Comedian and HBO late-night host Bill Maher lamented over the weekend that President Biden’s recent rhetoric and embrace of far-left policies have made it increasingly more difficult to "convince" Democrat centrists that their views still align with the party.
In a Sunday interview on CNN’s "Fareed Zakaria GPS," Maher predicted a sweeping victory for Republicans in Tuesday’s midterm elections, suggesting that Biden’s efforts to appease the far-left progressive wing of the Democrat Party could be what costs them critical congressional seats.
Maher pointed to Biden’s interview last month with a transgender TikTok activist, during which the president said it is "wrong" for states to ban gender-affirming health care. His comments came shortly after the administration released a series of documents that encouraged gender-reassignment surgery and hormone treatments for minors.
BILL MAHER THINKS REPUBLICANS ARE ‘DEFINITELY' GOING TO WIN MIDTERMS THANKS TO ‘WOKE CULTURE’
"Biden had the TikTokers into his office about a week ago as kind of a Hail Mary, I guess, with this election, because that, you know, generation doesn’t vote very much, but if they do, they think they’re going to vote Democratic," Maher said.
"And he went all in on gender reconstructive surgery which, you know, that generation thinks is the civil rights movement of their time," he continued. "But, you know, for the people who I’ve tried to convince that Biden is a centrist, I kind of get it when they see something like that, and they say, what do you mean Biden is a centrist? Here he is going all in on this issue. He just completely sold out…"
Zakaria said he finds it "strange" that Biden, once considered a traditional Democrat, has surpassed his predecessor on liberal issues.
"The thing that strikes me strange about Joe Biden, you remember when Obama picks him, Obama was picking him a little bit to balance the ticket to the right... people thought he [Obama] was very liberal. And Joe Biden was this traditional White... now he’s clearly on policies to the left of Obama," he said.
Maher agreed, adding that Democrats will be forced to confront the ramifications of the party’s leftward shift when Republicans regain congressional control.
"Yes, because the party moved there, and he doesn’t want to go against what he sees as the base," he said. "You know, I just think the Democrats are going to find out that was not a great strategy."
In an earlier interview on comedian Bill Burr’s "Monday Morning Podcast," the "Real Time" host blamed "woke culture" for handing the GOP a victory on Election Day. Maher said at the time that the left has gone "super crazy" in ways that the average American "doesn’t understand" and can’t relate to.
"The left has gone super crazy with lots of s--- that the average American just never voted for, doesn’t recognize in this country, doesn’t want," he told Burr.
But with Republicans in control, Maher said the country should brace for the end of democracy, echoing Democrat pundits who've embraced similar rhetoric in the run-up to Election Day.
"Democracy is on the ballot, and unfortunately, it's going to lose and once it's gone, it's gone. It's not somebody who can change your mind about in reverse. That's gender," he told his viewers in a grim monologue on Saturday night.
Maher also claimed that once Republicans retake both chambers of Congress, "they'll begin impeaching Biden and never stop" over a myriad of things, making the president a "crippled duck when he goes up against the 2024 Trump-Kari Lake ticket."
