HBO host Bill Maher said Friday that Democrats will lose the 2020 presidential election if their immigration policy only appeals to a narrow band of progressives.
The “Real Time With Bill Maher” star said if the Democrats want to do ideological battle with President Donald Trump on immigration and turn it into a “woke contest,” they’ll lose every time, Fox News reports.
Although Maher doubts immigration should be a serious issue for voters, he acknowledged that Trump and the Republicans skillfully made it a “campaign issue” during the 2016 presidential election. (RELATED: Bill Maher Makes Fried Chicken Joke To Black Congressman)
“If it becomes a woke contest, then the Democrats lose on this,” Maher said. “Yes, they look better, but it’s impossible not to look better next to [Trump]!”
Former Obama State Department official Wendy Sherman, who appeared on the show, vigorously attacked Trump because he “created this immigration crisis” by reducing foreign aid to Central America, separating children from their migrant parents and “putting kids in cages.”
Maher just laughed at her objections.
“This is what Democrats say, which only gets other Democrats,” Maher insisted. “This is not the speech that is going to win any [swing] voters. You’ve [already] got the compassion vote!” (RELATED: Bill Maher Rips George Clooney For ‘Chickensh*t Tokenism’)
The liberal talk show host said it was former President Barack Obama who was able to satisfy centrist voters by deporting illegal immigrants while he simultaneously appealed to progressives as a president who welcomed refugees.
Maher has often provoked surprise with his opinions that don’t always correspond to liberal assumptions. He recently decried the decision by the Democratic National Committee to boycott Fox News for the party’s presidential candidate debates, calling it “very Trump.”