Comedian Bill Maher did it again: he gave Trump credit where credit is due and ripped into both parties, though mostly the Democrats for being “weak and woke,” to quote Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI). His closing New Rules was more of a ‘time to sack up’ plea to his party to stop being policed and afraid of the woke mafia and their seven Twitter followers who have paralyzed the Democratic Party and driven them to pure insanity on public policy.
I don’t mind the Democrats being a mess, but eventually the Trump era will end. And we must accept the prospect that Democrats will not be in the wilderness forever. It would be nice if they weren’t totally unspooled, because right now, if they retook Congress, these people would put me and the rest of the Townhall staff on a train to the concentration camps.
.@TheDemocrats need to get their shit together because we need two parties in this country. pic.twitter.com/HkkRegNZUo
— Bill Maher (@billmaher) August 16, 2025
Yet, the HBO host also noted that it goes beyond the woke mafia that’s taken over the party base; Democrats are afraid of everything, from COVID to their kids. Part of this trend is due to parents refusing to tell their children that their ideas are stupid and they should log off the phone.
Another thing Maher noted was that Democrats are scared to come onto his show. It took eight years and a petition to get Barack Obama to have an interview, but Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris ran away. He’d also like to have Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Zohran Mamdani, and Liz Warren. Still, they’re afraid, mainly because this program might open them up to a primary challenge from the far left if they say something sensible and rational. That’s insane. But he did mention how Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) was cast as a Nazi for being against dudes competing in women’s sports.
Recommended
These are people Maher voted for, and they’re afraid to come onto Real Time. That’s hilarious in itself—I’m sorry. If you can’t handle a comedian who doesn’t take himself seriously and wants to discuss current events, what good are you?
Republicans come onto his show all the time. Trump invited Maher to dinner, despite the latter berating him, even signing a copy of all the insults that were said about him. Trump has his mugshot in the Oval Office, couldn’t care less about his tryst with Stormy Daniels, shouted “fight” after being shot in the ear, and had a kid named ‘Big Balls’ work for him at DOGE.
If it’s a choice between weak and woke and strong and wrong (though I don’t necessarily think it’s that simple), the latter will always win.
Maher was terrible on Russiagate, but we’ll get to that later this week.
***
Maher did give Trump credit for being right about tariffs and wanting to end the war in Ukraine:
WOW: Bill Maher just gave Trump some MASSIVE concessions on what he’s doing right.
— The Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) August 16, 2025
This wasn’t the usual snark from Maher.
He admitted Trump wasn’t wrong on tariffs, or on forcing NATO to pay their fair share of defense budgets.
Then Maher pivoted to something much deeper:… pic.twitter.com/Yqqr02Q11J
If you're the kind of person who says, "You can find some good in anybody," this would be the good in Donald Trump. pic.twitter.com/oats9t0d9H
— Bill Maher (@billmaher) August 18, 2025
Editor’s Note: Do you enjoy Townhall's conservative reporting that takes on the radical left and woke media? Please support our work so that we can continue to bring you the truth.
Join TOWNHALL VIP and use the promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your VIP membership!
Join the conversation as a VIP Member