Bill Maher opened the real time on Friday with applause for a “semi-peaceful change of power”. Maher also welcomed the arrival of a new administration and the comical opportunities that came with it. In celebration, he spent the first 90 seconds of his monologue with Joe Biden before turning back to Donald Trump’s jokes. However, the show as a whole was short in jokes and long in substance.
“It feels like the entire Trump administration has just disappeared, as if we were living through a feverish dream,” said Vanity Fair writer Peter Hamby during the round table in the middle of the show. Maher agreed and compared the current situation to the “Who Shot JR” episode from Dallas, where the whole ordeal was a dream.
Related story
Trevor Noah About Joe Biden’s first day and why he tears your nipples off
Guest Kamele Foster, co-host of the Fifth Pillar podcast, did not share these feelings – nor did Trump blame Trump for the recent American slaughter.
“I just want to try to put it in a different context,” said Foster. This escalation of political violence, which is not limited to the right, but also exists on the left.
“We saw $ 2 billion worth of damage over the course of several months. We have seen days of civil unrest on the streets. We saw federal buildings surrounded and besieged for days, ”he continued. “This is the United States of America, and we have seen a steady increase in the regularity of political violence in that country.
“And when there is a broader trend, as opposed to a particular movement that is broken,” he said, “then we are talking about too tight a problem as opposed to the right problem.” It could be a really serious mistake in our policy. ”
“There was always an anarchist black block gutterpunk element on the left,” Hamby countered. “But Trumpism has infected every state capital. It is everywhere.”
“We were promised an armed uprising in every state capital,” put in Foster, pointing out that these uprisings were not ubiquitous. “So I worry that we may misphrase this. We think: it’s Trump. Trump is the problem. We saw hundreds of people on the street breaking windows after Biden won. Something is wrong. And I worry we’re not talking about it properly. ”
“Now we can’t blame him for everything,” said Maher of Trump.
“When people talk about Black Lives Matter they often say, ‘Look, that’s just an ethical statement. If you can’t acknowledge this, that’s a real problem. ‘Black Lives Matter is a political statement that has a political program attached to it,’ said Foster. “And many people in general may not be aware of this. The fact that it has some roots in Marxism, that there are radical elements of the Black Lives Mater movement who are very averse to free markets and capitalism and who question very basic notions that I think are largely of Americans to be shared. Like equality under the law, for example. This linchpin towards justice and a focus on racist outcomes is fairly new, but it appears to have taken the country by storm.
“Justice versus Equality?” asked Maher.
“Yes,” said Foster. “To be honest, talking about racism all the time is not a solution.”
Comments are closed.