Late-night host Bill Maher and daytime host Dr. Phil McGraw got into a heated exchange after the TV doctor refused to say that former President Trump is worse than President Biden.
On Sunday’s installment of Maher’s “Club Random” podcast, McGraw teased his upcoming project as his long-running syndicated talk show ends later this year, telling Maher he intends to tackle “concerns” facing the country since its “headed for a cliff.”
“Major reasons being?” Maher asked.
“Well, it depends on what category you want to talk about,” McGraw responded. “And look… I stayed non-political because I think there’s idiocy on both sides… I’m not a big fan of our president or the last one, but I respect the office of the president.”
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Maher took pause at how McGraw referred to Trump and Biden “in the same breath,” individuals he stressed are “very different people.”
“And one of them is much more of a threat to the republic that would be the 45th, would you not agree?” Maher asked. “C’mon, a threat to the republic Joe Biden? No. Joe Biden is a return to normalcy yet a Democrat who is yes, too much ensorcelled by his fringe left. He will not ever tell them to sit down and shut up. But I will take that bargain, [as] much as I don’t like it, and it’s bitter, I will take that bargain over Trump. Come on.”
“Well, I’m concerned about both sides. And I’m particularly concerned about this woke agenda that’s being pushed,” McGraw responded before railing against indoctrination at colleges.
While Maher and McGraw bonded broadly over the culture war issues, the HBO host went back to their disagreement about how they view the current and former presidents.
“Trump- you gotta, like, be on the page that he’s worse than Joe Biden. He’s very different than Joe Biden. Come on, doc,” Maher exclaimed.
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“It’s not politics that determine the outcome of society, it’s culture,” McGraw responded. “I don’t care about politics. You go back to the beginning… Democrats and Republicans have been in control about 50-50. They’ve had control of the House and Senate while they were in control the presidency about 50-50, they’ve had it not in control 50-50. And look where we are. They both come up about the same place. I don’t care about that. I care about our culture.”
“Okay, I’m disappointed that I can’t get you to just out and say that Trump is a completely different animal than the politics on the left and the right that we both agree is very lacking on both sides,” Maher said. “He is a completely different elements and much more dangerous. I mean, we’re talking about some sort of unnatural predator that was introduced into this wild which was a jungle in the first place. But this is a different element. Nobody else has ever tried to not concede an election in this country, tried to overturn an election we all-even the people in his own party understood was lost. That is a Rubicon that we have crossed. That makes him completely unique, a unicorn if a unicorn was a big fat a–h—. If I can’t have your faith on that, it’s very hard for me to understand where you’re coming from on any issue.”
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“I’m telling you-” McGraw said.
“Doc, you can’t do it,” Maher chuckled.
“I’m telling you this- that’s a copout. What difference does it make? A: he’s not in power now. B: he’s probably not gonna be,” McGraw pushed back before stressing that he sees “cancel culture” as a bigger problem for the country than politics.
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While he failed to get McGraw to concede to his argument, Maher celebrated the fact that they can continue their friendship despite their political differences.
“One thing you have to have in a friendship, and I hope we’re friends now for a long time, is the ability to air your differences and then just move on,” Maher said. “Like this is a microcosm, to me, of what has to happen in America. You’re Dr. Phil, you know, you’re legendary for being a guy who like fixes other people’s problems, a wise elder, and you are, but I’m just not where you are and never will be on this Trump thing and you know where I am. And that’s okay. And just like if we were in a marriage, I assume, we now just move on, right? I just know that about you. It doesn’t make me dislike you or it come close to hate- no! it just is like, ‘Okay, that’s where this guy is.’ There’s no universal judge who tells us which one is right, but we go on- we just go forward knowing that we’re not quite there on that.”
