Comedian Bill Maher praised Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday’s “Real Time with Bill Maher,” saying DeSantis is a “normal” governor, contrary to his controversial portrayal in the media.
Maher was speaking with Democratic California Rep. Ro Khanna and CBS News correspondent Robert Costa about whether DeSantis could be a challenger to former President Donald Trump in 2024. Khanna disagreed with Maher, condemning DeSantis’ attack on Disney and calling the governor a threat to the First Amendment.
“I understand what you’re saying about DeSantis,” Maher said to Khanna. “The reason why I think DeSantis is so strong is because he can do both things. He can do the performance art that seems to have you so exercised, to the base, most of which I don’t really know it it’s that damaging.”
“He picks a fight with Disney, does it really affect anybody?” Maher continued. “I mean, I read that ‘Don’t Say Gay,’ which is not the name of the law. They called it the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law. It could have been called the ‘Let’s do things in schools the way we did five years ago’ law. It really could’ve.”
“So what I’m saying is he can do both that, but — he knows how to rile up the base, I agree; he’s a politician —but he can also be a normal governor. In other words, after the storm, he can stand with President Biden like a normal governor does and work with them and then send some migrants to Martha’s Vineyard. You know, and that’s a very powerful thing to have both those elements.” (RELATED: ‘This Is Ron DeSantis’ Party’: ‘Morning Joe’ Panel Says Trump ‘Lost’ America)
DeSantis, who easily defeated Democratic challenger Charlie Crist in his reelection bid Tuesday, signed parental rights legislation into law in March. Opponents dubbed it the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, despite the word “gay” not being present in the law. The law prohibits classroom discussions of gender identity and sexual orientation in kindergarten through third grade and requires that similar discussions in later grades must be “age appropriate.”