Bill Maher said the Democratic Party will likely lose to President Trump in 2020 if Democratic lawmakers continue comparing the situation on the U.S. southern border to the Holocaust.
On his Friday show Real Time with Bill Maher, Maher said Democrats’ characterization of immigrant detention centers as “concentration camps,” as well as their focus on paying reparations to African Americans, may cost the eventual Democratic presidential nominee the election.
“Come on. When we think of concentration camps, I don’t know what you think, I think of mass graves. I think of experimenting on human people,” Maher said, asserting that immigration detention centers are not comparable to Nazi concentration camps.
Progressive commentators Dan Savage and Thomas Hartmann argued with Maher, saying that Democrats must use inflammatory language to make people understand the situation on the U.S. southern border.
“The concentration camps came first. It was a step on the road to the death camps. And we need to use the language to describe actually what’s happening right now,” Savage said. “We’re on the road to fascism.”
“Language is the key to everything. Language is how we communicate. If we don’t take names and kick ass and use language that upsets the Republicans, we’re screwed. Come on,” Hartmann said.
Maher stood by his point and added that if Democrats do not stop being intentionally provocative and highly controversial, Trump will likely win reelection.
“So easy to get the applause but if you want to run a campaign on reparations and concentration camps, it’s going to be very hard to win the election. I’m not saying you can’t do it, but it’s going to be very hard to argue that this is helping,” Maher said.
