Bill Maher Says ‘Trump’s Insane!’ And Biden ‘Unequivocally’ Can Do Job — But Should Step Down Because ‘Voters Think He’s Too Old’

Comic and pundit Bill Maher demanded President Joe Biden bow out of the presidential race because even though he and ex-President Donald Trump are about the same age, Trump’s age is perceived differently because he’s “insane.”

On Friday night’s edition of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, Maher devoted the first “New Rules” segment of the new season to praising the job Biden has done as president, but insisting he drop out because he believes Biden is “the only” Democrat who can lose to Trump:

Someone has to convince President Biden that if he runs again, he’s going to turn the country back over to Trump and go and go down in history as Ruth Bader Biden, the person who doesn’t know when to quit and so does great damage to their party and their country. All of us who like Joe Biden have been struggling lately with the political situation in the Democratic Party, an incumbent we admire who acquitted himself well in the first term, but who even members of his own party don’t want to see run for a second. Despite a touching letter of recommendation from Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis. I kid. They shouldn’t have gotten shit for that. If you ask me, do I think Joe Biden can do the job of president? My answer is an unequivocal yes. He can do the job. Do I love everything? No. But that’s every president. But government work is done in small, quiet rooms like the Oval Office. And in that setting. Joe’s compassion and centuries of experience are pluses, and he’s generally made good decisions that got us out of Afghanistan, handled Ukraine, kept the economy chugging, finally got us rebuilding, infrastructure returned a sense of normalcy. There is a term for Joe Biden, but not two. Because while he can do the job, what he can’t do is run for it. Our campaign season is long and it gets icy in New Hampshire. To those who say he beat Trump once, he’ll do it again. I say things change. They always do. The parade moves on. 2024 is not 2020 in so many key ways, including, yes, Biden being four years older. You can be a national treasure and still be too old for the job. If I’m on a plane and the pilot says, This is your captain, Buzz Aldrin. I’m getting off.

Speaker 1 Mitch McConnell has served Satan well. But when he starts buffering during this speech and it appears his soul is leaving his body. It’s time. I have made it a theme on this show to rail against ageism. The last acceptable prejudice in America. I’ve tried to make the argument that judging by age is wrong because we all age so differently. Some people are old when they’re 45 and others are spry at 90, so it should always be a case by case basis. But the credibility of my argument against ageism rests on the honest calling out of people when it is time to go. That’s what case by case means at an event last weekend. Biden referred to L.L. Cool J as L.L.J. Cool J. Say what you want about Trump, but he remembers Kanye’s name. Well, at some point, perception becomes reality. What matters is voters think Biden is too old. What matters is he’s going to lose to Trump, who’s almost the same age. But his age just doesn’t read like Biden’s. Maybe it’s because Trump is insane. Maybe it’s because he’s always a ball of white hot anger. But for whatever reason, he looks robust and Joe looks like his own skeletal remains. Well, if if if this was 1860 when Joe first ran. This would not be an issue. You didn’t have to look good. And there was no ubiquitous media to pick on every little mistake. The only people who saw the Lincoln-Douglas debates with the people who went to them. But those debates next year will be televised to all. And I don’t think he’s going to look good. Yes, Trump is old, too, but Trump is like KISS. He puts on the face, paint in the wig. And he looks the same as he did in 1978.

Far from being the only one who could beat Trump in 2024, Biden may well be the only Democrat who would lose to him. James Carville told me any centrist Democrat around 50 or 60 would get 55% of the vote. And I believe them. You know that future headlines bit. We do. Well, the most predictable headline ever is presidential race tied two weeks before every election. It’s always tied. No matter who is running, the vast majority just vote for the D or the R. But Biden is the one Democrat who gives pause to so many people, even in his own party. Andrew Sullivan makes the necessary point that a new nominee for the Democrats would shift the dynamic immediately. Trump would be the tired old guy retread hanging on to the past, and the Democrat would now be the future. Let the Republicans be the party with the candidate who babbles nonsense, shouts at the TV and can’t do ramps.

Polling has consistently shown that despite concerns about the president’s age, no Democrat has garnered significant support as an alternative. In a recent CNN poll, 82% of Democrats concerned about his age couldn’t name an alternative, and no candidate got more than 3 percent from those who did provide a name.

Watch above via HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher.