Rod Stewart revisited his music career on “Real Time”

Call it apocalyptic; at the start of the last Real time with Bill Maher, Maher noted the start of fire season and the fact that it was Friday the 13th. Additionally, there is a shortage of formula, “just when the Supreme Court is proposing formula for more babies “. Maher also brought up the subject of inflation, saying, “I’ll say this for Donald Trump – when he was president, America felt cheap.” Inflation and Ukraine were both up for discussion, and they would be themes throughout the episode.

Legendary singer Rod Stewart was the first. “I can’t believe he came here!” Maher said. For his part, Stewart was also eager to crack jokes. “Do you know what the Queen of England and I have in common? asked Stewart. “We’ve both had the same haircuts for 60 years.”

Stewart then discussed his residence at the casino (at Caesars Palace) and the deadlines imposed by the venue. Maher pointed to Stewart’s songwriting chops: “I feel like you as a songwriter need a better publicist.” And then, in a deeply Narduwar-eque maneuver, Maher brought Stewart his 51-year-old copy of the ‘Maggie Mae’ single, prompting Stewart to recall the poignant moment the song reached number one on the UK charts. .

It wasn’t the only trip to the past, but the others were a bit more troublesome. Maher asked Stewart about his relationships with various beautiful women over the years, and Stewart seemed a bit reluctant to revel in it. “It was a different time,” he said. One thing that hasn’t changed for him, however, is a work ethic; it was a compliment Stewart was happy to accept.

Ian Bremmer and Jane Harman made up the evening’s panel, both with New books published this month in connection with current events and political debates. Maher kicked things off by talking about abortion. “How can America support” state-to-state rights changes, he asked. Harman was blunt: “It can’t.” Bremmer criticized the leaked Supreme Court opinion, noting that it sounded like “a culture war document” as opposed to a court ruling.

From there, the conversation turned to the future of Twitter – whether Elon Musk would go ahead with his plan to buy it and what it might look like if Donald Trump’s account was reinstated. Here things got a bit more controversial, with Bremmer referring to Musk as “the poster boy for shit” and expressing – shall we say skepticism – about Musk’s social media presence. For his part, Maher embraced the idea that Musk would potentially bring Twitter back to its “irreverent and funny” roots.

In the second half of the panel, Maher and his guests discussed what role the government should have – if any – in combating online disinformation, and discussed US foreign policy in Ukraine. “What is the Biden Doctrine?” Maher asked.

Bremmer argued that it was about tying the United States to international institutions in the wake of the Trump administration. Harman applauded that, but cited questions about American global leadership.

Maher also returned to a subject he had mentioned in his monologue, namely the money that the United States sends to Ukraine. Bremmer argued that part of that came from partisan bargaining inflating the initial figure requested by the Biden administration. “Before, it was a liberal thing to be wary of defense contractors!” Maher said. For his part, Harman raised the fact that, if Russia’s invasion of Ukraine were successful, the costs – both literal and figurative – would be much higher in the future.

Over time found the trio discussing inflation and China’s current policy regarding COVID-19. Harman also explored the shortage of infant formula, citing industry “focus”. Bremmer pointed out that many of the aftershocks the economy is currently experiencing can be seen as a logical extension of the pandemic.

For New Rules, Maher explored whether the Supreme Court is the modern equivalent of a dystopian sci-fi trope and pondered the logic of self-cleaning litter boxes. Most of the segment was about an increase in crime – or, more broadly, an increase in violations of social norms, covering everything from shopping in broad daylight to fights on planes. “Who needs the metaverse when you can do whatever you want in real life? Maher asked.

However, it was more difficult to draw a clear conclusion from this – Maher noted that the crime had many underlying causes and that the police still needed to be reformed. (Although a dig at trans athletes at the end felt entirely out of place and gratuitously mean.) It ended with a warning to Democrats — that failure to address this issue would likely end with the return of Donald Trump at the White House.