Liberal comedian Bill Maher dismissed backlash that he went too easy on Vice President JD Vance during their recent interview, arguing that critics wouldn’t have been satisfied unless the conversation had ended in a physical altercation.
“They would never be happy unless JD Vance walked out and I punched him in the nose,” Maher told Fox News Digital. “That’s the only thing that would satisfy certain people.”
He continued, “I don’t play that game. I like to actually talk to people.”
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Maher faced criticism after Friday’s episode of “Real Time with Bill Maher” interviewing Vance as some argued he failed to challenge the vice president aggressively enough on political issues.
“For someone who spends every Friday night railing against the Trump administration, he treated its vice president with kid gloves,” an article in Variety claimed.
The two discussed the rise of socialism in the Democratic Party after three far-left progressive candidates won in New York’s primary elections last week. They spoke on how that impacts the trajectory of both sides of the aisle heading into November’s midterms, with Maher even admitting his vote could flip Republican with the direction the Democratic Party has moved toward.
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Maher walked the red carpet at the Kennedy Center Sunday night as he accepted the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, where he spoke to reporters about his conversation with Vance.
The comedian, whose political commentary has often put him at odds with Trump and other Republicans, said his opinion of the vice president didn’t change after his interview, as he “talks to these guys all the time,” referring to politicians and Republicans. He shared that his conversations with Republicans usually go well.
“Everybody’s a monster till you talk to them,” he said in reference to his interviews with Republicans.
He continued, “Are there things we’re never going to agree on? Yeah.”
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Maher pressed Vance during the interview on the Trump administration’s refusal to concede to losing the 2020 election, claiming it was “rigged” by fraudulent voting, interference and censorship in the election against former President Joe Biden.
But Maher still commended Vance for coming on his show, sharing with Fox News Digital on Sunday that despite their disagreements, conversations with politicians like Vance don’t typically turn “hateful.”
“They’re happy warriors,” he said in regards to Vance and other Republicans he has interviewed. “You hit them with three really, really hard-hitting things that say ‘you can’t keep doing it,’ and they just answer it,” Maher said. “They evade it. But they don’t hold it against you. It doesn’t turn hateful.”