Bill Maher, host of the HBO show, had some words for the Democratic Party and those running for president in 2020. He expressed doubts on the current list of 24 candidates for president, and pleaded with Oprah Winfrey to run against President Trump. Maher said that she is the only “sure-fire winner” for the opposition party.
“I am telling you, at this particular moment in history and in this particular election year, she is the only candidate who is a sure-thing winner for the Democrats,” Maher said on Friday during his show “Real Time.”
“No pressure,” the host added.
Maher also said this about the power of candidates with star power in modern politics.
“Never underestimate the power of being in people’s living rooms for decades. That’s what got Trump elected,” Maher said. “This is now an as-seen-on-TV country.”
“There’s no underestimating the power of celebrity in modern American politics,” he explained. “It’s not the way it’s supposed to be be, its not the way I’d like it to be but we officially live in a post-literate, post-truth, star-f—er society and this is going to be the dirtiest campaign ever.”
The 65-year-old host went on to praise Winfrey as the only Democrat who could pull male voters from Trump’s staunchly loyal base.
“If he’s fed up with Trump, I know he could vote for Oprah. Because he knows that if he doesn’t his wife will never bl– him again.”
Maher had some choice words for 2020 frontrunner Joe Biden in comparing him to a typewriter while teeing off on other top-tier candidates.
“Young people look at [Biden] like a typewriter’s running for president,” Maher joked.
[Sen. Elizabeth] Warren is “a three-syllable woman in a one-syllable country,” he added.Regarding Sen. Bernie Sanders, Maher described him as “an American hero in my book, but he’s another one who has his cardiologist on speed-dial.”
Maher also took a shot at South Bend, Ind., Pete Buttigieg’s chances.
“We must ask the question, ‘Is America ready to be led by a gay teenager?'” he joked.
“This is not an open letter to Oprah, I know she isn’t running,” Maher concluded at the end of his closing monologue.
“I’m just saying, I have Nate Silvered the s— out of this, and I am telling you, at this particular moment in history, in this particular election year, she is the only candidate who is a sure-thing winner for the Democrats. No pressure. I am just putting it out into the Universe.”
Silver is a statistician and founder of FiveThirtyEight.com, which conducted deep data dives on everything from elections to baseball.