HBO’s Bill Maher doubled down on Friday’s episode of Real Time on his fallacious appeal to the center argument that President Donald Trump “has gone way too far” in issuing an executive order that says there are only two sexes.
Lamenting to his panel of former Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan and New York Times columnist Pamela Paul, Maher wondered, “Trump has gone way too far on this. He’s at that place—this is what I say, nobody can ever be in the middle; it has to go from one pendulum swing all the way to the other, so now we are back at there's only two sexes, which is ridiculous, although I'm glad I'm in one of the ones we’re keeping. Is that a hill worth dying on?”
Like his earlier protests against the order, Maher never cared to explain why he thinks it is “ridiculous,” most likely because it isn’t. Still, Ryan gave a long-winded answer that could be summarized as saying the best way to protect transgender people is to get Democrats elected who “are going to be compassionate towards your views,” but “that doesn't mean you run a campaign on that.”
Maher wasn’t the only one with fallacious arguments. Paul’s big problem seemed to be that Trump was the one issuing the order:
I think the effort to, you know, erase transgender people from, out of existence, to deny that they exist and they deserve rights, the same as anyone else, they should not be discriminated against. What's troubling about this is the idea that Donald Trump is taking a position that is to protect women, this is a sexual predator, and he supposedly is protecting women and girls? That he's the one who is supposed to be in favor of, you know, really evidence-based health care, in favor of science, in favor of gay rights, in favor of mental health care, in favor of protecting, you know, different people who differ from him. That, all of that—
Maher interrupted, “No, he's a terrible messenger, but penises do not belong in women's prisons. He's not wrong about that. Penises do not belong in women's shelters.”
Paul then backtracked, “Right, but this is one of the issues that's become so ridiculously politicized and polarized. That there is no room and most Americans I think, you know, deserve credit. Most Americans are reasonable on this issue and on the issue of biological boys playing on girls' sports teams or biological men being in women's prisons, most Americans in both parties agree.”
Yes, it has “become so ridiculously politicized and polarized,” but it was done so by the left because, in case viewers didn’t get it, most Americans agree with Trump and conservatives on the issues Paul raised.
Here is a transcript for the February 14 show:
HBO Real Time with Bill Maher
2/14/2025
10:41 PM ET
BILL MAHER: So, okay, let me go to one more semi-related thing about the hill to die on, it's my last one: trans. Because, Trump has gone way too far on this. He’s at that place—this is what I say, nobody can ever be in the middle—
PAMELA PAUL: No.
MAHER: It has to go from one pendulum swing all the way to the other, so now we are back at there's only two sexes, which is ridiculous, although I'm glad I'm in one of the ones we’re keeping. Is that a hill worth dying on?
TIM RYAN: No, you can't. I mean, you can't. And again, like it you can be for everyone having rights. You could be for people not getting bullied, you can approach these things in a compassionate way. But if you recognize that that is such a very small, small, one-tenth of one percent of the population and that's dominating the conversation and you're not talking about economics, and lunch bucket issues and pensions and wages and unions and all that good stuff.
Then you are defending one-tenth of one part of the population. Trump gets into my Republicans control the House and the Senate, you get someone who is cruel and mean-spirited and someone who didn’t agree with the first part of what I said protecting rights and making sure they are not bullied, all of that stuff, you don't get any of that because you failed to make the strategic argument and the question is, get people in office who are going to be compassionate towards your views and be inclusive and care about you even if you may not agree with everything, they’re not, you know, a president should be saying "no trans kid should ever get bullied in the United States, that's bullshit," right. That doesn't mean you run a campaign on that.
PAUL: I think the effort to, you know, erase transgender people from, out of existence, to deny that they exist and they deserve rights, the same as anyone else, they should not be discriminated against. What's troubling about this is the idea that Donald Trump is taking a position that is to protect women, this is a sexual predator, and he supposedly is protecting women and girls? That he's the one who is supposed to be in favor of, you know, really evidence-based health care, in favor of science, in favor of gay rights, in favor of mental health care, in favor of protecting, you know, different people who differ from him. That, all of that—
MAHER: No, he's a terrible messenger, but penises do not belong in women's prisons. He's not wrong about that. Penises do not belong in women's shelters.
PAUL: Right, but this is one of the issues that's become so ridiculously politicized and polarized—
MAHER: Yes.
PAUL: — That there is no room and most Americans I think, you know, deserve credit. Most Americans are reasonable on this issue and on the issue of biological boys playing on girls’ sports teams or biological men being in women's prisons, most Americans in both parties agree.
