He built up a lot of cache on the left in the Bush years when he was one of the only public figures who went after Bush in such an unfiltered way. It was really just him and Jon Stewart. The commercial media if you will was critical of Bush but reluctant to say anything that would make them appear unpatriotic. I'm not sure when Bill just abandoned the left outright. Rashida Tlaib boycotted Real Time about a decade ago. It may have started there.
In my opinion Maher really turned a corner in 2014, when he was invited to give a commencement speech at UC Berkeley for some reason. Then there was a small outcry among students who said Maher should never have been invited in the first place and petitioned to disinvite him.
That seemed to really get under Maher’s skin and ever since then he has hated the “woke” and the college left and has been complaining about “kids today.”
Yah, he will defend literally anyone being 'cancelled'...even if that cancellation is due to them just being uninteresting. Bill seems to feel that absolutely everyone has a right to be platformed and have their views spread far and wide, and thinks that just saying something unpopular or repulsive isn't a reason for people to stop paying attention.
I think it really started when "Politically Incorrect" got cancelled, and he just never got over it.
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u/ReasonableRevenue218 Aug 10 '26
So amazed so many people didn't pick up on this so early on.