Far-left comedian Bill Maher on Tuesday derided war widow Carryn Owens for allowing herself to be Donald Trump’s “prop” in his speech to Congress. Three separate MSNBC guests called her that within an hour. Regarding the wife of the Navy SEAL, Maher sneered, “First of all, I wish she hadn't allowed herself to be used as his prop like that. And I don't see any great courage here. Where is the courage?”
Appearing on a special 12am edition of Hardball, he whined, “Who wouldn't stand and applaud for a war widow?” Getting warmed up, the comic snarled, “It's all fun and games when you are on the campaign trail and you are arousing the bad side of people and the hate radio kind of stuff. But now it's actually happening in America.”
Later in the show, liberal director Rob Reiner appeared and also accused Mrs. Owens of being a “prop” for the President: "If you are a great snake oil salesman, and he is, then it works. But, boy oh, boy talk about using somebody as a prop."
A few minutes after that, commentator Nancy Giles repeated the attack: “I felt like that poor woman who lost her husband was being used as a prop.”
Earlier in the night on MSNBC, an angry Rachel Maddow bashed the speech as viewing immigrants as “vicious, murdering criminals.”
A partial transcript is below:
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Hardball
3/1/17
12:07
CHRIS MATTHEWS: I know you are not that sentimental, but I was taken with the widow of, certainly, Carryn Owens tonight. And then everything was going well and the people were reacting and she was in her private moment there. And I thought --- And then Trump had to start talking about the number of minutes of applause and doing the applause meter on it. I just thought that was — what did you think of that? Wasn't that a bit grotesque? I thought. What did you make of that?
BILL MAHER: I wasn't crazy about the response to that, because — like it was such a great moment. First of all, I wish she hadn't allowed herself to be used as his prop like that.
MATTHEWS: Yeah.
MAHER: And I don't see any great courage here. Where is the courage? Who wouldn't stand and applaud for a war widow? You know, it's all very well and good to elect this guy who is going to be the bull in the china shop until people realize and find out, and it's not going to happen for a year or more, that, you know, the china being broken is your china. You losing your health care, your coal job not coming back.
You know, things are going to happen, they are already happening, that actually hurt people. It's all fun and games when you are on the campaign trail and you are arousing the bad side of people and the hate radio kind of stuff. But now it's actually happening in America. People are actually being hurt. They are being detained at the borders, families are being separated. Rivers are being polluted. I mean, the bad stuff is really going on. I wrote this down. “Education is the civil rights issue of our time” and then Betsy Devos is the — I mean, this is what people are going to be talking about tomorrow, the disconnect between the rhetoric and the reality.
12:45
[On Carryn Owens at speech.]
ROB REINER: It sells and it works. If you are a great snake oil salesman, and he is, then it works. But, boy oh, boy talk about using somebody as a prop. I mean, it was disgraceful.
12:55
[On Carryn Owens at speech.]
NANCY GILES: I felt like that poor woman who lost her husband was being used as a prop.
