Bill Maher Says ‘I’m Not Trying To Be Mean’ As He Savages Andrew Yang’s 3rd Party Right To His Face
Comic and pundit Bill Maher told entrepreneur and former presidential candidate Andrew Yang that he wasn’t “trying to be mean” as he asked a savage question about Yang’s third party.
On Friday night’s edition of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, the host talked with guests Yang and Democratic Michigan Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin. As the trio discussed the recent banking collapses and their effect on the economy, Maher asked Yang to explain his “Forward Party” — and told him “I read your website and it’s a bunch of mush.”
Maher and Slotkin were not impressed by Yang’s explanation:
BILL MAHER: So speaking of the economy, I mean, your big thing when you ran was UBI. Yep. Which is not a vowel problem. It sounds like it.
ANDREW YANG: I always think about it. I know it’s a branding thing. It’s.
BILL MAHER: You know, universal basic income. Right. Which is sort of what we did. Yeah. During COVID. Okay. So where are you now? I mean, I see your, I don’t get your third party because I read your website and it’s a bunch of mush. I’m not trying to be mean. I’m just saying it’s not like specific. It doesn’t even mention this. And why start a third party, which is a long shot anyway, if you’re not going to be bold and… what?
ANDREW YANG: I’d love to dig into this.
BILL MAHER: Please do.
ANDREW YANG: Yeah. So what I determined was that our current political system is not going to address poverty or climate change or polarization unless you actually fix the incentives. And it was a US senator who said this to me, and everyone needs to understand this. She said, “We’re at a point in American life where an issue is worth more to us unaddressed than addressed. Because if I lean forward to solve the problem, what happens? I get I get beat up by my base, my job security goes down, I get attacked.” So we’re in a no compromise zone. So if you wanted to, let’s say, alleviate poverty in America, you have to fix our democratic system. This two party system is not designed to deliver solutions.
BILL MAHER: Again that’s…
REP. SLOTKIN: I just have to say, I’m not 100% sure how a different party. I mean, you have to explain how that’s going to change the whole system. But here’s the thing. If you have a senator as someone who’s running for Senate, if you have a senator who is saying if you have a senator saying the incentives are wrong, so I can’t do the right thing, that’s the problem, not the fact that we need another party.
Maher zinged Yang again later in the show when Yang remarked “I’m pro-civilization,” and Maher retorted “Pro-civilization. So you’re for good things and against bad. I knew I could find the specifics in your plan if I tried hard enough!”
Watch above via HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher.
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