Tween watching baseball games I saw Maher's show on CNN last night and when he described his experience with D at dinner I immediately thought of Ds real estate buddy who is 'negotiating' peace in Ukraine....the same guy who walked away from a meeting with Putin and said. 'He's actually a nice guy...'....very funny & almost human huh?? And he kills women & children in missile attacks....but he's such a nice guy! Maher has changed the last 9 years and is now a full blown fool.
Trump is a madman, and by becoming one of his assets, Maher is too. He is a madman, and Trump is surrounded by Madmen and Madwomen. Kristi Noam of puppy murdering infamy is now murdering young men by sending them to El Salvadoran Nazi prison and she is doing this with glee, knowing it is a death sentence. She is a mad, evil Nazi! Trump is too!
I remember watching his show years ago during the dubya shitshow. I was 20 or so years younger then and thought it was cool that someone was criticizing what I saw as fascism. Then he started with the Islamophobia, revealing that he’s just a jerk and I stopped watching. That and Ann Coulter makes me physically ill.
Jeff I hate bill maher , though recently he embarrassed Steve bannon with a copy of the constitution. But as I continue to assert , Trump and his enablers , are fucking cult members
It's like Maher lost his last shred of credibility with that.
Not that he had much before this, but there was always that shred of hope that maybe he'd remember how utterly evil and STUPID(!!!) the Right is. Especially stupid, which he always claimed was the worst....
Maher wants to believe in the value of talking to people across the divide—that’s important but doesn’t actually work in this setting. Here he isn’t just humanizing Trump—he’s laundering the destruction Trump has caused to all of us and to the planet. When he describes Trump as gracious or thoughtful in that setting, without holding the weight of what Trump has done—ripping apart democratic norms, spreading cruelty, fear, and lies, enabling violence, undoing environmental protections, undermining trust in truth itself—it makes Trump seem like a well-intentioned, even reasonable person. And that’s the opposite of what he has shown himself to be, over and over. People need to understand that authoritarianism doesn’t always reveal itself, it often smiles and flatters, and wins people over socially before it crushes dissent politically. Maher’s effort here to model open-mindedness was naive and wholly destructive.
This pattern of charming others isn’t unique to Trump. People who spent time socially with Hitler or Putin often described them as calm, courteous, and even engaging. Hitler could be gentle and charming in private settings. Putin, too, is often composed and witty in person. But both are murderers and destroyers—men whose private charisma masked public brutality. That contrast is not comforting—it’s the method by which authoritarians get close enough to be believed, followed, and defended. Trump fits that mold—he can turn on the charm, make you feel heard, joke around—and meanwhile he’s working to dismantle freedom, truth, justice, and environmental survival.
We don’t need to be filled with hate—but we do need to remain clear about what we’re dealing with. Donald Trump is a toxic fusion of Narcissistic Personality Disorder, Antisocial behavior, Paranoia, and Sadism, a man utterly devoid of empathy or conscience, driven by an insatiable need for admiration and dominance. His pathological lying is not incidental but strategic—crafted to confuse, control, and seduce, with no regard for truth or consequence. The sociopathy underlying his persona renders him immune to guilt or moral restraint, while his sadism finds expression in the pleasure he takes in cruelty, humiliation, and the suffering of others. At the same time, he is a masterful con artist—charismatic to the credulous, shamelessly manipulative, and astonishingly adept at exploiting the weaknesses of others for his own gain. Enabled from childhood by wealth, impunity, and sycophants, he has never been held accountable in any meaningful way, which has only deepened his belief in his own invincibility. The result is a profoundly dangerous individual whose greatest ability is to destroy everything he touches.
Is being filled with hate really such a bad thing? We've been reading about ill douché's psychopathy for a decade. All the diagnoses are in. Most of them are incurable. Put him in a strait-jacket and lock him in a rubber room already.
If I had a million dollars for every time someone told me not to hate him because hate is blahblahblah, and I answered by asking, "If you had a chance to go back in time and kill a baby Hitler...?" I'd be so rich that I wouldn't be reading jealous libtard shit like Jeff writes, instead of clinging to his every word!
I don’t have a problem with people feeling hate towards trump and his enablers. It’s a naturally occurring phenomenon when humans are oppressed, attacked and gaslit-it’s a survival signal. I was addressing the people who were taught to believe that hating others is wrong and don’t want to amplify that experience.
I understood that from your missive and agree completely. I simply cannot fathom how ANYONE can be in the presence of someone as devoid of humanity as frump - and think of him as 'charming' or 'gracious'. That, I find mind-boggling since I've pretty much grown up in NY knowing everything he's done and DESPISED him from early on. I find him unctuous and slimy and know I could never be 'charmed' by this awful POS. The attorney I worked for at one of NY's top law firms had that same 'charm' Bill Clinton did...where women would gravitate to him. I'd watch stupefyed, partly understanding it but also a bit repelled. Oh, 'I' liked him well enough, he was a lovely man with a wife and small child, although none of those women seemed to care. I could quite see how Bill Clinton drew in so many admirers though - after my time with him. It's an indefinable built-in quality some people have. I don't see orange baby man having anything CLOSE to 'it'; rather he bullies, strikes out, curses at, shoves out of the way (as he did the PM of Montenegro), insults and puts down...something neither gentlemen I mentioned would ever dream of doing. I could never associate the word 'charm' with him.
Sarah, that was just a wonderful explanation of the strange ability of otherwise very stupid people, like trump and in all probability Putin, to somehow 'charm' the people they are directly speaking with into accepting them as reasonable or friendly. As Jeff and Darrel Silver put it, it's like a 'superpower', almost as if there's some strange brainwave frequency similar to hypnosis that they're emitting. I certainly can't explain it, but you're so correct - reading accounts of Hitler as you mentioned will verify he had the same ability when needed. Well said.
when someone has what you want, a narcissistic will innately know how to get it, no big mystery. to me the big mystery, is why are you even that physically close to a monster like these men are?
That's his secret sauce...master manipulator. Psychopaths are calculating. Add to it malignant narcissism who has dementia.
The billionaires crying in their socks right now is a joke. They thought all malignant narcissists stuck together. Oops. This is the same guy who bragged about wanting to have sex with his daughter. He would prostitute her to close his deals. Jesus fucking Christ, rich people aren't smart. Just master manipulators.
The fact that they (narcissists) have no conscience along with the desire and ability to study normal people to see what "works" in order to manipulate others for their own advantage, and the ability to put on a believable performance - all in the name of gaining the upper hand in any relationship - getting what they want or need while giving very little of their time and energy. It is very chilling once you realize what they're doing, rather than giving you warm and fuzzy feelings.
::Maher wants to believe in the value of talking to people across the divide—that’s important but doesn’t actually work in this setting.::
It hasn't worked for DECADES, Sarah—ever since Dixiecrats started openly breaking up peaceful Civil Rights protests with violence in the 1950s, and MCarthyite Republicans like Nixon started seeing "Communists!" under every bed. The Right has seen Liberals and the Left as "the enemy" ever since then, and believed that any extreme was justified in eradicating us.
While I personally consider leeching the Southern Bigot poison out of the Democratic Party to be the only good thing Nixon's "Southern Strategy" did in the late Sixties, it metastasized inside the Republicans and made the entire party into a cancerous growth of Religious Right hatred, bigotry, and corruption. Donald Trump is just its most recent, and most extreme, flowering....
Excellent analysis of Trump, and very accurate based on the numerous (and I do mean NUMEROUS) books and news articles I’ve read about him. If only others saw him so clearly…
I used to watch Bill Maher but not anymore. He continues to show his true colors of what a misled, easily duped, self-centered prick rumor has always said he is. The response to his dinner with the felonious con artist put the icing on the cake. A while back, it was reported that a limo driver said he had never dealt with a bigger asshole than Bill Maher. Not surprising considering more of these TV talk show hosts keep visiting Mar a Lardo and fall for the bullshit.
He is just a has-been libertarian who used to be funny and stuck around too long and eventually said too much - just like Scott Adam’s. He should take his millions and go sit quietly in the corner and smoke dope.
The Maher story reminds me of tales about Hitler and his dog, Blondi. But I would never want anyone to get the impression that I think Maher to be the lapdog of a fascist. Oh, no, never!
I wrote this about a week ago when another site mentioned Maher: “I used to enjoy Maher’s show years ago, even if I didn’t agree with some of his stances. He used to be funny and thought provoking. Now, he’s just another white guy punching down”
Same here! Used to watch him but then he moved to the “other side” and that was a big turn-off for me. Haven’t watched him in years and I am so glad. Yeah…fuck that guy!
An annoying tactic Maher uses is to rail against an invented straw man argument nobody’s making against him.
What if we’re not angry he met with tRump - What if we’re angry he was so easily and positively impressed that tRump acts “normal” in private, and like an unhinged fictional WWE wrestling character in public representing this country? What if we’re mad he didn’t engage tRump on that point, and elicit a response the way you would if you really were a guest in the presence of a normal-acting host, and were engaged in a normal two-way conversation with him? And what if we’re mad that his take was wow, tRump is a nice normal-acting guy in private, a positive impression - and not wow, this blustering asshole president we see on TV is an elaborate phony performance by a TV game show host who fell upward because Americans are so easily conned by a TV performance? Meanwhile a smug TV performer is conned by another TV performer’s private performance.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for the well deserved torching of HBO's Napoleon complex incarnate. He's been on my ignore list since he started broadcasting from his house during the pandemic and spent an hour pouting and whining like it was all just a giant inconvenience and gummint intrusion into his life - because, after all, a swingin', hair gelled sexagenarian health nazi who still squires dates WAY too young for him should be able to spread the infection without pesky masks and quarantines since it's only unhealthy old people at risk anyway, right? Maher also contributed mightily to the popularization of the word "woke" as he relentlessly tore into the progressive pussies who spend too much time actively caring about their fellow human (what's the definition of a Libertarian? Someone who thinks Republicans aren't selfish enough.) And his self-congratulatory "centrist" horseshit got old way before then. Flirting with a frau nazi like Coulter was simply irritating before the country actually WENT nazi - so to be tongue bathing der fuhrer because he was polite & didn't sue him for saying mean things about him (as he already did once) wasn't an act of selfless conciliation to understand the enemy - it was the act of a guileless naif who inexplicably actually hangs out with Kid Rock and apparently thinks Trump 2.0 is perfectly normal - just misunderstood. So - once again, kudos for the takedown of this sawed-off dapper dipshit. It's also nice to see you aren't the only one.
I’m SOOOO glad you wrote about him! I i hope you posted this newsletter on BlueSky and tagged him in it. Not only did he fall for Trump’s fake performance and report it back to his audience—but on the same night, he gave a platform to that POS, Steve Bannon. That felonious, misogynistic, white supremacist was spit-shined
And wheeled out in front of of Bill‘s audience. Bill normalized that Nazi and bantered with him about things that are absolutely no joke. And when Josh Rogin had the courage to explain to Bill why people were less than thrilled about him kissing Trump’s ring, he called him failed talk show guest. Bill literally treated Bannon with more respect than Josh Rogin and it made me sick. I have been a fan of Bill Maher for years, but he started to lose me when he mocked people for wearing masks during Covid and playing down the pandemic. Since then, he’s been sucking up to the right more and more, and I think Friday night was the last straw for me.
And I would add that this particular post wasn't nearly as loaded with (side-splittingly funny) "adolescent name-calling" as some have been. "Someone" is a very easily triggered person and probably shouldn't be reading anything less censored than than a daily national newspaper.
THIS is for moi! I need to find this fridge magnet to show hubby when he complains about my increased use of 'fucks' since reading Jeff's life-saving/sanity-preserving posts.
happy to see this post. Bill M. has been an important figure in our culture. I haven’t been able to watch him for years now, but dipped into his review of his visit with T. He is a smug, self-satisfied revolting guy. Happy to see our Uncle Jeff take him down.
I used to watch him faithfully, but several years ago I lost interest in him. I felt too that he sucked up to Colter and other right wings. The idea that he had 3 shirt Bannon on his show is a bridge too far. Maybe his liberal audience is leaving him so he is going to cultivate MAGA now. Did Trump really con him or is Maher posting what he did for attention? He sure got it. And Trump is so stupid, he'd believe that Bill likes him now. So were we manipulated by Bill?
Why’s that? I wasn’t being sarcastic. If somebody doesn’t like cussing! Then hit the fuckin bricks!! That ain’t sarcasm. That’s fact. Maybe you’re in a cognitive decline. Check yourself before you check somebody else!! Hear that?!
I don’t know where I’d be without your ‘name calling.’ Jeff, you are a genius at coming up with just the perfect expression to call something exactly what it is, define its horribleness and hit back all at the same time. Thank you everyday.
went back and reread this and I actually didn’t find anything more than calling Maher an asshole. The rest of it was in reference to the absurdity of these asshole’s actions. He is an asshole, just like the shape of the Felon’s little pie hole. Bye gurl.
I believe we’re all pretty emotionally wrecked by this shit. We need to extend each other grace and remember we’re all in here bc we’re on the same side.
Thanks Charles, Hannah, Cat, Susan and all of you for having my back.. we’ve been following Jeff and several other excellent journalists on Substack for a long time now and we’ve been going through this insanity together. If it weren’t for you all I m pretty sure I would be certifiably batshit crazy. Please know how grateful I am for our community here❣️We gotta keep rocking it!!
LOL. Take heart Jeff. You've still got us foul mouthed adults on your side. I'll never cancel my subscription. I'll send you money beyond the grave some day. People like that have a stick up their ass. I just ignore them.
I actually re-subscribed because I missed the "adolescent name calling" and the beautifully elegant use of the F-word. Rock on with your bad self Jeff.
And getting awful-er. Years ago he made a movie called Religulous where he actually was rational about the divisive and hypocritical nature of organized religion. Of course, even back then he was a smug asshole.
I hadn't realized, & I while back I noted, don't watch this guy unless I want to be pissed off 😅. Now I know it wasn't my lack of sense of humor. Smug asshole went to the dark side.
I like the photo that was going around of Katy Perry and her Cybertruck with the caption, "As if having been married to Russell Brand wasn't embarrassing enough..."
He was a comedian. Sarcastic and was pretty funny. He is right wing and has been since Trump. I no longer listen to him and I don't think many people do. MAGAs actually have no sense of humor. Your funny comedians are all liberal.
Ok, don't know anything about her other than I find her weird. Parents who don't teach their kids how to navigate the world piss me off. You hit a nerve. That one gift from my parents that gets inflamed occasionally.
>>”people are being disappeared off the streets. the social safety net is being blowtorched to oblivion.”
We just got news last night that a Haitian refugee woman that my wife has been supporting will likely be deported.
This woman and her 4 year old girl have been taken in by our Friends Meeting in the spare apartment in their building. My wife has probably put 40 hours into helping them get settled, taking her to meet with immigration lawyers, documenting her legal status to work, and getting the kid declared eligible to be registered with Head Start, and other people have probably put 100 or more hours into helping this little family. Now their probationary status has suddenly been revoked, just as their asylum status was about to be granted, and they've been given 7 days to get out of the country. Fukkin A. Are they supposed to buy their own plane tickets to deport themselves back to their impoverished hellhole?
The Venezuelan family that the Friends Meeting helped for 15 months, now in Texas and Indiana- status unknown but there were rumblings that it's not good. Good people doing everything right- the dad was a policeman whose arm was broken and life was threatened by the gangs and is in big trouble if he ends up back there.
Heartbreaking just reading about this, I can’t imagine the pain about what is happening to these people when you’ve been so involved with them.
The fear and hopelessness they must feel is gut wrenching to even just think about. And to know there are people in our government who do not give a flying fuck. THIS IS WRONG AND EVIL. Duh, I know you guys already know this….😰
President Putinsbitch has been repeatedly and accurately described as transactional. Damn, when will these numbskulls get it? Ask poor Tiffany and Cheryl Hines. Media figures like Joe and Mika and now Maher are the most useful because of their visibility, so of course Don the Con is gonna turn on the charm. Geez, read the room is right. Wake up, dumbshits. And WTF, Gretchen Whitmer?
She got conned into that WH appearance, which turned out to be something other than what she was told. She got used, and should have known she was being set up.
Except that Whitmer went to the White House to talk about tariffs and actually said that "tariffs can be a good thing". She should have pushed back when the tariff war got out of control. Whitmer was in my top 3 for presidential candidates in 2028, but after listening to her talking about tariffs, she's no longer a choice for me. Tariffs have never been a good thing, trade agreements are. We're now the pariah country. It's sad.
She's trying to get help. And tariffs actually DO help some people. If a manufacturer here in the US, also gets the raw materials for their goods from here, tariffs ARE a good thing. Understand? It really helps if you know why tariffs are bad. That manufacturer wins because his products aren't taxed/tariffed; his overseas competitors are.
Whitmer knows and understands this. She's not wrong; those who don't understand are wrong.
Yes, I'm very disappointed, too. But also some point, we are required to stop making excuses for collaborating with what amounts to the coup of evil and fucking stand up, not agree. Jesus.
Tess, that is maybe good for cars is her state, problematic however for the world. When no Tariffs at all would probably be best. Donny dipshit doesn’t even parse it out like that, he wants all everything that occurred with somebody else’s name on destroyed and he has made some disappear but destruction of this magnitude is what will be remembered by history.
Targeted tariffs are a form of protectionism, to allow domestic industries to be competitive. What this idiot is doing, sweeping tariffs on everything and nearly all countries (except Russia, of course!) will only raise prices for everyone and plunge us into a recession. This is such a stupid move. His combination of vindictiveness and ignorance is so very destructive. He is obsessed with other countries having a trade surplus with us. He’s too fucking stupid to understand that we are the richest nation on earth and can and do buy more than they buy from us.
I think she was trying to meet and get something for Michigan, like exceptions for the auto industry etc. It shows he is too big a POS to even hold meetings with Govs. I guess she can go back and say well I tried to tell you he would be like that? But he's the disgrace, not Whitmer.
No, I don't think that's the case. She's a powerful person in her own right. She was sucking it up for the benefit of her constituents. She really was.
Whitmer just joined Kirsten Guillibrand, who led the misguided torpedoing of Al Franken's senate career, in the list of radioactive Democrats who will never be president.
Gillibrand thought she was doing the right thing, and it was at the Me Too time where there was zero tolerance on the left for any questionable behavior, but the larger issue is the double standard between the right and the left regarding morals and behaviors. Look at "Jailbait" Gaetz. Look at Hegseth, whose victim filed a police report alleging sexual assault. Look at the felon president, who owes E Jean Carroll an $83 million civil judgment for sexual assault. The repugnant-cons have no shame. Zero tolerance on the left, hypocrisy on the right makes for an uneven standard.
You guys are incorrect. Whitmer understands Tariffs. Stop knocking her. It's a few of you here that don't understand them, and why she said what she did. 🙄
NYT: “The day after the inauguration, Ms. Whitmer penned a handwritten letter — which has not been previously reported — congratulating Mr. Trump, saying she looked forward to working together and praising his support for the auto industry in his first address, according to a person who relayed the text of the letter. Ms. Whitmer included her cellphone number and invited Mr. Trump to call her if she could be of any help to him.”
My wife & I saw Maher in a mid-size venue in Long Island some years ago. He saw an audience member looking at her phone and told her, in front of the whole auditorium, to put it down. She did, but picked it up a few minutes later, and he tore into her, unable to take it.
There are many reasons to detest him now, but it started for us that night when the self-absorbed asshole had to keep excoriating one solitary young woman in front of a couple of thousand people.
yeah...I've noticed that about a lot of TV personalities...giant head on small body. Evidently it works out great when viewed through a camera lens at the proper distance.
In 2010's countless times there'd be someone asking people on Venice Beach if we'd like to go to a taping of his show. I never said yes but at the time I thought he seemed ok.
Haven’t watched Mr. Bill in over 10 years as I do not find his “brand of humor” very humorous, it tired and boring. To think he would kiss the ring basically seals the deal..Bill can take a flying fuck back LA. Disgust is all I got left for that guy and his new pals.
Speaking of that, T💩p took down Obama’s official portrait in the White House and replaced it with a portrait of T💩p wearing a Kotex on his ear. Philosopher Chrissy Tiegen said it best, he is a pussy-assed bitch or PAB for short.
I always thought he was a sexist libertarian. Ann coulter pissed me off, but I stopped watching when he didn’t go after trump the first term. Now he’s gone full MAGA bitch. Josh Rodin did a good job of making him squirm.
If Colter was not born a man, I'll buy you dinner. I've always thought that and if true, the hypocrisy that goes along with being right wing. They are the best projectors in the world.
Yeah, well, once upon a time I liked Bill Cosby. I got pretty sick of watching Maher years ago after once having been a fan. He’s just another fucking entitled ass celebrity yukking it up with our celebrity president. Nothing personal, right? We’re all giants, right? They can both go fuck themselves.
When I watched the documentary "We need to talk about Cosby" I was reminded of just how brilliant his comedy was. And of what a horrible person he turned out to be.
My husband and I saw him perform live about ten years ago when I still enjoyed his show. However, I later began to realize what a pompous asshole he truly is. We haven't watched his show in eight years, and I miss him about as much as I miss Joe and Mika— which is not at all.
👆🎯His "get off my lawn!" yelling at younger generations is hateful, and was never funny. We aren't supposed to all be the same, like carbon copies of each other.
Jeff, I am forever grateful to my friend of 50 years for turning me on to you. In fact I will give him a call in a few minutes to say “Thank you, Gibby, for bringing Jeff’s writing into my life.”
Jeff, you get right to the crux of issues and make me laugh till I cry. 🙏🏻
Ms. Spouse: 'why are you writing about Bill Maher'
me: 'because every other story today is even more depressing'
Tween watching baseball games I saw Maher's show on CNN last night and when he described his experience with D at dinner I immediately thought of Ds real estate buddy who is 'negotiating' peace in Ukraine....the same guy who walked away from a meeting with Putin and said. 'He's actually a nice guy...'....very funny & almost human huh?? And he kills women & children in missile attacks....but he's such a nice guy! Maher has changed the last 9 years and is now a full blown fool.
He was always a smug fool. Maybe he covered it better in the past. IDK.
I agree Arne! I always considered him an oily snake and didn’t go out of my way to ever listened to his smugness.
Totally agree. Quit watching Maher years ago.
Ditto Steve, I can’t recall the exact moment, but his uncouth bullshit always rubbed me the wrong way!!
same same.....couldn't understand why he was popular
He was always a smug asshole.
And not funny. I think on his show, when he was gushing about ill douché, he referred to himself as a comedian. Yeah, no.
Long ago, I think I tried to like him, but failed (and rarely had HBO). Obviously, he always thought he was the smartest in the room. Not.
Trump is a madman, and by becoming one of his assets, Maher is too. He is a madman, and Trump is surrounded by Madmen and Madwomen. Kristi Noam of puppy murdering infamy is now murdering young men by sending them to El Salvadoran Nazi prison and she is doing this with glee, knowing it is a death sentence. She is a mad, evil Nazi! Trump is too!
He was snatched by an alien life form🤔 Anyone find any flower pods in his vicinity?
I remember watching his show years ago during the dubya shitshow. I was 20 or so years younger then and thought it was cool that someone was criticizing what I saw as fascism. Then he started with the Islamophobia, revealing that he’s just a jerk and I stopped watching. That and Ann Coulter makes me physically ill.
He always was a smug creep, and a pseudo-intellectual.
Perfect sentiment Douglas!
Always thought so!!
Jeff I hate bill maher , though recently he embarrassed Steve bannon with a copy of the constitution. But as I continue to assert , Trump and his enablers , are fucking cult members
Here’s an example
https://thistleandmoss.com/p/cult-of-bullshit-mountain-a-quantitative
Keep doing the hard work Jeff
It's like Maher lost his last shred of credibility with that.
Not that he had much before this, but there was always that shred of hope that maybe he'd remember how utterly evil and STUPID(!!!) the Right is. Especially stupid, which he always claimed was the worst....
Maher wants to believe in the value of talking to people across the divide—that’s important but doesn’t actually work in this setting. Here he isn’t just humanizing Trump—he’s laundering the destruction Trump has caused to all of us and to the planet. When he describes Trump as gracious or thoughtful in that setting, without holding the weight of what Trump has done—ripping apart democratic norms, spreading cruelty, fear, and lies, enabling violence, undoing environmental protections, undermining trust in truth itself—it makes Trump seem like a well-intentioned, even reasonable person. And that’s the opposite of what he has shown himself to be, over and over. People need to understand that authoritarianism doesn’t always reveal itself, it often smiles and flatters, and wins people over socially before it crushes dissent politically. Maher’s effort here to model open-mindedness was naive and wholly destructive.
This pattern of charming others isn’t unique to Trump. People who spent time socially with Hitler or Putin often described them as calm, courteous, and even engaging. Hitler could be gentle and charming in private settings. Putin, too, is often composed and witty in person. But both are murderers and destroyers—men whose private charisma masked public brutality. That contrast is not comforting—it’s the method by which authoritarians get close enough to be believed, followed, and defended. Trump fits that mold—he can turn on the charm, make you feel heard, joke around—and meanwhile he’s working to dismantle freedom, truth, justice, and environmental survival.
We don’t need to be filled with hate—but we do need to remain clear about what we’re dealing with. Donald Trump is a toxic fusion of Narcissistic Personality Disorder, Antisocial behavior, Paranoia, and Sadism, a man utterly devoid of empathy or conscience, driven by an insatiable need for admiration and dominance. His pathological lying is not incidental but strategic—crafted to confuse, control, and seduce, with no regard for truth or consequence. The sociopathy underlying his persona renders him immune to guilt or moral restraint, while his sadism finds expression in the pleasure he takes in cruelty, humiliation, and the suffering of others. At the same time, he is a masterful con artist—charismatic to the credulous, shamelessly manipulative, and astonishingly adept at exploiting the weaknesses of others for his own gain. Enabled from childhood by wealth, impunity, and sycophants, he has never been held accountable in any meaningful way, which has only deepened his belief in his own invincibility. The result is a profoundly dangerous individual whose greatest ability is to destroy everything he touches.
Is being filled with hate really such a bad thing? We've been reading about ill douché's psychopathy for a decade. All the diagnoses are in. Most of them are incurable. Put him in a strait-jacket and lock him in a rubber room already.
Yes, one should hate unadulterated evil.
If I had a million dollars for every time someone told me not to hate him because hate is blahblahblah, and I answered by asking, "If you had a chance to go back in time and kill a baby Hitler...?" I'd be so rich that I wouldn't be reading jealous libtard shit like Jeff writes, instead of clinging to his every word!
I don’t have a problem with people feeling hate towards trump and his enablers. It’s a naturally occurring phenomenon when humans are oppressed, attacked and gaslit-it’s a survival signal. I was addressing the people who were taught to believe that hating others is wrong and don’t want to amplify that experience.
I understood that from your missive and agree completely. I simply cannot fathom how ANYONE can be in the presence of someone as devoid of humanity as frump - and think of him as 'charming' or 'gracious'. That, I find mind-boggling since I've pretty much grown up in NY knowing everything he's done and DESPISED him from early on. I find him unctuous and slimy and know I could never be 'charmed' by this awful POS. The attorney I worked for at one of NY's top law firms had that same 'charm' Bill Clinton did...where women would gravitate to him. I'd watch stupefyed, partly understanding it but also a bit repelled. Oh, 'I' liked him well enough, he was a lovely man with a wife and small child, although none of those women seemed to care. I could quite see how Bill Clinton drew in so many admirers though - after my time with him. It's an indefinable built-in quality some people have. I don't see orange baby man having anything CLOSE to 'it'; rather he bullies, strikes out, curses at, shoves out of the way (as he did the PM of Montenegro), insults and puts down...something neither gentlemen I mentioned would ever dream of doing. I could never associate the word 'charm' with him.
Sarah, that was just a wonderful explanation of the strange ability of otherwise very stupid people, like trump and in all probability Putin, to somehow 'charm' the people they are directly speaking with into accepting them as reasonable or friendly. As Jeff and Darrel Silver put it, it's like a 'superpower', almost as if there's some strange brainwave frequency similar to hypnosis that they're emitting. I certainly can't explain it, but you're so correct - reading accounts of Hitler as you mentioned will verify he had the same ability when needed. Well said.
when someone has what you want, a narcissistic will innately know how to get it, no big mystery. to me the big mystery, is why are you even that physically close to a monster like these men are?
Sarah, I’ve reread your comments over and over and have rarely read words as brilliant and I read everything!!!!
Thank you for putting on paper my exact feelings in explaining Trump and his cowardly, self serving sycophants. All of them!!!!!!!
Brilliant!
That's his secret sauce...master manipulator. Psychopaths are calculating. Add to it malignant narcissism who has dementia.
The billionaires crying in their socks right now is a joke. They thought all malignant narcissists stuck together. Oops. This is the same guy who bragged about wanting to have sex with his daughter. He would prostitute her to close his deals. Jesus fucking Christ, rich people aren't smart. Just master manipulators.
👆🎯Or just lucky sperm donor lottery winners. Which is to say they inherited it through no work of their own.
The fact that they (narcissists) have no conscience along with the desire and ability to study normal people to see what "works" in order to manipulate others for their own advantage, and the ability to put on a believable performance - all in the name of gaining the upper hand in any relationship - getting what they want or need while giving very little of their time and energy. It is very chilling once you realize what they're doing, rather than giving you warm and fuzzy feelings.
::Maher wants to believe in the value of talking to people across the divide—that’s important but doesn’t actually work in this setting.::
It hasn't worked for DECADES, Sarah—ever since Dixiecrats started openly breaking up peaceful Civil Rights protests with violence in the 1950s, and MCarthyite Republicans like Nixon started seeing "Communists!" under every bed. The Right has seen Liberals and the Left as "the enemy" ever since then, and believed that any extreme was justified in eradicating us.
While I personally consider leeching the Southern Bigot poison out of the Democratic Party to be the only good thing Nixon's "Southern Strategy" did in the late Sixties, it metastasized inside the Republicans and made the entire party into a cancerous growth of Religious Right hatred, bigotry, and corruption. Donald Trump is just its most recent, and most extreme, flowering....
🎯🎯🎯👆👆👆
VERY well said, sadly!!
"We don’t need to be filled with hate—but we do need to remain clear about what we’re dealing with." Perfectly stated.
Excellent analysis of Trump, and very accurate based on the numerous (and I do mean NUMEROUS) books and news articles I’ve read about him. If only others saw him so clearly…
Best summary on 47 I've ever seen. So astute and clear. Thank you for that.
wow! which leaves the question, what the fuck can we do?
Well said, Sarah!!
Doesn't work with or on tRump, period.
Yes, that shred of hope kept us watching Maher. No more. And he hangs with Kid Rock? WTF?
Can you imagine hanging out with No Longer a Kid Rock? That's how you know you've bottomed out.
Who's next? Nick Fuentes? Alex Jones?
Yeah, that last sentence of yours truly got me, too. Hanging with kid rock
What a shame that Maher was so successful at manipulating his audience. Hope, my ass.
🤢🤮
I used to watch Bill Maher but not anymore. He continues to show his true colors of what a misled, easily duped, self-centered prick rumor has always said he is. The response to his dinner with the felonious con artist put the icing on the cake. A while back, it was reported that a limo driver said he had never dealt with a bigger asshole than Bill Maher. Not surprising considering more of these TV talk show hosts keep visiting Mar a Lardo and fall for the bullshit.
He is just a has-been libertarian who used to be funny and stuck around too long and eventually said too much - just like Scott Adam’s. He should take his millions and go sit quietly in the corner and smoke dope.
Yup!! Traitor 🤬
The Maher story reminds me of tales about Hitler and his dog, Blondi. But I would never want anyone to get the impression that I think Maher to be the lapdog of a fascist. Oh, no, never!
Things didn't end so well with Blondi, either.
I wrote this about a week ago when another site mentioned Maher: “I used to enjoy Maher’s show years ago, even if I didn’t agree with some of his stances. He used to be funny and thought provoking. Now, he’s just another white guy punching down”
I’ll just add: Fuck that guy
Same here! Used to watch him but then he moved to the “other side” and that was a big turn-off for me. Haven’t watched him in years and I am so glad. Yeah…fuck that guy!
An annoying tactic Maher uses is to rail against an invented straw man argument nobody’s making against him.
What if we’re not angry he met with tRump - What if we’re angry he was so easily and positively impressed that tRump acts “normal” in private, and like an unhinged fictional WWE wrestling character in public representing this country? What if we’re mad he didn’t engage tRump on that point, and elicit a response the way you would if you really were a guest in the presence of a normal-acting host, and were engaged in a normal two-way conversation with him? And what if we’re mad that his take was wow, tRump is a nice normal-acting guy in private, a positive impression - and not wow, this blustering asshole president we see on TV is an elaborate phony performance by a TV game show host who fell upward because Americans are so easily conned by a TV performance? Meanwhile a smug TV performer is conned by another TV performer’s private performance.
You absolutely nailed it, Bob. That is EXACTLY why Bill Maher's fans are angry at him now.
yes yes yes
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for the well deserved torching of HBO's Napoleon complex incarnate. He's been on my ignore list since he started broadcasting from his house during the pandemic and spent an hour pouting and whining like it was all just a giant inconvenience and gummint intrusion into his life - because, after all, a swingin', hair gelled sexagenarian health nazi who still squires dates WAY too young for him should be able to spread the infection without pesky masks and quarantines since it's only unhealthy old people at risk anyway, right? Maher also contributed mightily to the popularization of the word "woke" as he relentlessly tore into the progressive pussies who spend too much time actively caring about their fellow human (what's the definition of a Libertarian? Someone who thinks Republicans aren't selfish enough.) And his self-congratulatory "centrist" horseshit got old way before then. Flirting with a frau nazi like Coulter was simply irritating before the country actually WENT nazi - so to be tongue bathing der fuhrer because he was polite & didn't sue him for saying mean things about him (as he already did once) wasn't an act of selfless conciliation to understand the enemy - it was the act of a guileless naif who inexplicably actually hangs out with Kid Rock and apparently thinks Trump 2.0 is perfectly normal - just misunderstood. So - once again, kudos for the takedown of this sawed-off dapper dipshit. It's also nice to see you aren't the only one.
Nice! Thanks Gary D, especially for the reminder of how that asshole made things worse on the "woke" thing.
excellent!
Like that "libertarian" definition LOL
I wrote my long winded, professional and academic-sounding response above in this chain and I really appreciate your take on Maher!
Yes!! Could not say it better. Thank you!!
Maher's round-eyed public duping by Trump is the big story of the week, if we don't count trillions in financial losses.
maher is a duplicitous asshole...thought he was so cool hanging out with Hefner and getting laid. we stopped watching his show a few years ago.
😔💯
I've despised Maher's miserably narcissistic, cut throat arse for decades.
You’ve got that right Jeff, besides Maher is another odious cretin!!
I’m SOOOO glad you wrote about him! I i hope you posted this newsletter on BlueSky and tagged him in it. Not only did he fall for Trump’s fake performance and report it back to his audience—but on the same night, he gave a platform to that POS, Steve Bannon. That felonious, misogynistic, white supremacist was spit-shined
And wheeled out in front of of Bill‘s audience. Bill normalized that Nazi and bantered with him about things that are absolutely no joke. And when Josh Rogin had the courage to explain to Bill why people were less than thrilled about him kissing Trump’s ring, he called him failed talk show guest. Bill literally treated Bannon with more respect than Josh Rogin and it made me sick. I have been a fan of Bill Maher for years, but he started to lose me when he mocked people for wearing masks during Covid and playing down the pandemic. Since then, he’s been sucking up to the right more and more, and I think Friday night was the last straw for me.
Side note, that actor John Vernon in the gif Jeff used is in Killer Klowns from Outer Space and is absolutely fantastic in it.
fun fact: this post just made someone cancel their subscription because of "too much adolescent name calling"
oh well
How long have they been reading your work?! The adolescent name-calling is part of your charm!
A badge of honor these days. Congrats!
And I would add that this particular post wasn't nearly as loaded with (side-splittingly funny) "adolescent name-calling" as some have been. "Someone" is a very easily triggered person and probably shouldn't be reading anything less censored than than a daily national newspaper.
Was it Bill Maher?
LOL!!!
🤣🤣🤣
Gold
😂😂
Adolescent? I think not. Fully formed, mature name-calling.
Seen on a fridge magnet: “I don’t spew profanities; I enunciate them carefully, like a lady”
As women should!
Love this!!
THIS is for moi! I need to find this fridge magnet to show hubby when he complains about my increased use of 'fucks' since reading Jeff's life-saving/sanity-preserving posts.
happy to see this post. Bill M. has been an important figure in our culture. I haven’t been able to watch him for years now, but dipped into his review of his visit with T. He is a smug, self-satisfied revolting guy. Happy to see our Uncle Jeff take him down.
I used to watch him faithfully, but several years ago I lost interest in him. I felt too that he sucked up to Colter and other right wings. The idea that he had 3 shirt Bannon on his show is a bridge too far. Maybe his liberal audience is leaving him so he is going to cultivate MAGA now. Did Trump really con him or is Maher posting what he did for attention? He sure got it. And Trump is so stupid, he'd believe that Bill likes him now. So were we manipulated by Bill?
You think him and Coulter were ever an item? Or flirty?
I'd guess yes?
If only we could cancel our subscription to this administration on those grounds
Yes please.
Oh, shoot. I never noticed. Now I can’t unsee it in your writing.
Just don’t start using swear words. I’ll cancel at that point. Thanks.
oh fuck I'm doomed
You are a beautiful person, Jeff. Stay true to yourself. You bring us joy.
You are the Maestro of profanity, and a precious national resource!
😅😂🤣 keep up the good work, Jeff
😂😂😂
LOL
😂
🤣🤣
Well please don’t wait take your judgemental bullshit and fucking GO!!!!
Your sarcasm meter needs recalibrating
Why’s that? I wasn’t being sarcastic. If somebody doesn’t like cussing! Then hit the fuckin bricks!! That ain’t sarcasm. That’s fact. Maybe you’re in a cognitive decline. Check yourself before you check somebody else!! Hear that?!
THE PERSON YOU WERE REPLYING TO was being sarcastic. Maybe you are in a cognitive decline.
It's not truly adolescent unless it comes from the Adolescent region of France.
otherwise it's just sparkling immaturity
Ha ha
loool
I don’t know where I’d be without your ‘name calling.’ Jeff, you are a genius at coming up with just the perfect expression to call something exactly what it is, define its horribleness and hit back all at the same time. Thank you everyday.
Sound likes someone that got their Doctorate in Accounting that insists you address
him/her as Doctor.
LOL! Jesus…thats why we’re here! 😂😂😂
went back and reread this and I actually didn’t find anything more than calling Maher an asshole. The rest of it was in reference to the absurdity of these asshole’s actions. He is an asshole, just like the shape of the Felon’s little pie hole. Bye gurl.
You sound suspiciously like an asshole yourself, was that your intention with this comment?
I was referring to Maher and the Felon Jeffrey. I’m guilty of writing my thoughts too quickly and they can be unclear.
You were clear. You were attacked for no reason.
You’re a stupid person who can’t follow a thread. Is that nice enuff for you?! If not get offa my cloud!!!
This is why I'm blocking you.
Ignore that magat bitch.
I see. Than your not an asshole, good.
Cut the bullshit, okay. It was VERY clear what she meant.
Oh look...d jeffrey porturica...another fucking magat moron has tried to infiltrate. And....BLOCK. Fuck off shit weasel.
Wtf are you talking about?! you stupid cow!
Please stop. We don't attack one another here. We disagree without malice or name calling.
I am not responding to you Tama2U. Just to clarify.
I believe we’re all pretty emotionally wrecked by this shit. We need to extend each other grace and remember we’re all in here bc we’re on the same side.
Hey fuck you! Go the fuck away!
Thanks Charles, Hannah, Cat, Susan and all of you for having my back.. we’ve been following Jeff and several other excellent journalists on Substack for a long time now and we’ve been going through this insanity together. If it weren’t for you all I m pretty sure I would be certifiably batshit crazy. Please know how grateful I am for our community here❣️We gotta keep rocking it!!
I think you read too fast and spoke too soon. Re-read Tama2U's comment.
Thanks Carrie 💙
Lol. Maybe you gave one "fuck" too many?
Fuck them fuckers.
My favorite remains fuck weasel.
LOL. Take heart Jeff. You've still got us foul mouthed adults on your side. I'll never cancel my subscription. I'll send you money beyond the grave some day. People like that have a stick up their ass. I just ignore them.
Oh, clutch my pearls! Maher has always been a fucking PRICK.
I actually re-subscribed because I missed the "adolescent name calling" and the beautifully elegant use of the F-word. Rock on with your bad self Jeff.
Maher has been awful for a long, long time.
true fact
Indeed
And getting awful-er. Years ago he made a movie called Religulous where he actually was rational about the divisive and hypocritical nature of organized religion. Of course, even back then he was a smug asshole.
Always was, always will be.
I hadn't realized, & I while back I noted, don't watch this guy unless I want to be pissed off 😅. Now I know it wasn't my lack of sense of humor. Smug asshole went to the dark side.
At least 20 years.
Like always!
I hope Bill Maher goes the way of Dennis Miller.
Good one! Haven't thought of Dennis Miller in ages. (Your point.)
Another sanctimonius asshole who I would like to buy for what he’s worth
and sell for what he thinks he’s worth.
Move to a villa in Provence with my profit.
Same here. Wondering what ever happened to that dipshit?
I hope Maher goes the way of Russell Brand.
Yuck. Just looking at that guy makes me feel like I need a shower.
Isn't Brand disgusting? He needs to be wearing a roach motel around his neck, a long with the other cheap necklaces he bought in bulk from Hot Topic.
I like the photo that was going around of Katy Perry and her Cybertruck with the caption, "As if having been married to Russell Brand wasn't embarrassing enough..."
Likely!
Who is Dennis Miller?
He was a comedian. Sarcastic and was pretty funny. He is right wing and has been since Trump. I no longer listen to him and I don't think many people do. MAGAs actually have no sense of humor. Your funny comedians are all liberal.
Dennis "turned" right after 9/11. I loved him before that—I remember watching some of his HBO specials and laughing so hard I couldn't breathe.
Who is russel brand? Never liked that rotten toothed limey ever. Any supposed talent is lost on me.
Brand was always creepy. Addict and sexual predator. Never saw what Katy Perry saw in him.
She was raised in an ultra-religious environment, so she lacked the skills to spot a predator, and she was young and naive.
Ok, don't know anything about her other than I find her weird. Parents who don't teach their kids how to navigate the world piss me off. You hit a nerve. That one gift from my parents that gets inflamed occasionally.
I never saw anything in either of them.
Dennis who?
😉
you mean he hasn't already?
No, because you're still hearing about Bill Maher.
not for long, one hopes. He'll continue to grift $ from the rubes that follow watch or listen. Gross
Assholes are magnetically drawn to each other.
A truism for the ages.
>>”people are being disappeared off the streets. the social safety net is being blowtorched to oblivion.”
We just got news last night that a Haitian refugee woman that my wife has been supporting will likely be deported.
This woman and her 4 year old girl have been taken in by our Friends Meeting in the spare apartment in their building. My wife has probably put 40 hours into helping them get settled, taking her to meet with immigration lawyers, documenting her legal status to work, and getting the kid declared eligible to be registered with Head Start, and other people have probably put 100 or more hours into helping this little family. Now their probationary status has suddenly been revoked, just as their asylum status was about to be granted, and they've been given 7 days to get out of the country. Fukkin A. Are they supposed to buy their own plane tickets to deport themselves back to their impoverished hellhole?
The Venezuelan family that the Friends Meeting helped for 15 months, now in Texas and Indiana- status unknown but there were rumblings that it's not good. Good people doing everything right- the dad was a policeman whose arm was broken and life was threatened by the gangs and is in big trouble if he ends up back there.
Heartbreaking just reading about this, I can’t imagine the pain about what is happening to these people when you’ve been so involved with them.
The fear and hopelessness they must feel is gut wrenching to even just think about. And to know there are people in our government who do not give a flying fuck. THIS IS WRONG AND EVIL. Duh, I know you guys already know this….😰
She is despondent and deeply depressed.
But, there was some good news today from the lawyer.
1.) As she has a bona fide asylum claim for threats to her health or life, that may supercede the suspension of probation, and
2.) Canada may be an option
The email was oddly and innecessarily cruel, saying, "Don't try to hide: the federal government will find you." Our kakistocracy is so pathetic.
they said the same to this woman:
https://www.wcvb.com/article/nicole-micheroni-dhs-self-deport-letter-massachusetts/64467408?fbclid=IwY2xjawJp7jtleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHijihldIw4TSmyP01h8959GAQuZ4r_BgxpzmG7Q87O4hWZBKGCsBZbzuZMZ6_aem_bvP33-NgECaVJ5iper5V7g
When will we all join in yelling "We're mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore!" ?
What an awful situation. Thanks to your spouse for trying to help.
I have been there. It's heartbreaking.
President Putinsbitch has been repeatedly and accurately described as transactional. Damn, when will these numbskulls get it? Ask poor Tiffany and Cheryl Hines. Media figures like Joe and Mika and now Maher are the most useful because of their visibility, so of course Don the Con is gonna turn on the charm. Geez, read the room is right. Wake up, dumbshits. And WTF, Gretchen Whitmer?
She got conned into that WH appearance, which turned out to be something other than what she was told. She got used, and should have known she was being set up.
Except that Whitmer went to the White House to talk about tariffs and actually said that "tariffs can be a good thing". She should have pushed back when the tariff war got out of control. Whitmer was in my top 3 for presidential candidates in 2028, but after listening to her talking about tariffs, she's no longer a choice for me. Tariffs have never been a good thing, trade agreements are. We're now the pariah country. It's sad.
She's trying to get help. And tariffs actually DO help some people. If a manufacturer here in the US, also gets the raw materials for their goods from here, tariffs ARE a good thing. Understand? It really helps if you know why tariffs are bad. That manufacturer wins because his products aren't taxed/tariffed; his overseas competitors are.
Whitmer knows and understands this. She's not wrong; those who don't understand are wrong.
Yes, I'm very disappointed, too. But also some point, we are required to stop making excuses for collaborating with what amounts to the coup of evil and fucking stand up, not agree. Jesus.
Tess, that is maybe good for cars is her state, problematic however for the world. When no Tariffs at all would probably be best. Donny dipshit doesn’t even parse it out like that, he wants all everything that occurred with somebody else’s name on destroyed and he has made some disappear but destruction of this magnitude is what will be remembered by history.
Targeted tariffs are a form of protectionism, to allow domestic industries to be competitive. What this idiot is doing, sweeping tariffs on everything and nearly all countries (except Russia, of course!) will only raise prices for everyone and plunge us into a recession. This is such a stupid move. His combination of vindictiveness and ignorance is so very destructive. He is obsessed with other countries having a trade surplus with us. He’s too fucking stupid to understand that we are the richest nation on earth and can and do buy more than they buy from us.
When will they learn.
It's called greedy need to be in proximity to power, even evil power. Stick a fork in her.
I think she was trying to meet and get something for Michigan, like exceptions for the auto industry etc. It shows he is too big a POS to even hold meetings with Govs. I guess she can go back and say well I tried to tell you he would be like that? But he's the disgrace, not Whitmer.
This. Whitmer is familiar with having to put up with unbelievable levels of bullshit--she's a woman in politics.
No, I don't think that's the case. She's a powerful person in her own right. She was sucking it up for the benefit of her constituents. She really was.
I think you're right. Like it or not.
Especially Whitmer. She thinks she can be President! Not in this country!
I think she just screwed her chances
Whitmer just joined Kirsten Guillibrand, who led the misguided torpedoing of Al Franken's senate career, in the list of radioactive Democrats who will never be president.
Gillibrand thought she was doing the right thing, and it was at the Me Too time where there was zero tolerance on the left for any questionable behavior, but the larger issue is the double standard between the right and the left regarding morals and behaviors. Look at "Jailbait" Gaetz. Look at Hegseth, whose victim filed a police report alleging sexual assault. Look at the felon president, who owes E Jean Carroll an $83 million civil judgment for sexual assault. The repugnant-cons have no shame. Zero tolerance on the left, hypocrisy on the right makes for an uneven standard.
You guys are incorrect. Whitmer understands Tariffs. Stop knocking her. It's a few of you here that don't understand them, and why she said what she did. 🙄
NYT: “The day after the inauguration, Ms. Whitmer penned a handwritten letter — which has not been previously reported — congratulating Mr. Trump, saying she looked forward to working together and praising his support for the auto industry in his first address, according to a person who relayed the text of the letter. Ms. Whitmer included her cellphone number and invited Mr. Trump to call her if she could be of any help to him.”
https://static01.nyt.com/images/2025/04/12/multimedia/12pol-trump-dem-govs-topart-mqkc/12pol-trump-dem-govs-topart-mqkc-superJumbo.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp
I was really upset about Whitmer. She should have known better. Now she’s toast.
Gavin Newsom too. If JB Pritzker hops onto that crazy train, I'm taking a headfirst dive into a running wood chipper
JB won't. I'm sure. Damn, he'd better not
Newsom has always been a shit. I dunno where he got his liberal chops.
Don't Buscemi yourself please.
https://spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/dallas-fort-worth/ap-top-news/2021/10/14/progressive-california-approves-a-wave-of-new-liberal-laws
https://couragecalifornia.org/courage-applauds-gov-for-signing-bold-legislation/
https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/07/politics/california-governor-special-session-trump-presidency/index.html
https://a11.asmdc.org/press-releases/20241003-governor-newsom-signs-know-your-period-act-law-enhancing-sexual-health
https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2025-02-07/california-approves-50m-to-protect-immigrants-and-defend-state-against-trump-administration
https://keyt.com/news/national-world/ap-national-news/2021/10/14/progressive-california-approves-a-wave-of-new-liberal-laws/
I've lived here during the Reagan, Deukmejian, Wilson, and Schwarzenegger administrations so I know the difference.
She’s not toast. Jeezus Dems and Independents must remember to stay a block to the fascist options.
My wife & I saw Maher in a mid-size venue in Long Island some years ago. He saw an audience member looking at her phone and told her, in front of the whole auditorium, to put it down. She did, but picked it up a few minutes later, and he tore into her, unable to take it.
There are many reasons to detest him now, but it started for us that night when the self-absorbed asshole had to keep excoriating one solitary young woman in front of a couple of thousand people.
Maher is just another little guy with a giant out of proportion head and tiny black dead soul.
And, comes on stage with the attitude, “I’m just like youse guys.”
yeah...I've noticed that about a lot of TV personalities...giant head on small body. Evidently it works out great when viewed through a camera lens at the proper distance.
In 2010's countless times there'd be someone asking people on Venice Beach if we'd like to go to a taping of his show. I never said yes but at the time I thought he seemed ok.
Been finished with Bill for quite some time.
Me too. Quit watching that smug SOB years ago.
I watched until about a year ago for the jokes not is comments but when I quit it was over I just couldn’t relate to him anymore.
Bill who?
Haven’t watched Mr. Bill in over 10 years as I do not find his “brand of humor” very humorous, it tired and boring. To think he would kiss the ring basically seals the deal..Bill can take a flying fuck back LA. Disgust is all I got left for that guy and his new pals.
When Maher started hanging out with Rogan it was a flashing red light for me.
That was funny. I don't think you meant to be, but I cracked up.
Kid Rock? That’s your pal gang? Ug!
Don’t understand this comment, as I don’t see the Kid referenced in today’s observations by Jeff.
From what I've read it was Kid Rick who got Maher the WH invite.
Ah, yes, ignoring Tiffany with the maxipad on his ear.
Speaking of that, T💩p took down Obama’s official portrait in the White House and replaced it with a portrait of T💩p wearing a Kotex on his ear. Philosopher Chrissy Tiegen said it best, he is a pussy-assed bitch or PAB for short.
That's an insult to pussy-assed bitches
I always thought he was a sexist libertarian. Ann coulter pissed me off, but I stopped watching when he didn’t go after trump the first term. Now he’s gone full MAGA bitch. Josh Rodin did a good job of making him squirm.
If Colter was not born a man, I'll buy you dinner. I've always thought that and if true, the hypocrisy that goes along with being right wing. They are the best projectors in the world.
Stop with the sexism. And if you're going to insult her, at least spell her name correctly.
Yeah, well, once upon a time I liked Bill Cosby. I got pretty sick of watching Maher years ago after once having been a fan. He’s just another fucking entitled ass celebrity yukking it up with our celebrity president. Nothing personal, right? We’re all giants, right? They can both go fuck themselves.
When I watched the documentary "We need to talk about Cosby" I was reminded of just how brilliant his comedy was. And of what a horrible person he turned out to be.
My husband and I saw him perform live about ten years ago when I still enjoyed his show. However, I later began to realize what a pompous asshole he truly is. We haven't watched his show in eight years, and I miss him about as much as I miss Joe and Mika— which is not at all.
I hate Maher because he is an opportunist without empathy just like the rest of Trump's gangsters.
👆🎯His "get off my lawn!" yelling at younger generations is hateful, and was never funny. We aren't supposed to all be the same, like carbon copies of each other.
I don't hate him but I am so disappointed that he is either gullible, and opportunist, or afraid.
Jeff, I am forever grateful to my friend of 50 years for turning me on to you. In fact I will give him a call in a few minutes to say “Thank you, Gibby, for bringing Jeff’s writing into my life.”
Jeff, you get right to the crux of issues and make me laugh till I cry. 🙏🏻