By David Walsh
Senior Film & TV critic, wsws.org
In an extraordinarily foul outburst February 17, Bill Maher, the host of HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher,” termed American intelligence agencies “our last line of defense” against the allegedly pro-Russian Donald Trump and referred approvingly to Egypt and Turkey as countries where similar agencies had intervened against a “crazy” dictator.
Maher has been pathological on the subject of supposed Russian interference in the US elections since the issue first arose. On July 27, 2016, in response to the hacking of the Democratic National Committee’s emails and unsubstantiated claims that Russian agents seeking to tip the election in Trump’s favor were behind the action, Maher described Trump (who was semi-jokingly urging that Russian secret services hack Hillary Clinton’s missing emails) as “the voice of treason.”
Maher went on last July: “He’s always taking Russia’s side. Plainly, Trump is a Russian agent. I mean, I don’t know it for a fact, but a lot of people are saying it. … Oh yes, Donald Trump: the spy who loved himself.”
One month ago, on Inauguration Day, in his opening monologue, Maher observed, “It really happened, we Americans have a new leader … Vladimir Putin—and also this guy Trump took an oath today.”
Keith Olbermann: The fiery limousine liberal has finally shown—like Maher—the abject limits and unreliability of liberalism as a philosophy to oppose fascism and advance democracy.
One of his guests January 20, Keith Olbermann, asserted, “We were invaded, is what it boils down to. Just because there was not blood on the streets. If the Russians had come in with Cossacks and put him [Trump] in, I think we would have had a different kind of reaction. … And we’re now only debating at this point, after the story in the New York Times, how much the Russians decided our election.”
Maher, who built a reputation for himself as an iconoclast during the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky scandal and subsequently under George W. Bush, has claimed at various times to be a “liberal,” a “libertarian” and a “progressive, a sane person.” As we have noted previously: “His sneering, cynical, ‘anti-establishment’ posturing is aimed at taking in a certain section of those, especially among the young, disaffected with official politics and orienting them in quite a reactionary direction. His ‘iconoclasm’ has never gone farther than skin deep.”
Maher opened his February 17 program by asserting, in his monologue, that there was an “unprecedented state of crisis in this country” and that the resignation of Michael T. Flynn as national security adviser, because of discussions with Russian officials, was “the most serious political scandal we’ve ever had in the United States.” He described Donald Trump as a “mental patient who thinks he’s Hitler.”
One of his guests, Malcolm Nance, who described himself as having formerly worked for US Naval Intelligence and the NSA, as well as having been “loaned to other people” (presumably, the CIA), claimed that the 2016 was “the first time that a president was elected with the assistance of a foreign intelligence agency [i.e., Russia’s].” Maher mirrors the sharp turn to the right by all sections of the American political and media establishment, including its “gadfly,” late-night comic contingent. The latter is made up of wealthy, conservative people committed to the defense of the existing social order. They do not have a single ounce of genuinely democratic sentiment among them…
In the panel discussion portion of the program, Maher argued that “our country’s hanging by a thread” and that Trump was guilty of “the crime of treason, the crime is colluding with Russia to fix an American election.”
Malcolm Nance: Another Black American proving that color is no guarantee of decency or intelligence. Guys like these, working to preserve and advance a system that kills and oppresses untold millions of “non-whites” are particularly shameful.
One of his guests, Malcolm Nance, who described himself as having formerly worked for US Naval Intelligence and the NSA, as well as having been “loaned to other people” (presumably, the CIA), claimed that the 2016 was “the first time that a president was elected with the assistance of a foreign intelligence agency [i.e., Russia’s].” Nance did not provide the slightest evidence for his allegation, and, indeed, some time later, Maher was obliged to admit, “We don’t have the proof of that” [Russian involvement], but that did not prevent either man from making the wildest statements.
Maher went on to suggest that “the [US] intelligence agencies are crying out, ‘We don’t want to do a coup …’” In the most startling part of his comments, Maher argued that President John F. Kennedy had been killed in 1963 by US intelligence, or at least “that was one theory,” because of his philandering. He was having sex with “East German spies and mafia couriers” and the intelligence outfits “couldn’t trust him … [They said to themselves] ‘He is too much of a danger to America.’”
Maher must rank as one of the first “progressives” to put a positive spin on the alleged CIA involvement in Kennedy’s assassination!
He continued, “I feel like that’s where the intelligence agencies are now [in relation to Trump] … Now, they should not be violent, don’t get me wrong. But they are saying through these leaks, ‘This man cannot be president.’”
Nance, a fanatical anticommunist and the author of The Plot to Hack America: How Putin’s Cyberspies and WikiLeaks Tried to Steal the 2016 Election, then chimed in: “And you know why they’re saying that? Because what we have is a situation here where the person they would have to report to, the absolute pinnacle, the commander-in-chief, is a person who himself cannot be reported to. What they’re doing is they’re reporting and they’re taking it above his head to the ultimate commander-in-chief, which is the American people. This is an act of patriotism.”
Maher went on: “America is now in this place where we have watched other countries [which] we have had our nose up about—Egypt and Turkey—places where we thought, ‘Oh, you know, the dictator is crazy, so the intelligence services, that’s not really the best option … oh, wait, it is the best option.’ They’re like our last line of defense now.”
The HBO talk show host was presumably referring to the 2013 military takeover in Egypt, which brought to power the brutal and hated dictatorship of General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, and the failed, US-backed coup in Turkey in 2016 against the regime of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Maher is identifying himself with murderous, right-wing forces.
Maher then noted that Trump was planning to appoint Steven Feinberg “to oversee the intelligence. It looks like a purge in the making so that he can take over. … Can Trump put his people in charge of the intelligence agencies? Because then we have no line of defense between the total coup.” The host plaintively asked later, “Where are the patriots?” apparently suggesting that such “patriots” should somehow or other deal with Trump.
Maher’s demented ranting points to several interrelated processes. First of all, there is the sharp turn to the right by all sections of the American political and media establishment, including its “gadfly,” late-night comic contingent. The latter is made up of wealthy, conservative people committed to the defense of the existing social order. They do not have a single ounce of genuinely democratic sentiment among them and have only contempt for the mass of the American and global population. The notion of a CIA-military coup in the US, with its terrible consequences, does not disturb Maher’s sleep in the least. On the contrary, he is actively promoting such an operation. He obviously does not expect to lose his job or his income under a CIA-run junta.
Concretely, figures such as Maher are frightened by the growth of social opposition to capitalism, accelerated by Trump’s right-wing policies, and are desperately seeking to divert it along reactionary lines, in this case the drive for a confrontation with Russia. Maher, an anticommunist and Islamophobe himself, helped create the atmosphere that made Trump’s election possible. Despite his violent, abusive rhetoric, the comic’s differences with the new president—like those of the entire Democratic Party orbit—are purely tactical.
That the talk show host is promoting the American intelligence apparatus, the perpetrator of countless crimes against various populations around the world, resulting in the deaths of millions, to an audience of primarily young people is an unpardonable political and ideological crime. In this manner, Maher is acting as a facilitator of authoritarianism and dictatorship.
Note to Commenters
Due to severe hacking attacks in the recent past that brought our site down for up to 11 days with considerable loss of circulation, we exercise extreme caution in the comments we publish, as the comment box has been one of the main arteries to inject malicious code. Because of that comments may not appear immediately, but rest assured that if you are a legitimate commenter your opinion will be published within 24 hours. If your comment fails to appear, and you wish to reach us directly, send us a mail at: editor@greanvillepost.com
We apologize for this inconvenience.
What will it take to bring America to live according to its own propaganda?
=SUBSCRIBE TODAY! NOTHING TO LOSE, EVERYTHING TO GAIN.=
free • safe • invaluable
Please see our red registration box at the bottom of this page
Disclaimer: The contents of this article are of sole responsibility of the author(s). The Greanville Post, a publication of The Voice of Nature Network, Inc., (VNN), a not-for-profit 501 (c) (3) corporation, will not be responsible for any inaccurate or incorrect statement in this article. The Greanville Post grants permission to cross-post original The Greanville Post articles on community internet sites as long as the text & title are not modified. The source and the author’s copyright must be displayed. For publication of The Greanville Post articles in print or other forms including commercial internet sites, contact:
THE GREANVILLE POST contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available to our readers under the provisions of “fair use” in an effort to advance a better understanding of political, economic and social issues, and the furtherance of peace and social justice, the defence of our planetary ecosystems, and the prevention and eventual elimination of human abuse, exploitation,.and cruelty toward any and all non-human species The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes other than “fair use” you must request permission from the copyright owner.
For media inquiries contact us at greanville@gmail.com
As a dumb European I must confess that I am immune to the prevarications by Trump and his brusque condemnation of anyone not willing to follow this out-of-tune piper. The hysteria of those who oppose him also astonishes me because Trump is by far a less dangerous president than some of those who went before him, thinking hereby of Nixon, Reagan and even Clinton. I guess it is a question of openness because at least Trump does not hide his carbuncles, while the sneakiness of the others is well nigh proverbial. All the objections against this business man who does… Read more »
Mr Rorchat is hardly a “dumb european”! His diagnosis of this nation’s condition, run into the (radioactive?) ground soon enough by malignant charlatans and the short-term thinking of the plutocrats and their minions in the military and political class is painfully accurate. His comment should be read widely. Hope it does, although am not sure many dumb Americans will understand what he’s talking about!
By the way, since Trump and his tribe of plutocrats is giving the US deep state—the MIC boys, the Clintonite wing of the ruling class, and so on— everything they wanted through Hillary, you will soon see how the media changes its tone and begins to “normalize” Trump’s image, pushing to sell Trump as a controversial but reliable “statesman.” It’s beginning already. Watch, as well, that while the deep state, Soros and his shills, etc., become satisfied Trump will do their bidding, that the protests suddenly begin to disappear from sight, since these folks never cared about women , or… Read more »