Bill Maher Urges Democratic Moderates to Cut Loose the DSA Left After Midterms

Bill Maher says the Democratic Party's midterm sweep handed its moderates a weapon against the party's left wing, and he wants them to use it.

On Friday's episode of HBO's Real Time, recorded three days after midterm elections in which, as Maher put it, "Republicans lost bigly," the host argued that the Democrats' weak spot was "catering to the left" and that the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) should be pushed out.

"To me, one of the great results of this election was it gave moderates a big stick to beat them off with," Maher said. "I think they've got to cut them loose completely... who has the guts to say, this is the Democratic Party. You are doing a whole different thing."

Maher did not spell out how that would work. Candidates endorsed by the DSA run as Democrats.

Bill Maher Calls the DSA Platform 'Communism'

Maher said he has no quarrel with socialism as most Americans already know it. "We already have a lot of socialism, and I'm for most of it. We need most of it. But these people want communism," he said. "Just read what they say. It is communism. We're not down for that."

"Communism" is Maher's own label. Fox News reported in July, relying on a source familiar with the planning, that the DSA's planned national platform would call for abolishing the U.S. Senate and replacing the presidency and the Supreme Court with an executive and judiciary chosen by, and answerable to, Congress. The platform text has not been published. The group states that "only socialism can solve decades of capitalist mismanagement in the U.S."

Coleman Hughes, the host of Conversations with Coleman and a contributor to The Free Press, had raised the same point earlier in the panel. He said that on the DSA's website, the group says, "We need to abolish the Senate."

Maher then aimed at the party's allied advocacy groups. "Democratic special interest groups, they're the biggest Karens in the world. They're just always complaining to management," he said, adding that "the Democratic politician who wins or I would want to vote for is the one who stands up to that." He praised Democrats who ran ads saying "no guys on women's sports teams," and said: "We need more of that, right?"

How DSA-Backed Candidates Fared on Tuesday

The left wing had a record night of its own. Six DSA-endorsed candidates won House seats on Tuesday, all in reliably Democratic districts, NPR reported. Melat Kiros had already beaten 15-term Representative Diana DeGette in Colorado's 1st District. Only two current House members, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib, belong to the group.

Hughes argued that the general-election results favored the center. "The moderate Democrats did better than the DSA-backed progressive candidates across the board, right?" he said. "El-Sayed in Michigan did significantly worse than most of the moderate Democrats in that state."

In Michigan's governor's race, Democrat Jocelyn Benson led John James 53.6 percent to 44.6 percent with 80 percent counted, WXYZ reported. Hughes cited no figures for Abdul El-Sayed's Senate race in the same state, and one state would not establish his "across the board" claim in any case.

El-Sayed's connection to the DSA is also disputed. Maher noted, "He's endorsed by them, but he says he's not" a democratic socialist. El-Sayed told one interviewer he is "simply not a socialist," and told The Wall Street Journal, "I'm not technically or practically DSA," Fox News reported.

What Democratic Voters Say They Want

Polling gives some support to Maher's argument. A New York Times/Siena poll conducted October 12-19 found that 48 percent of Democrats wanted the party to move toward the center and 27 percent wanted it to move left. Among independents, 72 percent favored a move to the center and 11 percent a move left.

The party's image is still weak even after the win. PolitiKool's polling average puts Democratic favorability at 39.2 percent, with 58.2 percent unfavorable.

Ali Vitali, host of MS NOW's Way Too Early, said both factions are reading the results their own way. "They look at an El-Sayed and they say, see, a progressive can win in a swing state," she said. "They look at a Talarico and say, see, you need moderates."

What Happens Next

The first test may come in the House. None of the incoming DSA-endorsed members had committed to backing Hakeem Jeffries for speaker, NPR reported. Hughes said the danger for Democrats is that they read their win as permission to "go as extreme as they want."

"So the real lesson for Democrats is Americans prefer moderate Democrats," he said. Whether party leaders in Washington agree, and whether any of them takes Maher's dare, is still open.