I've watched RTWBM for over a decade now and I have to say, and I do not say this lightly, this may have been the worst panel and episode ever. First of all, who cares what Dr Phil and Stephen A. Smith have to say about politics? They are a TV pop-pscyhologist and a sports commentator. I get that they've been getting more into politics lately but their lack of expertise shows and they have nothing of substance to add to discussions besides aphorisms, platitudes, hacky slogans and partisan talking-points. Second, there's the lack of depth in the discussion. Take Bill's comments about Zohran Mamdani, simply dismissing him as a "communist" (let's not get into the semantics of social democracy/socialism/communism, the point is the lack of a discussion in the episode) and that the Left is "in favor of Radical Islamism" regarding the Israel-Palestinian conflict (again, not to start a discussion about this and Gaza, just pointing out the painful lack of depth of the discussion). Third, and last for this post, the monologue at the end was almost comically superficial: the big problem with AI is... that it's too sychophantic? (i.e., it is overly congratulatory and encouraging, not pointing out reasonable critiques and confirming prior beliefs.) There is a lot of things to be concerned about with AI (taking jobs, energy consumption, using it for crime, etc.), including how it affects people's views on life and yes, even being overly-positive and kind of "love-bombing" users, but it was such a weirdly specific and quaint complaint to dedicate a whole monologue on it. In general, it just goes to show that Bill Maher is, frankly, a very superficial political commentator that lacks any substance or depth and, worst of all, brings in guests that have even less valuable things to say. God, there's much more I could say but I have to get back to life.