The presidential race is getting so tight that someone is going to have to “go out there” and assassinate Donald Trump, liberal comedian and talk show host Bill Maher joked on Saturday.
During a stand-up performance at the DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., the host of HBO’s Real Time referred to the release of John Hinckley — the man who attempted to kill President Ronald Reagan in 1981 — from a psychiatric hospital on Saturday.
“I’m nervous with this election,” Maher told the audience, according to theWrap. “I saw the headline today: ‘Race tightening, Trump ahead in Ohio and Florida.’ If this race is even the week before the election, somebody is going to have to go out there… Why do you think they let Hinckley out?”
Maher has repeatedly gone after Trump on his HBO program during this election season, including joking about the candidate’s death during a segment in March. The talk show host previously compared Trump to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
Despite his apparent disdain for Trump, Maher predicted in February that Democrats could lose the election to Trump for continually refusing to say the words “Islamic terrorism.”
“Donald Trump is not right — but he will win the election if the American people have to choose between his demagoguery and a party that won’t even say the words ‘Islamic terrorism,'” Maher said then. “I think the Democrats could lose on that issue alone, especially if there’s another attack.”
Maher appears to have been correct when he said the 2016 race is tightening; as Breitbart News reported Monday, the most recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll shows Trump and Clinton virutally tied in four key swing states with just two months left until Election Day.
Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum