On Friday's Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO, during a discussion of recent leaks from the intelligence community that have been damaging to the Donald Trump administration, liberal host Maher not only suggested that American intelligence agencies are trying to protect the U.S. from a "coup" by President Trump, but he even theorized that such government agencies were behind President John F. Kennedy's assassination because he was having sex with communist spies.
The HBO host asserted that "we don't know what happened to Jack Kennedy" as he brought up the conspiracy theory that "the intelligence agencies" were behind his assassination. Maher:
Can I put this in perspective? When Kennedy was President, he wasn't f***ing around with the Russians, but he was f***ing around. The intelligence agencies -- we don't know what happened to Jack Kennedy, but that was one theory because they couldn't trust him because he was f***ing East German spies and mafia couriers. And they were like, "This guy has a p**** problem, and this cannot stand. He is too much of a danger to America."
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He then tied in President Trump as he added: "Now, I feel like that's where the intelligence agencies are now. Now, they should not be violent -- don't get me wrong -- but they are saying through their leaks, 'This man cannot be President.'"
Panel member and MSNBC military analyst Malcolm Nance stoked up the fearmongering as he weighed in:
And you know why they're saying that? Because what we have is a situation here where the person they would have to report to, the absolute pinnacle, the commander-in-chief is a person who himself cannot be reported to. What they're doing is they're reporting and they're taking it above his head to the ultimate commander-in-chief, which is the American people. This is an act of patriotism.
Moments later, the freakout continued as Maher fretted a "coup" by Trump if he appoints people to take control of the intelligence agencies:
America is now in this place where we have watched other countries where we have had our nose up about -- Egypt and Turkey -- places where we thought, "Oh, you know, the dictator is crazy, so the intelligence services, that's not really the best option." Oh, wait, it is the best option. They're like our last line of defense now.
Turning to Nance, he added:
And I -- Trump floated the idea this week that he's going to put this guy Steven Feinberg -- who's some hedge fund buddy of his -- he wants him to oversee the intelligence. It looks like a purge in the making so that he can take over. Can -- my question to you, sir -- can Trump put his people in charge of the intelligence agencies? Because then we have no line of defense between the total coup.