Since 2016 comedian and Real Time host, Bill Maher, has steadily shifted his politics to the center. This is disappointing and troublesome.
Maher built a reputation as a someone who was an outlier and a check not only on Republicans but the Democratic establishment. He was seen as a standard bearer for the Left-the actual political Left.
He said the quiet parts aloud about America's role in fostering Al-Qaeda's rise and its perpetual defense of and covering for Saudia Arabia. Maher was a vociferous voice against the Iraq War at a time when media figures like Phil Donahue were getting fired for their anti-war stances.
Bill Maher was a rare voice in the mainstream beating the drum about climate change in a period when political pundits and analysts weren't discussing it with any type of substantive seriousness. Maher spoke frequently about wealth inequality. And, of course, he pushed legalizing marijuana and stopping the drug war.
However, this was pre-2016 Maher. That Bill Maher early on endorsed Bernie Sanders for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Since that time Maher has steadily devolved into centrism and all its nonsensical talking points and vapid neoliberalism. He has become a cheerleader for the establishment he once ostensibly resented on some level and certainly didn't hesitate to criticize.
Now, this could be the result of him getting older. They (whoever the hell they are) say people become more conservative the older they get. Although I find myself becoming more progressive the older I get, but I am weird. Or, so that is the impression I discern some have.
Frankly, I believe it is a combination of factors as to Maher's shift. Maher has become entrenched in the mainstream. The mainstream he once ostensibly was a reluctant member of he now embraces.
Maher is a face of #TheResistance. Although I am sure he would pretend to recoil at such a label.
The idea of "Trump Derangement Syndrome" is largely ludicrous. What rightwingers call derangement most people call being decent human beings repulsed by a repulsive man in Donald Trump and his draconian policies. However, some people are obsessed with despising him for the sake of despising him. Bill Maher seems to fit that description.
It should be noted Maher and Trump have a history. Google Trump suing Maher over him questioning whether Trump's father was an orange haired orangutan or not. Of course, it was a joke (the best Maher ever had in my opinion) but we all know Daddy is quite thin skinned. So, predictably he threw a hissy fit.
Anyway, another factor in Maher's shift has to do with his somewhat illogical war on social media, college campuses and political correctness. Honestly, his incessant grievance mongering about it has turned him into "get off my lawn guy".
This unrelenting whiny railing against political correctness has led him to have people such as Milo Yianopoulous, Ben Shapiro, Jordan Petersen and Sam Harris on his show which, frankly, was a sign of his disturbing shift.
Look, having these grifters on his show is fine if he gave any semblance of substantive pushback against them. But, he didn't do that. Instead, he essentially laundered their toxic nonsense. In the cases of Shapiro and Milo he allowed them to seem reasonable instead of the monsters they actually are. And, when it came to Petersen and Harris, he basically had a love fest where they stroked each other off instead of providing any check on their pseudo science and crypto-bigotry. It was disgusting.
Herein lies why in part Maher's shift to the center is so problematic. His newfound ideology allowed him to provide a platform for overtly toxic cretins like Shapiro and Petersen. It gave them a vehicle to present themselves as "just logical people with a right bent". It presented them as civil when that is far from the truth.
Shapiro is a religious zealot, bigot and demagogue who has said and wrote heinous things about Muslims, Palestinians, Hispanics and African-Americans. Let's not even mention Benjamin is a shameless grifter who presents himself as an intellectual when he is the opposite of intellectual.
Something is undoubtedly wrong when a known staunch rightwinger on the BBC provides infinitely more objective checks on Shapiro than the supposed mainstream voice of the Left does.
And, Petersen literally is a conduit for incels. They see him as their Svengali. He is daddy. Yet, when he was on the show Maher was more interested in talking about 19 year old college kids upset about Richard Spencer giving speeches on their campuses and how snowflakey it was.
The other obvious problematic feature of Maher's newfound centrism is its affect on his viewpoint of the 2020 Democratic primary.
Hey, when a nominee is determined I'm all about pragmatism and realism. For the love of God Donald Trump is president. It goes without saying this buffoonish unintelligent unfit monster has to go. I get it!
However, right now pragmatism isn't required nor is it necessary. The entire reason primaries supposedly exist is for people to properly access the merits and policies of the people running for office. So, candidates must establish themselves and what distinguishes them from the other candidates. That is done by criticizing other candidates and pointing out why their policies and/or records aren't better than their opponents'.
This notion that Maher and others (including President Obama) push about the ills of a circular firing squad is utter nonsense. On recent shows Maher has lamented the critiquing of Biden's, Harris', and Buttigieg's records as bullshit nitpicking Twitter induced woke purity tests. That is demented.
Of course, Joe Biden's record matters. His refusal to acknowledge past mistakes matter.
Diminishing Kamala Harris' actions as San Francisco District Attorney and California Attorney General as, "She was a prosecutor who prosecuted. How dare she?", is at best infantile. It certainly matters that Harris was prosecuting parents for truant children but flatly refused to prosecute Steve Mnuchikin after he essentially stole millions of dollars and left numerous people penniless. That speaks to character.
It's not "woke Twitter bullshit" to hold Mayor Pete to account for his handling of policing issues. Nor is it unreasonable to critique policy ideas of the other candidates. It's called vetting.
Regarding the 2020 election what is perhaps most troublesome about Maher is his seemingly pushing the idea that Democrats just settle and pick an extremely flawed Joe Biden or a moderate because they have the best chance of winning. Choosing a candidate based upon "electability" is a stupid idea and has historically been proven to be a counterproductive one. History has shown the candidate people believe those outside of their tent will choose is rarely the actual right choice. See 2016. If Bernie Sanders was the nominee he would've won. I've had to atone many times for not understanding that.
But, Bill Maher's push for Biden or any centrist candidate I suspect is more than about electability. The dude who at one time was all about aspirational politics suddenly is an avid cheerleader for the status quo and incrementalism. The one time proponent of Medicare for all and increased taxation on the wealthy so they pay their fair share is like, "Well, let's slow down with that. It sounds like socialism which I have no problem with but..."
Translation: Maher is a really rich guy and like most rich people he doesn't want to give a dime of it up. Now, I am sure he would say he's being pragmatic and an adult. Three years ago he was squawking about we need Medicare for all.
It is disheartening to see someone I looked up to descend into this neoliberal centrist self-serving black hole. The guy who advocated for environmental protections and making sure all people are looked after is now openly pushing an agenda that ultimately only looks out for the privileged. The man who was a progressive icon is now more concerned with rightwingers disingenuously whining about free speech allegedly being suppressed on college campuses than he is actual voter suppression across this country. The guy who was honestly the only semblance of a progressive voice in mainstream media is way more upset about Ilhan Omar making a substantive accurate critique of Israeli lobbyists that was disgustingly characterized as anti-Semitic than he is the President's overt Islamaphobia.
Maher has a huge platform he is simply using irresponsibly. And, because of his platform his politics are greatly problematic.
As I mentioned before, he will have on his show Petersen, Shapiro, Harris and Bret Stephens but never once has he invited Cenk Uguyr or Ana Kasparian or Sam Seeder all of whom viewers of his show know. And, sorry, Van Jones is not someone to use as a retort. Van is progressive but his progressivism is a bit too fluid.
I really hope this shift of Maher's is a simple product of wanting Trump gone but I sincerely fear it's not. It's been coming for awhile.
Maher built a reputation as a someone who was an outlier and a check not only on Republicans but the Democratic establishment. He was seen as a standard bearer for the Left-the actual political Left.
He said the quiet parts aloud about America's role in fostering Al-Qaeda's rise and its perpetual defense of and covering for Saudia Arabia. Maher was a vociferous voice against the Iraq War at a time when media figures like Phil Donahue were getting fired for their anti-war stances.
Bill Maher was a rare voice in the mainstream beating the drum about climate change in a period when political pundits and analysts weren't discussing it with any type of substantive seriousness. Maher spoke frequently about wealth inequality. And, of course, he pushed legalizing marijuana and stopping the drug war.
However, this was pre-2016 Maher. That Bill Maher early on endorsed Bernie Sanders for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Since that time Maher has steadily devolved into centrism and all its nonsensical talking points and vapid neoliberalism. He has become a cheerleader for the establishment he once ostensibly resented on some level and certainly didn't hesitate to criticize.
Now, this could be the result of him getting older. They (whoever the hell they are) say people become more conservative the older they get. Although I find myself becoming more progressive the older I get, but I am weird. Or, so that is the impression I discern some have.
Frankly, I believe it is a combination of factors as to Maher's shift. Maher has become entrenched in the mainstream. The mainstream he once ostensibly was a reluctant member of he now embraces.
Maher is a face of #TheResistance. Although I am sure he would pretend to recoil at such a label.
The idea of "Trump Derangement Syndrome" is largely ludicrous. What rightwingers call derangement most people call being decent human beings repulsed by a repulsive man in Donald Trump and his draconian policies. However, some people are obsessed with despising him for the sake of despising him. Bill Maher seems to fit that description.
It should be noted Maher and Trump have a history. Google Trump suing Maher over him questioning whether Trump's father was an orange haired orangutan or not. Of course, it was a joke (the best Maher ever had in my opinion) but we all know Daddy is quite thin skinned. So, predictably he threw a hissy fit.
Anyway, another factor in Maher's shift has to do with his somewhat illogical war on social media, college campuses and political correctness. Honestly, his incessant grievance mongering about it has turned him into "get off my lawn guy".
This unrelenting whiny railing against political correctness has led him to have people such as Milo Yianopoulous, Ben Shapiro, Jordan Petersen and Sam Harris on his show which, frankly, was a sign of his disturbing shift.
Look, having these grifters on his show is fine if he gave any semblance of substantive pushback against them. But, he didn't do that. Instead, he essentially laundered their toxic nonsense. In the cases of Shapiro and Milo he allowed them to seem reasonable instead of the monsters they actually are. And, when it came to Petersen and Harris, he basically had a love fest where they stroked each other off instead of providing any check on their pseudo science and crypto-bigotry. It was disgusting.
Herein lies why in part Maher's shift to the center is so problematic. His newfound ideology allowed him to provide a platform for overtly toxic cretins like Shapiro and Petersen. It gave them a vehicle to present themselves as "just logical people with a right bent". It presented them as civil when that is far from the truth.
Shapiro is a religious zealot, bigot and demagogue who has said and wrote heinous things about Muslims, Palestinians, Hispanics and African-Americans. Let's not even mention Benjamin is a shameless grifter who presents himself as an intellectual when he is the opposite of intellectual.
Something is undoubtedly wrong when a known staunch rightwinger on the BBC provides infinitely more objective checks on Shapiro than the supposed mainstream voice of the Left does.
And, Petersen literally is a conduit for incels. They see him as their Svengali. He is daddy. Yet, when he was on the show Maher was more interested in talking about 19 year old college kids upset about Richard Spencer giving speeches on their campuses and how snowflakey it was.
The other obvious problematic feature of Maher's newfound centrism is its affect on his viewpoint of the 2020 Democratic primary.
Hey, when a nominee is determined I'm all about pragmatism and realism. For the love of God Donald Trump is president. It goes without saying this buffoonish unintelligent unfit monster has to go. I get it!
However, right now pragmatism isn't required nor is it necessary. The entire reason primaries supposedly exist is for people to properly access the merits and policies of the people running for office. So, candidates must establish themselves and what distinguishes them from the other candidates. That is done by criticizing other candidates and pointing out why their policies and/or records aren't better than their opponents'.
This notion that Maher and others (including President Obama) push about the ills of a circular firing squad is utter nonsense. On recent shows Maher has lamented the critiquing of Biden's, Harris', and Buttigieg's records as bullshit nitpicking Twitter induced woke purity tests. That is demented.
Of course, Joe Biden's record matters. His refusal to acknowledge past mistakes matter.
Diminishing Kamala Harris' actions as San Francisco District Attorney and California Attorney General as, "She was a prosecutor who prosecuted. How dare she?", is at best infantile. It certainly matters that Harris was prosecuting parents for truant children but flatly refused to prosecute Steve Mnuchikin after he essentially stole millions of dollars and left numerous people penniless. That speaks to character.
It's not "woke Twitter bullshit" to hold Mayor Pete to account for his handling of policing issues. Nor is it unreasonable to critique policy ideas of the other candidates. It's called vetting.
Regarding the 2020 election what is perhaps most troublesome about Maher is his seemingly pushing the idea that Democrats just settle and pick an extremely flawed Joe Biden or a moderate because they have the best chance of winning. Choosing a candidate based upon "electability" is a stupid idea and has historically been proven to be a counterproductive one. History has shown the candidate people believe those outside of their tent will choose is rarely the actual right choice. See 2016. If Bernie Sanders was the nominee he would've won. I've had to atone many times for not understanding that.
But, Bill Maher's push for Biden or any centrist candidate I suspect is more than about electability. The dude who at one time was all about aspirational politics suddenly is an avid cheerleader for the status quo and incrementalism. The one time proponent of Medicare for all and increased taxation on the wealthy so they pay their fair share is like, "Well, let's slow down with that. It sounds like socialism which I have no problem with but..."
Translation: Maher is a really rich guy and like most rich people he doesn't want to give a dime of it up. Now, I am sure he would say he's being pragmatic and an adult. Three years ago he was squawking about we need Medicare for all.
It is disheartening to see someone I looked up to descend into this neoliberal centrist self-serving black hole. The guy who advocated for environmental protections and making sure all people are looked after is now openly pushing an agenda that ultimately only looks out for the privileged. The man who was a progressive icon is now more concerned with rightwingers disingenuously whining about free speech allegedly being suppressed on college campuses than he is actual voter suppression across this country. The guy who was honestly the only semblance of a progressive voice in mainstream media is way more upset about Ilhan Omar making a substantive accurate critique of Israeli lobbyists that was disgustingly characterized as anti-Semitic than he is the President's overt Islamaphobia.
Maher has a huge platform he is simply using irresponsibly. And, because of his platform his politics are greatly problematic.
As I mentioned before, he will have on his show Petersen, Shapiro, Harris and Bret Stephens but never once has he invited Cenk Uguyr or Ana Kasparian or Sam Seeder all of whom viewers of his show know. And, sorry, Van Jones is not someone to use as a retort. Van is progressive but his progressivism is a bit too fluid.
I really hope this shift of Maher's is a simple product of wanting Trump gone but I sincerely fear it's not. It's been coming for awhile.
