It was a mixed bag of nuts on Friday night for HBO’s Bill Maher: Real Time Rock ‘n roll, budgets, Covid-19 and even a put-down of van life were all on the menu.
Maher called the man Maher “The ultimate rock ‘n roll rebel,”Little Steven Van Zandt, the first guest, promoted his new book.Unrequited Infatuations Many people know him only through his music, and especially his role as Silvio Daante. The SopranosVan Zandt has been involved with politics since his youth, sometimes to the detriment of others.
“Politics wasn’t cool in our (music) business,”He admitted it. “It’s one of those show business things, stay away from politics and religion. So I just just jumped in and made that my identity. When I left the E Street Band, (I asked) how do I justify my existence? So I’ll be the political guy.”
A series of political albums followed, but more important was Van Zandt’s role in sparking a cultural awareness of South Africa’s apartheid system. He was one of the four people who led the boycott of Sun City in South Africa, which eventually brought enough awareness and influence to allow for the passing a sanctions bill. “We did light that spark,” Van Zandt admitted.
Van Zandt, now age 70, said he didn’t really want to come off as ungrateful that he hasn’t achieved more in his music career. He did note, “You’re going to go through life and have some frustrations….but it’s not a matter of not being disappointed, it’s what do you do with that You find a way to move forwards. And I hope the (new) book is helpful in that.”
To turn to his panel section, Maher was joined in the discussion by Katherine ManguWard, editor-in-chief for Reason Editor ofTK NewsMatt Taibbi is the Substack editor.
A discussion was held about the two major spending bills, one for infrastructure and the other for social programs, that are being promoted by the Biden Administration. The combined bills could amount to $5.5 trillion. However, the trio was surprised at its promise.
“Nobody knows what’s in the bills,” said Mangu-Ward, noting that the American people didn’t necessarily support spending that amount of money. “It’s reasonable to say, “Let’s talk about this,”She said.
Maher stated that this attitude was brought on by the pandemic. But Mangu-Ward countered.”It is everything every Democrat ever wanted to do.”
The discussion moved to education. “I’m not so sure that the more education we get, the better we are,”Maher said. “I don’t know what they’re teaching at the colleags. I don’t know that they’re teaching the subjects that are substantive anymore.”He mentioned the notion of “Credentialism,” defined as looking down on people who don’t have a degree”
Taibbi was firm about his rejection of credentialism. “People have to face the idea that higher education in America is a scam,” saying it’s unlikely that the return on investment in huge tuition would result in a good job. This woke many. “I could have waited tables from the beginning,”Taibbi spoke about their gradual dawning.
Maher then began to sing and dance about Trump Russia’s legitimacy. Taibbi stopped Maher convincingly by popping the bubble at every Maher point.
Mangu-Ward also poo-poohed the idea that there was collusion.”Trump did a terrible job of colluding with Russia if he was trying to,” she said, lamenting that the “focusing on Russiagate distracted from (Trump’s) terrible immigration policy and his budget.”
After a brief discussion about the new Merck & Co. Covid-19 pill treatment, Maher wound up with a diatribe against van life, the young people who rebel against the careerist conventions and take to the road to explore.
Maher noted that younger people have got it backwards, and that you’e supposed to get in a van and travel after the working for a living thing.
“I want to know why filming van life would be found remotely interesting,”Maher said. “Brian Laundrie was not an interesting person until he became a person of interest.”
Maher stated that Instagram van life culture does provide a way to share your stories. “to monetize f***ing off.”