HBO’s Bill Maher warned Democrats about going through on impeachment against President Trump, with the “Real Time” host arguing on Friday night that “the country is going to be paralyzed … for a very long time.”
The liberal comedian and commentator weighed in amid scrutiny over Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in July in which he asked for an investigation of former Vice President Joe Biden, a leading 2020 presidential candidate.
“Last week, I was like, ‘We’ve got to impeach him!’ Now that they’re going to do it, I’m like, ‘Uh, should we?'” Maher said during a panel discussion.
“Obviously, there’s great reasons to do it,” he continued. “Trump must have an ‘impeachment act a day’ calendar that he has used for the past year, so why will this one be different from all the other times?”{mosads}
Maher also openly wondered if the American people would be able to understand why Democrats were pursuing impeachment against Trump, questioning whether there would be “pictures.”
“This is all I heard on TV this week: ‘This is different because it’s so simple. People could understand it.’ But have you met the American people? Are there pictures involved?” he asked mockingly.
“If we do this, the country is going to be paralyzed,” Maher later said. “I’m not saying don’t. … It’s going to be paralyzed for a very long time, and all of the oxygen in the room will be taken by this.”
“I’m just asking about the people who matter. There’s 40 percent for sure probably on both sides. There’s 20 percent in the middle who might be persuadable,” he concluded. “Are these people going to say, ‘I don’t care about Trump’s phone call to a country I know nothing about. I care about my phone bill. What are you doing about my phone bill, about my problems’? I just wonder about that.”
Polls released this week have shown rising support for impeachment but continue to show that the country is evenly split on the issue.