Bill Maher finds a way to blame Democrats for George Santos

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HBO

Bill Maher closed the premiere of HBO’s 21st season in Real Time on Friday night by addressing the scandals surrounding Rep. George Santos (R-NY). His big takeaway? Democrats are to blame for believing his many lies.

Sure, we’ve seen liars before, the host said of American politicians, but it was always about going from the extreme to the center of your own party. What Santos pioneered, he argued, was the idea that since we were all in our own tightly sealed media bubbles, he could pretend to be everything to voters of both parties.

While on the one hand Santos flattered the right by going all out on Trump’s election lies, Maher claimed that the real reason he won his election was that he convinced the left to come out for him, which is not exactly supported by evidence.

How did a Trump-loving, election-denying white nationalist get elected in a Democratic-leaning district? He asked. Simple, he told them what they wanted to hear too. He left aside the fact that Republican gubernatorial candidate for New York, Lee Zeldin, has largely outperformed Santos on Long Island.

What do liberals like? Maher asked. Identity politics and victimization. This is why, in his view, Santos claimed to be one of the first cases of COVID and to be a Jewish descendant of Holocaust survivors.

Everyone keeps wondering, how did a guy like him get elected? he continued, attributing this to tribalism with Democrats as much if not more at fault than Republicans who mostly rallied behind him even after his lies were exposed.

Jon Stewart warns against treating George Santos like Trump

As Maher said, Republicans love a winner and Democrats love someone whose life story makes you want to kill yourself.

Ultimately, he concluded, it was Santos’ identity as a brave, sad, proudly gay, half-black, Latino Holocaust victim that apparently convinced enough Democrats to nominate him. . Vote for him? I’m surprised they didn’t invite him to the Oscars!

The story continues

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