The Republican National Convention's conclusion with former President Donald Trump taking the stage to a crowd of adoring fans wearing bandages on their ears in solidarity was a little too much for comedian Bill Maher.
In summarizing the HBO host's weekly "new rules" segment, the Daily Beast described Maher as "sick of the latest wave of religious fervor around the ex-president. Maher noted that while he was personally grateful the shooter at Trump's Pennsylvania rally last week didn't hit his target, the assassination attempt nonetheless brought out "an orgy of magical thinking."
“[House Majority Leader] Steve Scalise said, ‘Yesterday there were miracles, and I think the hand of God was there too.’ Steve was also shot, but God was having an off day," Maher said, referring to the 2017 attempt on Scalise's life by a gunman at the Congressional baseball game.
Maher — an outspoken atheist — pointed to other examples of Trump supporters alluding to divine intervention , like Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Florida) sharing an image on social media of God intervening to stop the shooter's bullet and YouTuber Jake Paul calling the 45th president of the United States "one of God's angels."
“America doesn’t need a demigod,” Maher said. “MAGA Nation, because they are religious by nature and given to magical thinking, have been trending towards demigod worship for a while now… But Trump didn’t survive the attempt on his life because of divine intervention. He survived because a virgin couldn’t hit the fattest president since [William Howard] Taft.”
The liberal comedian posited that Trump is still alive not because of God, but because the former president is "the single luckiest motherf—r who ever lived." He then recounted Trump's life of good fortune, saying Trump's "whole life is a string of ‘you gotta be f—ing kidding me’s."
"The Real Time host recapped Trump’s absurdly lucky life, including how he inherited a fortune from his father and got away with tax fraud, and how he’s outlived Richard Simmons despite rarely exercising or eating healthy," the Beast's Michael Boyle wrote.
Maher told Republicans that it was fine if they wanted to vote for Trump, but urged them to draw the line at praying to him. He sardonically referenced Trump telling recently telling the New York Post, “The doctor at the hospital … called it a miracle. I’m not supposed to be here. I’m supposed to be dead.”
“Yeah, so is Dick Cheney,” Maher said. “But karma isn’t cooperating, and karma isn’t a thing.”
Click here to read the Beast's summary of Maher's segment. And watch the segment itself below:
New Rule: MAGA's Magical Thinking | Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO) youtu.be
