Bill Maher declared himself the spokesman for "normies everywhere" during a Sunday interview.
In promotion of his new book, What This Comedian Said Will Shock You, Maher commented on extreme political ideologies and their effect on moderate voters during an appearance on CBS Sunday Morning. During the segment, the comedian told host Robert Costa he had gone over years of op-eds he had written to understand if he or the world had changed politically.
"I was excavating, reading over all these editorials from years ... and I wanted to find that answer," Maher said, declaring: "I speak for the normies."
"I speak for the, I think, vast middle that is tired of the partisanship," he continued. "I don't want to hate half the country, and I don't hate half the country."
Costa commented on Maher's book in which the comedian noted the political left "irritates" and "frustrates" the comedian, though the political right "alarms" him.
"They're very alarming. They're extremely alarming. More alarming," Maher said.
The CBS anchor asked what he would tell those critical of his focus on liberal politics as opposed to conservatives if he found them more concerning.
"Truth isn't one-sided like that," Maher said. "The Democrats constantly are running against Trump with the idea, 'You people out there couldn't possibly vote for this guy,' and people are saying 'Watch me.'"
"'Hold my beer. Watch me vote for him again,'" he continued. "Instead of just saying 'He's lied,' we know he's a liar. He's Donald Trump, he can't help himself."
Maher went on to call the former president "crazy," adding he suffered from undiagnosed "malignant narcissism.”
The comedian has previously thrown criticism toward his ideological counterparts, referring to progressive liberals as a "different kind of nuts."
In late March, Maher tapped former ESPN anchor Sage Steele, a conservative, to host a show on his podcast platform Club Random Studios.
“I am looking for people who are not talking-point people,” Maher said. “I’m looking for people who don’t, before they speak, say, ‘What’s the right answer here?'”
The former ESPN host lauded Maher for "practicing what he preaches."
"We could not be more different in many, many, many important ways," Steele said of Maher. "But we also think the same on some of the core issues that are dividing this country right now, like the craziness at the border with immigration laws, with what happened with the vaccine mandates — not the vaccine, the vaccine mandates — with the transgender sports issue."
"We’re on the same page with that, and we were able to find that out through that conversation on his podcast last fall," the former ESPN anchor added.
