Bill Maher has had varied views on President Donald Trump over the last several months, but on Friday’s “Real Time” he acknowledged that with the indictment of former FBI director James Comey, the country was “past the muzzling dissident phase” and into the “prosecuting political enemy space” during America’s rise to autocracy.
“James Comey, our former FBI director, was indicted today by the Trump administration,” Maher began. “I didn’t even know he had a talk show.”
“Trump is in his we caught you with your tail light out phase of justice,” the HBO host continued. “They will find something to pull you over for. But he’s been trying to get shifty.”
On Thursday, Comey was indicted by a federal grand jury in Virginia on one count for giving a false statement and on one count of obstruction of justice. Both charges were related to his September 2020 testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee. The former FBI director is the first senior government official, who investigated Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign over possible ties to Russia, to face federal charges.
Maher then brought up Trump’s appointment of Lindsey Halligan, one of his personal lawyers, to handle the indictment. She was appointed after the president allegedly forced out a U.S. attorney he put in office in eastern Virginia.
“She is an insurance lawyer, 36 years old,” Maher quipped. “His personal lawyer, never prosecuted anybody, and now she’s going after the former FBI director. If this was an episode of ‘Boston Legal,’ you’d say this show had jumped the shark.”
He continued: “Did I mention she’s a former beauty pageant contestant. Oh yes, for the talent portion, she kissed ass. So if you are tracking the rise of autocracy, we’re past the muzzling dissident phase, and we’re into the prosecuting political enemy space. I think Trump could be in the generals uniform by Christmas.”
The HBO host addressed that it was a good idea to consult basic school civic lessons because normally presidents are not supposed to comment on ongoing investigations, let alone tweet about them. Trump had celebrated the news of Comey’s indictment on TruthSocial, exclaiming “JUSTICE IN AMERICA!” and said the former FBI director was “one of the worst human beings this Country has ever been exposed to.”
“Worst?” Maher asked. “Worst? Like private island having sex with kids, worst?”
At the end of his monologue, Maher brought up the big religious story of the week which was a viral TikTok trend about the supposed upcoming rapture. Christian Evangelicals on TikTok, who believed the rapture was meant to occur on Sept. 23 and 24, spent days getting ready on what became known as #RaptureTok.
“Some nut on Tiktok said Jesus told him the rapture was coming on Tuesday, or maybe it was Wednesday,” Maher said. “And then, of course, Jesus flaked. Jesus, you know, he knows each time a sparrow falls, but his own schedule is a mess. The people who actually disappeared this week were the guys out in front of Home Depot, and a lot of them were name Jesus.”
“Real Time with Bill Maher” airs Fridays at 7 p.m. PT on HBO.
