In an early June episode of Real Talk, Bill Maher engages in a lengthy rant against Democrats such as AOC and New York’s recently elected Mayor, Zohran Mamdani. Citing the absurdity of the Left’s attempt to paint Mamdani as a compassionate socialist, he insists the man is unequivocally a Communist! The lady the mayor has put in charge of housing in N.Y.C., he says, has called for the seizure of private property, insisting the concept of such is but an expression of White Supremacy. It is classic Leftism, the equation of a Rational Construct with Racism! It is a trend, he says, which may very well lead to the widespread failure of the Democrats in upcoming elections.
Loathing both Mamdani and Donald Trump, Maher laments the fact that American voters seem to be confronted with 2 extremist options, neither of which meet his rational, liberal criteria. But while the contemporary Left unequivocally seems to have abandoned the values of a true Liberal Democracy, Maher’s refusal to embrace Conservatism seems rooted not in his disdain for its defining Principles so much as his disgust with the often obnoxious behavior of the president. As I have said repeatedly, millions of Americans no doubt held their noses as they voted for Trump, feeling they had no other option.
Maher honestly embraces Capitalism, citing the example of countries such as Venezuela, which has clearly prospered since escaping the socialist grip of Hugo Chavez. At the same time he denounces “crony capitalism,” the mutually beneficial cultivation of a corrupt relationship between Big Business and Big Government. His implication, of course, is that Donald Trump is guilty of such! While I am hardly in a position to judge on this issue, what I can say unequivocally is that the dozens of conservative politicians and commentators whom I admire would be equally appalled by such corruption and, in their devotion to Reason, the Rule of Law, Free Enterprise and Free Speech, represent the very Values which Maher regularly celebrates. His insistence that American voters are presently confronted by two extremist options, in other words, is grossly simplistic, Conservatism decidedly being of the Rational Center, even as it is represented by a president who frequently seems to abandon that realm!