Bill Maher says Trump would-be assassin has done ‘so much damage to the left’

Maher told an audience at his comedy show that he “unequivocally denounces” the attempted assassination

Lilith Foster-Collins
Monday 15 July 2024 14:29 BST
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Bill Maher says Trump shooting has done “so much damage to the left”

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Bill Maher warned an audience at his comedy show Saturday night that the gunman who attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump “has done so much damage to the left,” as he said there’s nothing funny about the shooting.

The comedian posted a clip of the show on his X account, showing him denouncing the shooting just a few hours after a 20-year-old would-be assassin opened fire on a Trump rally in rural Pennsylvania, nearly killing the former president, whose ear was grazed by a bullet.

Maher said that the assassination attempt was “not funny.”

“I‘m sure there will be jokes that people will make because they hate him so much they wished it went the other way. Not for me,” he said.

He went on to claim that the left have “lost a lot of moral high ground” in the aftermath of the shocking violence.

“Whoever was the shooter has done so much damage to the left,” Maher said. “Lost a lot of moral high ground in the ‘you’re the violent people.’ You know, ‘liberals don’t shoot people, liberals don’t solve it that way.”

Bill Maher appearing on ‘The View’, 21 May 2024
Bill Maher appearing on ‘The View’, 21 May 2024 (ABC)

But he also condemned violent rhetoric on both sides of the aisle.

“The 2025 Project that is the plank of the Republican Party, which starts their convention tomorrow in Milwaukee,” he continued. “The guy who wrote [the 2025 project], he said ‘This is our new plank.’ He said, ‘This is our new revolution of America,’… and he added, “It’ll be bloodless as long as the liberals let it happen.””

“That’s not cool either. This s*** has got to stop because none of this violence happens in a vacuum.”

Maher said that Trump was “the luckiest motherf***** that ever walked the face of the earth,” and suggested that the shooting would hurt Democrats in the upcoming election.

“When I saw that photo today, with the blood streaming down his face — I don’t want to say the election is over but...”

Maher conceded: “MAGA nation finally has its full Martyr.”

Trump himself commented on the striking photo on Sunday in an exclusive interview with the New York Post, insisting, “A lot of people say it’s the most iconic photo they’ve ever seen.”

“They’re right and I didn’t die. Usually you have to die to have an iconic picture,” he said.

In the aftermath of Biden’s absymal debate performance against Trump, Maher called on the president to step aside as the Democratic candidate in a New York Times op-ed.

In a separate comment, he predicted that Biden would step down on August 9 — the same day 50 years ago when then-president Richard Nixon signed his letter of resignation following the Watergate scandal.

Trump is set to attend the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this week to accept his party’s invitation to be its 2024 presidential nominee.

Polictical figures from all sides have been quick to condemn the attack. President Biden used a rare Oval Office address to implore Americans to “cool it down” and “resolve our differences at the ballot box.”

He also ordered an independent security review of the attack, which killed a bystander and wounded two others. The shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, was killed by Secret Service agents shortly after the attack.

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