Maher: Harris has to prove she’s not ‘stealth version of the worst excesses of the left’

Comedian Bill Maher said Vice President Harris has to prove she’s not “a stealth version of the worst excesses of the left” in an interview that aired Thursday.

“Kamala’s big, I think, challenge here to win over the undecided voters, is to convince them that she’s not part of what they suspect she might be, sort of a stealth version of the worst excesses of the left,” Maher told MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough on “Morning Joe”

“I am tired of the extremes and the extremists who dominate the debate,” Maher said in the interview. “They have the megaphone, and we hear them more, but I don’t think they represent what most people in the country talk about.”

Former President Trump has tried to portray Harris as far left, dubbing his opponent “Comrade Kamala” and sharing a fake photo of her attending a communist event. The Trump campaign has relentlessly attacked Harris for her past support for progressive policies like “Medicare for All,” a ban on fracking and government funding for gender-affirming surgeries for inmates and detained migrants.

Harris has shifted her position on many of these policies, while also seeking to convey her moderate credentials with high-profile endorsements from Republicans including former Rep. Liz Cheney (Wyo.) and her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney.

Last Friday on his HBO show, Maher, a frequent critic of Trump, called on Democrats to stop thinking an “October surprise” will “save us from a second Trump term.”

“We’ve gotten so used to thinking that there’s always an October surprise coming that when it doesn’t happen, it actually seems weird,” Maher said.

Harris and Trump are battling it out for undecided voters in swing states such as Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Wisconsin, with only 12 days in this year’s election cycle remaining. Harris is only 0.9 points ahead of Trump in an average of national polls from The Hill/Decision Desk HQ.

The Hill has reached out to the Harris campaign for comment.