Bill Maher slams both parties for playing partisan politics with the war in Ukraine

Bill Maher
(Image credit: YouTube/Screenshot)

Real Time host Bill Maher wrapped up his show Friday night by slamming both parties for using Russia's invasion of Ukraine to score partisan points, Fox News reports.

"New rule: don't make World War III all about you," Maher said. The only conclusion anyone seems to be drawing from the war in Ukraine, he continued, is that "everything proves what we already believed, and everything goes back to the thing we already hate."

Maher pointed out headlines that showed Republicans blaming President Biden for the war and Democrats blaming former President Donald Trump. He also quoted Biden's comparison of the invasion to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and Trump's insistence that the crisis was caused by the "rigged" 2020 U.S. presidential election.

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On March 2, Biden suggested Russian President Vladimir Putin may have been emboldened to invade Ukraine after watching the events of Jan. 6. "Putin was counting on being able to split up the United States. Look, how would you feel if you saw crowds storm and break down the doors of the British Parliament and kill five cops?" Biden said.

Trump made the comments to which Maher alluded on Feb. 24 as the Russian invasion of Ukraine was beginning. Putin, Trump told Fox News host Laura Ingraham, "was going to be satisfied with a piece [of Ukraine], and now he sees the weakness and the incompetence and the stupidity of this administration." Trump added that "it all happened because of a rigged election," repeating his baseless claim that he was the true winner of the 2020 election.

"Kanye thinks less about Pete Davidson than Trump thinks about the rigged election," Maher quipped. He also asked why, "if Putin thought Trump was really that supportive of him … didn't he invade when Trump was in office?"

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Grayson Quay

Grayson Quay was the weekend editor at TheWeek.com. His writing has also been published in National Review, the Pittsburgh Post-GazetteModern AgeThe American ConservativeThe Spectator World, and other outlets. Grayson earned his M.A. from Georgetown University in 2019.