On Friday night's Real Time, somehow the discussion of NBC/MSNBC hiring and quickly firing former RNC boss Ronna McDaniel turned into a discussion of the Communist Party. Bill Maher implied that McDaniel was more of a danger to democracy than the Communist Party USA ever was.
Maher's opening question to columnist Fareed Zakaria and former Trump Defense Secretary Mark Esper: “How do you represent this large part of the country that does not believe the election was legitimate? How do you say to people ‘we want to include you, but we can't deny that what you think is stupid’?”
This depends on the polling question. You can believe Biden was elected, that he won the Electoral College, and still say “no” if the question hinges on “legitimate.” Because the media and Big Tech suppressed damaging stories like the Hunter Biden laptop – which our MRC poll showed could have swung the swing states to Trump.
This is especially important when they’re discussing freedom of speech, because powerful forces worked to suppress free speech right before the election.
Zakaria said Bill Clinton lied under oath and he can be on MSNBC, and Stacey Abrams was an election denier. Esper agreed. Maher rejected this line:
Ronna McDaniel worse than a communist? @BillMaher suggests so, contending he’s “not sure “ Gus Hall was for “the violent overthrow of the United States” because “you can elect a communist government. Italy did it all the time.” #RealTime pic.twitter.com/OAMr8IBXBr
— Brent Baker 🇺🇦 🇮🇱 (@BrentHBaker) March 30, 2024
BILL MAHER: I’m not with you on the idea that a lie is a lie. Bill Clinton's lies, Obama's lies, whoever lies are different from the election doesn't count when our guy doesn't win, that is a separate thing. I get that point of view.
FAREED ZAKARIA: I agree but my point is you have to recognize that the end of the day if you're in favor of free speech – look, you say these are lies, they are against the American system. We've had communists run for the presidency of the United States. When I was in college I invited Gus Hall, the communist party candidate, he believed in the violent overthrow of the United States. Fine! In a liberal democracy you get to say your piece and we get to debate it. By the way, it would be good TV to have Rachel Maddow ask her some of the questions.
MARK ESPER: that’s right.
MAHER: I'm not sure he was for the violent overthrow of the United States,
ZAKARIA: He was for the overthrow.
MAHER: He wanted communism which is a form of government.
ZAKARIA: Which is not liberal democracy.
MAHER: No, it is not.
ZAKARIA: You would have to overthrow the government to get to it, right?
MAHER: No! You can elect a communist government, Italy did it all the time. [Laughter]
ZAKARIA: Gus Hall was a little more hardline than the Italian communists, who were basically communists in name.
Some Italian communists gained office in local elections, but Italy never had a national communist government. How is it that Maher can suggest Gus Hall is a more legitimate "democrat" than Ronna McDaniel? Gus Hall ran a party that was aligned with (and financially supported by) the Soviet Union, America's greatest adversary. Their goal was to spread communism worldwide, and end democracy.
Maher implied that since Trump is presently leading, that implies half the country thinks Trump won last time. That's an energetic stretch. It's likely there are Biden voters who are switching in current polls due to Biden's mismanagement of the country. They're hardly "election deniers."
The real sticking point here is that Trump supporters who violently rioted at the Capitol on the day the presidential election was certified have given evidence to the Left that anyone who opposes Biden is "anti-democratic." Our media thinks that if you rig the election the right way, you haven't rigged the election, you "fortified" it. You saved democracy by rigging it.
