ESSAY: The Slow, Painful Death of Bill Maher's Dignity

The once comedic hero of the Left has crossed the point of no return.

Bill Maher is back in the news. Which Bill Maher undoubtedly likes.

On his most recent show Maher recounted his recent dinner at the White House with Donald Trump — a man who he has been relentlessly skewering (and rightfully so) for years.

Trump invited one of his most ardent critics over for dinner and Maher seems to have evolved his opinion of Trump.

While he didn’t cave on any core policy opinions, he did say that the bat-shit-crazy Trump the public sees might not be the real Trump. Fox News was more than happy to cover the event:

"You can hate me for it, but I'm not a liar. Trump was gracious and measured," Maher said. "And why isn't that in other settings- I don't know, and I can't answer, and it's not my place to answer. I'm just telling you what I saw, and I wasn't high."

"I have no power. I'm a fucking comedian, and he's the most powerful leader in the world!" Maher exclaimed. "I'm not the leader of anything, except maybe a contingent of centrist-minded people who think there's got to be a better way of running this country than hating each other every minute."

Trump having Maher over for dinner is the latest in what might be called a charm offensive by some. Or a trap by others.

He also recently had my governor, Governor Gretchen Whitmer into the Oval Office for a visit. As you know, Whitmer became a national figure (in large part) due to publicly pushing back against Trump in his first term. The meeting was supposed to be about Michigan issues, but what happened instead was Whitmer left standing in the Oval while Trump signed a dictatorial Executive Order to go after his enemies.

Let’s be honest: It wasn’t a good look — especially the photo of Whitmer seemingly trying to literally hide from the assembled press as Trump praised her and used her as a prop. It was likely out of context, but it went viral because it symbolically spoke volumes. And it may very well be the end of any national aspirations that that lady from Michigan has in Democratic circles.

If that’s the case, so be it. Yes, a governor does have to work with any POTUS on some level, but recent history is replete with examples that prove that giving an inch to Trump only makes him want more. As Reagan once famously said, you don’t negotiate with terrorists.

Maher’s Politically Incorrect Brand

It’s not like you couldn’t see this coming with Bill Maher.

His first show on ABC was called Politically Incorrect, after all. His whole brand has been skewering what came to be known as woke politics on both the right and left. Maher’s modus operandi is that he’s brave enough to say things others are scared to say.

And it served him well.

Until it didn’t.

Maher lost that show after saying that the Taliban terrorists who highjacked planes and attacked America on 9/11 were far from cowardly. He was absolutely right. Being willing to die for your cause is inherently the opposite of cowardly. But, America was in the midst of a wave of misguided patriotism that had us naming French fries freedom fries and country music folk banning the Dixie Chicks for criticizing the Bush Administration.

Thankfully, Maher soon landed on HBO with Real Time and let’s give credit where credit is due — although I didn’t agree with everything he said — Maher helped me (and countless others) get through those Bush years with humor and insight.

I didn’t have HBO at the time, but watching a six-part YouTube recording of his show on Saturday morning was a highlight of my week. He was second only to Keith Olbermann in providing sanity in what seemed (at the time) to be the darkest of days.

We even saw Maher live — I think twice — during those years. He was good, but he always had a tell that proved that he’s an arrogant asshole at heart.

Maher is one of the few comedians who gets mad at his audience when a joke bombs. To me, it’s always been proof that Maher thinks he’s above everyone else, that his audience is too stupid to get every genius joke he and his writers come up with. Or that they just can’t handle his edgy material.

I’ve seen him do it countless times and in almost every case it’s not the audience, it’s him delivering a shit joke. They’re not all gold, Jerry, gold as I’m sure that even stand-up perfectionist Jerry Seinfeld would agree. Maher just can’t accept that everything out of his mouth isn’t both brilliant and hilarious.

Religulous and the Maher’s Woke Rabbit Hole

Since his emergence one of Maher’s biggest politically incorrect targets has been religion. Don’t get me wrong, it’s an easy target. And I always tended to agree with the majority of Maher’s rants against religion. He even did a whole movie about it (Religulous in 2008) that I still own.

But, over the years Maher’s attacks on anyone who is religious became more harsh, bitter, and unaccepting. I consider myself agnostic, but I think anyone who is a radical atheist is almost as bad as a religious fanatic. The whole point of reason as a way to think about the fundamental question of existence is that there’s simply no proof either way to prove any argument.

Over the years it became more and more clear that Maher’s arrogance overtook his comedy. That became abundantly clear as he stepped up his attacks on anything he felt was woke in society. Again, while I stopped watching Real Time religiously, I agreed with any number of his attacks on the Left.

I’ve never lived in a bubble, nor do I think my side of the political spectrum is somehow perfect.

But, Maher started using the same tools as the right-wing media in attacking anything woke. In a misguided attempt to appear fair and balanced and above the fray he was searching high and low for any story that might fit his narrative.

Can you find some city councilperson in Brooklyn who says something stupid or a company that comes out with something idiotic in their HR policies? Of course, you can. But, Maher started putting all these incidental incidents together and somehow raised them to the same level as the right’s authoritarian, Christo-fascist movement that threatens our very existence as a Democracy.

And at some point, Maher became more famous for attacking the left than the right. You could see how the left fighting back fueled him to go harder — to double down on his cause.

Almost like a, you know, religious extremist.

Is Maher Obeying in Advance?

That’s a simple question with a simple answer. Yes.

Given his history, it’s easy to see how Maher may have talked himself into being one of the contingent of centrist-minded people who believes that a dialogue with Trump is the right thing to do.

He couldn’t be farther from the truth.

If Maher would have been invited to the White House during the Bush years and came out saying that while he was still dead-set against the Iraq War but believed Bush was still a decent human being, I could live with that.

But Trump isn’t Bush.

He’s a literal existential threat to our Democracy. As Cory Booker said during his marathon Senate speech, this isn’t a political argument, it’s the difference between right and wrong. It is, with everything hanging in the balance. Any normalization of Trump only makes it easier for him to destroy our Democracy and turn it into a dictatorship. There can be no ground given when it comes to the Trump regime.

And, make no mistake, Maher has been ceding ground for quite some time. Not just with his white whale of woke, but inviting on extremist MAGA mouthpieces like Steve Bannon. And while the idea of platforming these crazies is a little less of a line in the sand it clearly became the opening for Trump to make his move.

Maher hasn’t been supportive of crazies like Bannon, but there’s always been a thread of that finding common ground mirage, like his revelation that Trump was “willing to listen” when they had dinner.

Himself no stranger to arrogance, Olbermann was reached in his obscure corner of the internet and widely quoted on the Trump/Maher detente and was dead on. The Hollywood Reporter pretty much said it all in their headline and subhead:

Keith Olbermann Condemns Bill Maher’s Positive Visit With Trump, Says It’s “So He Can Keep His HBO Show.” The American journalist further called Maher a “shameless opportunist with no real principles,” having known him “since 1978.”

It’s a bridge too far and it’s easy to see how outrage on the Left might very well push Maher closer to Trump. It fits right into the obvious flaw in Maher’s personality.

Of course, he would never see it that way. Which is the crux of the problem.

The fight against Trump and dictatorship doesn’t have middle ground. And just like we’ve seen prestigious law firms and media companies (and figures, hello Joe & Mika) acquiesce to Trump out of this misguided belief or their own self-interest this is a question of absolutes.

And Bill Maher is absolutely wrong.

PS — Let’s not forget Maher’s doing my research bullshit on vaccines. Or any number of other issues he’s been on the wrong side of for at least a decade.