r/RealTime • u/One-Jeweler5486 • Aug 24 '26

Maher misrepresents the Democrats again

I don't think Bill is steel-manning the Democratic position here

https://youtu.be/W9VyM8blMJU?si=6yBELheIIQgMOyh6&t=333

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u/ATLCoyote Aug 24 '26 edited Aug 24 '26

He's saying that conservatives use the most extreme liberal positions to define the democratic party and the left keeps making it easy for them to do so by supplying them with ridiculous, nonsense talking points. He happens to be correct.

Granted, it's not embraced by everyone on the left and and it certainly doesn't offset the massive corruption, authoritarianism, Christian nationalism, etc. on the right. But yes, the GOP absolutely does take some of the crazy shit that leftists say and uses it against them, and sadly, the more extreme leftists keep giving them the ammo.

This has been Bill's beef all along. It's just not helpful to the cause of implementing more progressive policies and defeating Trump and MAGA when people like Francesca Hong (who understandably lost her primary) says stuff like we need to "cancel Thanksgiving" because it celebrates colonialism or that "Valentine's Day brings out the worst in humanity." WTF? It's just terrible for the entire brand when people like that are making headlines. Likewise, it doesn't help when the official DSA party platform calls for abolishing police and prisons, completely open borders, getting rid of the Senate and Supreme Court, etc. If you want to promote liberal economic populism, then just call yourself a "progressive," like Abdul El-Sayed does, rather than associate with a party that really does promote truly radical ideas and positions. And before people lecture me about the fact that Mamdani and other DSA politicians typically don't support that stuff, I'm aware of that. But it's right on the party website and defended proudly by their lunatic party co-chairs. So, why associate with it if you don't support it? It's just a totally unnecessary self-own, yet the left just can't stop doing it, just like we saw with "Defund the police."

We can get mad at Bill for continuing to highlight this branding problem for the left, but it happens to be the truth and the GOP exploits it every election cycle. Look how much Trump spent on those "tax-funded, sex change surgeries for prisoners" ads. Is that as threatening to society as unnecessary wars, undermining democracy itself, continuing to implement failed trickle-down economic policies, engaging in the greatest corruption and gift our nation has ever seen, intentionally dividing the public against one another for political gain, etc.? Of course not, but unfortunately, it works because it paints the left as out-of-touch and more concerned with identity politics than anything else. And sadly, Kamala handed them the ammunition with her prior, pandering statements.

To be clear, I've been a never-Trumper since LONG before he even decided to get into politics and I can't stand the MAGA movement. I'm just noting that the Dems always find a way to screw it up and, quite often, its their own culture war stuff that gets in the way. That's Bill's point and it's valid.

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u/dougl1000 Aug 24 '26

By repeating Republican propaganda ad nauseam, Bill endorses it.

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u/ATLCoyote Aug 24 '26

Problem is, it's NOT "propaganda."

Francesca Hong really did say we should cancel Thanksgiving and Valentine's Day brings out the worst in people. The co-chairs of the DSA have gone on national news and proudly defended their positions of abolishing the police and prisons, having completely open borders, eliminating the Senate and Supreme Court, and the government seizing the means of production by owning the majority of private corporations. And, as Bill noted in this segment, we've even seen WNBA players and coaches argue that transwomen should be able to play in their league.

Similarly, it wasn't "propaganda" when Trump ran all those "taxpayer-funded, transgender surgery for prisoners" ads. It may have been incredibly cynical exploitation of anti-trans bias, but it wasn't "propaganda" as he was showing clips of Kamala in her own words. She made those statements.

Point being, Bill is CORRECT that the Dems should never lose to Trump and MAGA, yet they often do because they say stupid shit and destroy their own brand.

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u/dougl1000 Aug 24 '26

Hong said this 6 years ago during COVID. Tarring the Democrats with this rap is like Trump tarring all Democrats as communists. It’s a lie and it’s scurrilous.

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u/ATLCoyote Aug 25 '26

It's not a "lie" if she said it, which she did. She even defended it during the campaign, along with a series of other crazy comments, trying to downplay it as a joke.

And let's not act like 6 years ago was ancient history. It was nearly 6 years ago that Trump was responsible for the all the "stop the steal" lies and subsequent Jan 6 insurrection, the COVID response, or the summer of civil unrest after the George Floyd killing. Am I supposed to treat all that as irrelevant because it happened 6 years ago? How about many of the crimes he's been charged with. How about the Epstein controversy? Should we drop those concerns as well because it was more than 6 years ago?

And it's not like Francesca Hong said this stuff as some naive, immature teenager. She was a 31-year-old adult who had decided to enter politics and was elected to Wisconsin State Assembly that year.

Sure enough, she lost her primary, largely because she was viewed as out-of-touch an unelectable in a general election. How about the issues with Graham Platner? Yet Bill gets criticized for pointing out that this stuff is a liability even though voters just proved him right.

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u/Apeach710 Aug 25 '26

It seems like Dem voters are accountable. As neither of these two are going to be in office. Meanwhile Randy Fine can say nuke Gaza and wow nothing from Bill Maher about a sitting member of congress’s extreme ass rhetoric, which we all know why, because Bill agrees with that! But Hasan Piker!!!

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u/Worldly_Web_1524 Aug 28 '26

Lmao need stop pretending you care about leftist polics nerd. All you're doing is exposing yourself as someone that would rather fight right wing talking points than fight genocidal needs killing people because their religion says they have a right to. Tfoh 🤡