Bill Maher spent the entire stretch of a special Republican National Convention-themed episode of his eponymous HBO show on Thursday thrashing the now-official Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
Maher ― alongside California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), author Robert Reich, and Heather McGhee, head of the think tank Demos ― was quick to point out the “fact-free” nature of the speech, noting the Republican party has taken its conservative platform “to a whole new level” this election season.
Trump’s exhaustive, hour and 16 minute-long acceptance speech focused heavily on fear and hate while, once again, straying away from any concrete policy plans that don’t involve building walls and banning the world’s Muslims.
“He’s got this idea that everyone in this country is terrified of one another, is terrified of the world and he’s the only answer,” McGhee said. “It’s terrifying.”
“I honestly have never heard a speech that was as longwinded ... as full of fear,” Reich continued. “This was the most negative acceptance speech I have ever heard. I do think that it’s scary because in many ways it was effective. He is a marketer, he knows how to tap into what people want to hear.”
Maher went on to comment on Trump’s dextrous ability to fiddle with reality, especially when it comes to his promise to keep a balanced budget while providing tax breaks to the richest Americans and simultaneously funding massive upticks in infrastructure and military spending.
“For a guy who is thought by so many people to be a genius because he’s rich, he seems to know nothing about money,” Maher said.
The panelists went on to note how the entire election had become “a referendum on decency,” while McGhee said Trump was trying to up “the idea of racial resentment.”
Take a look at the full episode above.
Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims ― 1.6 billion members of an entire religion ― from entering the U.S.
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