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HBO’s Bill Maher scolded the media on Friday’s edition of Real Time Overtime for their claims that Donald Trump called for former Rep. Liz Cheney to be shot. Maher’s rebuke was not out of any love for Trump, but a demand that the media not “lie to me” because the real context of Trump’s actual remarks was something that “hippies used to say.”

Maher asked his assembled panel, “What do you make of the statement, I woke up today to the headline that Trump had called for a firing squad for Liz Cheney, and this is what I really don’t like about the media: no, he didn’t, he didn’t, you don’t, you don’t have to move me to not like Donald Trump more than I—”

The Fifth Column podcast co-host Michael Moynihan interrupted to concur, “He says so many shitty things, why do you have to do that?” 

Maher then continued:

By the way, what if people don’t realize it, he’s criticizing her for being a warhawk. I mean, she is Dick Cheney’s daughter. He said, ‘She’s a radical warhawk. Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, okay, let’s see how she feels about it. You know, they’re all warhawks when they’re sitting in Washington in a nice building saying, ‘Oh gee, we’ll send tens of thousands of troops right into the mouth of the enemy.’ Now, of course, he expresses himself horribly. He has to add, ‘she’s a stupid person’ because he’s a moron.

Rep. Jamie Raskin couldn’t contain himself and chimed in with, “Well, Trump knows what it’s really like from Vietnam.”

Maher rolled on, “Just to be clear, this is exactly what hippies always said. This is exactly what peaceniks always said. This is Fortunate Son, the song. It’s like, you know what, it’s very easy to sit in your building and send young men to die.”

He then reiterated, “Just don’t lie to me. I don’t like Donald Trump, don’t lie to me and tell me she was in, he wants — in front of a firing squad. He was saying something that, by the way, if it came out of the mouth, some of it, not the stupid part, again, sounds like what hippies used to say about not sending people to—”

Raskin then interrupted again to argue Trump can’t credibly make the claim, “I agree with you on the lying. I mean, that’s ridiculous and absurd and counterproductive. But when did Donald Trump ever criticize a warhawk the way a hippie did? I mean, was it during Vietnam? He got out of going to Vietnam, but he didn’t criticize the war or the Iraq War.”

Maher accused Raskin of missing the point, “Jamie, I’m not defending Trump. I’m just saying don’t lie to me.”

Moynihan agreed, “the number of Trump people you talk to who talk about the media and giving them any ammunition like this. I mean, I saw headlines, chyrons on television this morning saying that Donald Trump had said that Kamala Harris should be executed. I mean, at the beginning of that kind of rambling, incoherent thing said, ‘Give her a weapon,’ which is not typically something you do to someone getting executed.”

Maher wrapped up by observing “the spirit of it is something that if someone with a blue hat said it, people would nod along on the left.“

People can have their own opinions on the merits of Trump’s and Cheney’s respective foreign policy views, but it is the media’s job to tell the truth about what Trump said and let the voters decide for themselves.

Here is a transcript for the November 1 show:

HBO Real Time with Bill Maher Overtime

11/1/2024

11:04 PM ET

BILL MAHER: What do you make of the statement, I woke up today to the headline that Trump had called for a firing squad for Liz Cheney, and this is what I really don’t like about the media: no, he didn’t, he didn’t, you don’t, you don’t have to move me to not like Donald Trump more than I—.

MICHAEL MOYNIHAN: He says so many shitty things, why do you have to do that.

MAHER: And by the way, what if people don’t realize it, he’s criticizing her for being a war hawk. I mean, she is Dick Cheney’s daughter. He said, “She’s a radical warhawk. Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, okay, let’s see how she feels about it. You know, they’re all warhawks when they’re sitting in Washington in a nice building saying, ‘Oh gee, we’ll send tens of thousands of troops right into the mouth of the enemy.’”

Now, of course, he expresses himself horribly. He has to add, “she’s a stupid person” because he’s a moron.

JAMIE RASKIN: Well, Trump knows what it’s really like from Vietnam.

MAHER: Okay, just to be clear, this is exactly what hippies always said. This is exactly what peaceniks always said. This is Fortunate Son, the song. It’s like, you know what, it’s very easy to sit in your building and send young men to die, apropos of Ukraine, because, I don’t know, that war doesn’t look like it’s going in the right direction.

But just so, you know, just, just don’t lie to me. I don’t like Donald Trump, don’t lie to me and tell me she was in, he wants — in front of a firing squad. He was saying something that, by the way, if it came out of the mouth, some of it, not the stupid part, again, sounds like what hippies used to say about not sending people to. Yes?

RASKIN: But, Bill, can I, agree with you on the lying. I mean, that’s ridiculous and absurd and counterproductive. But when did Donald Trump ever criticize a war hawk the way a hippie did? I mean, was it during Vietnam? He got out of going to Vietnam, but he didn’t criticize the war or the Iraq War.

MAHER: Jamie, I’m not defending Trump. 

RASKIN: Yeah.

MAHER: I’m just saying, don’t lie to me. 

RASKIN: I agree with that, I mean, that’s just a distortion, but read what he really said though.

MOYNIHAN: It’s counterproductive, I mean, the number of Trump people you talk to who talk about the media and giving them any ammunition like this. I mean, I saw headlines, chyrons on television this morning saying that Donald Trump had said that Kamala Harris should be executed. I mean, at the beginning of that kind of rambling incoherent thing–

MAHER: Right.

MOYNIHAN: — said, “Give her a weapon,” which is not typically something you do to someone getting executed.

MAHER: And the spirit of it –

MOYNIHAN: Right.

MAHER: Is something that if someone with a blue hat said it, people would nod along on the left. 

MOYNIHAN: There’s plenty of things he says. You don’t have to invent them.