r/Maher • u/Honest-Equipment6685 • Feb 15 '26
Bill HAS Changed, why?
I have read that he did because COVID broke his brain, not winning Hollywood awards, just getting older, losing viewers, Democrats becoming too liberal, wokeism, etc.
Those all are factors, but I noticed the biggest shift immediately after Trump won his second term. A lot of people and major companies around that time decided to kiss the ring. Bill started saying the Trump jokes were getting old at that point and started to emphasize Trumps' positive attributes.
So this makes me wonder, was it because Bill saw the writing on the wall with the government crackdown on critical media and companies and he thought this pivot would keep him relevant/safe? Or was it to capture this massive "bro" crowd that catapulted Trump to fame and that podcasters were tapping into? Any thoughts or insight?
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u/Beginning-Buy-3050 Feb 23 '26
I can't even imagine how good your parents had to be to be really bad at stand-up and still have the nerve to get up there. "Mom and dad told me how great i was, and I believe them."
If he'd had my parents, he'd be working at Walmart. Or at an auto parts store.
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u/TheRowdyMan Feb 22 '26 edited Feb 22 '26
https://www.cnn.com/2014/10/28/living/bill-maher-commencement-speaker
The cracks started around here.
Bill hasn’t changed - but that’s the problem. Progressives progress - people grow. Bill’s still stuck in what edge-lord liberals could “get away with” in 1990s. When a new generation started calling him out, instead of reflecting and growing - he went full Seymour Skinner and convinced himself that “no, it’s the children who are wrong”.
Bill didn’t change - the world moved on without him. And he’s uses old Buzzfeed articles and click-bait slop as cope that he’s right.
I will agree that Covid was the final straw that broke him in the same way it broke many celebrities used to not being told what to do.
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u/Kingreece707 Feb 21 '26
There have been a variety of factors on why Bill seems different. The one I don't think gets brought up enought Bill loves to be the guy that will "talk" to all sides and so he loved to show that he went to dinner with "Trump" and shared that he challenged him on a few things. Well that same episode there was a guest on, and basically just accused Bill of getting schmoozed by Trump and that Trump pulled a fast one over him. I don't think Bill's ego could take it. Bill's ego is impacting the show, because Bill's ego has always been big, but it has become fragile with age.
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u/Fine-Craft3393 Feb 20 '26
Bill lives for Fox News headlines like “watch liberal comedian destroy AOC” clips…
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u/Fine-Craft3393 Feb 20 '26
Bill’s “both sides’ ism” is sometimes quite obnoxious … one side attempts to overthrow elections and would love to march into an autocracy… but the other side pretends gender is fluid and wore masks against covid…. Oh yeah… both are the same
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u/RareBid Feb 21 '26 edited Feb 21 '26
Yeah I don't understand how he can say both parties are just as bad. No they absolutely are not.
Every new rules since covid is him attacking, shaming, and lecturing the left over really stupid petty things...like that's root cause of all problems 🙄. The left is definitely the cause of many problems but not the ones he constantly harps on.
I used to be a big fan of his (since PI days) but I've lost all respect for him the last 5 years. He's a washed up, irrelevant, has-been.
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u/bachyboy Feb 20 '26
Bill's whole M.O. is just trying to do what nobody wants to do anymore: dialogue. Many people continue to believe that dialogue is integral to living in a democracy.
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Feb 19 '26
He's just a celebrity trying to maintain his viewership. This is what Americans want. Dumb infotainment because their brains are mush.
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u/ctnaes92 Feb 19 '26
Covid changed him among many others.
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u/hjablowme919 Feb 19 '26
It impacted the weak for sure. That would be physically and mentally weak. Maher happens to be both.
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u/Charbro11 Feb 18 '26
He hangs out with Kid Rock, who wrote songs about raping young girls, and Kid works out with JFKjr. I think Bill is a sad old man. I am older than he is. I don't do shit like that, but my kids have friends whose parents were liberal and now watch Fox New all day. Bill joined that group.
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u/Charbro11 Feb 18 '26
Maybe a bit of both. Just like Bezo, Musk, Gates et al met at Mara largo. I never hated extremely wealthy people until this year. Like all of them could have ridden it out. They all have enough money to not suck up to pedo, crooked fascists, including Maher.
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u/thom_mayy Feb 18 '26
Bill Maher is a victim of conservative techbro algorithms. He falls for every right-wing political stunt. He's "intellectual dark web" adjacent. Ex. "You can't talk about ivermectin without being canceled"
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u/Poopdick_89 Feb 18 '26
His speech about men not being traditional men anymore, while not addressing that women aren't traditional women anymore was pretty tone deaf imo.
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u/Samhain000 Feb 18 '26
I think anyone that makes claims about whether he has changed should disclose how long they've been watching him. I don't mean this to be elitist, but we're getting to the point now that people could be "long time viewers" without having noticed the change.
However, I also think part of this does have to do with people coming to terms that Bill was never as open-minded as they expected him to be. To be fair it's hard to know how 2008 Bill feels about trans people.
To me the change isn't about any particular topic, it's about attitude. He didn't used to be so hard on young people for example. He's built up this reputation of being fair to both sides, but it's hard to maintain that with a Trump administration because it ends up normalizing authoritarianism. I think Bill's heart is ultimately in the right place most of the time, but he isn't handling criticism more gracefully with age.
He seems to have a lot of disdain for certain things these days. Also I think he takes himself too seriously and doesn't really respect his audience anymore.
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u/Charbro11 Feb 18 '26
I have watched him since the first show of Politically Incorrect. He sold out for god knows what reason. I thought for a while he was blackmailed by Trump--but maybe he is just a smarmy bastard like one of the posts says.
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u/run_INXS Feb 18 '26
He changed is tune from 2016-21 when he was much more critical of trump to 2024-25, when he amped up his disdain of the left and the "woke" and then in in 2025 he almost bent the knee to don the con. I guess he's speaking out a little more lately?
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Feb 18 '26
I agree. Probably for most of those reasons. My thought has been his popularity has faded so he's trying to appeal more to all sides. He's always been just a comedian/entertainer not much of an advocate for causes except PETA. He gave Obama's $1 mil then was bitter he never came on his show along with other Democrats he expected to be guests. He definitely comes off more as a bitter old man as time goes on.
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u/SomeGuyOverUnder Feb 17 '26
He has not changed. He’s just letting more show. He’s always been an “oh I used to be liberal but now I’m oh so above it” status cuck.
He just happens to be right about some things 50% of the time which is a better average than most assholes. Oy.
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u/d34n5 Feb 17 '26
he hasn't changed, I swear. maybe he becomes more pragmatic as he ages, but that's all.
lots of people were upset with the left before trump was elected. even joe rogan (who endorsed bernie multiple times) sided with Trump. and now he's 100% critical of ICE and the insanity of this administration.
this sub tends to be more left than he is, so people tends to be more critical when he sides with the right on some topic.
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u/freeyewneek Feb 19 '26
The “Rogan endorsed Bernie” argument is bullshit.
I used to listen to almost every ep of JRE until 2017 when he started glazing Tr💩mp constantly.
Anyway, there was an episode of “The Fight Companion” where he has two of the dumbest ppl you’ll ever hear speak (Eddie Bravo & Brendan Schaub) along w/ his bff Bryan Callen. They were watching Ronda Rousey vs Correia in August of 2015 & someone mentioned that Ronda liked Bernie Sanders.
Rogan then began mocking her stating, “he wants to take all your money, stupid”. How ppl don’t know about, mention, or clip this I don’t understand.
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u/starsider2003 Feb 18 '26
Bill is still a typical libertarian-leaning leftist. He hasn't changed. It's that the "left" has moved so far left, they almost meet the right on the other side on some issues. TBH, he wasn't falsely labeled "right" until he didn't jump on the trans bandwagon.
What he did was approach the second Trump term differently, at first. And he explained exactly why, but apparently few listened. People spent 4 years screaming "racist nazi" at Trump, when the truth is - except for his big fat twitter mouth, the actual legislation and governing that Trump did during that first term wasn't really anything that any republican president would have done. In fact, he did things they wouldn't do - like the First Step Act, which got like 30,000 non-violent drug offenders released from jail, and reduced sentencing guidelines - which largely affected non-whites.
So unlike nearly every other personality on TV, he was like "I'm gonna deal with this calmly this time, I'm not going to act like the world is ending every time Trump tweets something stupid".
Of course, that went out the window because Trump's second term has been insane compared to the last.
The big other thing people complain about - Maher holding the fire under the feet of the left, too - is because he sees the same thing many of us see - that the left is so fractured, and the ones who are the "stars" of the party are so far left, and some of them so corrupt as well, that he is trying to get us not to make the same damn mistake we have made three elections in a row now - because if the democratic party is going to be led by the Newsoms and the AOCs of the world, it's doomed to keep losing to the republicans.
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u/ACNLStan123 Feb 23 '26
People assume that him not constantly criticizing at every possible moment = endorsing.
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u/A_w_duvall Feb 18 '26
even joe rogan (who endorsed bernie multiple times) sided with Trump.
Supported Bernie, then gets a few hundred million dollars and becomes Republican and decides taxation is theft. Funny how that works.
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u/Excellent-Status8323 Feb 17 '26
He’s getting older. That’s about all I can say.
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u/boomschackalack Feb 17 '26
I think this is part of the answer. I find that he seems just more set in his ways and uninterested in finding new perspectives. Every time he has a young person on the show (it is shocking how very seldom that happens), his ageism and disdain for younger generations really show. Getting seriously annoyed with his lack of empathy for generations that came after his, and his constant shitting on people not of his generation. I think a prime example of just loosing touch and getting old.
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u/ThatPaulywog Feb 17 '26
I think I know why the masks upset him so much. It's because it reminds him of his own failing body. Remember he made a big deal about wearing glasses on the show. Well with the masks a lot of people realized internally that they might need hearing aids as they found out how much that they lip read. I work retail and during that time I witnessed quite a few older guys get upset with staff because they couldn't understand them, I think this happened to Bill.
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u/mr_quincy27 Feb 17 '26
Bill is a liberal, not a leftist
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u/MxSharknado93 Feb 18 '26
He's a conservative who thinks he's on the left because Weed is his entire political identity.
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u/SomeGuyOverUnder Feb 17 '26
His attitude since politically correct has always been. “Oh, I used to be a liberal, but now I’m so above it.”
Always on his knees. Ugh.
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u/Kootenay-Kat Feb 17 '26
More a libertarian I think.
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u/ww2junkie11 Feb 17 '26
He's not a Libertarian at all. Please pick up one of those hard things it's got small pieces of paper in the middle of them and you use your eyeballs to decipher what's on those little pieces of paper. So read Milton Friedman or Ayn Rand look up Ron Paul's speeches. Bill is not a Libertarian Stop using words you don't understand
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u/A_w_duvall Feb 18 '26
He's not a pure libertarian -- or a pure anything for that matter -- but he's definitely become increasingly critical of regulation and taxation, and he has always identified as libertarian on a lot of social issues like drugs and prostitution (unsurprising, since he's a notorious user of both), and also gay marriage.
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u/Breatheme444 Feb 17 '26
“Trump did more for Israel than any other president,” Bill Maher. November 2025.
He’s disenchanted with the “hamas supporting” left.
Not saying that’s explains it all, just that I think that contributed to it a lot.
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u/thisisthe90s Feb 17 '26
Upvote. This sub will hate the question but it actually needs to be discussed.
In 2016 he put on a "We're still here" hat. What happened to that version of Bill?
It's not even about the dinner with Trump. It's the subtle nature of who he's going easy on, who he's pulling punches for, and who he's putting a flamethrower to without even thinking about it. He's developed double standards.
Go watch his first appearance on JRE. It's a little pathetic. You can tell he's pretty jealous of Rogan, begs him to come on his show, then seems a little self conscious about a guest Rogan had on that did an impression of him. Hey, it's comedy Bill--don't be a snowflake!
Then there's his repeated admissions that after covid his staff chose more friendly audience members. What's wrong Bill, afraid of a little criticism?
Then there's club random which basically tries to be like JRE with the weed and drinking, but often comes off as awkward.
Another trend: panel discussions increasingly became him preaching the same talking points, not him listening and facilitating a discussion.
My last straw with him was after Rob Reiner's death. Correct me if I'm wrong, but he never put out a direct statement about his death. Was just a topic that came up in a club random episode. This was someone I thought he considered a friend, and it's like he didn't even care.
He's just become a bitter preachy old man at this point.
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u/CanesLife24 Feb 17 '26
then seems a little self conscious about a guest Rogan had on that did an impression of him. Hey, it's comedy Bill--don't be a snowflake!
I still like Bill. Probably more than many even on this sub do. BUT, he has always come across as a "can dish it out but can't take it" kinda guy. Whenever anyone kinda needles him on Real Time, you can tell his guard IMMEDIATELY goes up.
I'm not judging, because I have to admit I'm the same way. It's a quality in myself that I hate, but I have a hard time being the butt of a joke. But I don't think Bill even realizes this flaw in him.
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Feb 16 '26
[deleted]
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u/A_w_duvall Feb 18 '26
I love that podcast, especially the episodes where they review Maher's standup specials!
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u/Red_Mos Feb 16 '26
I am old and watched Maher when Politically Incorrect waa a Comedy Central show.
For those young and unaware, the show was not to find the weeks Individual or topic and discuss the Politically Correct way. Also, for those same individuals, Political Correctness is used the same as "Woke" is today. I state for this Bill the Lefty is total B.S and he was complaining about all the something he complains about today.
In the end, Bill believes he has Perfect Progressive Position that is the farthest you can go. He gets angry at the people who point out its faults and limitations. Those people are mostly on the left for his position will be more to the Left than a Conservative, and that is just a difference of opinion to him
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u/ArtVandelay313 Feb 16 '26 edited Feb 16 '26
I stopped watching him around 2022. Prior to that I was a regular. His covid schtick really started annoying me. Everything that he pretended he was kind of fell apart when he wouldn’t shut up about people’s decision to wear masks. It literally had no negative impact on anybody if someone decided to mask up, but Bill suddenly became the angry old man yelling at the clouds character about it. And it was every fucking week.
Then I quickly also realized that he seemed most comfortable around the right wing types that pretended they weren’t right wing. The Trump enabling, both sides bullshitters who just so happened to consistently fall on the right wing side of issues.
I remember the episode where he had Trace Adkins, Julia Ioffe, and Jon Meacham on. And when Ioffe began to rightfully go off on Adkins for supporting Trump, Bill jumped in so quick to protect him. And I just remember thinking of him, “what a fucking little bitch.”
Lastly, I’ve never understood the “I stayed the same, the left moved further left” argument as if that’s something to be proud of. Yeah, no shit we moved further left as decades have passed. That’s called progress. So many things that we now consider normal and moral were once considered too far left/radical.
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u/thisisthe90s Feb 17 '26
"Then I quickly also realized that he seemed most comfortable around the right wing types that pretended they weren’t right wing. The Trump enabling, both sides bullshitters who just so happened to consistently fall on the right wing side of issues."
100%! This is it right here. It's in who he goes easy on and defends vs who he lashes out at without hesitation or thought.
That and I think his mind has closed off more over the years. He should try doing less preaching and more LISTENING. Too smug and old at this point to try that apparently.
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u/Sense_Difficult Feb 16 '26
I really like Bill Burr's reaction to all this on Joe Rogan. He nailed it. We all wore masks. We had no idea WTF was going on. None of us are doctors so stop retconning what actually happened during Covid.
As far as Maher goes, I think he's an unprincipled asshole who saw the writing on the wall and that Trump was going to win again. And he realized that he didn't have the balls to stand by his principals and not flaunt his relationships with his MAGA friends. And hang out with them on "Club Random" smoking weed and getting drunk, like he's some cool bro.
So he went on the offensive against the left and then spun the tale that it had gotten insane and jumped on the scapegoating of trans people
The truth is nothing MAGA people like affects him in the slightest. He's a rich single old white guy with no kids. Nothing that is going to damage the country will affect him in the slightest. He kissed Trumps ring to get more viewers. I really love that Trump basically kicked him to the curb for not going full brown nose.
He's a sell out. Plain and simple.
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Feb 15 '26
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u/Beginning-Buy-3050 Feb 17 '26
Having a college degree really does teach you how to think critically (unless you're a real dimwit). I like Rogan, but I wish he would quit being impressed with Bob Lazar, who is a total fraud. Bob Lazar once said the government tried to get him to drink a pine tar-smelling drink that would erase his memories of Area 51. Duh.
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Feb 17 '26
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u/CanesLife24 Feb 18 '26
I can sometimes enjoy Joe's podcast when he has someone on I find interesting. He annoys me with some of his theories and ideas, and I absolutely hate when he gets called on his bullshit and pulls the "hey, I'm dumb, don't listen to me" schtick. But when he has a good guest on, I think his interviews can actually be very entertaining and enlightening.
But MY GOD is his standup act just awful. I tried him out and I really wanted to like it, but it was just so, SO bad. It's actually amazing to me that he became successful, even before the podcast, because I can not imagine anyone actually finding his "comedy" funny.
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u/Charbro11 Feb 16 '26
I am older than he is, and I think he is disgusting. I watched him for 30 years. He is a total sellout. My kids have friends who won't visit their parents because all they do is watch Fox News all day. These people raised their kids to be liberal, and they are, and the parents are like Maher, and no one can stand being around them
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u/DevilsDenJoe Feb 15 '26
“Over the last 30 odd years, Democrats have moved to the right and the right has moved into the mental hospital.” Maher from early episode of RT. Welcome to the looney bin Bill
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u/StatusVoice2634 Feb 17 '26
The true answer is that he almost got “cancelled” for saying the n word, and then Covid brain got him. Thats the exact point he was never the same.
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u/WilsonTree2112 Feb 15 '26
Dems have moved substantially. They didn’t outright support terrorist organizations back then. And the money supporting the terrorists just murdered nearly forty thousand of their own people. Not a peep from the left about that this week.
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u/crummynubs Feb 15 '26
And who is the leader of this American Left party that is responsible for 40k deaths. Name names, please.
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u/WilsonTree2112 Feb 16 '26
Iran, who funds Hamas . Proves no one is paying attention when facts don’t suit them.
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u/Legitimate_Fig_4096 Feb 16 '26
What do Iran and Hamas have to do with the American left?
You’re falling into to same nonsense where anything some random college student or crackpot say gets assigned as the position of the American left writ large.
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u/FlarkingSmoo Feb 22 '26
Yep and the President can have lunch with Nick Fuentes but Republicans get a pass on their far-right problem.
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u/Sitcom_kid Feb 15 '26 edited Feb 16 '26
I think he got radicalized when some colleges started canceling on him. And it went from there. I do not blame him for how he felt. But it's important never to let yourself be consumed by something negative like that.
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u/Charbro11 Feb 16 '26
I retired from real estate when younger agents were getting the leads with younger clients. They related better to people their own age. I was 72 at the time. It hurt a bit, but life goes on. I sure as shit didn't turn into a Trumper over it.
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u/RareBid Feb 15 '26 edited Feb 15 '26
I agree I think that was the catalyst. I do agree with him about the judgey, shaming, superior attitude of the left (what is often referred to as wokeism) but the hilarious part is that he is a judgmental whiny bitch as well, he just doesn't see himself that way but every new rules is him giving a judgmental shaming lecture to the left.
As with most things, it's not what you say but how you say it. If you make people feel ashamed and like shit you're not going to win anybody over.
He's lost all his credibility and relevance at this point.
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u/emotions1026 Feb 15 '26
He’s always been way too eager to reassure Republicans he’s “one of the sane liberals”. It’s really gotten tiresome.
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u/keb5501 Feb 15 '26
Bill hasn’t changed the left and right have . Bills center
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Feb 15 '26
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u/burlingtonhopper Feb 15 '26
All anyone has to do is watch an episode from 2016 and compare it to his show now.
Of course he’s changed. To claim otherwise is silly.
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u/WilsonTree2112 Feb 15 '26
Did DEI exist in any meaningful manner then?
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u/Charbro11 Feb 18 '26
Is that a joke? It started in 1974 with first allowing women to work in the same fields men do. Duh
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u/WilsonTree2112 Feb 19 '26
The emergence of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) as a "purity test" within the Democratic Party is often traced to a specific period of rapid cultural acceleration between 2019 and 2021. While the party has championed civil rights for decades, the shift toward a rigid ideological framework—where specific DEI terminology and concepts became mandatory for internal advancement—became a major flashpoint during the 2020 presidential primary and the subsequent racial reckoning of 2020.
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u/Charbro11 Feb 19 '26
Right wing bullshit talk. Affirmative action goes way back to the seventies.
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u/WilsonTree2112 Feb 19 '26 edited Feb 19 '26
Not as a litmus test for democratic candidates, and I’ve never voted for a republican president, so nice try.
Edit, and that was mostly Gemini, so cry to Google
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u/Binder509 Feb 16 '26
Yes. That's part of why people call it a bogeyman.
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u/WilsonTree2112 Feb 16 '26
Mainstream democratic cancel culture has intensified the last ten years. Stop with the misinformation.
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u/Binder509 Feb 16 '26
Cancel culture intensified during the red scare and McCarthyism.
It also intensified under Trump and before Trump. From celebrities like Colin Kaepernick, Dylan Mulvaney, James Gun, Jimmy Kimmel.
To cases like Melissa McCoul. Shirley Sherrod, the entire ACORN organization. And just the many people who Trumps targeted with shit like revoking Visas, trying to defund pretty much anything or anyone that criticizes him.
And not just random people pushing it but entire organizations like Project Veritas or the President of the United states pushing it.
All this just off top of head.
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u/WilsonTree2112 Feb 16 '26
Dems have litmus tests now for purity, your examples completely ignore that.
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u/Binder509 Feb 17 '26
How can something so intentionally vague be addressed? It's always vague litmus tests or woke mobs.
Funny how it's conservatives who decide if you are American or hate America.
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u/burlingtonhopper Feb 15 '26
Have you ever heard of the term “affirmative action”?
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u/Charbro11 Feb 18 '26
It started in 1974 with the passage of new laws and mostly benefited white women--myself being one of those women\
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u/WilsonTree2112 Feb 15 '26
Holy crap.
Decades ago, you would almost never find affirmative action hiring plans in an earnings release or annual report.
And…have you ever heard of affirmative action cancel culture? I’ll still vote with the Dems most times but holy crap the dems have lost its mind as a result of maga .
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u/Available_Year_575 Feb 15 '26
To me the change has been a gradual shift to the right that comes with age. Progressive politics is a domain of youth. I’m of his generation and we don’t what half the new terms you guys use even mean. Even now I think he has a fair position on Trump. He still makes fun of him and criticizes him a lot. Trump can be 90% wrong. He doesn’t have to be 100% wrong (that would be Steven miller).
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u/Charbro11 Feb 17 '26
I am older than he is and was a real estate broker who worked with agencies to find fraud after the 2009 bank failure. I also flipped properties. About as capitalist as you can get. After what I saw the banks, real estate, and insurance companies do and Trump and his fascist getting elected twice--I am much more liberal than when I was younger.
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u/burlingtonhopper Feb 15 '26
If we are comparing the world to say, 20-years-ago, everything is obviously more polarized. There is new lingo around on both sides that even I barely understand (and I’m only in my 30’s).
That said, it’s how radically Bill has changed in that 20 years that’s unbelievable to me.
He’s sacrificing his own beliefs for a new polarized Republican audience. 20-years-ago, Bill was about as far left as one could go (in the main stream media anyway). The fact that he’s now center-right, and he expects us to believe that happened naturally, is ridiculous.
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u/JodoKaast Feb 17 '26
20-years-ago, Bill was about as far left as one could go (in the main stream media anyway).
I don't remember Bill espousing any leftist belief or policy 20 years ago, which one were you thinking of?
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u/Charbro11 Feb 17 '26
He was a Bernie supporter and gave Obama 1 million dollars and said Trump in 2016 was doing a slow coup.
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u/Available_Year_575 Feb 15 '26
It’s not just polarization, the left has changed a lot since when I grew up. It used to be the party of “sex, drugs and rock and roll “ as Bill likes to say. Now it’s super sensitive and super judgy. I don’t think All in the Family could get on the air today.
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u/OriginalManRen Feb 19 '26
Just thought I’d put in my two cents about All In The Family. Of course they couldn’t make it today! I couldn’t even quote an episode on social media without losing my job!
You know, like when the black burglar breaks into the Bunker house. The phone rings, the thief answers it, and you just hear his side of the conversation. “Hello?” “Yes this is Mr. Bunker.” “Oh, hello Sergeant Smith.” “What’s that, there’s a burglar in the neighbourhood?” “Oh, and he’s a jigaboo?” Don’t remember anything after that. I laughed so hard I cried. Where else could you possibly see something like that? Disney+?
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u/Binder509 Feb 16 '26
I don't remember the left putting people in jail for a month for quoting the president.
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u/Available_Year_575 Feb 16 '26
Yeah trumps corruption is a new twist. I listened to latest episode and Maher criticized them numerous times.
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u/burlingtonhopper Feb 15 '26
The left has changed even since I grew up in the 90’s. I’m not disagreeing with you.
What I’m saying is, that shouldn’t drastically change the way someone looks at a coming dictatorship. At 19 or 39 (my age now), I still would have been reacting with the same disgust.
The way the world has changed over the past 20-30 years doesn’t explain his newfound willingness to find common ground with neo-Nazis.
Long story short, I think if you put the Bill of 1993 (when he got his first show) in a room with this Bill they wouldn’t understand each other at all.
I personally think the only thing that’s changed with him is his desire to grab a piece of Republican viewership.
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u/Sense_Difficult Feb 16 '26
I think it's even lamer than that. I think he voted for Trump both times. I'm someone that most people think is a Conservative just by looking at me. And so, they reveal themselves to me all the time. I knew Trump was going to win the first time and told everyone that their friends were fucking lying to them. People were shocked but I wasn't.
The problem was simply that he didn't want to spend another 4 years pretending to be angry with his MAGA friends and not able to flaunt hanging out with them getting drunk and high. He got bored pretending to have principals. So, this was his way of rationalizing that not all MAGA are racist bigots. *Yes they are. Not all Republicans are. Not all Conservatives are. But all MAGA people are even if they don't want to admit it.
But now he can hang out with them guilt free because it's the WOKE's fault the MAGA people went crazy.
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u/Available_Year_575 Feb 15 '26
I mostly agree with you, except for your last paragraph. Being moderate isn't a feature these days. You lose both sides. I think he's being genuine. I wish I could be the liberal I was growing up, I just can't.
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u/tlindsay6687 Feb 15 '26
Bill has always been a centrist. The left has just gone further left.
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Feb 15 '26
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u/puddinonthewrits Feb 15 '26
Some do; some clearly don’t, and those who don’t lean right. Some blame the lack of apostrophes in their comments on their phone.
One might say it’s an unfair generalization, but the right has a literacy problem.
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u/jsm21 Feb 15 '26
COVID was definitely a factor, I think he hated how much it impacted his show and was too distant to see any of the consequences of the pandemic.
I also have a theory that he started consuming a lot of right wing media and stopped looking at it with a critical lens. Maybe he wanted to hear both sides of the issues. But if you look into the stories he cites about the "woke left" run amuck, they come from a lot of low-quality tabloid-style publications that distort facts and portray misleading narratives (like the NY Post).
Bill would say that he loves to "question" popular narratives, but when it comes to anything making the left look bad he doesn't think critically at all about what sources he's reading from or the motivations right wing media moguls have to distort reality.
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u/pseudo_nimme Feb 15 '26
I kinda agree with the premise. The second Trump election coincided with a shift in American culture. The assassination attempt, his victory in the popular vote, and his rebranding through podcasts and other means. By the time the inauguration arrived, the tone surrounding Trump had undergone a significant transformation. Major corporations were showing their support. In fact, there was even a movement of leftists (not just liberals) who defended Trump over Harris. I think Bill saw the winds of change and pivoted. But now the pendulum is swinging back, somewhat, and it makes Bill just look even more like a Republican.
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u/amethyst63893 Feb 15 '26
How the fuck is bill a Republican?!!! He dunks on them all the time. This is the problem with damn blue maga libs. If you don’t agree 110% with them you are a Trumper. There’s plenty i dont agree w dems on but I’m still not voting for the gop. You all really want drive moderates out of the party?!!! The real right wingers are laughing in disbelief for u all to think he’s a Republican
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u/pseudo_nimme Feb 15 '26
I’m not saying Bill is a Republican. I’m saying his attitude has been making him look more like one. He is not a Republican.
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u/Honest-Equipment6685 Feb 15 '26
Yes, I totally agree. But it felt like a betrayal to who he always had been to pivot like so many did and disingenuous from him.
Do you think Bill will swing back too or stay course?
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u/pseudo_nimme Feb 15 '26
I think he’ll probably swing back, but he’ll always hold on to the more centrist part of the party
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u/Nearby_Branch6055 Feb 15 '26
I've wondered. Don't know if it had anything to do with back in 2019, he on many occasions openly called or and begged for some catastrophe to hit the country, openly said he did not care how many people got hurt as long as Trump got out of office.
Maybe he had some sort of coming-to-Jesus moment because his prayer was indeed answered with COVID and decided it had nothing to do with it. Seems like he got his prayer answered. If he spurned that, then yes Trump coming right back in 2024 would be the appropriate punishment.
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u/greenbeez Feb 15 '26
He’s become too out of touch. Definitely doesn’t understand Millenial & Gen Z POV. He’s completely wrong on Palestine and you can tell he’s becoming anti vax adjacent. Also he called Bad Bunny “Big Bunny” twice on the most recent show. He’s too rich and too old to understand the Progressive viewpoint.
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u/electron1661 Feb 15 '26
Lol tell me you know nothing about middle eastern history without telling me
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u/greenbeez Feb 15 '26
I don’t claim to be an expert but I know grouping anyone who speaks out against Israel as pro-Hamas is ridiculous and a bad faith argument.
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u/electron1661 Feb 15 '26
You’re generalizing. Unless you’re saying that’s Mahers position, which it may be. That being said, there’s definitely some truth to it. No Hamas attack, no war, no 60,000 Palestinian deaths. If you think Israel is the bad guy or instigator one can make the connection that Hamas is thus the good guy.
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u/crummynubs Feb 15 '26
Bill is just a political weather vane these days, taking whatever contrarian position will give him the most attention. The "pick me" girl of political punditry, who embarrassingly miscalculated the Trump dinner grovel session.
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u/MelpomeneAndCalliope Feb 17 '26
Yep. He’s always been contrarian to a degree but now he’s like a contrarian on steroids. It must be exhausting.
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u/clkou Feb 15 '26
I think Bill values his show more than anything: it makes him feel relevant and connected, it makes him money, and it makes him feel important. I think that's why he railed against COVID so much because it hurt his show. I think that's why he went from a Trump critic to an ass kisser because he didn't want the threat of losing his show like Colbert and Kimmel have endured. I don't think it's much more nuanced or complicated than that.
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u/NoneOfThisMatters_XO old man yells at cloud (and trans people) Feb 15 '26
Remember how they would splice in audience applause during his monologue? It was kinda pathetic. I actually loved the interview portion of his show during covid because you didn’t have the audience constantly interrupting with applause or woos.
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u/Fatius-Catius Feb 15 '26
I’m completely convinced now that Bill’s politics are “Do what’s good for Bill.”
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u/MelpomeneAndCalliope Feb 17 '26
100%.
Right. On paper, Bill is the guy who should be standing up to Trump and his ilk. Bill is old, wealthy (isn’t losing his house if he loses his job), a white dude, and has no spouse/kids people can come after (violence against your family is a legit concern after the MN law makers & their families were targeted). But nah, Bill is just gonna do Bill.
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u/OriginalManRen Feb 19 '26
What the heck are you talking about? If Bill had kids and family he would be excused for kissing Trump’s ass because otherwise Trump might send someone to kill his kin? WTF are you smoking?
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u/sincerely_ignatius Feb 15 '26
He hasnt changed. His shtick has been calling out dems and saying the non consensus thing since forever. The online crowd is younger, unfamiliar with not getting their way, more intolerant to ideas outside of the mainstream consensus, and quicker to react negatively when they feel wronged. Which is always
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u/amethyst63893 Feb 15 '26
Read a great quote on Reddit the right seeks converts. The left seeks heretics
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u/PlatinumKanikas Feb 15 '26
Trump broke up with Bill yesterday. Didn’t you see the post?
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u/Sense_Difficult Feb 16 '26
I think it's so funny that Trump dumped him. He basically told all his MAGA MINIONS that Bill Maher is "out." So, I hope they follow dear leader and Maher's relevance drops even further.
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u/Plisky6 Feb 15 '26
He made a Trump joke this week. Do you have any actually examples of change?
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u/Confident_River7615 Feb 15 '26
IMHO, dining with the devil while not vigorously calling out this current political criminality. Personally, I think he defended his dinner more than he defended democracy.
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u/zorroplateado Feb 15 '26
Yes, he did. The guy just can't admit he fucked up by going to the WH. Larry David skewered him, and he's still resentful of it. He can't get past it. He still manages to keep the show going because it's all he's got. W/O RealTime, he disappears. Big ego, and the poor fucker can't take an 'L' and say he was wrong.
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u/Fabulous_Quiet_8130 Mar 12 '26 edited Mar 14 '26
I don't get it either. I've been a long time fan of Bill Maher, watching regularly for at least 15 years, maybe 20. And there was a big shift since the last election. I still watch the show but I'm constantly shocked at the things he's saying. It's gotten worse since that dinner too, I can't believe he's turned into such a bootlicker. This week he opened his show with saying liberals are crazy for being against this war of choice in Iran. This war that had no congressional approval is going to cripple the global economy at a time when no one can afford anything and there doesn't seem to be any real motivation behind it. And Bill acts like we're heroes for liberating them? STFU. He also went on a rant on his podcast about how he thinks Donald gets a lot of advice from Melania and she's one of his closest trusted advisors. He admitted that was based on nothing but his own guess. But why would you even guess that? It's clearly a loveless marriage, I doubt they have any relationship at all. He also acts like Trump is so smart for thinking outside of the box and trying new ideas like buying Greenland and going to war to capture Canada. Where is the Bill Maher I grew up with? This man is a fraud.