HBO Real Time host Bill Maher left Rep. Elissa Slotkin dumbfounded on Friday as he tried to find out where she draws the line on “the woke craziness” while discussing the “madness” that is San Francisco’s reparations plan.
Earlier in the segment, Maher, Slotkin, and Andrew Yang were discussing Judge Kyle Duncan’s trip to Stanford where the DEI dean-led mob wouldn’t allow him to finish his lecture and included alleged adults yelling at him about their sex lives. It was such an embarrassment for Stanford that they had to apologize, but Slotkin’s big take away was that Duncan was “a fragile flower.”
Slotkin also didn’t have a problem with the University of Michigan employing 142 DEI bureaucrats and with that as context, Maher asked “What about the reparations ruling in San Francisco, is that too far, the $5 million?” Playing dumb, Slotkin claimed that “I don’t know much about—I’m not—”
Maher then recalled his opening monologue, “Well, San Francisco, they are going forward with this plan to give reparations, 5 million—I said it in the monologue, $5 million which—that’s quite a lot.”
Still acting like she had no idea what Maher is talking about, Slotkin asked “To individuals?” Maher confirmed that it was as Yang tried to break the tension by adding “Even I didn't go this far.”
After Slotkin asked one more question “$5 million total,” Maher elaborated on the scheme, “5 million and a house for $1, they buy you a house. I mean-- it seems like, you, when people ask why you are talking against the woke craziness, because it’s crazy, is it not crazy? They say it would cost every—they said it would cost—and by the way San Francisco doesn't have a history of slavery or anything like that, you know, it would cost every citizen left $600,000 each. This is madness, is it not?”
Slotkin never did answer the question, instead Yang claimed it is a political statement and that it represents a larger problem of politicians being more interested in messaging than governing.
As for Maher, again he has shown the way forward for the rest of the late night hosts. Instead of wokeness being a fake GOP-Fox News controversy designed to make people angry, it is real and it is absurd.
Here is a transcript for the March 17 show:
HBO Real Time with Bill Maher
3/17/2023
10:43 PM ET
BILL MAHER: What about the reparations ruling in San Francisco, is that too far, the $5 million?—
ELISSA SLOTKIN: I don’t know much about—I’m not--
MAHER: Well, San Francisco, they are going forward with this plan to give reparations, 5 million—I said it in the monologue, $5 million which—that’s quite a lot.
SLOTKIN: To individuals?
MAHER: Yes to individuals. Since it would cost--
ANDREW YANG: Even I didn't go this far.
SLOTKIN: $5 million total?
MAHER: $5 million and a house for $1, they buy you a house. I mean-- it seems like, you, when people ask why you are talking against the woke craziness, because it’s crazy, is it not crazy? They say it would cost every—they said it would cost—and by the way San Francisco doesn't have a history of slavery or anything like that, you know, it would cost every citizen left $600,000 each. This is madness, is it not?
YANG: So, this is a proposal that's unfunded? It sounds like more of a political statement, if it’s going to cost—
MAHER: But even if it is. What—is—
YANG: This is really the point, Bill, is that we have a lot of people at various ages of public office who are putting out bills and policies that are more for the messaging and stoking the fires on social media than actually trying to get something passed.
