"Real Time" host Bill Maher returned from his summer vacation on Friday and argued that Republicans would "secretly love it" if former President Trump were behind bars over his involvement in the Capitol riot on Jan. 6.
Maher began the panel discussion by praising the Jan. 6 House Select Committee hearings as "pretty impressive" and dismissed GOP critics who say they're all political since "all the people who are witnesses and prosecuting it are Republicans!"
But on the subject of the "big decision" whether Attorney General Merrick Garland prosecutes the former president, Maher suggested the GOP would ultimately come around to it.
"I get the argument why not to because they're going to be crying their MAGA tears if their boy is in jail. Let me ask you this… What if they did this and won the case- because if you guys bring this, you've got to win the case. He's in jail. My theory: the Republicans would secretly love it," Maher said. "I think they would f---ing love it because he's out of the way- ‘not our fault’ the way our country secretly loved it when Israel would bomb Iraq- or Iran.
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Sam Stein, Politico's White House editor, acknowledged there's "something to it," referring to Republicans who privately would say they "can't stand the guy" and wish he'd go away, adding "they wouldn't be totally disappointed."
"They can pretend that they're persecuted which I think they do more than anyone… And meanwhile, it'd be like when he's off Twitter!" Maher exclaimed.
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The HBO star insisted that the DOJ would "have to" prosecute Trump because Congress can't charge him with a crime, saying the Jan. 6 Committee is "laying out the case" and "showing the blueprint."
He then pointed to Garland's recent comments to NBC News, saying the DOJ will bring to justice "everybody who's criminally responsible."
"Obstructing a joint session of Congress- I think that would be fairly easy to prove in court," Maher said. "Now, of course, if you get someone on the jury who's just a dyed in the wool Trumper, that's the problem… but you've gotta try."
Columbia University Associate Professor John McWhorter was pessimistic that even if Trump landed in jail, he would "still have the same amount of fans."
But a more optimistic Maher pushed back, suggesting the Jan. 6 hearings are having enough impact on the electorate, citing "6%" of GOP voters and "more than that of independents," suggesting that "could be enough" to make a difference.
"Elections are won on the margins… put that together, that's an election," Maher said.
Last month, Maher suggested that Trump would have been in a much stronger position politically in a rematch with President Biden if he didn't fixate on the results of the 2020 presidential election.
"If Trump could just let go of the election, which he can't, he can win this so easy because he can win just on Drag Queen Story Hour," Maher said about 2024.
"Anybody could beat Biden… Trump might be the one guy who can lose to Biden," Maher later added.
