Comedian Bill Maher responded to critics of his contention that America needs a recession to “get rid” of President Trump by calling for sanction-like “economic manipulation” to accomplish his goals.
“Anyone who went apeshit the last two weeks because I said going through a recession would be worth it if it meant undermining Trump’s popularity has to enroll in college and take a course in perspective,” said the HBO host. “A recession is a survivable event. What Trump is doing to this country is not.” (RELATED: Bill Maher Is Fine With Another Recession If It Gets Rid Of President Trump)
“The United States has survived 47 recessions in all, and since the Great Depression we’ve never gone more than 10 years without one,” said the HBO host, adding that a “recession is coming” not because he is “rooting for it,” but because of Republican policies like the recent tax cuts, trade policy, bank deregulation, and undermining the Affordable Care Act.
“Those are actual policies from men with real power, as opposed to me who just made a wish,” Maher said. “What am I, a genie?” (RELATED: Bill Maher Suggests ‘Grateful Black Folks’ Like Alice Johnson Could Cause Trump To Rise In Polls)
“This made me a bigger threat to our national security than Canada,” Maher said, noting conservatives like Fox News host Laura Ingraham and others who criticized him for his previous comments.
“Some things are more important than money and one of them is living in a country that reasonably resembles the one that existed 1776 to 2016,” said Maher. “In a situation this grave, it is not crazy to use economic manipulation. That’s what sanctions are. We pinch countries in the pocket books so that they act better. Just think of this as sanctions against ourselves.”
“Recessions happen and we always recover, but fallen republics don’t,” Maher concluded. “I’m not rooting for a disaster. The disaster is already here. If a recessions is what it takes to make Donald Trump not so cute anymore, than bring it on.”
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