Real Time with Bill Maher

Ep. #720: Paul Anka, Rep. Lauren Boebert, State Rep. James Talarico

·1 hr·5 clips
The Supreme Court finally told Trump 'don't fuck with the money,' sparking his furious reaction and a debate on presidential overreach.
The court finally says no. The opening takes Trump's tariff loss at the Supreme Court and turns it into a hard joke about emergency powers, Congress, and his attacks on the courts. Beneath the laugh is a plain accusation: earlier presidents didn't try this because they believed it was illegal. Then everyone gets dragged back to prices. A state representative says Trump's 2024 support was a bet that costs would come down, and that bet has gone sour across food, child care, prescriptions, higher education, and housing. Boebert wants none of that framing. She says inflation was worse before, gas and food are getting better, and the economy is steadier, even if it still needs work. The tariff fight stays prickly because it keeps landing in someone's budget. One side talks about thousand-dollar hits. Boebert defends tariffs as pressure on China, especially around fentanyl. That becomes the turn. She ties Trump's China tariff threat to fentanyl deaths and says fentanyl poisonings have dropped a lot, while noting Colorado had been near the top nationally. The state representative pulls it back home. His point is not trade theory. It is the American dream getting priced out week by week. The host keeps stripping away the packaging: what got cheaper, who paid more, and why should voters buy either argument. Paul Anka is on the roster, though this excerpt gives less of his segment. The closing thanks him with Boebert and the state representative before sending viewers to Overtime. Then the mood darkens. The host contrasts Biden condemning political violence with Republicans sitting silent, and lets the room's reaction do the damage. Tariffs, inflation, fentanyl, court power, and political violence all get shoved through the same cranky filter.

As heard by us

A tariff fight becomes a broader test of constitutional limits, household costs, and partisan reflexes.

Real Time with Bill Maher frames Trump's tariff fight as both a constitutional question and a kitchen-table problem. The episode tracks the Supreme Court rejecting his push for emergency tariff powers, his insistence that other routes remain, and the wider argument over whether…

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

Want a tariff fight that starts at the Supreme Court and lands near your grocery bill?

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →
Listen to the show on