# Maher says USA Democracy is in its death bed. How concerned are you? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 9, 2022, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maher-says-usa-democracy-is-in-its-death-bed-how-concerned-are-you/974615 "2022-11-09T00:10:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2022, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maher-says-usa-democracy-is-in-its-death-bed-how-concerned-are-you/974615/61 "2022-11-09T20:34:32Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > This is rather silly. How big do you think his audience on television is compared to the number of people he would reach by canvassing neighborhoods and knocking on doors? He’s far more effective on television than anyone pounding the pavement. Effective at what? He’s a professional entertainer, whose schtick is “supercilious cynic.” This speech of his doesn’t encourage anybody to do _anything_: instead, it misanalogizes democracy to a body and then declares the body beyond help. He’s _discouraging_ people from action. He could have, instead: - Encouraged people to vote like their democracy depends on it - Explained why speaking to friends and family about political issues is more important than ever - Exhorted his listeners to contact campaigns and volunteer their time and/or money - Reminded his viewers that the fight doesn’t end on election day, that we’ve got to keep working for democracy even if we lose, because this battle just doesn’t end. He did none of that, because being earnest and hopeful isn’t his schtick. Instead, he smirked and shrugged and whined through another clever monologue. As someone who wore himself ragged over the past several weeks organizing educators to canvas and to be poll greeters and otherwise engage in the process, I invite Maher to kiss my ass. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2022, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maher-says-usa-democracy-is-in-its-death-bed-how-concerned-are-you/974615/62 "2022-11-09T20:35:54Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Everyone here cheered when New York tried to gerrymander. Bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2022, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maher-says-usa-democracy-is-in-its-death-bed-how-concerned-are-you/974615/63 "2022-11-09T20:38:03Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Everyone here cheered when New York tried to gerrymander. I don’t remember this. When some politicians NJ tried to gerrymander for the Dems, I called my state representative and state senator and asked them to cut that crap out. The Dem dominated houses of congress refused to go along with it. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2022, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maher-says-usa-democracy-is-in-its-death-bed-how-concerned-are-you/974615/64 "2022-11-09T20:38:29Z")
You put out a whole bunch to unpack whenever you get on this train of yours, and it’s a bunch of gish gallop that’s not worth unpacking. So, instead, I distill the basics of what it seems you are saying, and it sounds like you are saying that the reasons that politicians are untrustworthy is because we don’t trust them enough. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2022, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maher-says-usa-democracy-is-in-its-death-bed-how-concerned-are-you/974615/65 "2022-11-09T21:24:20Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > the reasons that politicians are untrustworthy is because we don’t trust them enough. That’s at least partially true, but that’s not what I was saying in this particular case. We do need to get to a place where we trust them and, in some respects that will mean trusting them more - like going back to the voice vote or making donor contributions secret to everyone (including the candidates). But you get trustworthy candidates by building a system that weeds out untrustworthy ones. Today, we don’t have that. At the moment, the system mostly selects for people who know what to say to get people to vote for them, and how to fail to deliver that while blaming the other team. And, to be fair, sometimes they fail to deliver because the promise was just not a good idea to begin with. For example, Republicans fail to deliver a wall across the the entire border of Mexico and Democrats just magically never seem to propose an Amendment to revoke the Second Amendment nor to give everyone UHC. In general, we shouldn’t be able to determine if someone is doing what they said that they would do - part of electing someone that you trust is to trust them. But right now we double-check them and, while it is certainly true that the Republicans are more dishonest, and it can certainly be said that it’s not obvious what the _right_ answer is to resolve the issues with democracy, there are some things that are _wrong_ that **are** obvious. A representative, by title, is a person whose entire job description is to put your interests ahead of his own. With that being true, there’s no way that they can serve their office with faith and support gerrymandering. The whole purpose of gerrymandering is to gain power against _you_. Any person in office who lives in a country that allows gerrymandering and isn’t out there, first thing in the morning and last thing before they go to bed fighting to stop it - as a person under the job title of “representative” - is as fit for the their office as a fireman who likes to roast some marshmallows before deciding whether to put out the house fire. Not investing in stocks is, certainly, more fiddly and I don’t feel like it’s unreasonable that no one ever noticed that it was questionable until now. But it is still fairly straightforward that legislators shouldn’t have any conflicts of interest impacting their legal decisions - just as a judge shouldn’t have any conflicts of interest in a case that they’re deciding. Whether the solution is a ban on holding stocks - versus something like sitting out votes that you’ve been marked as “conflicted” on, by a neutral third party - I don’t care too much but if the whole discussion is shelved by the party leaders then you really shouldn’t be re-electing those leaders. These are fairly clear signals of untrustworthiness. It’s like if you’re reviewing a school for your kid and the dean makes a joke about sexually abusing children, while giving the tour. It’s an immediate and strong signal to go somewhere else. If there’s no amendment to block gerrymandering, and there aren’t legislators out in the streets, on their knees, begging the public to throw people out of office who are trying to block it - then you should be voting all of the current people out. And no, that doesn’t mean electing Republicans. It means writing in names, leaving votes blank, and so on. We all need to be amazingly amazingly strict until we get back to a good place. You need to be as skeptical of your own guys as you are of the other team’s. If they do the right thing and block gerrymandering and they offer real, plausible fixes for the election system - to make it produce more trustworthy politicians - then great. But if they’re just finger-pointing at the other side then you should simply continue to kick them out and rotate the roster until someone is willing to shore up the system. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2022, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maher-says-usa-democracy-is-in-its-death-bed-how-concerned-are-you/974615/66 "2022-11-09T21:31:55Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Everyone here cheered when New York tried to gerrymander. I don’t think that anyone cheered, the most they did was acknowledge that unilateral disarmament was suicide. > [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > And yet, everyone here is failing to notice that no one is proposing an anti-gerrymandering Amendment They aren’t trying to pass an amendment because of the political impossibility of passing any remotely controversial amendment. However the Democrats did push for [anti-gerrymandering legislation](https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/freedom-vote-act-big-deal-redistricting). So your both siderism is a bit hollow. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2022, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maher-says-usa-democracy-is-in-its-death-bed-how-concerned-are-you/974615/67 "2022-11-09T21:37:24Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > the Democrats did push for [anti-gerrymandering legislation](https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/freedom-vote-act-big-deal-redistricting). Joe Manchin is, indeed a standout. And, notably, I only ever seem to see people talking him down here. Maybe you’re not among the ones on the site that I’m complaining about. If so then I’m sorry if you felt like I was painting with too broad of a brush. I don’t have an itemized recollection of every individual and every individual statement that they made. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2022, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maher-says-usa-democracy-is-in-its-death-bed-how-concerned-are-you/974615/68 "2022-11-09T21:52:36Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Any person in office who lives in a country that allows gerrymandering and isn’t out there, first thing in the morning and last thing before they go to bed fighting to stop it - as a person under the job title of “representative” - is as fit for the their office as a fireman who likes to roast some marshmallows before deciding whether to put out the house fire. If they were doing that, they’d be disqualified for office, as they actually do have actual work to do. > [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Not investing in stocks is, certainly, more fiddly and I don’t feel like it’s unreasonable that no one ever noticed that it was questionable until now. I always like when someone discovers something, they think that they were the first. I was complaining to Boehner about legistors buying and selling stocks in companies that they have inside information and influence over in 1994. > [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > These are fairly clear signals of untrustworthiness. It’s like if you’re reviewing a school for your kid and the dean makes a joke about sexually abusing children, while giving the tour. Yeah, well everywhere else is absolutely proven to be sexually abusing children, and the Dean’s joke about it was in the context that _they_ don’t. Do I believe him? Maybe, maybe not. Do I send my kid to a school I _know_ that they will be sexually abused? No. Basically, what you are saying is that we shouldn’t even ask if the school has issues with sexual abuse of children, we should just trust the administrators. > [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > It means writing in names, leaving votes blank, and so on. Or, as @Buck_Godot mentions, it is giving in to unilateral disarmament. > [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > We all need to be amazingly amazingly strict until we get back to a good place. Who is “we” in this? If you and I do this, does it fix everything? If so, how? If not, doesn’t that just mean that you and I have given up our voices in the government in the hopes that others will as well? > [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > But if they’re just finger-pointing at the other side then you should simply continue to kick them out and rotate the roster until someone is willing to shore up the system. I guess part of the problem is that if you make things simple enough, they are utterly wrong, like if someone claims that “they’re just finger pointing at the other side”. Rhetoric like that is useless in the best of times, and downright dangerous in times like these. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2022, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maher-says-usa-democracy-is-in-its-death-bed-how-concerned-are-you/974615/69 "2022-11-09T22:02:44Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Maybe you’re not among the ones on the site that I’m complaining about. If so then I’m sorry if you felt like I was painting with too broad of a brush. I don’t have an itemized recollection of every individual and every individual statement that they made. You seemed to be claiming to have such a memory when you say: > [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Everyone here cheered when New York tried to gerrymander. I assume you are going to walk that back, way, way, way, way, back, as it wasn’t everyone, it wasn’t most people, it wasn’t many, and you can’t even remember anyone who did. Personally, I do think that rhetoric like your is more damaging to our democracy than anything that Trump or Fox can do. At least they’ve declared themselves the enemies of Democracy, so we ignore them when they tell us what to do, you _claim_ to be its ally, and give far worse advice than they do. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2022, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maher-says-usa-democracy-is-in-its-death-bed-how-concerned-are-you/974615/70 "2022-11-09T22:03:17Z")
Well then I’m not sure who you _are_ complaining about. You complain that nobody is supporting anti-gerimandering legislation when its pretty clear the Democrats are doing their best to support it, as is pretty much everyone on the left side of this board. Here, I’ll add a poll below, just to see if I’m right. Yes, in terms of what we can do to help preserve democracy we say that the primary thing we need to do is vote Republicans out of office. This is because without that first step we can have the most pure honest dedicated and true blue set of dedicated Democrats and they still wouldn’t have the power to do squat. Would you support legislation or an amendment that would eliminate gerrymandering on both sides? _Poll ([view on site](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maher-says-usa-democracy-is-in-its-death-bed-how-concerned-are-you/974615/70))_ ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2022, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maher-says-usa-democracy-is-in-its-death-bed-how-concerned-are-you/974615/71 "2022-11-09T22:24:33Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > I’m not sure what the opposite to the canary in the coal mine metaphor is, but he is it. Only now noticing the poison gas the rest of us have been forced to breath for years. As I’ve said before, I quite like Bill Maher despite a few distasteful opinions he holds and occasionally bloviates, and I do see why many people consider him smug and obnoxious. But on balance I find him smart, entertaining, and sometimes prescient. His current show is now in its 20th year and has won tons of Emmys. Anyway, regarding your statement above. While most pundits were laughing at Trump and dismissing out of hand any chance that he could possibly be elected president, Maher predicted it was a strong possibility almost a full year before the 2016 Republican convention. Bill Maher on August 7, 2015: “For all those people who say [Trump] could not go all the way, I don’t think they’re right.” Furthermore, Maher repeatedly predicted that if Trump lost the next election, he would not voluntarily leave. That, too, was ridiculed by supposedly knowledgeable and intelligent pundits as laughable hyperbole. Love Bill Maher or hate him, as you please, but at least get your facts straight. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2022, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maher-says-usa-democracy-is-in-its-death-bed-how-concerned-are-you/974615/72 "2022-11-09T22:34:00Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > You complain that nobody is supporting anti-gerimandering legislation when its pretty clear the Democrats are doing their best to support it, as is pretty much everyone on the left side of this board. Here, I’ll add a poll below, just to see if I’m right. Gerrymandering is a plague ruining the country, and I don’t care which side does it, or how long it has been going on. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2022, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maher-says-usa-democracy-is-in-its-death-bed-how-concerned-are-you/974615/73 "2022-11-09T22:49:51Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > As I’ve said before, I quite like Bill Maher despite a few distasteful opinions he holds and occasionally bloviates, and I do see why many people consider him smug and obnoxious. But on balance I find him smart, entertaining, and sometimes prescient. Throw enough at the wall, and some of it sticks. I used to be a big fan, even saw him live a few times, but he stopped being funny, and started just being mean. > [@wolfpup](#): > > His current show is now in its 20th year and has won tons of Emmys. And Simpsons is in its 33rd year and has won 34 Emmys. Doesn’t make them useful political prognosticators. > [@wolfpup](#): > > While most pundits were laughing at Trump and dismissing out of hand any chance that he could possibly be elected president, Maher predicted it was a strong possibility almost a full year before the 2016 Republican convention. Yeah, throw enough at the wall… But I do remember quite a number of other pundits taking it seriously. Maybe they didn’t think he had a big chance, but very few dismissed him out of hand. > [@wolfpup](#): > > Furthermore, Maher repeatedly predicted that if Trump lost the next election, he would not voluntarily leave. That, too, was ridiculed by supposedly knowledgeable and intelligent pundits as laughable hyperbole. And that’s just not true. Trump said it, and many people believed it. There was quite a bit of question as to whether he could manage to not leave, or how he would go about it, but I don’t think that there was any serious pundit who didn’t think that Trump’s ego would let him leave without a fight. In the end though, he _did_ leave voluntarily. He wasn’t dragged kicking and screaming from the White House grounds. (Unless I missed it, if so, please tell me someone taped it.) > [@wolfpup](#): > > Love Bill Maher or hate him, as you please, but at least get your facts straight. Sayin… BTW, what “fact” did I get wrong? ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2022, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maher-says-usa-democracy-is-in-its-death-bed-how-concerned-are-you/974615/74 "2022-11-09T22:49:51Z")
Full disclosure I live in Maryland among the brightest of bright blue states, whose legislature proposed a [gnarly looking district map,](https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2022/politics/us-redistricting/maryland-redistricting-map/) that was later over turned by the courts. Back in 2012 I voted against a similarly gerrymandered map as part of a [ballot initiative](https://ballotpedia.org/Maryland_Redistricting_Referendum,_Question_5_(2012)), but, for better or worse, it passed anyway. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2022, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maher-says-usa-democracy-is-in-its-death-bed-how-concerned-are-you/974615/75 "2022-11-09T22:51:00Z")
While I _do_ agree with such an amendment in the abstract, I do ask what it would look like, and who and how congressional districts will be drawn before I would sign on in particular. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2022, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maher-says-usa-democracy-is-in-its-death-bed-how-concerned-are-you/974615/76 "2022-11-09T23:00:51Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > In the end though, he _did_ leave voluntarily. He wasn’t dragged kicking and screaming from the White House grounds. He left after pulling every stop in order to get the election results overturned, including an attempted violent insurrection for which he may yet be criminally charged, and vote-meddling in Georgia for which he might also be criminally charged. He left when it was obvious even to him that he had no options left, and that the next step would be literally being removed by force. And of course he left without the long-standing tradition of welcoming the next president. > [@k9bfriender](#): > > BTW, what “fact” did I get wrong? There was no basis for the implication that Maher is “the opposite of a canary in a coal mine”. The subject under discussion here is the toxic nature of current American politics which is largely the result of Trumpism. Maher was right in both of his major predictions about Trump, and he’s probably right about the threat that Trump and his acolytes pose to American democracy. Election interference and denial of unfavourable election results is now practically a plank in the Republican Party platform. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2022, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maher-says-usa-democracy-is-in-its-death-bed-how-concerned-are-you/974615/77 "2022-11-09T23:15:36Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > He left after pulling every stop in order to get the election results overturned, including an attempted violent insurrection for which he may yet be criminally charged, and vote-meddling in Georgia for which he might also be criminally charged. I made two points there, I see that you completely conceded the first ore important as you chose to only quote the second. > [@wolfpup](#): > > He left when it was obvious even to him that he had no options left, and that the next step would be literally being removed by force. And of course he left without the long-standing tradition of welcoming the next president. Yes, it _does_ matter what you mean by voluntarily. Not giving a welcome to the next president isn’t really what Maher meant, now is it? > [@wolfpup](#): > > There was no basis for the implication that Maher is “the opposite of a canary in a coal mine”. There’s plenty. He thought Milo Yiannopoulos was a swell guy, and he’s amplified the voice of many a right wing troll and bigot. He comes from the position that hate speech is just speech like any other, and won’t do any harm, because it won’t do _him_ any harm. > [@wolfpup](#): > > The subject under discussion here is the toxic nature of current American politics which is largely the result of Trumpism. And I put at least part of the growth of Trumpism at the feet of Maher. He’s not the only one, and certainly not the biggest, but he had his part to play in promoting not only Trump, but the alt-right in general. He’s treated the far right as though they were reasonable, rational beings that just wanted to be heard. He was very, very wrong there. > [@wolfpup](#): > > Maher was right in both of his major predictions about Trump, and he’s probably right about the threat that Trump and his acolytes pose to American democracy. And so were and so are a whole lot of other pundits, politicians and even SDMB posters. He’s not the only one. He’s not some divine oracle that is uniquely able distill and tell you the truth. > [@wolfpup](#): > > Election interference and denial of unfavourable election results is now practically a plank in the Republican Party platform. Exactly, and they have announced it to the world. So I don’t know exactly how much fawning credit I can give to Maher for noticing. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2022, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maher-says-usa-democracy-is-in-its-death-bed-how-concerned-are-you/974615/78 "2022-11-09T23:57:42Z")
I’m conceding nothing but I don’t feel like getting into a point-by-point pissing match. My central point was that Maher has been warning about Trump for years, and he was right, so I don’t see where you can justify claiming that he can’t see the nose in front of his face and is just now tagging along with what everyone else already knew. Time will tell if he’s right about the serious long-term jeopardy to American democracy, but I think that even those who don’t like Maher should restrain their emotions and objectively listen to what he has to say. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2022, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maher-says-usa-democracy-is-in-its-death-bed-how-concerned-are-you/974615/79 "2022-11-10T00:18:45Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > He’s treated the far right as though they were reasonable, rational beings that just wanted to be heard. He was very, very wrong there. Yes, by giving people like Ann Coulter a platform, he succeeded only in helping the alt-right. I don’t think it’s because he consciously wanted to help the alt-right, but mostly because he isn’t as smart as he thinks he is. and he bought his own twaddle about letting the marketplace of ideas work things out and not taking them as a serious threat for far too long. Notice he no longer calls himself a libertarian either. So he did learn his lesson somewhat, but way too late. ---
**Author:** ![WellHelloThere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9dc877/32.png) [@WellHelloThere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WellHelloThere)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2022, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maher-says-usa-democracy-is-in-its-death-bed-how-concerned-are-you/974615/80 "2022-11-10T00:45:24Z")
Wayne Brady should have slapped the shit out of him when he had the chance. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maher-says-usa-democracy-is-in-its-death-bed-how-concerned-are-you/974615.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maher-says-usa-democracy-is-in-its-death-bed-how-concerned-are-you/974615.md?page=5)