Trump Rewards Bill Maher with a Kennedy Center Prize

0:00Irreverent news talk, opinion satire. It's Newsweek Radio. I'm Jesse Edwards. Top headline at Newsweek. Trump's approval rating breaks four unwanted records and four polls as if Trump cares. I couldn't care less. He's got nothing to lose because there's nothing left for him to win and everybody knows it. That's why he goes chasing after these awards around his neck to satisfy his participation trophy itch. It was a very significant prize. Because that's all success will ever be for such a cartoonishly bloated nepo baby like Trump. And in this way, we should absolutely feel sorry for the poor bastard, because he's incapable of feeling satisfaction in any meaningful way like us relatively well-adjusted normal folks can.

0:38Forever trapped inside of a gilded prison cell that will never allow him to reach for real success because everything he's ever attained was done by sitting on the shoulders of his corrupt father's inheritance. Failure in his wake the entire way. From the Atlantic Boardwalk casinos reaching into the heavens like giant tombstones, to a demolished White House with a UFC fight coming up on June 14th, live from the White House lawn. It's June 14th, happens to be my birthday, and that was only by happenstance. Cancel your plans, cancel your dignity, because this year, America doesn't just celebrate Trump's birthday, we celebrate violence.

1:17Be sure to bring the kids because someone is gonna get their ass kicked really, really bad. We have in the front of the White House on June 14th. You probably read UFC is going to be here. Dana White, the great Dana White, he's building literally a stadium, a 5 ,000-seat arena right outside the front door of the White House. Hell yeah! There's going to be tons of beer, hot chicks, and people getting their faces smashed in for money. Oh, I like money. It's UFC 250 from the White House lawn. Proudly sponsored by Monsanto Beer. Now with 30 % more glyphosate. Don't worry, that lump was probably there anyway.

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3:03A positive test result does not confirm the presence of cancer. Patients with a positive test result should be referred for colonoscopy. A negative test result does not confirm the absence of cancer. Patients with a negative test result should discuss with their doctor when they need to be tested again. False positives and false negative results can occur. Next top trending headline from Newsweek, Joe Rogan goes after Erica Kirk. Whatever. I mean, I like Joe Rogan, kind of. I can't listen to more than 10 minutes of it at any given time because the show moves a little too slow for my taste. But I refuse to go after Erica Kirk, first off, because I don't care what she says or does, because I'm a 45-year-old male with other interests.

3:35And she's a grieving widow that's just trying to pay the bills after her husband was murdered in front of the entire world. I think we can cut the girl a little bit of slack. No, it's probably just some handlers of Charlie's estate ushering her around to try to make up for lost income, taking her to all of these media crusades. It's just bad form to sit there and bash on a widow. And Joe Rogan should be above it, even if she does come off as kind of weird on TV. Don't go after her. Go after the people who won't stop exploiting her over Charlie Kirk's death. We know the story. Time to move on. Next headline.

4:03Bill Maher reacts to getting prize from Donald Trump's Kennedy Center. Wow. Trump's reshaped Kennedy Center. That's a nice way of saying gutted Kennedy Center. Is set to honor Bill Maher, one of the president's most prominent and long-running critics, up until recently anyway. with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, despite recent public attacks by Trump and an initial White House denial that Maher would receive the award. Even though the Kennedy Center itself confirmed on Thursday that Maher, the longtime host of HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, will receive the prize at a June 28th ceremony just days before the institution closes for a planned two-year renovation.

4:39Under Trump's so-called leadership, estimated it costs$200 million dollars, so you know it's going to be at least five. And inevitably, whoever the next president is, is going to have to spend all their time cleaning this crap up. Well, I wonder if that's going to be enough to get Laura Loomer and her$150 million defamation lawsuit against Maher and HBO dropped, but I'm guessing no. Just a theory of mine, a well-based theory of mine, but Bill Maher has been licking Donald Trump's boots ever since this lawsuit from Laura Loomer, and it has almost ruined the show for me because every time Trump is mentioned on real time, Bill Maher has suddenly picked up the habit of bending over backwards and contorting himself awkwardly to backhandedly compliment the man, and it's disgusting.

5:21He's much more self-aware than he lets on in public. Everything I've ever not liked about him was, I swear to God, absent, at least on this night with this guy. If you'll remember, Bill Maher made a joke on his show back in September of 2023 about Loomer sleeping with Trump. So she turned around and said that it cost her a cabinet position in the current Trump White House. So she sues Bill Maher and HBO for a God-level ask of money, and Bill Maher has been kissing Trump's ass ever since. And in return, it appears that Trump is rewarding Maher with a Kennedy Center award because of it, which just goes to further prove my point that you can get anything out of Trump if you're willing to pucker up.

5:57But let's see if it's enough to get Lumer to settle for something closer to$1.5 million than$150. She is high on her own vapors, if she thinks she's getting that much. Trump wasn't even dumb enough to invite her to his cabinet, it because even he knows that she's as nutty as a squirrel. No, I still think Bill Maher has one of the most well-written running scripts on television with his new rules segment at the end of each show, but the program has gone downhill considerably this year. Not only with the low energy quality of the guest lineup, but the conversations themselves have largely been as flat as a pancake, and it might be time for Maher to consider either changing up the show or calling it a wrap.

6:33Maybe he just needs better producers, I'm not sure what the problem is, but it is upsetting because I look at his show as one of the last places where free speech exists on a mainstream platform, uncensored and real. And it would be a terrible shame if this show somehow went away because somebody dropped the ball in production or Bill Maher himself sold out to Trump in the end. Terrible either way. And even worse if it's a little bit of both. Sorry to end on such a sour note, but sometimes that's how the cookie crumbles. And until we can do it again, it's Newsweek Radio. I'm Jesse Edwards. Catch you next time.

7:02Bye. And we say bye-bye! Newsweek Radio is a member of The Trust Project. Oh, I like money. Thank you.