“We had an election, well, kinda sorta, and before you knew it, hello new order. To all those mothers in the fatherland I said ‘Achtung, baby, I got me a plan!’” From “The Hitler Rap,” written by Mel Brooks and Peter Wingfield.
Some might regard the words that follow this paragraph as a defense of Adolf Hitler. Bill Maher does not like it when people compare Germany’s 20th century führer to the United States’ 21st century führer. I’ll concede a point: the führer the better.
That’s a pun. Führer = fewer. Get it?
Maher flew down to Florida for dinner with the misunderstood Donald Trump, emperor-in-chief of the not-nearly-United States. He took a lot of shit for that, but while bending the knee, he also turned the other cheek towards the man who, a decade ago, sued him for $5 million. Remember when Maher demanded Trump present a valid birth certificate to prove that he’s not the product of his mother having sex with an orangutan? Trump sued him, and Maher used that as on-air fodder for months. After some very impressive legal bills, Donnie postponed that suit.
Bill’s fellow stand-up philosopher Larry David, a man who is just as cantankerous professionally, wrote a mocking op-ed in the New York Times titled “My Dinner With Adolf ,” casting himself in the Wallace Shawn role.
Maher responded “it’s kind of insulting to six million dead Jews… Hitler has really kind of got to stay in his own place. He is the GOAT of evil. We’re just going to have to leave it like that.”
No, we do not. Hitler worked very hard to be perceived as the greatest villain of the past century — an honor that cheated Joe Stalin out of. Trump is working at least as hard to be the greatest villain of this century. The major difference between Hitler and Trump is that the former dictator had 20 years between Mein Kampf and his suicide, while Trump still has to catch up before he succumbs to Colonel Sanders.
I’ll admit I am a little bit offended. Like every Ashkenazi-American, I lost much of my family in Adolf’s holocaust. If my relatives died for any cause, in this case de facto, they died to put an end to fascism. So did 80% of about 80 million other people who died in that war — the 80% that were on the side of the anti-fascists.
I had been a fan of Maher’s, even on those occasions when I disagreed with him. His analyses had been smart and clever (two different things), but as this nation started to skid down the slippery slope of fascism he decided to take on the left for its sundry hypocrisies. Fine and fair, but his anger began to overwhelm his comedy, and it’s been several years since I personally found him funny.
I say “I personally” because no one person is the arbitrage of humor. What I find funny (for example: Trump bursting into flames when he shoots somebody on Fifth Avenue on Easter Sunday in front of St. Patrick’s Cathedral) may not be what you find funny. A comedian can perform the same act in two shows on the same night in the same city and receive completely different responses. I thought David’s piece was funny; Maher did not. Um tut sut.
Over the course of decades, Maher has advocated for quite a number of good causes. He was a leader in the movement to legalize marijuana, and those efforts have saved a great number of people, mostly young and of color, from life-ruining prison time. He fearlessly defended Fyvush Finkel and Elia Kazan from the wrath of Harlan Ellison. He’s tried to protect Martin Scorsese from the insidious proliferation of superhero movies. He likes puppies. And, unlike his pal Don, he really cares about the shit we put into our bodies. Maher is one up on me on that one.
However, I can’t help but wonder. Was that presidential meal a quid pro quo? Did Donnie Trump make Bill Maher eat a Big Mac?
“First they came for the immigrants, and I did not speak out because I was not an immigrant. Then they came for the queers, and I did not speak out, because I was not queer. Then they came for the judges, and I did not speak out because I was not a judge. Then they came for comedians… Martin Niemöller, 1946, rebooted 2025.
