HBO host Bill Maher said Friday that President Trump would have hailed fascist dictators like Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini as “strong leaders” if he were president during their political rise in Europe.
“If Donald Trump was president in 1938 … what do you think he would be saying about Hitler and Mussolini?” Maher said on the Friday night airing of his HBO show, “Real Time with Bill Maher.” “Strong leaders, strong leaders. Very strong. He would love them.”
Maher also blasted Trump’s attacks on federal law enforcement, and predicted that the real estate mogul will only last in the White House if the U.S. ceases to be “a nation of laws.”
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“The only way that Trump survives as president is if we become not a nation of laws — in essence, a fascist dictatorship,” Maher said.
Maher’s comments came days after Trump decried the FBI raid on his personal attorney’s hotel room and office, a search the president called a “disgrace” and “an attack on our country.”
Trump has also repeatedly faced criticism for his praise of leaders, like Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, who have both been accused of authoritarian tendencies.
Trump has recently increased pressure on both countries and called out Putin by name Friday night for supporting the Syrian government when announcing U.S. airstrikes in retaliation for use of chemical weapons there.