have focused so much on their own bad feelings that they magnify these feelings, they make them an organizing principle of their lives, then they have trouble escaping them. >> so, here is my thing, we had a reckoning of my sex in 2017, a racial reckoning in 2020. i feel like