HBO host Bill Maher doesn’t believe it was the hand of God that saved former President Donald Trump from death by an assassin’s bullet last week, and thinks those who do are trying to make Mr. Trump a “demigod.”
In his final monologue on “Real Time with Bill Maher,” the host mocked Trump supporters who claim that the assassination of former President Trump was thwarted by an act of God, telling them to open their eyes and stop their “magical thinking.”
“Enough with interpreting everything as DM. [direct message] “I come from heaven,” Maher said, before chiding religious Trump supporters on his show.
Maher condemned the assassination attempt at the start of his programme, as he did immediately after the tragic incident.
“You should be as angry as you would be if your candidate got shot,” he told his HBO audience on Friday.
He also slammed the US Secret Service for its apparent failure to prevent the incident, saying: “The Secret Service should also be angry at them for allowing a kid with a sniper rifle and rangefinder to go through a metal detector. What? The TSA once tackled me over a bottle of Vicine.”
But later in the show, Maher slammed the way some of Trump’s most ardent supporters described the attempted murder of Trump.
The segment, titled “We Lust for God,” began with the host saying, “Ever since the bullets aimed at Donald Trump missed last Saturday, Republicans have indulged in magical thinking like, ‘Trump is wearing the armor of God.'”
Here is the latest on the assassination attempt against Donald Trump:
He cited a variety of conservatives and Trump supporters who said God had protected the former president, including Republican Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, who was himself the victim of an assassination attempt in 2017.
Maher read a post from Scalise about the Trump shooting in which he wrote, “A miracle happened yesterday. And I think God’s hand was in it too.”
The host then joked about how God handled the Scalise shooting and how he handled the Trump shooting: “Steve got shot, too, but God wasn’t in good shape, and the bullet missed his ear and hit his spleen.”
He warned his supporters not to ascribe religious connotations to Trump, adding: “America doesn’t need demigods. Many cultures have tried that, from the pharaohs to Julius Caesar to Hirohito – beings who are earthly and divine and godlike at the same time. But it never works.”
