Real Time with Bill Maher guests - Friday, January 23, 2026 (Season Premiere)

[Rhiannon12866]

Real Time with Bill Maher starts its 24th season Friday, January 23rd (10:00-11:00 p.m. live ET/7:00-8:00 p.m. PT), with a replay at 11:00 p.m., exclusively on HBO.

This week features a one-on-one interview with retired U.S. Army general and senior advisor for VoteVets and the Vet Voice Foundation, Major General Paul Eaton.

This week's in-studio panel discussion will include Kasie Hunt, anchor of CNN’s The Arena with Kasie Hunt; and Sen. John Kennedy, Republican senator from Louisiana and author of the #1 New York Times bestselling book How to Test Negative For Stupid: And Why Washington Never Will.

[Prairie Gates]

1. Fuck Bill Maher

[Abolishinist]

17. Rather than FBM,

you should go after Major General Paul Eaton for exhibiting his lack of insight for agreeing to be on his show. It was obviously his decision to do so, he needs to know the consequences.

Here's a post of his using the VoteVets FB account.

Major General Paul Eaton, U.S. Army, (ret.) is working with VoteVets to support their mission to hold Trump accountable at all levels of government, from Capitol Hill to your community.

Our country is at a crossroads and our Democratic values are on the line. Click here to join the fight by supporting VoteVets today.

Why not post that you will not give to any organization supported by one who goes on Real Time. I mean, after all, some on DU have referred to those who watch his show as indecent and unintelligent. It's a live show, surely you could convince him to immediately cancel tonight's appearance.

Go for it!

https://www.facebook.com/votevets/posts/major-general-paul-eaton-us-army-ret-is-working-with-votevets-to-support-their-m/1162819732552338/

[Jbraybarten]

2. Fuck Maher

[3_Limes]

3. Aren't we done with him yet?

Why are still posting this? Just to stir things up? To troll for a reaction? May as well include who's on OAN and NewsMax too. It's pretty much the same stuff.

[question everything]

4. Who are "we?"

[3_Limes]

5. You, I

And the majority of posters here who have grown weary having this irrelevant clown pushed on us. ( See the posts above mine for a representative sampling of sentiment.)

[question everything]

6. You, and I, do not have to read every single post. I am wary of some of the opinions so just skip them

Some of us like his monologues and New Rules and some of his guests.

[UTUSN]

9. "do not have to read every single post" - *THIS*!!!!!!!!!!!! And we don't have to censor other posters!

There are literally thousands of post options available and am willing to bet that all of us only look at a tiny fraction of all of them for whatever reasons - mainly sifting out the sheer volume, personal uninterest/irrelevance of many of the topics, staying away from Trouble, etc., ad infinitum.

I have never used the Ignore feature because, for me (and me only), it is ostrich/burying head, better to know than not to know - such that, merely *SKIPPING* past things does the job for whatever reasons above, *withOUT* taking a dump on other people's threads with personal peeves and lectures. This is not to be confused with *disagreeing* with topics. The real puzzle is why spend time and stress on threads not liked instead of sifting through the thousands for the ones liked.

Not going to repeat and repeat the many MAHER-specific arguments: Keep friends close/enemies closer blah blah, constructive criticism, looking inward for root causes, etc.

Hah, putting myself here in the same spot of spouting peeves and preferences that I'm railing against - so self-aware!1

[question everything]

10. Same with "ignore.". I have never used it. Actually sad that supposedly politically active individuals

choose to not know what others promote.

[maxsolomon]

12. Just trash the thread.

I do it all the time now. So many irrelevant Video reposts.

[themaguffin]

7. the...

...gatekeepers

[gulliver]

8. Will definitely watch

I want to see Dems win elections 60-40%. That means more listening and wiser, more persuasive talk. As a liberal, I see the "fuck Maher" stuff as unpersuasive and harmful to the cause.

[maxsolomon]

11. Can't imagine Kennedy is going to come off well.

I also don't think Hunt or Maher will be able to hold him accountable for his bullshit.

This one (like most of them these last years) feels like a must-skip.

[BannonsLiver]

13. Scintillating.

[Conjuay]

14. I don't understand the weekly reminder that this clown is still producing "content"

Many of us DON'T get HBO, and the weekly reminders about him/his show quite irritating.
He should accept he has fallen from grace, and it was by his own big mouth.

[Abolishinist]

15. We'll be watching!

Major General Paul Eaton should be interesting.

Donald Trump and his defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, are mounting an aggressive push to politicise the top ranks of the US military – a push that smacks of Stalinism and could take years to repair. Maj Gen Paul Eaton has sounded the alarm, saying in an interview with the Guardian that the effort to bend the higher echelons of the military to the US president’s will was unparalleled in recent history and could have long-term dire consequences. He warned that both the reputation and efficiency of the world’s most powerful fighting force was in the balance.

In recent years Eaton has been a sharp critic of Trump’s manipulation of military structures. In the summer of 2024 he participated in war games conducted by the Brennan Center for Justice thinktank, that sought to anticipate the then Republican nominee Trump’s most dangerous authoritarian moves were he to return to the White House.

Many of the actions predicted in those tabletop exercises – including politicisation of the military and other key government institutions, and deployment of the national guard into Democratic-controlled cities – have already come to pass under Trump’s second presidency.

In Eaton’s analysis, Trump’s first step towards compromising military independence was the act of appointing Hegseth as secretary of defense. The former Fox & Friends host had been an adviser to Trump and had supported his first presidential run in 2016.
'Hegseth not only swears loyalty to Trump, he swears fealty to Trump – whereas the military swears an oath to the constitution,' Eaton said.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/05/trump-us-military-hegseth-stalin

[muriel_volestrangler]

16. Kennedy is in the middle of the Republican senator pack - ie, stupid

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/john_kennedy/412679

He supported Trump. He voted against his impeachment, twice. He called the impeachment process "a thinly veiled effort by the uber-elites in our country, who look down on most Americans, to denigrate further those people who chose to vote for President Trump and not vote for President Biden." He's not just stupid, he supports the man who tried to take over the US government by coup.

Hunt appears to be a journalist who does her best to avoid expressing an opinion. Which you might like for pure reporting, but makes her a really boring person.

Eaton at least looks like a human being worth talking to. One worthwhile guest out of three is a shit performance by a program.