Bill Maher tears into socialism and begs Democrats to embrace moderate candidates

HBO host Bill Maher on Friday criticized democratic socialism and warned of its potential negative impact on the Democratic Party, urging both voters and party leaders to steer clear of the ideology.The “Real Time” host took specific aim at two prominent democratic socialists during his “New Rule” segment, New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.“Democrats must recognize that Zohran Mamdani is the future of the party.Unfortunately, it’s the Republican Party.

Get it?” Maher joked.“And if you missed his victory speech in last week’s mayoral election in New York, don’t worry.

You’ll see it in every attack ad for the next two years.”While Maher admitted that Mamdani “seems like a nice guy,” he offered a warning about the Democratic Party’s increasing appetite for democratic socialist candidates.Maher urged that before the “whole left side of the country catches socialism fever,” to take some advice from another “big winner” from last week’s special elections.“… Virginia Governor Elect Abigail Spanberger, who before the ‘24 election said things like, ’If the party didn’t shift to the center, we will get torn apart.’ And, ‘We need to never use the word socialist or socialism ever again,’” Maher recalled.

“Well, she was right, but they didn’t listen.Typical, am I right, ladies?”As the Democratic Party appears to be divided between its moderate and progressive wings, Maher asked, “How do we decide who’s right?”“It turns out we don’t really have to flip a coin.

We have the evidence.In 2024, 13 Democrats won in districts Trump also won, all moderates.

This isn’t rocket science.All the left-leaning think tanks have done autopsies on 2024, and they all came up with the same message.

Move to the center,” he asserted.Maher pointed to Vermont’s “collapsed” single-payer healthcare system as further evidence against the effectiveness of democratic socialism.�...