HBO host Bill Maher said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) could one day be a formidable presidential candidate but only if she undergoes what he bluntly called “deprogramming” to break free from the “very far Left” ideology that has defined her political brand.
Maher made the comments during a recent episode of his “Club Random” podcast while speaking with anti-Trump comedian Patton Oswalt.
The discussion quickly exposed a sharp divide between the two over just how extreme the modern Democratic Party has become.
Oswalt kicked off the exchange by defending Ocasio-Cortez and mocking Republicans for criticizing a years-old video of her dancing on a rooftop.
“Remember when [Republicans] found the ‘damning’ video of AOC dancing and drinking with her friends on the roof in college, and she looks so happy and beautiful and cool,” he said.
“Oh, they think it’s ending her career because they never did this.
“They were never that comfortable to do this.”
Maher, however, wasn’t interested in rehashing the old clip.
Instead, he cut straight to the larger political issue.
“Yeah,” he said, “and if she had some deprogramming, she could be such a fantastic candidate.”
Oswalt immediately pushed back.
“What do you mean ‘deprogramming’?” he asked.
Maher explained that Ocasio-Cortez’s ideology is simply too far Left for most Americans.
“She’s never going to resonate with people outside of the bubble that she lives in and the very far Left,” he said.
Pointing to a recent New York Times editorial, Maher argued:
“The only way the Democrats will ever win again … is to be more moderate.”
Oswalt disagreed, insisting that if AOC seems too far-left to average voters, “that shows another way this country is broken right now.”
Maher rejected that framing outright. In his view, the country isn’t “broken,” it simply isn’t as radical as left-wing activists assume.
Oswalt then claimed that Americans reject AOC’s politics because the country is “not as intelligent” as many people think, insisting the Left had embraced science while others resisted it.
Maher fired back: “No, they didn’t!”
He singled out one of the Left’s most controversial positions as proof.
“They think gender bull***t that they went way too far with.
“That’s not scientific.”
WATCH:
The exchange highlighted a growing fracture inside liberal circles as some on the Left believe Democrats must move further toward progressive ideology.
Meanwhile, others, like Maher, warn that the party’s embrace of fringe cultural activism is alienating voters and undermining its electoral prospects.
Maher’s suggestion that Ocasio-Cortez could be a future national contender, but only after ideological “deprogramming,” underscored just how far he believes the Democratic Party has drifted from mainstream America.
READ MORE – AOC Defends Radical Left: ‘We Are Not the Crazy Ones’
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