HBO host Bill Maher doubled down on his argument that President Joe Biden should withdraw from the presidential race, predicting the 81-year-old commander in chief will make the historic decision in August.
“The question with a Biden presidency is not who will be president, but who will be president,” Maher said. He spoke during Friday’s broadcast. “Who’s going to replace him? With all due respect, he’s not going to be the Democratic nominee for president in 2024,” said Bill Maher, founder of “Real Time with Bill Maher.”
Maher believes Biden is finished because the American press and politics are run by “mean girls” who are driven by a desire to kill “weaker people,” and that will put an end to his reelection disaster on August 9th.
“Biden’s not going anywhere. The walls are going to keep coming down and I predict August 9th is the day he gives up in the office pool,” Maher said.
This symbolic day marks 50 years since Richard Nixon left office as the first and only US president.
Nixon retired from the Oval Office in 1974 after his role in the Watergate scandal was revealed, handing the presidency over to then-Vice President Gerald Ford.
“Certainly, replacing the president as the party’s nominee seems like a big deal this late in the season,” Maher said. “It’ll probably last about three days, but then we’ll all get over it.”
Maher named Vice President Kamala Harris, California Governor Gavin Newsom, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg as potential candidates Democrats could choose to replace Biden.
If elected, Harris would be the first woman, the first Black woman and the first Asian American president, but Maher isn’t concerned about any of that.
“I vote for who wins, not who goes first. For whatever reason, Harris was unpopular,” Maher said before slamming Harris’ failed presidential campaign four years ago.
“You could count the number of delegates she won in the 2020 primary on one hand if you didn’t have fingers on that hand.”
“During her three years as vice president, she was quieter than an electric car.”
Maher said he didn’t understand why Harris was unpopular given she was “intelligent and competent”, and blasted her for her mismanagement on the US border when Biden called her a “border czar”.
What you need to know about the impact of President Biden’s debate performance:
The conversation then turned to Newsom, Biden’s pick to succeed him, after Maher penned an op-ed in The New York Times calling for the octogenarian president to step down.
“I don’t want to say he wants to replace the incumbent if they fall, but every time Biden misses a word, he gets a notification on his phone.”
“He is powerful, he doesn’t get bogged down in words or statistics, he doesn’t falter or cower,” Maher wrote in a July 1 opinion piece.
Biden has made a number of gaffes since his disastrous defeat to former President Donald Trump in the first presidential debate in June.
During a NATO summit in Washington, DC, Biden mistakenly referred to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as “President Putin.”
Hours later, at the start of a highly anticipated “big boy” news conference, Biden referred to Harris as “Vice President Trump.”
The gaffe prompted bewildered reactions from some senior staff and Cabinet members during Biden’s error-riddled news conference.
Biden on Friday told supporters in Michigan he was “okay” with continuing to campaign, before trashing the names of Democratic congresswomen.
“I promise you, we’re going to be OK,” the 81-year-old president told supporters at a restaurant in Northville, Michigan, before heading to a massive rally in Detroit, where he stumbled while trying to shout out Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.).
In addition to the four potential candidates to succeed Biden, Maher also named a number of lesser known Democratic governors, including Wes Moore of Maryland, Andy Beshear of Kentucky, Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Jared Polis of Colorado and J.B. Pritzker of Illinois.
“Nobody knows who these people are, but that’s a good thing. This comedy we call country needs new characters,” Maher said.
“All you need to know is that Americans like new things, these people are moderate, under 100 years old, and have a ‘D’ next to their name.”
Maher denied rumors that Michelle Obama would replace Biden as the Democratic nominee, calling the former first lady a superstar because Democrats just want to be at the airport and grab “the last rental car.”
