'It’s a cult': Bill Maher predicts Trump’s 'very hardcore following' will give him the 2024 nomination

02 March 2023

Fox News' Rupert Murdoch, the Daily Wire's Ben Shapiro and firebrand author Ann Coulter are among the right-wing Republicans who have been pushing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as an alternative to Donald Trump for the 2024 GOP presidential primary. Coulter has been insisting that Trump’s base of support within the GOP is wildly exaggerated and that Trump is "done" and "over" among Republicans. As Coulter sees it, DeSantis should have no problem defeating Trump in the primary if he runs for president.

But political comedian Bill Maher, who hosts "Real Time" on HBO, is very skeptical about claims that the Republican Party is determined to move on from Trump. During a late February interview, Maher told CNN's Jake Tapper that the GOP is likely to give Trump the 2024 nomination.

So far, only two Republicans have entered the GOP's 2024 presidential primary: Trump and Nikki Haley, former U.S. ambassador to the United States and ex-governor of South Carolina. Other possible candidates include DeSantis, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former Vice President Mike Pence.

When Tapper asked Maher if "any of them" could "take out" Trump in the primary, Maher responded, "No, but I think what they will do is insure him the nomination…. The only way Trump doesn't get that nomination is if it's just him and DeSantis. If it's a bunch of people in there, yeah, they’re going to split the anti-Trump vote because, you know, Trump has a very hardcore following. I mean, it's a cult…. I despair about that."

Maher, who leans liberal politically but also has some libertarian views, is a scathing critic of Trump and the far-right MAGA movement. During the 2020 presidential election, Maher accurately predicted that Trump would refuse to concede if he lost to Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

Maher’s critics on the right accused him of being paranoid and having "Trump derangement syndrome," but when Trump lost to Biden by more than 7 million votes, Trump — just as Maher had predicted — refused to concede or admit that he had lost the election. Trump falsely claimed that the election was stolen from him — a claim that has been repeatedly debunked. Moreover, a violent mob of Trump supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6, 2021 in the hope of preventing Congress from certifying Biden's Electoral College victory.

The "Real Time" host told Tapper, "When politicians smell the White House, they don't care about the repercussions for the country. They just want to go for it."

Trump's "cult" of unquestioning devotees, Maher warns, has not gone away. But Maher also said that "DeSantis against Trump, I think, could get it" because there are many Republicans who, privately, "don’t like" Trump even though they won't condemn him publicly.

Watch the video at this link.

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