Let it be known: Bill Maher is strongly against the concept of political assassination attempts.
The host of HBO’s Real Time With Bill Maher said as much in a video of his Saturday night show in Minnesota he shared on social media, in which he “unequivocally” condemned the events of just a few hours prior—the attempted killing of former President Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania.
“I so unequivocally denounce it. I don’t care what you think about that,” he said. “Not funny. I’m sure there will be jokes that people will make because they hate him so much—about, they wish it went the other way. Not for me. Not for me.
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“Whoever was the shooter has done so much damage to the left,” Maher continued. “Lost a lot of moral high ground in the ‘You’re the violent people.’ You know, ‘Liberals don’t shoot people, liberals don’t solve it that way.’”
The assassination attempt at a packed campaign rally in Pennsylvania left the gunman and one audience member dead, and two others in the crowd critically wounded. Trump suffered a minor injury, and was pictured with blood streaming down from his ear and across his face. His campaign said Sunday he was “fine” after having been treated at a local medical facility.
The shooter was later identified by the FBI as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. A motive in the assassination bid had not been identified as of Sunday.
“At present, we have not identified an ideology associated with the subject, but I want to remind everyone that we’re still very early in this investigation,” Pittsburgh Special Agent in Charge Kevin Rojek told reporters, adding that investigators were looking at the shooting as “a potential domestic terrorism act.”
Crooks, who did not have a history of run-ins with the law or of mental illness, had a checkered political background. He registered as a Republican after turning 18, according to state records, but campaign finance records show that he gave $15 to the Progressive Turnout Project, a Democratic organization, in January 2021.
While a number of his former classmates recall that Crooks was not outspoken on his political views, at least one remembered him as “definitively” conservative.
“It makes me wonder why he would carry out an assassination attempt on the conservative candidate,” Max R. Smith told The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Proclaiming in Minnesota that “none of this violence happens in a vacuum,” Maher switched into a softer mode, saying that he was “glad” Trump was all but unharmed.
But “Trump? I gotta say this. He’s the luckiest motherfucker that has ever walked the face of the Earth,” the comedian joked.
After riffing on Trump’s star-crossed rise to power, including winning the 2016 election despite losing the popular vote to Hillary Clinton, Maher reflected on the dramatic images of the bloodstained former president being hustled off the stage after gunfire rang out at the rally.
“When I saw that photo today of him with the blood streaming down his face—I don’t want to say the election’s over but—” Maher broke off with a laugh. “Because anything can happen in an election. But Jesus Christ.”
As the audience chuckled, he continued, “Yes, MAGA nation finally has its full martyr. They loved it when he went to jail. The mug shot. I gotta say, he’s insane and he’s a criminal. But that mug shot? Fucking nailed it. Perfect And listen, he played the [assassination] scene like he rehearsed it! Take 1! Take 1!
“There will be idiot conspiracy theorists who will say, ‘Oh they planned it.’ He gets grazed and the other guy gets shot—it’s so Trump.” Maher grinned. “It’s going to work for him. I can see the memes now. ‘The man the libtards couldn’t kill.’ Biden can’t get through a debate and a bullet can’t stop Donald Trump. It almost doesn’t matter who the Democrats put up now.”
While he wrapped up the show at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis without issue, Maher was forced to cancel a Sunday night show in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In a video statement on X, the comedian cited travel issues.
“First they said, well, it’s going to be impossible to get to the theater because downtown is going to be closed off for security reasons,” he said. “... So I said, well, I’m going to go to Milwaukee anyway—I’m in Minneapolis now—and maybe things will change. I hate to cancel shows.”
But, he continued, his private plane “broke,” and attempts to talk his way onto a commercial flight were unsuccessful.
Maher is currently on his WTF? Tour, which continues through December.
