In advance of last night’s Democratic debate, Bill Maher went on Morning Joe to discuss what he expected and hoped to see and hear. Predictably, he returned to one of his favorite tropes that, over the past year or so, has become a staple of his shtick, starting at about 6:13 of the interview with Scarborough in the middle of a long, convoluted question:
You start talking about future generations, who are being turned off, I think in large part, because of this political correctness. I’ve talked to presidents of universities, I’ve talked to educators, and [told them,] “You do understand, that you are pushing a lot of your young students toward Donald Trump.”
Now, of course “political correctness” has been a part of Maher’s shtick for a very, very long time; he had a whole show about it, as he points out later in the interview. But it’s this idea that “political correctness” is a rational basis for moving “toward” (or, for that matter, voting for) a self-evidently unqualified, vulgar, mean-spirited, ignorant, demented racist gangster to be the President of the United States, that irks me and has continued to irk me ever since I first heard it — and Maher, of whom I’ve been a fan for a long time, is one of its worst enablers.
Scarborough went on to effusively praise Andrew Sullivan of all people for having “written about this brilliantly since Donald Trump became president,” inter alia blaming liberals and their “political correctness” for “how Steven Miller was created.”
Bill replies by bringing up the brouhaha at Harvard over a professor defending (as an attorney) Harvey Weinstein, lamenting the fact that students at that august institution can’t seem to wrap their heads around the American fundamental whereby everyone, even the worst among us, is entitled to legal representation. And then, this:
We hear these terms, “snowflakes,” “safe rooms,” and stuff like that, and I think people, they don’t really follow policy that closely; they don’t know the difference between Ted Cruz and Penelope Cruz. They just know that when they read these little stories, on and on and on, it always seems to be the left that is defending something that’s so ridiculous that they say to themselves, “I can’t let these people take over the country. Yeah, I don’t think Trump is good, but I can’t let people this weak take over, this fragile. Fragility is not a selling point when you’re running for leader of the free world.”
There it is, right there ^^. Do you see what he did? He rhetorically erased any and every line that might divide “weak” and “fragile” left-wing college students — real or imagined — who aren’t actually “running for leader of the free world,” from Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, and the other actual identifiable human beings who actually are.
Not only that, but he accepts this as a rational thought, and acceptable behavior: to not vote Democratic — i.e., to vote against altruistic and compassionate public policies and instead elect selfish, cruel, corrupt, perfidious, power-mad, warmongering, theocratic oligarchs — because some anonymous campus liberals somewhere that you heard about that one time seem “fragile.”
Meanwhile, no one — least of all Bill Maher — seems to be concerned about people who “read these little stories” about, oh, I don’t know, the Nazis in Charlottesville, the El Paso shooter, the “Straight Pride Parade,” and whatever other crimes against humanity and society that right-wingers commit on a daily basis, thinking they “can’t let these people take over the country.” It never “seems to be the [right] that is defending something that’s so ridiculous” — like, say, bathroom bills, Confederate monuments, putting kids in cages, Cake Jesus, the “Straight Pride Parade,” or, umm…. Donald Trump — that anyone says to themselves, “I can’t let people this [mean, cruel, selfish, dishonest, hypocritical and/or stupid] take over.” No one seems to think that Republican politicians or the GOP should have to answer for, let alone put a stop to, any of that.
I’ve written time and time again (see links above) about how this is the worst double standard in politics: only Democrats are responsible for the rhetorical excesses and bad behavior of their perceived supporters, only Democrats are punished electorally for it, no one seems to have a problem with that, and no one seems to notice that it doesn’t work both ways. And I’m going to keep writing about it every time it comes up, until people start to notice.
The double standard is bad enough. What we really don’t need is enablers like Bill Maher signaling to the public that it’s OK, perfectly reasonable and acceptable, indeed to be expected, that you will vote against your own interests and the interests of the country and elect these vicious, greedy, lying corporate tools whose sole mission in life is to make sure their wealthy owners are never held accountable for the harm they cause to you, your family, your neighbors, your co-workers and your environment, while occasionally brutalizing some brown or gay people just for the sport of keeping their ignorant goober base energized, if you find campus liberals that you occasionally hear about to be rather “fragile” and annoying.
Bill, dude, m’man, boobie, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: You’re. Not. Helping.
Stop. Not. Helping.