A simple yet hilarious way to look at it? While foreign affairs can be difficult for many individuals to comprehend, Bill Maher broke down the current Russian invasion using a Kim Kardashian and Kanye West metaphor.
Bill Maher had the unenviable task of trying to find jokes in the situation in Ukraine in his last HBO Real Time before a little hiatus. Surprisingly, he was able to pull it off within the bounds of decency, all the while allowing his visitors to take away the message that more needs to be done to defend the beleaguered country.
Maher noted that with Vladimir Putin, “eventually the mask comes off,” noting that this episode of his show is likely the final time his live audience will be required to wear masks. He said that the Russian president’s excuse for invading Ukraine was the acquiring of weapons of mass destruction. With a nod to the US invasion of Iraq, Maher asked, “What sort of superpower makes up shit like that?”
Taking it down to terms we can all understand, Maher made a vivid analogy. “Russia is Kanye. Ukraine is Kim Kardashian. NATO is Pete Davidson.” The relationship between Ukraine (Kardashian) and NATO (Davidson) just drives Russia crazy.” Just last week, Russia “demanded Billie Eilish apologize to Travis Scott,” Maher said.
“[There’s] a lot of heavy news, right? A lot of s—t we’ve got to talk about tonight and, you know, there’s war in Europe and we didn’t think this would happen. But [Vladimir] Putin, goddamn it, he did it. He invaded Ukraine,” Maher, 66, said during his Real Time With Bill Maher monologue on Friday, February 25.
In the interview segment, Arizona Congressman Ruben Gallego, author of They Called Us ‘Lucky’: The Life and Afterlife of the Iraq War’s Hardest Hit Unit advocated for putting “some type of pressure” on Russia by supplying supplies, weapons, and information to Ukraine. He went on to say that the resistance “doesn’t have to defeat them.” They merely have to injure them.”
Gallego acknowledged that while the US has not been a perfect country, it “does not excuse us from doing the right thing here.”
After some introductory chatter about the CPAC conference and the latest Supreme Court pick, Maher returned to the Ukraine topic during the panel discussion.
Brett Stephens, a New York Times writer, and Chloé Valdary, the founder of “Theory of Enchantment” and host of the podcast The Heart Speak with Chloé Valdary, were on the panel this week.
Maher pointed out that sanctions tend to hurt the general population rather than a nation’s leaders. So, he asked, “What’s the answer?”
Stephens said aid to Ukraine “shouldn’t end at sanctions,” and likened the current situation to “Czechoslovakia in 1938.” Valdary was equally hawkish, at one point appearing to advocate sending American troops to the battle. “I don’t know if troops would be off the table,” she said. “I would be careful about signaling we would do nothing militarily.”
When Maher stated we’re just talking if we don’t send troops, Stephens retorted that the Soviet Union fell apart without troops being dispatched. He argued for ramping up the sanctions in the hopes that the accumulated pain will cause problems, and that “at some point, Russians will realize they were misled by their government.”
Maher ended his night with yet another plea for Democrats to be kind, noting that former President Donald Trump’s support among key demographics looks to be waning. He compared the public’s apparent awakening to Trump’s flaws to Leah Remini’s eventual awareness of Scientology and public humiliation.
“Something must be shifting,” Maher said and recalled a conversation with former President Barack Obama and comedian Jerry Seinfeld, wherein Seinfeld asked which sport is most like politics.
Obama chose football, because “Once in a while, a hole opens up in the line, and you have an opportunity to run through it and gain ground.”
That moment is now, Maher contended, pointing out a recent assessment of Democrats as “preachy and judgmental,” an approach that he said won’t work and will only drive voters back to Trumpism.
“We’ve all had a friend who dated a psycho,” Maher said, adding that the right approach is to say, “You got taken by a salesman. Happens to all of us.” And don’t talk politics at all, Maher advised. “How about that Yellowstone show?’ Little things that will make them think, ‘Hey, maybe Democrats don’t all eat babies.”
Source: yahoo.com
