As the host of “Real Time with Bill Maher” on HBO, Bill Maher stood in defense of Governor Ron DeSantis (R) in the face of a series of attacks coming from the leftist media and one Democrat politician that heavily criticized DeSantis throughout the most recent episode of the show.
Maher’s comments regarding DeSantis take place in the wake of the governor becoming one of the lead stories coming from last week’s midterm elections after his blowout victory and lifting down-ballot Republicans in his state as GOP candidates were found to be struggling in various other states. One post-election poll has highlighted that most Republicans now seem to prefer DeSantis quite a bit more than former President Donald Trump as the nominee for the party’s 2024 run by about seven points.
“The reason why I think DeSantis is so strong is because he can do both things,” stated Maher while taking part in a panel discussion alongside CBS News correspondent Robert Costa and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA). “He can do the performance art that seems to have you so exercised to the base, most of which I don’t really know if it’s that damaging.”
“He picks a fight with Disney,” Maher went on. “Does it really affect anybody? I mean, I read that ‘Don’t Say Gay,’ which is not the name of the law. They called it the Don’t Say Gay law. It could have been called the ‘let’s do things in schools the way we did five years ago’ law. It really could’ve.”
The crowd answered his statements with extensive applause at that point.
“So what I’m saying is he can do both that — But he yes, he, he knows how to rile up the base. I agree. He’s a politician — but he also can be a normal governor,” stated Maher. “In other words, after the storm, he can stand with President Biden like a normal governor does and work with them and then send some migrants to Martha’s Vineyard. You know, and that’s a very powerful thing to have both those elements.”
At that point, Khanna seemed to panic about the rapid rise of DeSantis and issued complaints that he has not spoken about any sort of foreign policy agenda. Maher was quick to answer by pointing out that DeSantis is currently a governor and Florida is not a member of the United Nations, meaning it would be entirely pointless for DeSantis to currently utilize his resources on global policies.
At a point later on in the show, Maher claimed that Biden would handily beat Trump in any rematch for 2024, but he was not sure that Biden could handle going up against DeSantis.
“Would he beat DeSantis?” questioned Maher. “That I don’t know. And It’s gonna look weird, because he will be like literally twice as old as him, no really, and DeSantis has like three little kids. You know, that always plays well in America. America likes new.”
WATCH:
Bill Maher defends Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis from left-wing attacks. Maher says he should run for president right now. pic.twitter.com/H1HD2cS82X
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) November 14, 2022
