Bill Maher goes head-to-head with Steve Bannon tonight on Real Time
By Matt Moore
Bill Maher will interview President Donald Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon on tonight’s Real Time.
Real Time with Bill Maher is known for bringing together the most wide-ranging collection of guests in late night. That trend will certainly continue tonight as Bill Maher welcomes back polarizing political strategist Steve Bannon to Real Time.
Regardless of who is on the show tonight, Maher will have a lot to go through. Fans will be eager to hear how the Real Time responds to President Trump’s acquittal in the impeachment trial. Expect Maher to continue the message he repeated a couple weeks ago that President Trump won’t go quietly no matter how he is replaced in the White House.
On the other side, Maher will surely cover the Iowa caucus debacle. Between the attempted use of an app, Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s early claim of a victory, and the rebuttal from Senator Bernie Sanders, there was a lot going on in Iowa this week that Maher can discuss.
When Maher does welcome guests to tonight’s Real Time, it should be another night of intense debate with the possibility for fierce debate. Here’s a preview of who comes to Real Time with Bill Maher tonight.
Top-of-show interview
Making his third Real Time appearance tonight is Steve Bannon. The media executive and political strategist who was fired/resigned as President Trump’s chief strategist was last on the show in 2018.
Maher has not been shy about sharing his opinion on Bannon in the past. Still Real Time host gave Bannon credit for coming on the show last time. The interview was a good back-and-forth between the two and the topics they covered will be updated in tonight’s interview. Both Bannon and Maher mentioned in 2018 that they wanted to catch up in 2020 and now they get that chance.
Bannon can offer insight into President Trump’s mentality and how he could approach the 2020 election. He may also provide some thoughts on the campaign strategies of the Democratic candidates for president. Bannon knew that if Democrats took the house, President Trump would be impeached. While that came true, the recent acquittal means change is not coming.
Mid-show interview
Journalist and author Fareed Zakaria will be the mid-show interview guest. It marks his 10th appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher.
Zakaria can be seen weekly on CNN as the host of Fareed Zakaria GPS. He also contributes a weekly column to the Washington Post. Zakaria has been sharing his thoughts on the Democratic candidates for president recently and does not seem convinced that anyone has separated from the pack.
Zakaria has also commented on the increasing divisiveness in America and how politics have become so polarizing. Expect more of that topic to be explored on Real Time especially following the visit from Steve Bannon.
The panel
Once again, the Real Time panel will be made up of an eclectic group. It features two returning guests on one making her debut.
Andrew Gillum is the former mayor of Tallahassee, Florida who lost the 2018 gubernatorial race in Florida to Republican Ron DeSantis. Now Gillum has been active in registering people to vote raising money for Democratic presidential candidates. Following the problems in Iowa, he has spoken about the challenges minorities face in voting.
Ezra Klein is a journalist and co-founder of the website Vox. Recently he published his book Why We’re Polarized on why the American political system isn’t broken but designed to divide the country. Again, with Steve Bannon and Fareed Zakaria also on Real Time, this will be a popular topic of discussion by the time Klein shows up on the panel.
Making her Real Time with Bill Maher debut will be Sarah Isgur. Isgur is a staff writer for conservative outlet The Dispatch and a CNN political analyst. CNN faced some backlash for hiring Isgur based on her work in the Trump administration and as the former spokeswoman for Jeff Sessions. On Real Time, Isgur will be tasked with defending President Trump and the Republican Party in the impeachment aftermath.
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Who are you looking forward to seeing on Real Time with Bill Maher tonight? Let us know in the comment section below. Real Time airs tonight at 10:00 PM ET on HBO.