Bill Maher ripped into Democrats for not embracing patriotism enough and pointed to a “pageant contestant” speech by former Vice President Kamala Harris as a perfect example of the problem.

On Friday’s Real Time, Maher used his “new rule” segment to go after Democrats amid events from President Donald Trump’s administration celebrating the country’s 250th birthday. Maher argued Democrats fear openly embracing patriotism because of Trump’s position.

“This is about America. He isn’t America. He’s a temporary caretaker of America, America’s employee. And the message should be that America isn’t actually his and that no one’s side gets to own being psyched about the country. So I’m not down with this attitude of, well, we’re having a party, but if Trump’s going, I’m not,” Maher said.

He joked, “That’s so high school it should be in the Epstein files.”

Maher then ran through a list of concerns about Trump that haven’t panned out, including him claiming he won the 2020 presidential election, but then actually leaving office.

Congress and courts, Maher argued, have pushed back on Trump on a number of issues and that should prove to Democrats that America is worth celebrating.

He said:

Now, am I worried about creeping authoritarianism and attacks on free speech and politicizing the Justice Department and enemies’ lists? Yes, as I have been since 2016, when I first used the term slow-moving coup. But we’re 10 years on now. And while Trump, wanting to act like a king in many ways is still a story, so is the fact that he’s also been checked. In 2020, he became the first president to flat out not concede losing an election, as I predicted, and yet, he didn’t stay president either. In cases where a court has ruled for Trump or the plaintiff, Trump is winning less than one out of 10. Even the pliant Supreme Court checked him on tariffs. A court made him take his name off the Kennedy Center, and he didn’t fight it. 10 more days. 10 more days, please. Here’s the budget cuts to key departments Trump wanted in his second term, and here’s what actually happened. Almost no change. Congress didn’t go along. America may right now be the country Donald Trump is president of, but America is also everything that keeps Trump from being the king he wishes he were.

Maher eventually turned to Harris and her “take back the flag” speech in 2024 when she was running for president.

“The message that most threatens authoritarians isn’t America sucks. It’s America is ours too. Every election year, Democrats seem to remember patriotism for about an hour at their convention when they’re trying to win back swing voters. The whole message of Kamala’s speech in 2024 was take back the flag. That’s why she talked about America like a pageant contestant,” he said.

Harris said at the time that the “greatest privilege on Earth” is the “privilege and pride of being an American.”

Maher responded: “Hard to believe she lost, huh? Well, you can’t take back the flag in an hour if the rest of the time you treat patriotism as something vaguely embarrassing.”

Watch above via HBO.

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