Bill Maher’s appearance on The View on May 21 aptly reflects the complexities of the contemporary American political climate. When Sunny Hostin accused Trump of bastardizing the meaning of Woke, Maher responded that the Left has in fact changed, that its legitimate 60’s demands for social justice have morphed into demands that are devoid of common sense. He cites, for example, the “woke” tendency of many Democrats to excoriate Israel for its tactics in its conflict with Hamas, tactics which have no doubt led to the deaths of innocent Palestinians. Such critics, he says, can’t tell the Good Guys from the Bad Guys, Hamas having without provocation attacked Israel 5 times over the last several decades. Making the case that the Israelis are in fact the victims of a genocidal obsession, he clearly sees Sunny’s empathy for the Palestinians as typically woke. As his argument is rooted in moral considerations rather than blind sentiment, it is actually typically “conservative.” Indeed throughout his interview he says very little in support of the contemporary Left. This should hardly surprise anyone who follows Maher inasmuch as he has consistently mocked various aspects of the woke agenda over the last couple of years. In response to the oft levied charge that “conservatives” willing to vote for Trump are a bunch of idiots, for example, Maher has defended them, saying their values leave them no other choice. Yet he makes it very clear on The View that he loathes Trump and could never bring himself to cast a ballot in his favor, the preeminent cause of this loathing being the ex-president’s incitement of the Jan. 6 “insurrection.”
Among Trump’s various transgressions, Jan 6 is generally deemed to be his most heinous. But the facts suggest the very term “insurrection” to be a gross distortion of the Truth. Why would someone intent on overthrowing the U.S. government ask his followers to protest “peacefully” and “lawfully” while suggesting Nancy Pelosi bring in extra support should the day’s events get out of control? Ironically, many of the “lies” of which Trump is accused are themselves based upon a dishonest appraisal of the facts … i.e., they are Lies. So while Bill Maher is infinitely more rational than the ladies of The View in his disdain for many aspects of the contemporary Left, he is in fact equally irrational in his opinion of Donald Trump.
The former president just recently rejected the notion that he is any sort of “extremist,” saying he is first and foremost a man of “common sense.” So also, it seems, is Bill Maher. Ought not the values born of that faculty which are so important to the future of the U.S. and the Western World in general, to take precedence in Maher’s mind over the fact that he finds Trump obnoxious? The liberalism of 50 years ago, as Maher admits on The View, is no longer genuinely liberal [i.e., cancel culture]. Indeed it is “conservatism” today that is intent on preserving the Rights and Freedoms of the Individual. In his inability to get beyond his personal loathing for Trump, does Maher not have what many pundits have termed “Trump derangement syndrome,” a disease, sadly, that seems to hold millions of Americans in its mentally debilitating grip?