Bill Maher offers no confusion over who he wants to become the 45th President of the United States of America: “I want to help your campaign, I want to see you get the nomination, I want to see you be president,” the “Real Time” host said to guest Bernie Sanders on Friday.
“The last man your age to cause this kind of excitement … was Mick Jagger,” Maher declared, beginning his fawning. The HBO personality then set out to educate America, defining buzzword “socialist” alongside Sanders. In that capacity, the two men weren’t 100 percent simpatico.
“We have to teach Americans what this is, and I don’t know if we’re doing that yet,” Maher said. “I don’t think most Americans realize they’re already socialists.”
“In certain respects,” Sanders interrupted, jumping right into income inequality — one of the major planks in his platform.
“Socialism is the programs they already like,” Maher changed the subject back. “They like Social Security, that’s socialism. They like Medicare, they like the V.A., they like military — it’s already a socialist country.”
Again, Sanders cut him off: “No, it’s not a socialist country.”
They compromised to some common ground, placing the term “quasi” in front of “socialist.” The agreement/disagreement push-and-pull continued from there, as Maher admitted that his main goal on Friday was to “un-demonize” the concept of socialism.
“They hear ‘socialist,’ they think ‘herpes,’ Bernie,” Maher insisted of the average American.
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