"Real Time" host Bill Maher ripped the left during the most recent episode of his late-night program, saying that Fox News has praised him as of late for criticizing woke liberals he claims "have their head up their ass."
Maher, who has frequently slammed Fox News in the past, spoke about the recent appreciation coming from the conservative news outlet during a segment of his show Friday night.
He played a clip of Fox News host Dana Perino suggesting he run for president as a Democrat. The comedian said, "In the space of 20 years, Bush press secretaries have gone from telling me, I need to watch what I say," referring to comments former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer made in the early 2000s, "... to wondering if I should run for president."
Perino previously served as White House press secretary during the George W. Bush administration from 2007-2009.
But the HBO host explained that Fox's admiration of him is not a result of his political beliefs moving toward the right but because he is willing to call out liberals who have shifted further to the left.
"It's not me who's changed, it's the left, who is now made up of a small contingent who've gone mental. And a large contingent who refuse to call them out for it. But I will," Maher said.
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"That's why I’m a hero at Fox these days," he continued. "Which shows just how much liberals have their head up their ass, because if they really thought about it, they would have made me a hero on their media. But that can't happen in this ridiculous new era of mind-numbing partisanship where if I keep it real about the nonsense in the Democratic Party, it makes me an instant hero to Republicans."
He went on to highlight that it is not just the Democratic Party who left behind one of their own for criticizing those with huge influence within their party, noting Republicans' hatred of Wyoming GOP Rep. Liz Cheney over the last year.
"The same thing happened in reverse to Darth Vader's daughter, Liz Cheney, who is now a hero to liberals simply because she recognizes Biden did not steal the last election. What a sad commentary on our politics," Maher said. "Where simply acknowledging reality is now seen as a profile in courage."
The comedian also explained that he did not always call out the left as much as he does now because they previously "didn't give me so much to work with," adding that "the oath of office I took was to comedy."
"It's not my fault that the party of FDR and JFK is turning into the party of LOL and WTF," he said.
Maher then listed some moves from the left that he suggested were easy to criticize, including Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) calling for rent and mortgage to be canceled, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) demanding an end to policing and incarceration and Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) declaring that "capitalism is slavery."
He continued, "canceling Lincoln and Dr. Seuss, teaching children they're oppressors and math is racist, making Mr. Potato Head gender-neutral and now an emoji for pregnant men."
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