Bill Maher didn’t sidestep his thoughts about Donald Trump and his hope that another Republican would come to the forefront before the 2024 presidential election, going as far as saying that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis would be better than Trump because “he’s not an insane person.”
On Friday night’s “Real Time With Bill Maher,” the comedian-host jumped right in on what everyone interested in politics is talking about these days, and that’s the House January 6 committee hearings, which seem to be focusing on Trump’s involvement in the insurrection.
“First of all, I actually have no issue with Trump being prosecuted, and I have a lot of issue with elites being left unaccountable for the crimes that they commit, number one. Number two, that’s not going to solve our problem,” guest panelist and podcast host Krystal Ball said. “Do you think that Ron DeSantis is going to be way better than Donald Trump?”
“Yes,” Maher interrupted.
“He’s not going to vote, he’s not going to be the enemy democracy in the same way,” Tablet columnist James Kirchick said.
Maher again jumped in, “I’d like to answer that – yes I do.”
His “yes” shocked Ball, who wondered how and why, saying that the Republican governor “clearly modeled himself in the footsteps of Donald Trump.”
But the difference between DeSantis and Trump was a simple one, as Maher saw it.
“He’s not certifiably insane. That’s a great one to start off with,” Maher said, setting off laughter and applause from his audience. “You know what Ron DeSantis won’t be doing? He won’t be poop tweeting every day. He won’t be, like, having feuds with Bette Midler on Twitter!”
Really riled, he added, “He’s not an insane person!”
Although Ball wanted to turn the attention to what brought the country to this point, saying that Trump is merely a “deep rock in our system,” Maher again turned it back to Trump.
“But he also committed the crime,” he said.