Believe it or not, he made his name as a wry liberalist, antagonising established conservatives (and Democrats).
I've only watched some Real Time, in the early days it was kind of interesting, but it quickly becomes clear he holds conservative ideals. Nowadays he's mostly a talking puppet for the conservatives. He strikes me as one or two rungs below Sean Hannity.
Yeah my vibe was always that he went Democrat because he was a contrarian, an atheist, and smart enough to understand how ridiculous republican economic policies were. But it’s crystal clear he has no love for marginalized people or the working class and thinks that if he doesn’t understand something it’s ridiculous and that if he pisses people off that means he’s right and speaking truth to power.
I don't know, he always came across as a creep to me, even when he was "left wing"
I'd say more "smarmy" than "creepy". Not that that's better.
I think kinda both. He feels like the sorta guy who’d coerce a yes out of someone who clearly doesn’t want to do stuff with him.
I remember him talking about how much he loves to fuck with some uncomfortable guests. He'd say things like 'its what makes life worth it's
How odd and interesting. Who do you reckon is the main audience for his shows? 🤔
My suspicion is his audience is the “smarter than thou” “centrists”. People who think both sides are the same and miss the Clinton administration. They probably on average think race was a non issue except people on the left keep making it one, they’re not pro union but support an amount of social safety, they may be cool with gay people but think that trans is too far (though they probably don’t like that pride is still a thing), probably support abortion but think it’s too common… And overwhelmingly his audience likely thinks they’re smarter than they are.
Don't know about interesting, I'm guessing he got paid and thought "fuck you, I got mine" as conservatives are wont to do.
I haven't watched in many years, but back then he geared himself towards "intellectuals", but as the politics have become more polarised and the messaging dumbed down, maybe "middle class conservative" is more his brand.
Don't know about actual viewership though, only his presentation.
Last I checked, his audience was those self-proclaimed "intellectuals". The kind of atheists who define their identity by dunking on religious people, and the kind of mediocre people who feel superior by laughing others.
People who look at cherry-picked and out-of-context examples of progressivism and then dismiss the entirety as anti-science wokeness. People who cherry-pick scientific beliefs (without deeper research) in the same way most religious people cherry-pick passages from their holy text. Take the (out-of-context) quotes that reaffirm what you already belief in, ignore the rest, and most importantly: Declare that your "truth" is superior to others.
I imagine the audience of his shows has changed a lot in recent years. HBO went from HBO Go and Now to HBO MAX, which excluded a LOT of customers for a year while they negotiated with Roku and LG. Then HBO changed programming a lot. All the while Bill Maher started using more anti-woke talking points, and Twitter fell apart, this all shakes up who would listen to Bill.
Believe it or not, he made his name as a wry liberalist, antagonising established conservatives (and Democrats).
I've only watched some Real Time, in the early days it was kind of interesting, but it quickly becomes clear he holds conservative ideals. Nowadays he's mostly a talking puppet for the conservatives. He strikes me as one or two rungs below Sean Hannity.
Yeah my vibe was always that he went Democrat because he was a contrarian, an atheist, and smart enough to understand how ridiculous republican economic policies were. But it’s crystal clear he has no love for marginalized people or the working class and thinks that if he doesn’t understand something it’s ridiculous and that if he pisses people off that means he’s right and speaking truth to power.
I don't know, he always came across as a creep to me, even when he was "left wing"
I'd say more "smarmy" than "creepy". Not that that's better.
I think kinda both. He feels like the sorta guy who’d coerce a yes out of someone who clearly doesn’t want to do stuff with him.
I remember him talking about how much he loves to fuck with some uncomfortable guests. He'd say things like 'its what makes life worth it's
How odd and interesting. Who do you reckon is the main audience for his shows? 🤔
My suspicion is his audience is the “smarter than thou” “centrists”. People who think both sides are the same and miss the Clinton administration. They probably on average think race was a non issue except people on the left keep making it one, they’re not pro union but support an amount of social safety, they may be cool with gay people but think that trans is too far (though they probably don’t like that pride is still a thing), probably support abortion but think it’s too common… And overwhelmingly his audience likely thinks they’re smarter than they are.
Don't know about interesting, I'm guessing he got paid and thought "fuck you, I got mine" as conservatives are wont to do.
I haven't watched in many years, but back then he geared himself towards "intellectuals", but as the politics have become more polarised and the messaging dumbed down, maybe "middle class conservative" is more his brand.
Don't know about actual viewership though, only his presentation.
Last I checked, his audience was those self-proclaimed "intellectuals". The kind of atheists who define their identity by dunking on religious people, and the kind of mediocre people who feel superior by laughing others.
People who look at cherry-picked and out-of-context examples of progressivism and then dismiss the entirety as anti-science wokeness. People who cherry-pick scientific beliefs (without deeper research) in the same way most religious people cherry-pick passages from their holy text. Take the (out-of-context) quotes that reaffirm what you already belief in, ignore the rest, and most importantly: Declare that your "truth" is superior to others.
I imagine the audience of his shows has changed a lot in recent years. HBO went from HBO Go and Now to HBO MAX, which excluded a LOT of customers for a year while they negotiated with Roku and LG. Then HBO changed programming a lot. All the while Bill Maher started using more anti-woke talking points, and Twitter fell apart, this all shakes up who would listen to Bill.