Bill Maher may have many flaws, but no one can doubt his honesty while commenting on politics. Unlike many people of a leftward persuasion, the HBO host simply tells it as he sees it. He doesn’t couch his words to protect anyone, including those on his side of the aisle.
That refreshing approach ran up against the sheer hackery displayed by the ladies of “The View” on Tuesday. During an appearance at the Round Table, Maher directly confronted Joy Behar after she admitted to not criticizing Joe Biden when deserved due to her fear that doing so could lead people to vote for Donald Trump.
ALSO SEE: Bill Maher Goes After Biden and the Woke Left on Fox News
ABC host Joy Behar admits that she censors her criticism of Biden because she’s “afraid” she “might influence the people who are on the fence” to vote for Trump.
Bill Maher says that’s how you “lose all credibility.” He adds that his “bond” with his audience is authenticity. pic.twitter.com/KNuK8uGDWK— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) May 21, 2024
BEHAR: I’m nervous about saying anything against Biden because, I feel, not that I have so much power, and you have some, more than I do, obviously.
MAHER: Well, I don’t know about that.
BEHAR: Are you afraid that you might, you know, influence people who are on the fence?
MAHER: I think you lose all credibility. I do. My bond with my audience has always been I don’t pull a punch. My bond with my audience is you’re not going to like everything I say, but you know what I’m saying what I really think is true.
In other words, people like Behar are dishonest operators who lie to their audiences daily for cheap political gain. I may not agree with Maher’s views on abortion, for example, but when I hear him speak, I know that he’s not holding anything to protect politicians he may otherwise support. The ladies on “The View” are the antithesis of that approach, routinely ignoring negative stories about Democrats because they manipulating elections as more important than integrity.
Maher moved on to commenting on Biden’s decline, noting that he “presents old” and calling him “cadaver-like.” You can almost see the life draining out of Behar’s face as Maher critiques Biden, knowing there’s no real rebuttal to what he says. She manages one at the end of the clip, and it’s anything but convincing.
Maher continues, saying “Biden just presents as old” and it’s “not really fair.”He argues Biden is “cadaver-like” and Behar counters by suggesting “but his brain is good.’ pic.twitter.com/Sg3tiB3trY
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) May 21, 2024
MAHER: Biden just presents as old. It’s not really fair because he’s almost the same age, Trump is almost the same age as him, but Trump doesn’t present that way. You know, you look at somebody, right away, you can kind of just sum them up. We are not young, but we do not present as old. Biden does. I saw him yesterday making that speech. I mean, I’m sorry, he’s cadaver-like.
BEHAR: But his brain is good, he’s still great!
Is his brain still “good,” though? As someone who writes on the president’s mental breakdowns several times a week, I can provide plenty of evidence that his brain is anything but “good.” This is a man who tried to summon an American hostage being held by Hamas on Monday because he thought he was in the room. Never mind the constant slurring and mixing up of his words when he speaks.
Biden’s handlers and supporters often claim that he is mentally sharp behind closed doors and away from cameras. No one is buying that at this point, though. We can all see what’s happening, and it’s both sad and scary. A president is not supposed to look and speak the way he does, and that reality is having a profound impact on the United States’ influence and ability to project power abroad.
At one point during the interview, Behar claimed that people who wear MAGA hats should put “swastikas” on them. Maher responded by making her and the rest of the shrieking ladies at the table look small and pathetic.
Maher seems to address Behar’s previous smear of MAGA hats saying: “I would never say that we should put the swastika on the cap…You can’t hate everybody who likes him. It’s half the country…I don’t want to live in the country where I hate half the country.” pic.twitter.com/McoYh1Nw9Y
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) May 21, 2024
HAINES: What are we missing here, or what are people missing here? There’s a disconnect with that contrast because I understand what you’re saying about, “Well, I’ve been critical as well,” but that is not enough for me to tip the scale the other way, and yet for some, it is.
MAHER: Well, I think some resent the question. Like, what don’t you get? Look, I’m not going to defend Donald Trump ever, but I would never say that we should put the swastika on the cap because I think you can hate Donald Trump, but you can’t hate everybody who likes him. It’s half the country. I don’t want to live in that country. I don’t want to live in a country where I hate half the country, and I don’t hate half the country.
What just happened in that exchange is the difference between a hateful, authoritarian left-winger who believes they are the only true defender of “democracy,” and a left-winger who can be reasonably disagreed with. Maher doesn’t hate Trump supporters, even if he’s not a fan of Trump. That can’t be said for people like Behar, Haines, and others at the table.
America would be a far better place if those in the political sphere would stop treating normal people as the enemy just because they have different policy preferences. Even in Maher’s critique of those interviewing him, he doesn’t start screaming and accusing them of being fascists. That’s in stark contrast to the way the ladies on that show routinely act.
