The fact that it only reduced your respect and therefore you still have some respect for him convinces me that nothing he does will be enough to stop you from being a fan of his.
If by “fan” you mean I still watch the show, then yes, I still do. Because he still has interesting guests with interesting things to say.
But last Friday’s show had a disappointingly short “New Rules” segment that lacked the real point those things always have, whether or not you agree with them. This time there was nothing – just a few minutes of trivia. If that’s the new norm for “New Rules” then Maher goes down another couple of notches. In recent years I’ve always looked forward to the much more minimalist but much more informative John Oliver show on Sunday nights.
Some here would argue that Maher is losing his relevance, or has already lost it. I fear that I can no longer oppose that. His “report” on the Trump dinner was a pretty damning indication of his ignorance and naivete. It basically boiled down to “hey, I met the president of the USA, and you didn’t, and let me tell you, he’s a really nice guy!” 
Bill Maher has never gotten over being called on the carpet for using the n-word. He thought he had earned the right to use it; he hadn’t. He said all the right things at the time, but I think he carries a grudge being judged by who he thought were his audience.
Same thing happened with Rush Limbaugh when he got fired from ESPN for suggesting that the only reason Donovan McNabb was getting any sort of attention was because the NFL wanted a feel-good story about Black QBs (the look on Tom Jackson’s face, wanting to fucking drive his fist in his head may have also been a factor in his abrupt dismissal). I digress. Limbaugh seemed even nastier after that moment. Almost defiant and bringing a lot of counter-revolutionary energy, which I don’t sense with Maher, but I still sense a lot of fuck you, snowflake energy nevertheless.
I haven’t thought he was funny for years. What the fuck am I being a sourpuss about?
I’ve disliked Maher ever since Religulous. Despite having been an atheist at the time (today I’m more of an unaffiliated pantheist but I don’t believe in a personal god or an afterlife) and having a strong dislike for fundamentalists of all stripes, I never liked the “New Atheism” movement’s attitude of “I don’t believe in God and therefore I am better than you” and its attitude of mockery and outright hatred of anyone who had religious beliefs, and that film was what really showed me just how overwhelmingly smug and full of himself he was.
Most of the “New Atheists” of 20 years ago have gone on to be Islamophobes, transphobes, magas, and/or all of the above, so I guess I made the right call.
Or with comedy being subjective, they just don’t find it funny? I’m sure that I laugh at things you wouldn’t but I won’t call you a sourpup for it.
I’m glad you acknowledge this particular incident that reflects very poorly on Maher and haven’t dug in your heels, that says a lot about you.
Teidrich quoting Darryl Silver:
No doubt. It would be akin to Trump bragging about world leaders being deathly afraid of his tariffs, coming to him on their knees and saying “oh please sir, can we make a deal?”.
The art of the con is essential for successful politicians.
Trump is such an amazingly inept con man. Where are the con artists of yore? Now Reagan, there was a true artist. He could con the entire country out of the fillings in their teeth, and make us thank him for it. And Clinton, there was a man who could talk anyone into anything, and frequently did.
Truly we live in lesser times.
He conned his way into the White House not once but twice. The second time he was a convicted felony many times over, and was facing charges for Espionage Act violations and is on camera inciting a violent insurrection, and indicted for a more subtle kind of insurrection.
That doesn’t sound inept, that sounds like an evil superpower.
It sounds to me like plain evidence of the ineptness/ignorance of the American voter. That applies both to the cultists who voted for the Orange Felon because they adore him, and to the many others who voted (R) because they always vote (R), without taking even a moment to consider the consequences. And to a lesser extent, the lazy fucks who didn’t vote at all, and who could have made a difference.
But that’s what a conman does. He finds a likely mark and takes advantage. A successful conman finds people susceptible to being conned and fleeces them.
With apologies for the antiquated slur, but I cite this quote from Alice’s Restaurant:
You know, if one person, just one person does it they may think he’s really sick and they won’t take him. And if two people, two people do it, in harmony, they may think they’re both faggots and they won’t take either of them. And three people do it, three, can you imagine, three people walking in singin’ a bar of Alice’s Restaurant and walking out. They may think it’s an organization. And can you, can you imagine fifty people a day, I said fifty people a day walking in singin a bar of Alice’s Restaurant and walking out. And friends, they may thinks it’s a movement.
The group that’s been conned here is not fifty people, but fifty million.
People seem to be too invested in denying that Donnyboy actually has any kind of skill or wiles, even if noxious.
I think you’re right about that. His resentment has fueled his attacks on the left (even though he may not be aware that his personal feelings are actually what motivate his supposed Reasoned Position).
Yep.
Teidrich, too, has Maher’s measure.
I agree with this. Maher was always a self-important person but possibly as he’s aged (late 60s, now) he’s decided he’s the Great Sage, the guru who could solve everything if only everyone would listen to him. As you point out, he’s glommed on to this theory that he is the Great Mediator. It’s not working. (He does have right-wingers on his show as well as left-or-centrist people, but I have yet to see a single instance of them Coming Together or Finding Common Ground or anything else that would support Maher’s self-appointed role of mediator.)
This may be the best analysis I’ve read yet. Mike Brock never disappoints.
The Theater of Intimacy differs fundamentally from other forms of normalization we’ve witnessed in recent years. Unlike the “just asking questions” approach that feigns neutrality while platforming dangerous ideas, or the “both sides” framing that creates false equivalences between democratic values and their opposition, the Theater of Intimacy operates through personal connection rather than intellectual abstraction. It doesn’t claim objectivity but rather a privileged subjectivity—the insider’s view, the authentic encounter, the real person behind the public persona.
Seems like an awful lot of words to describe two people - Maher and Trump - who are desperate for attention and aim to get it however they can, not caring about opprobrium but reveling in it.
Mike Brock makes a gross error in his piece.
Lindbergh was an overt fascist sympathizer, who not only praised Nazi Germany (his plans to move there were only canceled after Kristallnacht), but engaged in overt anti-Semitic bigotry and supported the elimination of “inferior” people from society.
I don’t agree. Lindbergh WAS an overt fascist, but the means he used—asserting that his personal connection with Hitler proved that Hitler was no threat to the USA and in fact should be supported by Americans—was precisely the means Brock describes. (And applies to Maher/Trump.)
It’s the same “privileged subjectivity” (which normalizes a despicable inhumanity) in both cases.
I wasn’t familiar with Brock, but will look for his byline in future.
I loathe Trump. I loathe everything about him. Seeing his smirking bronze-splattered face sets my teeth on edge. I can’t stand to hear his voice. I hate everything he has done to ruin this country and victimize countless people. He’s a goddamn monster.
And yet I’ve seen him act affable and self-deprecatingly charming. He’s capable of it. As others have said, it’s part of what got him to where he is today. (That, and a lack of scruples and a massive inheritance.)
Maher is an idiot if he wasn’t aware of any of that ahead of time and was surprised and taken in by it. That or he’s lying and playing along for some reason.
I finally watched the post Trump episode. It wasn’t great but not as bad as I was expecting. What I really wasn’t expecting was the disgusting swine, Steve Bannon, and bloviating ass, Piers Morgan. I don’t recall the name of the other guest but Maher was a real dick to him.
Josh Rogin, and … yes … yes Maher was a dick to him.