HBO host Bill Maher is among the latest to urge Joe Biden to withdraw from the presidential race following the president’s poor debate performance. Maher also expressed support for California Governor Gavin Newsom to challenge former president Donald Trump.
On Real Time with Bill Maher, Maher interestingly compared the choice between Biden and Trump to an episode of *Happy Days*, where the Fonz jumps over a shark while water-skiing in his signature jacket, a scene that inspired the phrase “jumping the shark.”
“If our presidential politics were a TV show, it would be a series past its prime in desperate need of new characters,” Maher wrote in a New York Times guest essay after Biden’s debate performance.
During the debate, Biden frequently stumbled, froze, misspoke, and stared blankly, prompting many top Democrats to urge him to step aside for the country’s benefit. Even the left-leaning *Times* published an editorial calling for the president to drop out.
“There is no reason for the party to risk the stability and security of the country by forcing voters to choose between Mr. Trump’s deficiencies and those of Mr. Biden,” the Times’ editorial board stated, according to the New York Post. “It’s too big a bet to simply hope Americans will overlook or discount Mr. Biden’s age and infirmity that they see with their own eyes.”
A ‘blessing in disguise,’ not a ‘tragedy’
Maher acknowledged the obvious issue of the 81-year-old president’s age, stating, “none of us can.” He suggested that Biden’s shortcomings could be seen as “a blessing in disguise” rather than a “tragedy,” as it provides an opportunity for Biden to step down and allow a new candidate to run.
Maher called for the Democratic Party to hold an open convention. “Democrats could not buy, with all of George Soros’s money, the enthusiasm, engagement and interest they would get from having an open convention,” Maher said.
He indicated his preference for Newsom as Biden’s replacement. “He is forceful, is never at a loss for words or stats, never stumbles, is never intimidated. He’s unbullyable, and that’s important against Mr. Trump,” Maher said of Newsom, adding that Biden’s insistence on remaining in the race has become “an act of supreme selfishness.”