Bill Maher is unapologetic in his views. Yes, they’re liberal, but on a few issues, like free speech, political correctness, and radical Islam, he’s more agreeable. In fact, he’s often angered fellow liberals with his views on those subjects, which prompted the student body of Berkeley to try and disinvite him from speaking at commencement five years ago. When Maher interviewed Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) two years ago, he was forced to apologize for using the n-word.
Well, flash-forward to last Friday night, where he asked Rep. Will Hurd (R-TX), why he was a Republican. Hurd gave his reasons, which Maher dismissed because that’s what he does, and then mocked Hurd’s career in the CIA. Maher said that the GOP was no longer good on national security because Trump is a traitor. Then, he asked the congressman what’s in it for him, citing his work in the CIA. Hurd said he was the man collecting intelligence in the back alley from sourcing trying to keep us safe, where Maher made his racist quip, “by the Popeye’s Chicken” (via Daily Beast):
.@BillMaher to @HurdOnTheHill (black Rep in GOP): “What’s in the Republican Party for you?”
— Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) February 2, 2019
Hurd: “I was in the CIA. I was the dude in back alleys at 4 in the morn collecting intel...”
Maher: “That’s where they collect it, huh? By the Popeye’s Chicken.”pic.twitter.com/vqeHlZU1Gd
“I’m a Republican because I believe in the rule of law. I’m a Republican because I believe in economic opportunity,” Hurd continued.
“They don’t do that either,” Maher interrupted again.
“I’m just asking why you’re a Republican?” he pressed. “Because they’re not good at the debt, that was their big thing. You said limited government, they don’t do that. They took over the Congress in 2011 and they raised the debt a trillion dollars a year. They’re not good at national defense—the president’s a traitor. What’s in it for you? What is in the Republican Party for you? You were in the CIA!”
With that, Hurd explained, “I was in the CIA for almost a decade. I was the dude in the back alleys at four o’clock in the morning collecting intelligence on threats to the homeland.”
“That’s where you’d collect it, huh? Wow,” shot back Maher. “By the Popeyes Chicken?”
The usually-game crowd elicited a groan, and Maher flashed an embarrassed look, as if he knew he’d screwed up… yet again... on the first day of Black History Month.
Bill Maher insults black CIA vet by suggesting he picked up tips "behind the Popeye's Chicken" same day as Ralph Northam admits he submitted racist af blackface Klan photo to yearbook - it's almost like this is all a game to them.
— Ben Domenech (@bdomenech) February 2, 2019
Why didn’t this get as much attention? Well, Virginia Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam’s racist photo on his yearbook page from his days at Eastern Virginia Medical School was revealed. And, at the time, he apologized for being in the photo that featured two people one in blackface and the other in full Klan regalia. Northam then retracted his apology the next day, saying that wasn’t him, but that he did engage in blackface for a dance contest in San Antonio, where he dressed as Michael Jackson.