Bill Maher criticizes Trump
“Real Time” host Bill Maher made several jokes Friday about the national “No Kings” protests planned for Saturday, but ultimately argued that the demonstrations are valid since President Donald Trump has been acting like “an authoritarian Taylor Swift.”
The pop star has often used her music to criticize people she feels have wronged her. Trump appears to have weaponized the Justice Department to do the same, as several lawmakers he considers his political enemies have been criminally charged in recent weeks.
“These are all people who are upset about the obviously undemocratic things that are being done here,” Maher said of the protests. “They’re taking to the streets and saying, ‘We’re not going to take this lying down! Does it go in circles? Yes, we’ll go in circles.'”
Millions of Americans are expected to demonstrate on Saturday in more than 2,500 protests against Trump’s potential authoritarianism. And although Maher suggested this would not achieve much, he went on to defend the movement against criticism from the right.
“Republicans are saying this isn’t ‘Day Without Kings,’ they said it’s ‘Hate America Day,'” he said Friday. “Yes, liberals hate America? Is that what you think? ‘Yes, if you don’t stop assembling freely and speaking freely, we will send our masked and unaccountable secret police to arrest you, just like America should be!'”
Top Republicans have described the constitutionally protected protests as un-American.
Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) said at a news conference last week, “They’re holding this ‘I Hate America’ rally in Washington.” Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) even suggested, without any evidence, that “No Kings” organizers are part of the “terrorist wing” of the Democratic Party.
“At this ‘Hate America’ rally they have planned for Oct. 18, the antifa crowd, the pro-Hamas crowd, the Marxists, they’re all going to gather on the mall,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).
José Luis Magaña/News
“I mean, Trump doesn’t like this, being called king,” Maher said Friday.
“He said, ‘I’m not a king, and the next person who calls me that will find their ass in the dungeon, let me tell you!’ He denied it. He said: ‘I’m not a king, I have no intention of being a king, but if any country wants to donate a gold crown, I’m not going to say no.’”
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Maher also seemed concerned about recent accusations by former FBI Director James Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James and former national security adviser John Bolton, who became an outspoken critic of Trump after leaving his first administration.
“Comey is indicted, Letitia James … now John Bolton, her former national security adviser,” Maher said Friday. “I wrote a book about him, it’s not a good idea. He’s impeached. Trump is going after everyone who ever made him angry. He’s like an authoritarian Taylor Swift.”