Bill Maher: AOC Would Be A Great Candidate — With Some ‘Deprogramming’ First

Comedian and HBO host Bill Maher said on a recent podcast episode that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) had the potential to be a great presidential candidate — but only if the self-described Democratic socialist went through some “deprogramming” first.

Maher made the comments on his “Club Random” podcast while speaking with fellow comedian Patton Oswalt, and the two immediately disagreed over how far was “too far” when it came to the direction of the American political Left.

WATCH:

🚨NEW: Bill Maher *CLASHES* with Actor Patton Oswalt over whether “DEMOCRATS HAVE GONE TOO FAR LEFT”🚨

MAHER: “The Left freaked out about a lot of bullsh*t.”

OSWALT: “What did they freak out about?”

MAHER: “Gender, race, parenthood, schools, homelessness, crime, the border,… pic.twitter.com/tT6nRydBgD

— Jason Cohen 🇺🇸 (@JasonJournoDC) November 17, 2025

“Remember when [Republicans] found the ‘damning’ video of AOC dancing and drinking with her friends on the roof in college, and she looks so happy and beautiful and cool,” Oswalt asked. “Oh, they think it’s ending her career because they never did this. They were never that comfortable to do this.”

Maher’s reply was simple: “Yeah, and if she had some deprogramming, she could be such a fantastic candidate.”

“What do you mean deprogramming?” Oswalt seemed taken aback.

“She’s never going to resonate with people outside of the bubble that she lives in and the very far Left,” Maher explained. He went on to cite a recent New York Times editorial, adding, “The only way the Democrats will ever win again …  is to be more moderate.”

Oswalt disagreed: “If people think she’s too far Left, then that shows another way this country is broken right now.”

Maher pushed back, saying that the country wasn’t “broken” — it just wasn’t as far Left as AOC.

Oswalt argued that if average Americans were not in line with AOC, that was because the country as a whole was not as “intelligent” as most people believed, and argued that the Left had followed science rather than blindly adhering to policies.

Maher was not buying that, however, and said so: “No, they didn’t! … they think gender bull***t that they went way too far with. That’s not scientific.”