Real Time with Bill Maher‘s New Rules was off the charts today. Bill Maher castigated Donald Trump, Democrats, and Trump voters. He had some kind words for Republicans who are speaking out against Trump, unlike many Democrats.
Bill Maher did not have mercy on Democrats as he pointed out that Republicans were harder on Trump than Democrats.
Bill Maher slams Democrats
@billmaher slams #Democrats. Gives them slogan 'We are not socialists, you are traitors' – https://t.co/VVNW2SpGYr #Socialist #DemocraticSocialism pic.twitter.com/iaWKuYe1bx
— Egberto Willies, Politics Done Right host 🇺🇲🇵🇦 (@EgbertoWillies) September 15, 2018
Maher pointed out the irony about who is speaking out against Republicans.
“Voices speaking out against Republicans are Republicans,” Bill Maher said. “Nicole Wallace, Steve Schmidt, Rick Wilson George Will, Bret Stevens, Joe Scarborough, Richard Painter, Michael Steele, Jennifer Rubin, David Jolly, Ana Navarro, Max Boot, David Frum. They are the ones who are out there with the gloves off landing head punches. Even Trump’s own people tear him down better than any Democrats.”
Maher then points out the coming attack coming that Democrats seem completely unprepared to tackle.
“The midterms are 52 days away, and we know what the Republicans are gonna be running on; socialism,” Maher continued. “One thing Republicans are really good at is that they get in a room together and come up with a lot of bullsh$t and they all repeat it over and over and over until even Tommy Lauren can do it. Remember back in 2009 the tea bagger at the town hall who shouted, ‘Keep your government hands off my Medicare.’? Well, that dummy is now president.”
Bill Maher then castigated Democrats for not neutralizing the socialism attack with the socialist programs even Trump voters love.
“I still don’t hear Democrats explaining that Medicare is socialism,” Maher said. “And so are the other super popular programs like Social Security and the ban on denying coverage for pre-existing conditions. Trump just gave farmers a twelve billion dollar bailout to make up for his stupid tariffs. We took tax money from some people, mostly in New York and California, and gave it to farmers. That’s socialism. Socialism is the reason you don’t have to bring your own highway when you want to drive someone. It’s why there’s a fire department. The US military does more socialism by 9 a.m. than Venezuela does all day. We build weapons that even the Pentagon says it doesn’t want. That’s a jobs program. Socialism,
Maher then admonished Democrats for their inability to come out with good attack message against Trump and gave an interesting suggestion.
“Trump voters like their government goodies,” Maher said. “So why can’t Democrats all get in a room and come out with a single answer to this scary socialism charge. There’s a wholly compromised Russian asset in the White House. You can’t, make a little political hay out of that? He’s not on our side. When stuff comes up where he has to side with either our FBI and intelligence agencies or what Russia says, he goes with them. He is not on our side. How about this for a slogan, ‘We’re not socialist you’re traitors.'”
It is clear that it will be the young Democrats and the Progressive activists in the field that will win this election as rank and file Democrats continue their timidity to engage. Unapologetic Democratic Socialists like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will bring out a faction of the Party that is usually ignored.
Bill Maher is correct that Democrats must be ready to attack just like Republicans usually are. But they must also have a positive narrative telling all Americans what they will do if they get into office. As I said in a recent blog,
Progressives must define their opponents first so that it is them who are on the defensive. Then, tell poor and middle-class America in a district-specific manner, what is in it for them. It must be clear to them what they expect out of voting for Democrats.
- Democrats will fix the health care issue once and for all with a single-payer Medicare for All system.
- Democrats will provide student loan relief.
- Democrats will provide need-based subsidized child care for anyone who wants to work.
- Democrats will decriminalize marijuana and treat drug use as the disease that it is.
- Democrats will make the criminal justice system live up to the “Justice is Blind” motto.
Those five bullet points expressed in different terms will work in every district in America. It appeals to millennials, people of color, all working class people, parents, and every demographic in between. Most importantly these bullet points afford Americans a path to self-sufficiency It frees them from aberrations in the economy that stunts innovation, the inability to start one’s business, and the dependency and the enslavement to the corporation. One would hope that every Democrat who gets on Fox News, MSNBC, CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, HLN, or any other network would steer every topic to these bullet points.
We are on the final stretch now. There is no time for timidity.