It was not a fluke or slip of the tongue when comedian Bill Maher said last week on his show that a recession would be “worth it” in order to defeat President Trump in 2020. In fact, not only has Maher doubled-down on his hope, he even found a panelist to go along with him.
On Friday night, Maher debated his fellow panelists during a segment on his HBO show “Real Time,” where he found an ally in NBC News correspondent Richard Engel, according to the Washington Examiner.
“We have survived many recessions. We can’t survive another Donald Trump term,” Maher said.
Conservative guest Tom Nichols disagreed with Maher, despite also being a noted critic of President Trump. “I’m not wishing for a recession,” he said.
“Well, you should wish for a recession,” Maher replied. “Cause that will definitely get him unelected.”
It will also mean millions of people have to suffer through financial hardship, something that Maher and every one of his fellow panelists will most likely not have to suffer through. Former White House communications director, Anthony Scaramucci, tried to be the voice of reason, but Maher would not back down from his untenable position.
“But Bill, you don’t really want a recession,” said Scaramucci.
“I really do,” Maher insisted. “We have survived many recessions. We can’t survive another Donald Trump term.”
Richard Engel agreed with Maher. “Short-term pain might be better than long-term destruction of the Constitution,” he said.
“Right!” Maher replied. “Thank you very much.”
Speaking on his show “Overtime” last week, Maher said that a recession would be “worth it” to prevent another four years of President Trump. Even when business columnist Josh Barro reminded him of the damage recessions can inflict upon people, Maher refused to back down.
“I know, but it’s worth it,” Maher told Barro.
Will America actually hit a recession anytime soon? That actually depends, according to Barro, who told Maher that people have this misconception that recessions come in cycles as if they were a force of nature.
“Recessions don’t come because they’re due. Recessions come because there’s some kind of overheating — something goes wrong in the economy,” said Barro, noting that he only sees signs of a slowing economy, not a recession.
“The economy won’t be as good going into the election next year probably as it has been this year or last year,” said Barro.
In the same episode last week, Maher scolded the Democrats for chasing away moderate voters by choosing crazy over rational.
“Fatigue is the best thing we’ve got going for us. The majority of Americans aren’t tired of winning, they’re tired of looking at his fat f***ing face!” Maher said on his show. “It’s hard to beat an incumbent in a good economy. Every incumbent since FDR has won if they avoided a recession leading up to an election year and consumer confidence is sky-high. … The voters that Democrats need to win, moderates who have Trump fatigue, will vote against a good economy, I think, just to get back to normalcy, but they won’t trade it away for Left-wing extremism.”
“All the Democrats have to do to win is to come off less crazy than Trump — and, of course, they’re blowing it!” Maher continued. “Coming across as unserious people who are going to take away all your money so migrants from Honduras can go to college for free and get a major in ‘America sucks.'”