MSNBC’s Chris Hayes took his book tour to HBO and Friday’s episode of Real Time with Bill Maher, where he urged Democrats to double down on telling Republicans to “just stay the fuck out of their business” when it comes to parents wanting to give their children gender-altering “health care.”
Maher had just finished lamenting that the recent forum for the DNC chair election, complete with a land acknowledgment and other progressive cringe-inducing antics, showed the party hasn’t learned anything when Hayes replied, “I think that, I don't think there's anyone who hasn't had a moment across the political spectrum of some form of progressive communication that's either left them bewildered or a little like ‘Eh, I don't know about that,’ but at the same time, there is a message of what I would call common sense patriotic pluralism. That is a majority message.”
The first example he reached for was, “If some father and mother have health care for their kid lined up, who is trans, just stay the fuck out of their business. Like, and let them make that decision. That's their decision to make. You don't have to make that for your family. I'm not going to tell you what to do with your family.”
Maher pushed back, “I mean, but the argument is whether the child should make the decision.”
Hayes strained credibility to add, “But the child is never making the decision. The parents are always making the decision. Parents consent to medical care.”
Eventually, Maher would add, “They would say it's disfiguring a child.”
Hayes was unmoved, “I think they should mind their business; I really do. I think they should mind their business, and I think that's true about a lot of things.”
Since he was on Bill Maher’s show, Hayes probably felt the need to moderate himself so as not to appear to be a complete crazy person. Previously, he and his podcast guests have mused that four-year olds are mature enough to change genders. With that in mind, his desire to just trust the parents doesn’t hold water because if self-styled doctors believe that, they can just pressure or bully the parents into it. There is also the fact that left-wing governments overseas don’t even believe that this “health care” should be available to minors.
Here is a transcript for the February 7 show:
HBO Real Time with Bill Maher
2/7/2025
10:15 PM ET
CHRIS HAYES: I think that, I don't think there's anyone who hasn't had a moment across the political spectrum of some form of progressive communication that's either left them bewildered or a little like "Eh, I don't know about that," but at the same time, there is a message of what I would call common sense patriotic pluralism--
MAHER: Yeah.
HAYES: -- that is a majority message, which is like if some father and mother have health care for their kid lined up, who is trans, just stay the fuck out of their business. Like, and let them make that decision. That's their decision to make. You don't have to make that for your family. I'm not going to tell you what to do with your family.
BILL MAHER: I mean, but the argument is whether the child should make the decision.
HAYES: But the child is never making the decision. The parents are always making the decision. Parents consent to medical care.
MAHER: Well, here, in California, you're allowed to hide it from the parents, if the kid -- thank you the one person who knows that. Somebody knows that is the case.
HAYES: I think in the vast majority, hearing from parents right now who's kid's medical care has been interrupted. I think there's a way to talk about --
MAHER: Well, of course, they would say it’s not medical care.
HAYES: Sure, that is what they are saying.
MAHER: They would say it's disfiguring a child.
HAYES: I think they should mind their business; I really do. I think they should mind their business, and I think that's true about a lot of things. I think there is this sense in which there was this, sort of, backlash politics, some of which I understood, some of which people I knew felt that way.
I don't think what they wanted was for the women CIA agents at the CIA to be told that they couldn't get together once a month to, like, celebrate former women's spies. I think fundamental parts of this country, the traditions of pluralism, which is what this country is and pluralism is another word for diversity. If we’re not going to use that one, let’s use pluralism. That fundamentally, there is a majority that understands that, like, we come from different places, and part of what makes this country work is that we acknowledge and we negotiate those differences, and that's a thing that I think Democrats can win back a majority of.
