PBS NewsHour isn’t normally an interview stop for comedians, but Bill Maher made an appearance on Tuesday night to promote his new book, a collection of his TV monologues. Overall, it honored Maher’s HBO career in much the same way as Robert Costa on CBS.
Host Geoff Bennett proclaimed Maher has “positioned himself as the ultimate truth-teller, who takes equal pleasure in punching at the left.” Oh no! Then came a clip of Maher: It’s not my fault the party of FDR and JFK is turning into the party of LOL and WTF.”
The most notable part came when Bennett complained to Maher: “What do you think accounts for the durability of Donald Trump as a political figure? By any objective or rational standard, the challenges facing him, the scandals, the criminal trials — all of that should be disqualifying. And yet he’s competitive!“
BILL MAHER : Competitive? He’s winning. I mean, he’s…
BENNETT: Yes, the polls — some polls have him ahead, yes.
MAHER: Most polls do, and in the states that matter. I mean, if I had to bet on this election — well, I wouldn’t, but — I mean, I wouldn’t. Yes, I wouldn’t, because I couldn’t bet against him.
Certainly, it’s at least a 50/50 that he’s going to beat Biden. That’s a great question, if only someone would write a book about Donald Trump. [Laughter]
The funny part of Bennett question is brandishing an “objective or rational standard.” PBS “progressives” simply don’t understand that many Americans see an enormous double standard on scandals, that Bill Clinton can do what Trump cannot. Joe Biden can wildly exaggerate his life story, and Trump cannot.
Maher then repeated his CBS routine that Trump is insane, but voters overlook his bluster on the stump and on social media:
MAHER: I truly believe he’s insane, in the sense that people talk about the malignant narcissism as if its some sort of quirk. It’s more than a quirk. It’s a real thing. But as a friend of mine always says, insanity photographs. You can’t you can’t take your eyes off it. There is a certain charisma quality to that, when somebody is just nuts,. And he is. He doesn’t really ever think about what he’s going to say. People give him credit for plotting this. He doesn’t plot.
Everything is just as it comes out of his mouth. One of the great advantages he has as a political candidate is that no one takes him seriously on policy pronouncements, because he just says anything and always has and always will. So, it’s like, well, we can’t really take it seriously. When he gets into office, he’ll probably do the right thing. We like him. He’s our kind of guy. So, that’s actually kind of a great advantage when you are a politician.
PBS types also can’t understand that people are choosing policies, and not just people. They’re not happy about inflation and untrammeled immigration. They don’t like porny books in schools and transgender ideology and “systemic racism” talk. That’s where “our kind of guy” comes from.
PS: Bennett also asked Maher about how he’s been accused with all the “phobics” over the years:
BENNETT: Over the course of your career, your critics have said, that you are homophobic, transphobic, Islamophobic, xenophobic, sexist, fatphobic, ableist.What do you make of all that?
MAHER: Well, I tell the truth as I see it, and I don’t pull punches. That’s always been the bond with my audience. People are hypersensitive, and I mean, I could go down that list. I don’t think we have time. And I don’t think you really want to get into every one of them.
But they’re all not true. I mean, I like all people. But there are things that have to be said about Islam. There are things that have to be said about health in America. There are things that have to be said about gender and what we’re teaching children about it that are valid.