During a series of recent interviews to promote his new book, Bill Maher inadvertently showed just how ignorant and emotional the left has become. In one recent episode of Megyn Kelly's podcast, at least he was honest.
It was clear from the start that Maher assumed Kelly was a thoughtless Fox News bimbo and believed he could make his claims without any pushback. In his usual fashion, he insisted that Trump was a tyrant who would destroy American democracy, the J6 protesters were dangerous insurgents, the border crisis was as bad under Trump as it was under Biden, Hillary Clinton never claimed that Trump was an illegitimate president, and nobody cared about Hunter Biden's laptop.
Far from “gobbling up” Maher on these points, Kelly grudgingly but reasonably corrected him on each of them: Trump had already been president for four years and dutifully left office after (unfairly) losing the 2020 elections; the J6 protesters were nowhere near bringing down the American government; the border is much worse under Biden, who willfully refuses to fix it; Hillary Clinton has continually declared Trump the illegitimate president for years; and a large number of Americans would have changed their vote if they had known that Biden's son was an influence peddler for this father. At these rebuttals, Maher just rolled his eyes and pretended to pity Kelly for her apparent stupidity. Normally, he would probably make fun of her and insult her like he does on his own talk show, but he has a book to sell.
While Kelly was nice enough to allow Maher to agree to disagree, no one else should give him a pass. Like Scott Adams X commented“[Maher’s] the job is to talk about politics. He's one of the smartest Democrats out there, and he's probably interested in the truth.” It's one thing for a typical partisan hack to spread such falsehoods, but quite another for a free-thinking “old-school liberal” like Maher to do so. Not only he should know better, but he is one of the few public figures who can be trusted to transcend politics and seek the truth.
Except he doesn't know any better, and he really doesn't care about the truth. Like me argued Two years ago, Maher was a leftist who had been mocking conservatives for decades. At no time has he ever been interested in having a serious discussion with any of them. Also, long before Jon Stewart popularized the idea of the comedian and pundit, Maher pioneered the genre with his '90s talk show “Politically Incorrect.” Similar to how Maher “debated” Megyn Kelly, he would do the same with a group of guests on his show, but would usually get the last laugh.
At most, Maher can be credited for his media savvy. Earlier this month, conservative writer and commentator Jason Whitlock he said as much: “[Maher’s] not a common sense leftist. There is no such thing. It's the equivalent of calling myself a low-calorie obese person. It's not true. Maher is a common sense businessman.” It's all a facade and always has been.
For this reason, conservatives should stop looking for common ground with people like Maher and instead notice the stark differences.
Maher is clearly deeply uninformed on basic issues. Not only does he ignore the current political and cultural situation; he believes the opposite of what is true. He consumes tons of leftist propaganda and never bothers to question any of it. Instead, he questions conservatives who are willing to think critically about these narratives and arguments.
Rhetorically speaking, this works to their advantage because it puts the burden on conservatives to call up all the relevant facts, debunk the lies, and educate Maher about what's really going on. Unless his interlocutor is a hyper-informed lawyer with a spine of steel like Megyn Kelly, Maher can come up with his side of things and sound smart.
It is important to realize that this is how most leftists operate. Like Maher, they are resourceful with massive egos because they have college degrees, read the occasional New York Times article, and listen to NPR. Like Maher, they will repeat the lies and only doubt the doubts. Like Maher, they pat themselves on the back endlessly for their willingness to debate and nominally tolerate the other side. Like Maher, they are often loaded undeserved praise to do the bare minimum and get to the truth 10 years after the fact.
And, like Maher, they are totally deluded. Their entire perception of reality is warped to such an extent that they can no longer have an honest debate or discussion. They may face direct evidence to the contrary, as Maher was when Kelly played a clip of Hillary Clinton calling Trump's victory illegitimateand keep believing the lies they've been told.
That said, it's part of Megyn Kelly's job to suffer fools, so it's no real loss for her to deal with buffoons like Maher. However, the rest of us can learn from her and be more effective in our discussions with leftists in our own lives. They are not as smart as they think, and they (and their sources) are driven more by vanity than anything else. This means that debates with them are only won if they are proven wrong and humiliated.
To be successful at this, we must always seek the truth and show a willingness to push back and call the bluff of the leftists. As nasty as it sounds, we must never forget that the left started this, and they won't stop until they learn the hard way, like Bill Maher.
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