During his closing monologue on Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” host Bill Maher argued Democrats should have run on the economy being good and that while prices have gone up, “what caused the inflation was shutting the entire country down and paying everyone $6 trillion to stay home because a bad flu was going around, and Trump and Biden both did that.” But Biden “tamed” inflation.
Maher said that undecided voters “wanted more reassurance that the Democrat isn’t going to go along with every aggressively anti-common-sense idea that comes out of the woke mind virus, which, yes, is a thing. And if she loses, that will be mainly why. And part of that mind virus is progressophobia, Steven Pinker’s term for the liberal fear of ever admitting when things are actually good. As The Economist puts it about America today, ‘an economy with an unemployment rate of 4% and a per-person GDP of $85,000 does not have to be made great again; it is great.’ And yet, the economy is the Christmas Eve voters’ other big issue, and they think it’s terrible, when, actually, it’s bigger and better than ever. … When we were coming out of the pandemic, every economist predicted we were headed for a recession, and all the horrible things that come with it. But — much like Trump’s girlfriends — those things never came. The truth about America today — what Democrats should have been selling is — everything that should be low and down, is. Unemployment, low. Black unemployment, low. Poverty rate, low. Gas prices, down. And everything that should be up and high, is. Manufacturing, real wages, the stock market, personal spending, personal savings, oil production. The U.S. now produces more energy than it uses. … If Trump was president with this economy, it would be 24/7 of, we have the greatest economy, ever, in the history of the world, maybe the universe, many people are saying it.”
He added, “Yes, everything at the dollar store costs $1.50 now, but Biden didn’t invent food costs money. And what caused the inflation was shutting the entire country down and paying everyone $6 trillion to stay home because a bad flu was going around, and Trump and Biden both did that. Everybody took the money, and I don’t see [Trump supporters] handing back the checks. But who brought inflation down further and faster than any other country? The United States, bitches. It peaked here in 2022 and since has dropped like a rock to 2.4%. Biden tamed it without causing a recession, which is like catching a SpaceX rocket with your butt cheeks. The phrase I hear so much that makes me just want to unalive myself is, how’s she going to help me? Like the president is your personal genie. … You think you’re living in the second Great Depression because you can’t buy a full foot of sandwich for $5? Maybe you’re not looking at the actual numbers. Maybe your hat’s too tight. And undecideds, you should be voting Harris because of the economy, but undecideds don’t get that message, because Democrats can’t make the words, things aren’t so bad ever come out of their mouths, lest someone, somewhere accuse them of not caring enough about people who are struggling. But even in a good economy, some segment of society will always struggle with money, mostly liberal arts majors. And so, dear Christmas Eve voter, I say to you: Things aren’t that bad, but they might get a hell of a lot worse under the rule of a mad king.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett