If it wasn’t clear where Bill Maher stood on the current campaign for president, Friday night provided plenty of clarity on the issue. There’s no Bernie or Bust in his mind and he’s certainly not voting for Donald Trump. It’s all Hillary Clinton on Real Time, taking the unity stuff to heart after showing some surprise that Monica Lewinsky made her way into the DNC finale speech.
In the New Rules segment of the show, Maher lays out how he hopes Clinton pulls out all this negative, super-villain energy that the GOP and critics seem to want to lob onto her. Much like folks wanting Obama to unleash some sort of wild Congress-eating beast in his final term as president, Maher seems to want “The Notorious HRC” to come out. Makes those memes floating around online a reality, right?
Elsewhere, Maher chats with Bernie Sanders as a semi-cap to his campaign. He notes that Sanders is doing the patriotic thing by going away quietly and supporting Hillary Clinton’s nomination. Maher feels that Gore did the same in 2000, but doesn’t feel like Trump would be so quick to fold up. He also jokes a bit about Sanders’ demeanor during the finale, saying he looked like a husband waiting for his wife while she tries on clothes. It’s nice and is countered by his reaction to his own brother during the DNC.
The same playfulness can be found in Maher’s interactions with Cornel West during the actual meat of the show. The difference here is that Cornel West is nowhere near the unity plan of other Democratic supporters, opting instead to keep up his fight and support Jill Stein. She’s far from perfect, but Maher counters him with the realities of supporting her by saying “there are only two items on the menu.” He also adds in a fine train analogy that you should hear, mostly for the reaction.
This continues into the Overtime segment, where we get a little bit of Barney Frank joining in too. This time the topic is Barack Obama’s legacy and what happens in public versus behind closed doors with Congress. Frank does manage to pull a final Anti-Trump vote out of him, though.
(Via Real Time)