Is The Left Ready to Stop Hating Trump Voters?

If you prick them, do they not bleed?

I’ve been a fan of Bill Maher for a very long time. At some point in the mid-90s, I latched on to his show Politically Incorrect on Comedy Central from 1993 until it was cancelled in 2002. The format was great - his guests were stand up comics and other famous entertainers who were all on to talk about the news and issues of the day. It was part discussion and part improv comedy - most of the comedians brought their material or tried out new stuff. I did not often agree with Mr. Maher’s opinions, but that was one of the great things about the show - all points of view were welcomed (though you had to be in for being savaged for your folly in a way only standups can deliver). There was a refreshing bent to the program (not found elsewhere on television) against the Political Correctness of the time - an offshoot of totalitarianism and the beginnings of Woke culture - in which certain words became unspeakable. Bill Maher railed against this week after week and led often compelling conversations. It was the best of podcasting in a 22-minute format before podcasts were cool.

Ironically, the show was cancelled by elements in the Neocon Right, due to something Mr. Maher said a week after 9/11 that was taken out of context. This is when cancel culture really began to take hold in America - anyone who spoke out against the “War on Terror,” had a good chance of being cancelled - just ask the Dixie Chicks (who, in perhaps the greatest irony of ironies, dropped the Dixie in their name to genuflect to Political Correctness - after they were cancelled by Political Correctness). At the time I really hated what the Dixie Chicks had to say about the war, but I kept listening to their music. And I have come to realize they were probably closer to the truth on the Iraq War than I was then. Often artists lead the way to truth.

Elsewhere, Bill Maher got another shot at HBO and he’s thrived ever since. His show, Real Time with Bill Maher, is one of the must-see TV events weekly. He has great guests from all walks of life and political persuasions. And the last topic of the “New Rules” segment (to end the show) is often brilliant and worth the entire price of admission.

In addition, he’s been a much-needed critic, from the left, of Wokeism. Like Matt Taibbi, Glen Greenwald and others, Mr. Maher has become a darling of many on the right because of this, and it’s caused the typical “what happened to Bill Maher,” response from the tragically woke mainstream news media. Earth to media, he’s been here since at least 1993. It is you and your allies who have lurched leftward in a game of who can cancel who faster.

Which brings us to Friday night’s show, which aired on October 21st on HBO. Bill Maher gets some things right on this episode, but he continues to speak about Trump voters with the same language used by totalitarians to reject the out class. He often completely de-humanizes half of the country on his program, and this night was slightly better, but also more of the same.

His first guest was Alexandra Pelosi - Nancy Pelosi’s daughter - who as a documentarian recently released “The Insurrectionist Next Door,” in which she speaks with some people who participated in the January 6th Protest and Riot. I have not had a chance to watch this movie, but you can catch it on HBO.

What was so striking in watching the interview was how shocked Bill Maher was that Trump supporters in general and those who participated in January 6th specifically were real, decent people who take responsibility for their actions without blaming Trump or anyone else. He was shocked. He calls this “good red state something,” to laughs. As if personal responsibility and agency are to be mocked. Here is how it went:

Pelosi and Maher seem to think its a novel concept to state that Trump supporters are real, good people - “their fellow countrymen” - while at the same time making fun of the “Trumpy Uncle” and deciding for the first time in eight years that maybe they should sit down and talk and listen with the caricature. The underlying assumption here is exactly what these two deride MSNBC for - up to this point, Pelosi and Maher and many more just viewed every person involved in January 6th as “domestic terrorists.” They made no distinctions amongst the people because that is messy and complicated and doesn’t sell. It is much easier to classify every participant as a terrorist, whilst looking down your elite nose at them for a moment and then on with your day.

It is condescending to say the least, especially in the sense that they don’t even realize they are doing it. Rewatch that segment above and replace the words “Trump supporters” or “Normies” with “Jews” or “Black people” and you’ll see this more clearly.

Later in the show, during the panel segment, Bret Stephens from the New York Times and Mr. Maher could not state more unequivocally that Trump supporters are a “religious cult.” In the below segment, the derision expressed by all three panelists is clear, and Mr. Stephens in particular compares these same people to Jim Jones followers, who were 909 people convinced to commit mass-suicide by the cult leader.

There are many similarities between political parties and cults, and Mr. Stephens may want to be careful to avoid his own cultish behavior. He is so deeply entrenched in the NeoCon war ethic that brought disaster to America, its brave soldiers and the world, that he’s recently written he still supports the Iraq War. Here are some ways political parties are like cults:

1. Excessively zealous and unquestioning commitment to its leader and/or a belief system or ideology

2. Questioning, doubt and dissent are discouraged or even punished

3. Mind-altering practices (including chanting and denunciation sessions) to suppress doubts

4. The group is elitist, claiming a special, exalted status of itself

5. The group has a polarized us-versus-them mentality

6. The group believes exalted ends justify whatever means necessary

7. Members are encouraged or required to live and socialize only with other group members

8. Unreasonable fear about the outside world, such as impending catastrophe, evil conspiracies and persecutions

While this may sound like Trump supporters to some, it also sounds like NeoCons, Wokeists and yes, anti-Trumpists as well.

And in a final act of getting it wrong, Mr. Maher’s final “New Rules” segment tried to tie the Woke radical left terrorist sympathizers taking up space at our finest educational institutions to conservative politicians who attended these places decades ago and would, to a person, denounce such a thing. Terribly bad taste in the face of a real extreme element on the left supporting brutal violence for political gain.

I’ve written before about why I think Trump supporters stick with him in ways most other politicians only wish (though the support of Barrack Obama is very similar). I think it is important to re-visit why Trump is popular among his base:

Third, and most importantly, President Trump has struck a generational nerve in the American zeitgeist. As Andrew Yang said in his run for President in 2019, Trump is the symptom of much deeper problems in America…

Indeed, Trump won in 2016 in swing states that he had to win - Ohio, Iowa, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan. These states used to be industrialized powerhouses, but were hollowed out by globalist trade policies that sent a large swath of manufacturing jobs to China and other third world countries, and the internet revolution that automated out many more of their jobs. The best advice many seemed to have for those left behind was “learn to code,” which became an intense internet meme.

President Trump speaks to the working poor and middle class who feel they lose more and more every day, as the elite and the wealthy and the powerful continue to prosper. These working class folks watch as the Rich Men North of Richmond make sweetheart deals between big corporations and big government to squeeze out their wages, their jobs, their small businesses and their freedoms.

Even the legal system looks like it has left them behind - they think there is a two-tiered justice system in which the rich are exonerated and the poor go to jail. So even as Trump is indicted and prosecuted, they see his struggle as their struggle, they perceive the same forces squeezing them out squeezing him out. Trump is their champion, fighting against a rigged system for survival. If he beats the rap, maybe they can too.

You may think these ideas are misguided; and there is certainly at least two sides to any opinion or argument. But what the left and many on the right still - almost eight years later - have not come to grips with is this: perception is reality. If you do not address the issues and concerns of the working class in America, openly and honestly, and work to improve the lives of this large swath of Americans, the symptoms of this disease will continue to fester.