During Friday’s edition of HBO's Real Time, panelist and leftist documentary maker Michael Moore reiterated a point frequently made by host Bill Maher: “Fascism is at the doorstep.”
He also issued a call-to-action, asserting: “The vast majority believe in women’s rights, environmental stuff, don’t put people in jail for using drugs. All of that stuff, the majority are with us. We are the majority. Why don’t we start acting like we’re the majority?” Maher seemed pessimistic about America’s future, pointing out that “now, you can’t get back the Court.”
Maher, his panel, and liberals all across America were not having a good week. Maher brought up a poll from Rasmussen, which found that 31 percent of likely voters believe that America will have another Civil War in the next five years. Faux Republican and Washington Post blogger Jennifer Rubin dismissed the results of the survey, describing Rasmussen as “Kool-Aid drinking,” adding “they have monkeys…calling people on the phone, and it’s just nonsense.”
Disagreeing with Rubin’s characterization of the idea of another Civil War as “nonsense,” Maher brought up a recent focus group conducted by Oprah Winfrey on CBS’s 60 Miinutes, where every single participant agreed that America would soon have another Civil War.
Panelist and former Colin Powell aide Lawrence Wilkerson attempted to compare Trump’s America to two eras in American history, the pre-Civil War period of 1850 to 1860 and the era immediately following the Civil War where Future President Ulysses S. Grant served as Commander of all Armed Forces in the United States.
Wilkerson said that Grant “had to defy his President and act unconstitutionally in order to keep the results of the war and the million dead alive. Grant actually acted outside the Constitution.” Wilkerson’s statement implies that liberals should “act outside the Constitution” in order to take down President Trump.
At this point, Moore began his lecture on fascism, arguing “people are afraid to use the word but I think that we have got to be very serious about this.” Moore then talked about how President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill defeated fascism, pointing out that “one of those people was in a wheelchair and the other one was a drunkard.”
Moore then attempted to justify his belittling of the World War II-era leaders:
If they defeated fascism, look what we’ve got. We’ve got a country, as Jennifer said, where the vast majority believe in women’s rights, environmental stuff, don’t put people in jail for using drugs. All of that stuff, the majority are with us. We are the majority. Why don’t we start acting like we’re the majority?
Actor Bradley Whitford seemed to disagree with the pessimism of his fellow panelists: “What we’re facing is desperate but it does not compare, for example, to the systemic repression and the walls to liberty and violence that the Civil Rights leaders faced.”
After Whitford’s mention of the Civil Rights movement, Moore attempted to compare #TheResistance to Civil Rights leaders when bringing up the anti-Trump demonstrations set to take place the following day:
Martin Luther King, he had four children. Every time he went out....he knew that he may not make it back and those four children would not have a father. You, what are we willing to commit to? What would you give your life for? What would you be willing to actually put yourself on the line for? That moment is now, we are going to lose our democracy if we haven’t already, we have no choice my friends, we all have to rise up.
To see the relevant transcript from HBO's Real Time from June 29, click "expand."
HBO's Real Time With Bill Maher
06/29/18
10:45 p.m. Eastern
BILL MAHER: And here’s some more bad news as long as we are having a horrible week, millennials. Support among millennials is tanking for the Democrats; white male millennials are now fully on board the Trump campaign. These are the young people. We always say let’s get the young people out to vote. Well, maybe we shouldn’t be wishing for that because they might not be voting for the candidate we would like them to. How about this? 31 percent of likely voters in the Rasmussen survey say it’s likely in the next five years America will have a second civil war.
JENNIFER RUBIN: Well, first of all Rasmussen is like Kool-Aid drinking, you know, they have monkeys, you know, calling people on the phone, and it’s nonsense. But aside from that ---
BILL MAHER: Okay, this is not nonsense. I heard Oprah do a focus group on 60 Minutes, Oprah, that’s not Rasmussen, we’re supposed to like Oprah. She did a focus group on 60 Minutes, everyone in the focus group said this, that they thought a civil war was coming. What does that look like?
LAWRENCE WILKERSON: Have read Ron Chernow’s, read Ron Chernow’s book, Grant, and you read that book and you find two periods in there that are stunningly like today, the period of 1850 to 1860, and then the period when Grant is the Commander of all Armed Forces in the United States, had to defy his President and act unconstitutionally in order to keep the results of the war and the million dead alive. Grant actually acted outside the Constitution. He sent Sherman and Sheridan to stop the killings in New Orleans and Charleston and other places when Johnson wanted them to go on. Johnson wanted to give the slaves back to the south. Johnson wanted to repudiate the whole war. We are in a period not unlike that today, I think it’s as serious as Michael pointed out. It’s very serious. We’re in a period where ---
MOORE: It’s also, Bill, you’ve said this week after week. Fascism is at the doorstep. We are ---
MAHER: Slow moving coup.
MOORE: --- people are afraid to use the word but I think that we have got to be very serious about this.
(CROSSTALK)
MOORE: No, I was just saying the, you know, fascism, FDR and Churchill defeated fascism, one of those people was in a wheelchair and the other one was a drunkard. To be kind. I mean ---
WILKERSON: But he was sober in the morning.
MOORE: Yeah but, see but the point is if they defeated fascism, look what we’ve got. We’ve got a country, as Jennifer said, where the vast majority believe in women’s rights, environmental stuff, don’t put people in jail for using drugs. All of that stuff, the majority are with us. We are the majority. Why don’t we start acting like we’re the majority? Why don’t we start ---
MAHER: Because we already got in the car, that’s the problem. Is that because now you can’t get back the Court.
BRADLEY WHITFORD: Look, what we’re facing is desperate but it does not compare, for example, to the systemic repression and the walls to liberty and violence that the Civil Rights leaders faced. And we can…The moral arc, you know, bends toward justice was said by a man who was saying it humbly, people made it bend. They bent in, you have to make it happen, you don’t get a democracy, you got to make it every day. And we can’t give into despair.
MOORE: And so tomorrow, there’s 750 demonstrations across the country tomorrow, 750 demonstrations. Anybody who says I’ve got to get the kids to soccer practice, I can’t go, I’ve got to do this or that, Martin Luther King, he had four children. Every time he went out from the time he was 26 years old, that’s when the Montgomery bus boycott was, 26 years old, until he died at 39, and he went out and he knew that he may not make it back and those four children would not have a father. You, what are we willing to commit to? What would you give your life for? What would you be willing to actually put yourself on the line for? That moment is now, we are going to lose our democracy if we haven’t already, we have no choice my friends, we all have to rise up.
