Bill Maher Backs Gavin Newsom In New York Times Editorial Calling For Biden to Step Aside

Comedian Bill Maher called on President Joe Biden to step aside and for the Democratic National Convention (DNC) to consider new election candidates in a blistering New York Times editorial on Tuesday.

In the essay, published online on Monday and then frontpage in Tuesday’s international edition, Maher argued that voters were “bored” and wrote: “If our presidential politics were a TV show, it would be a series past its prime in desperate need of new characters.”

“Let’s move the plotline forward,” he urged. “Democrats could not buy, with all of George Soros’s money, the enthusiasm, engagement, and interest they would get from having an open convention.”

Following Biden’s recent shaky debate performance, which the comedian calls the “debate from hell”, Maher’s call for new leadership has made frontpage.

“I like Joe Biden, as many of us do,” he wrote. “But the critique of ageism only has credibility if we admit that there is some time when age inevitably catches up to all of us.”

Playing out the idea as a gameshow competition, admitting the style sounded like a stand-up “bit”, Maher insisted he was “deadly serious.”

“Who will get the rose this August in Chicago? Gavin or Gretchen? Suddenly, Stacey Abrams might say she’s in! And so might Tim Ryan and Josh Shapiro! And Amy Klobuchar and Ruben Gallego! And Mayor Pete and Raphael Warnock! And Wes Moore and — who knows? — maybe Andrew Yang says he’s a Democrat again! And that dude from Kentucky. I hear he’s great!” he mused over potential candidates before settling on California governor Gavin Newsom.”

Drawing contrast with Biden, Maher wrote of Newsom: “He is forceful, is never at a loss for words or stats, never stumbles, is never intimidated. He’s unbullyable, and that’s important against Mr. Trump. People are attracted to what looks like strength, much more than specific policies. And he looks great on TV.”

Notably, Newsom has downplayed the idea of replacing Biden, calling such talk “unhelpful and unnecessary.” The DNC’s current rules mean that Biden would need to voluntarily step down after he’d secured 99 percent of his party’s delegates in the primaries.

But Maher is clear-minded in his call: “The electorate in this country is not particularly fond of studying up on the issues; a lot of the disappointment they feel in Mr. Biden stems from the fact that they just don’t have the facts. But what Americans are big on is: Screw it. Let’s give that new thing a try. How much worse could it be?”

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