MSNBC’s Sam Stein traveled over to HBO and Real Time with Bill Maher on Friday to express his disappointment in conservatives for not defending Mahmoud Khalil as he faces deportation for his role in pro-Hamas demonstrations at Columbia University. As Stein tells it, people who made such a big deal about cancel culture on campus need to stand up and claim, “This is chilling.”
Stein began by declaring, “I will say, I find this one not even close. This is such an easy call. And in fact, I'm—I find it chilling what’s going on. Of course, what Mahmoud Khalil represents to me, as a Jew, I find abhorrent, I don’t have any sympathy for Hamas, and I don’t know if he necessarily does, but he's certainly advocating for things that are closely associated with what they are trying to achieve.”
However, Stein claimed, “The fact is the government of the United States went into a college campus and policed protest and policed speech, and if you don't see a problem with that, that’s a problem.”
Stein also claimed that “Secondarily, I think it’s stupid what they did because the goal here is for them to try to suppress these viewpoints, ultimately that's what they are trying to do, right? They want to win these arguments. What they've done is effectively turn this guy into a martyr and they've made him a cause.”
Finally, Stein turned to conservatives, “I can't fathom that people who—especially with respect to college culture, there is always canceled culture on college campuses and they made that a huge cause for free speech. I'm deeply disappointed that those voices have not stood up and said this is wrong, this is chilling, and it should stop.”
What Stein failed to see is that in both cases conservatives are against the mob. When a conservative speaker uses a classroom or a lecture hall and is shouted down by people hoping to use the hecklers’ veto or is disinvited after a pressure campaign, that is cancel culture. That is not the same thing as there being consequences for illegal behavior, such as the occupation of school property or harassing others.
Here is a transcript for the March 14 show:
HBO Real Time with Bill Maher
3/14/2025
10:37 PM ET
SAM STEIN: I will say, I find this one not even close. This is such an easy call. And in fact, I'm—I find it chilling what’s going on. Of course, what Mahmoud Khalil represents to me, as a Jew, I find abhorrent, I don’t have any sympathy for Hamas, and I don’t know if he necessarily does, but he's certainly advocating for things that are closely associated with what they are trying to achieve.
The fact is the government of the United States went into a college campus and policed protest and policed speech, and if you don't see a problem with that, that’s a problem.
Secondarily, I think it’s stupid what they did because the goal here is for them to try to suppress these viewpoints, ultimately that's what they are trying to do, right? They want to win these arguments. What they've done is effectively turn this guy into a martyr and they've made him a cause and I can't fathom that people who — especially with respect to college culture, there is always canceled culture on college campuses and they made that a huge cause for free speech. I'm deeply disappointed that those voices have not stood up and said this is wrong, this is chilling, and it should stop.
