Comedian Bill Maher offered a blunt take on the U.S. vis-à-vis China, arguing America isn’t losing against its adversary, it’s already lost.
He began with a critique of the American people, whom he referred to as “silly,” and showed one of the now-banned Dr. Seuss books that had a caricature of a Chinese man. He said no one in China cares about it because “they are not a silly people.”
But Americans? “Half the country is having a woke competition deciding whether Mr. Potato head has a dick."
Maher didn’t dismiss the communist regime’s human rights abuses and other authoritarian measures, but said there has to be something “between [an] authoritarian government that tells everyone what to do and a representative government that can’t do anything at all.”
He pointed to China’s tremendous growth over the last two decades, building hundreds of cities from scratch, to bringing a majority of its population to the middle class, to cornering the market in 5g and pharmaceuticals. Meanwhile in America, it always seems to be Transportation Week, but nothing ever gets accomplished—and that extends to any problem, even when both sides agree.
“We see a problem and we ignore it, lie about it, fight about it, endlessly litigate it, sunset clause it, kick it down the road, and then we write a bill where a half-ass solution doesn’t kick in for 10 years,” he said. “China sees a problem and they fix it. They build a dam. We debate what to rename it.”
He also criticized the trend in progressive circles to “sacrifice merit for equity,” pointing to some colleges getting rid of the ACT and SAT. “Do you think China’s doing that? Letting political correctness get in the way of nurturing their best and brightest?” he asked, mocking some of the ridiculous courses behind offered in colleges and universities these days.
“We’re not losing to china, we lost,” he said. “The returns just haven’t all come in yet.”
Nothing ever moves in this impacted colon of a country. We see a problem and we ignore it, lie about it, fight about it. When China sees a problem, they fix it. They build a dam, we debate what to rename it. #SpoilerAlert #WeLost pic.twitter.com/sETFwt7yFT
— Bill Maher (@billmaher) March 13, 2021
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