In an interview with the Phoenix New Times, comedian Bill Maher uttered words that some may find chilling, but which rang all too true.
The stand-up comic and host of HBO's political talk show, Real Time With Bill Maher, talked about the election, terrorism and religion in the Thursday interview.
"No, I don't agree with Trump, but, what I keep saying is, if there is another attack, especially, and maybe even without it, and the American people have to choose between that and a [Democratic] party that won't even say the term "Islamic terrorism," yeah, I could see them voting for Trump," Maher said. "Which is a horrible thought for everybody, worst of all, for Muslims."
Maher also discussed his controversial interpretation of Islam as a religion and the Muslim community.
"I'm the son of two liberals. I remember what those liberal principles are. And it's always being on side of the people who are the oppressed or the downtrodden or the put upon," Maher said. "And how you can be for blacks women, gays, poor people, immigrants, lettuce-pickers, victims of police brutality, you name it, whatever the cause, the bullied, the molested, the disabled, and then look upon a woman who has to wear a burka, a complete tarp over her whole body all the time, and not see that as oppression, is amazing to me, because this idea that, well, it's her culture, she likes it. She likes it! That's what pimps say."
He went on to say that you can't tell anyone how they have to dress, when asked about the French minister of women's rights comparing veiled Muslim women to American slaves.
Ultimately, Maher says, both sides have it wrong.
"Trump talks about it like every Muslim is a terrorist, which is crazy. And the Democrats talk about it like it's just this very small percentage, which is silly, too," he told the Phoenix New Times, citing a Pew Research poll. "And again, we can look at the polling. A country like Indonesia, 18 percent of the people according to the polls believe in honor killings. So what you're telling me with that is that in Indonesia, a country which many people hold up as a moderate Muslim nation, almost 1 out of 5 people think when a woman is raped, we blame her and kill her for it. Yeah, you see, I don't understand why the liberals get upset about that."
Maher also talked about privacy and encryption, after the dust-up between Apple and the FBI over unlocking an iPhone belonging to a terrorist.
"Yes, we'd all like our dick picks to be private, but you know what, if they become public, it's not as bad as a dirty bomb going off 20 miles from where you live," he quipped. "And these guys are not playin'. They are actively seeking it. We found out that those guys in Brussels were actively surveilling a nuclear scientist. They were either going to blackmail him or kidnap him, someway to get nuclear material. And unfortunately, there is a lot of nuclear material in the world. Which President Trump only wants to increase."
