In The Know

Bill Maher: Republicans more interested in ‘owning the libs’ than legislating

FILE - Bill Maher arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Beverly Hills, Calif., on March 27, 2022. Mahr has delayed returning to his HBO talk show during the ongoing strike by writers and actors, a decision following similar pauses in the past few days by “The Drew Barrymore Show,” “The Talk” and “The Jennifer Hudson Show.” (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

Bill Maher is slamming Republicans in Congress, saying the GOP lawmakers are “just there to do performative nonsense.”

“They’re there to burnish their credentials to get a show on Fox News,” Maher told Anderson Cooper on Monday’s “AC360” on CNN.

Maher said people like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) “are not interested in legislation; they don’t know how it works.”

“They’re not really interested in improving the country,” the comic and host of HBO’s “Real Time” told Cooper.

“They are just interested, as you said, in owning the libs, making liberals cry their tears, and getting revenge,” said Maher, who was promoting his book, “What This Comedian Said Will Shock You.”


A spokesman for Greene didn’t immediately return ITK’s request for comment.

While 68-year-old Maher said of Democrats in Congress, “I certainly don’t agree with all of them, and there are some that are way out there,” he called them “generally still a sane party of our type of government.”

Maher said despite his outspoken commentary, he “cannot change people” when it comes to their political views. 

“No one was harder on [former President Trump] or will be harder on Trump, and I think I was out front on predicting he was not going to leave office, but you can’t change people’s minds like that. Sometimes they just like a guy,” he said.

“I also concede there’s so much goofiness on the left that I do understand why people go, ‘Yeah Trump is crazy, and I don’t really like him, but what you’re selling scares me even more,'” Maher added.

“You can hate Trump, you can’t hate everybody who likes him — it’s half the country,” he said.

“It’s not that we’re ever going to be agreeing on things, it’s just that we can’t hate each other,” Maher said. “I’m tired of the hate. I don’t want to hate half this country, and I don’t hate half this country.”