Real Time had plenty to cover this week in terms of current events. Brexit was obviously on a lot of minds and the lingering gun control debate was still going strong thanks to the House Democrat’s sit in earlier in the week. There’s also Donald Trump, but that’s always going to be a topic this election season.
It’s with the gun control debate that Maher makes a good point. I know we’ve written a few things about it in the wake of Orlando and one of the continuing thoughts in the comments is how little the media knows about guns. I certainly can’t give a solid discussion on every detail, but I’m also not advocating for a full ban on firearms and claiming to be an expert. The same could be said about the politicians currently waging battle in the halls of Congress.
It’s not so much that the politicians debating gun control have no idea what they’re discussing, it’s the perception. There’s also the view on condensing things down for discussion, while also managing to cover all the nuance in gun manufacturing. Calling out the AR-15 is easy to do, but as Maher points out, there are likely a dozen guns out there that can work the same and wouldn’t be covered by any sort of potential ban.
There’s also the question of what watch list would be appropriate to use for any of the proposed gun control legislation being discussed at the moment, if any.
Next Donald Trump and Brexit get the spotlight for a bit, hitting on the idea that Trump “speaks for the people” much in the same way that the Brexit speaks for all of Great Britain. First Maher and Michael Steele get into over the latter’s thoughts that Donald Trump is the voice of normal people, using some quotes from voters on the campaign trail to support his position. Maher hits back that the voice of the people wouldn’t be “tweeting bullshit at 3 in the morning.” A valid point, although not as solid as hearing what actual voters are thinking.
This overlaps with the Brexit talk, where xenophobia and immigration seemed to be a big issue. Trump’s stance on Islam, his insistence that a wall with Mexico would solve immigration problems, and more seem to share a lot of points with Britain’s supporters of the Brexit. That “fear of foreigners” seems to be a real thing, which even prompts Maher to say that the phobia portion might be misnomer since some of the fear is warranted — at least in his noted opinion.
And then finally some of the heavy discussion is alleviated by a new rule about President Obama’s final term and “apology world tour.” It’s basically what most Obama supporters have wanted for quite a while, so Maher just says that maybe it’s time Obama just went ahead and did it. Plenty of stuff we could be apologizing for around the world.
(Via Real Time)
