I’m a fan of Bill Maher. I watch the liberal HBO host and comedian’s show, Real Time with Bill Maher, just about every Friday, in large part for his ferocious criticism of woke culture and his willingness to savage his own side (like he did this week by hilariously mocking Elizabeth Warren’s promise to let a transgender child pick her education secretary). But Maher is, bless his heart, completely stricken with Trump Derangement Syndrome, and boy, did this week’s show make that clear.
On Friday, President Trump’s impeachment trial came more or less to a close after the Senate voted not to subpoena any additional witnesses. The Republican-controlled chamber is expected to vote to acquit the president this Wednesday. And, of course, liberals and anti-Trump conservatives alike are well within their rights to be disappointed that Trump will not face removal from office. Yet even then, Maher’s on-air meltdown was nothing short of unhinged.
“We’re in a post-democracy world,” he proclaimed. In another comment, he lamented the supposed fact that the “rule of law in America is over.”
Suffice it to say that this is a wild overreaction. Whether you agree with the Senate’s expected acquittal of Trump or not, the entire impeachment process from start to end has followed the process laid out in the Constitution: articles of impeachment voted on in the House, considered and voted on in the Senate. That Maher didn’t get his preferred outcome doesn’t make this constitutional process an assault on democracy. (Just like Republicans were wrong to call House impeachment proceedings a “coup.”)
Plus, the idea that not impeaching the president and instead determining Trump’s fate at the ballot box is not really what a “post-democracy world” looks like. Voters — the demos — will now literally have their own chance to render a verdict on Trump’s conduct. If anything, that’s more democratic, not less, than Congress impeaching and removing a president. As far as the “rule of law” goes, it’s hard to see how acquitting a president, whether you agree with it or not, upends the rule of law when the articles of impeachment against him did not even contain criminal allegations.
Maher took this hysteria one step further, however, asking one of his guests — 2020 presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg — what he will do when Trump loses and refuses to give up the presidency. Maher also said this is one reason Bernie Sanders might be good, because he has “an army” who will take to the streets for him.
If Trump lost and tried to prevent his own lawful replacement, the military and the courts would toss him out of the Oval Office in a hot second. Maher’s just fearmongering. It’s also extremely rich to see him go down this path when Democrats, such as failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams and Hillary Clinton, receive lavish praise for refusing to accept the results of elections.
To top it all off, Maher and his panel agreed that even after Trump is acquitted, House Democrats should continue to investigate this Ukraine affair and pursue impeachment.
Good grief. Maher needs to take a Xanax, get some perspective, and realize that no, the sky is not falling.
