Bill Maher twisted himself into knots on Friday's episode of HBO's "Real Time" to argue against artists who withdrew from the Freedom 250 concerts, a series of events backed by President Donald Trump for the Great American State Fair on the National Mall. However, his argument ignored the massive Trump-shaped elephant in the room.
Concerts are not the only events planned for America's 250th anniversary. Trump also tied his 80th birthday on June 14 into the festivities by erecting a UFC cage on the White House's South Lawn for a bloody bout. Additionally, a racetrack is being built around Washington, D.C., for a Freedom 250 Grand Prix event in August.
After mocking Trump as a "redneck president" for the types of events he chose, Maher turned to the artists who dropped out, including Poison's Bret Michaels, Milli Vanilli, and The Commodores. Maher claimed the 250th anniversary celebration "was not planned as a specific Trump thing or a specific MAGA thing." He argued that the artists pulled out to appease the left, saying, "This is a question about what looks best for the Democrats, because I don't think that looks good. It looks like you are just what people say about you — you don't really love America. It looks like you think Trump is more important than the country itself."
Maher noted that the event is now "just a big MAGA rally" with Trump and Lee Greenwood, but still insisted the event is nonpartisan. "Wouldn't it be better to play this gig? It's a monthlong gig. Lots of people like just celebrating America. Can't we all just celebrate America itself and leave Trump out of it?"
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a guest on the show, countered that it's hard to view the event as neutral given Trump made it about himself. Murphy explained, "There was a nonpartisan, apolitical effort to celebrate America's 250th anniversary. And instead of just letting that effort go forward, Donald Trump took it over to create a parallel set of events. My understanding is these artists thought they were going to the nonpartisan effort, and when they found out it was just a predicate to a Trump rally, they didn't want to be part of it."
Murphy concluded that the situation would have been better if Trump had let professionals without a political agenda handle the celebration. "I agree there's no reason to overly politicize this, but Trump decided to politicize it by essentially shutting down the citizens who were leading it and turning it into a big MAGA event."
