Bill Maher isn’t going to vote for Donald Trump, nor has he supported him in any way. That doesn’t mean he’s naïve or dismissive of the ironclad support regarding the former president. You can dislike the man, but you can’t hate half the country—a point Maher is trying to sell to his side of the aisle.
Still, many of his friends and colleagues cannot believe some of his positions. In a recent episode of Club Random, his podcast, Maher admits that the Trump guilty verdict did not damage him and that Biden is heading for defeat in 2024. It’s a declaration that did not sit well with guest Kara Swisher, a liberal tech journalist who co-founded Recode:
After realizing that Trump's verdict has not helped Biden in polling, panic is setting in for the Democrats:
— Eric Abbenante (@EricAbbenante) June 2, 2024
Bill Maher: "He's gonna fucking lose"
Kara Swisher: "Who Biden?"
Bill Maher: "Yes."
Kara Swisher: "No, you're wrong."
This is the 'crime' that Trump committed. He's… pic.twitter.com/mx0ulnBJNZ
Liberals may be going through the stages of grief here. Nothing is getting better; Israel’s war in Gaza won’t stop, creating more of a schism between Biden and young voters who feel this White House is complicit in genocide. The economy is fragile, with inflation rates remaining inexcusably high. And there’s no record or personality that Democrats can rally around other than 'Biden isn’t Trump.' The “anti” candidate has always fallen short. Romney was the anti-Obama; Kerry was the anti-Bush—both lost their elections.
Every day that reported the story of Barack Obama telling Joe he didn’t need to run during the 2020 cycle looks more like a red flag. Love him or hate him, Obama won his elections and had presidential timber despite backing some appalling policy items. He knew Joe didn’t have it, but here we are.
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Liberals think Maher’s been red-pilled, but that’s far from the truth. He’s been calling out his side for adopting an illiberal and unhinged ideology antithetical to American values. And while not a fan of Ron DeSantis, he has credited him for having a more science-based and rational response to COVID while conceding that his points about Disney being filled with child sex creeps wasn’t an off-based criticism. Still, he still finds plenty of time to bash Republicans, who he admits now aren't as crazy seeing what's infected American liberalism over the past decade.
I think Maher sees the tea leaves for what they are, so before the Trump legal circus, he was calling for Biden to step down and not run for re-election. The fear was real: the legal drama didn’t damage Trump as liberals intended, the national mood swung further against Biden, and now Democrats are stuck with him this late in the calendar.
Biden will have to pull off a Boston Red Sox 2004 ALCS-like comeback to nuke the 2024 race on the domestic and foreign policy fronts. That’s assuming he has skills that, for 40-plus years, he hasn’t exhibited because he doesn’t have them.
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