HBO’s Real Time host Bill Maher defended racially charged remarks made by presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden, appearing to agree with the notion that any black American planning to vote for Donald Trump in November’s presidential election is working against their own interests.
Maher began Friday’s panel discussion on race with progressive broadcaster Soledad O’Brien and political scientist Ian Bremmer by criticizing Biden over his comments. However, Maher questioned why any black person would vote for Trump because of his continued support for law enforcement amid the race riots sparked by the police involved death of George Floyd.
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In an interview with The Breakfast Club radio host Charlamagne tha God last week, Biden suggested that black people were not black unless they voted for him. “If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black,” Biden declared.
“I actually must tell you, I hate when people use that sort of phrase, ‘If you don’t agree with this opinion I have, you ain’t this’ thing. You ain’t a woman, you ain’t an American, you ain’t a patriot’ I’m not for that,” Maher said of Biden’s comments. “But … Trump is all-in on the cops and the cops, let’s be honest, almost all of them are all-in on Trump. In that light, I kind of understand what Joe Biden is saying. Why would a black person vote for Donald Trump?”
Later, Maher expressed his concern over continued support in the Democratic Party for keeping the country locked down because of the Chinese coronavirus pandemic, arguing that people will blame them for its devastating economic consequences come November’s election.
“I always thought the response was too heavy-handed — what’s it gonna look [like] when November comes around? Who’s gonna get blamed for this economy? I think it’s the people who were the ‘Let’s shut everything, let’s not even try anything Swedish-like,'” Maher said. “Because the economy is probably going to be a bigger issue in November.”
“My question is, ‘Who’s going to get the blame?” he later posited. “Are people going to say, ‘Yeah, my business has been shut down and that’s because the government shut it down’? I feel like that’s going to be a problem for the Democrats.”