New Rule: Stuck on Stupid | Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO)

When Covid hit four years ago, we did a lot of stupid things - because America never reacts to a crisis, it only overreacts.

[@darcylass]

As an ICU nurse for over 30 years, I have never witnessed so many patients dying in a day, 4 in the morning shift and 4 in the night shift. And from an unknown disease that we have never seen before. Hospitals have to have new treatment protocols almost everyday. Looking back, I don’t know how we all kept our sanity while trying to save our patients from a monster and protect our family and ourselves from falling ill. I’ve always felt that a COVID Commission should be formed because of the lives lost and the PTSD that the healthcare workers are going through right now. We can all look back and say we all overreacted but then again hindsight is always 20/20. I would rather not have had all the accolades that “Nurses are Heroes” than have had to face the tragedy of the COVID pandemic in my lifetime.

[@gretcheneger3690]

Thank you for sharing and also for reminding people how horrible it was and the unknown, especially for the healthcare workers

[@niklastorshagen6365]

Word!

[@sub-zero710]

Must have also been hard for you that your jobs were being politicized by the right.

[@MidlifeCrisisTactical]

This!

[@danatate8803]

Well said!

[@NWPaul72]

Let's not forget, someone decided in 2018 that a pandemic preparedness program was a waste of money and scrapped it 😀👍

[@timmmahhhh]

Thank you for remembering.

[@CaneFu]

You're exactly right...had Trump not fired our international pandemic response team this thing might have been stopped in China and never hit America. The very response team that Trump fired had previously stopped ebola in Africa and kept it from hitting the United States.

[@user-lh4ry4kg9u]

Thank you very much for reminding us.

[@someguy2135]

Hint- His last name starts with T and rhymes with rump!

[@jjrr2273]

rocket science at its finest ... its Holy Week for many, buy a bible bruh?

[@johndoe-dl6qo]

"Where's boeing when you need a door to fall off?"😂

[@grahamc3963]

The cardboard audiance was insane I forgot about that.

[@brendaschouten-beckett6448]

I thought that’s what they did at Hillary Clinton rallies.

[@lumpheadthump]

@@brendaschouten-beckett6448She doesn’t have rallies, so you’re stupid on more than one level.

[@dangraesser5341]

The one store that didn't close during covid was the liquor store!

[@dparky1627]

Can I drink enough liquor so as to pickle myself enough that COVID nopes on past me?

[@brentvfreiberger]

Essential service.

[@pathof7494]

And even the grocery stores had almost all booze at a discount!

[@dianaberrios3691]

😂

[@DougBurgum4VP]

Dispensaries too. The high tax business stayed

[@spaceknight793]

Only extroverts “suffered” mentally from the shut-ins. Introverts were having a BLAST.

[@dparky1627]

Yeah, I was training for that my whole life.

[@339gabriel]

Ha! I actually agree with you here .

[@plankingplanet]

Yep it was awesome!

[@Durzo1259]

Lockdown didn't even change my way of life.

[@annehurst2172]

Lockdown meant I didn't have deal with ANYBODY(except delivery folks). Fabulous! Loved the day drinking, lol.

[@zz449944]

Closing the Beaches was the most stoopid. California cops even arrested single people who violated the closure and were on the beach with no other people around. Walmart 24 hour stores reduced their hours, forcing people to shop in crowded stores during the day instead of offering the option to shop at 3 AM with only three dozen other customers in the entire store. Even worse Walmart got rid of the overnight stocking crews and forced them to work during the day when the stores were crammed with people, subjecting employees to contact with thousands of people every hour. Both ideas the exact OPPOSITE of good sense. Of course, the big-box retailers were allowed to stay open with very few restrictions while all the small businesses who only got 30 customers per hour were forced to close. That only sent thousands more people to the big-box stores every hour.

[@DawnWatch]

A surfer in Los Angeles out on the water alone on his board got $1,000 ticket when he came in.

[@meowy4720]

Restaurants are still using COVID as an excuse for shitty service

[@TheBrothergreen]

​When was the last time you went to a beach in CA that wasn't packed with people? Funny how cause and effect works, huh? Close the beach so it looks empty and the yahoos start thinking... It rarely turns out well.

[@meowy4720]

@@TheBrothergreen WTF are you even saying

[@TheBrothergreen]

@@meowy4720 I'm saying that you don't get to point at a closed beach and say "there's nobody here" as evidence that the government is overreacting by issuing citations to the 5 people who can't read. Of course nobody is there. The beaches (and most other public places and venues) are closed. Cause -> Effect.

[@richardschrom8012]

The fact that the crowd waited to clap after he said it was a mistake to close down schools during COVID tells you exactly where their stance is.

[@stoppin2look]

Hindsight is "20-20".

[@wowrada]

Yeah cause at that time Data from the spanish flu suggested it was not so bad of an idea...

[@jaimhaas5170]

Most of them R still clueless.

[@AshleyBidensBathTime]

@@stoppin2look Apparently common sense is no longer common 😂

[@philg4116]

@@stoppin2look For you, of course, but Maher was a skeptic from the outset.

[@0Y02USH]

I'm not sure if I can agree with Bill here. As a person living in a third-world country, I can still remember how much our people suffered in the pandemic. Patients were literally falling off their beds dead and the 'natural immunity' you mentioned about, that simply became a joke at one point. And our healthcare system, despite it's flaws, managed to handle the crisis in the first few months of the pandemic atleast. Many people were praying so hard to get a shot of vaccine, and when it came out, our people were partying like it was Independence Day, despite the fact that a jab did not guarantee complete immunity and precautions had to be taken You know, you can cry and complain about the precautions that we had to take for the first few months, but I say from experience, had I not followed them, I'd have been in an overloaded freezer, and my family or friends would not have even got the chance to see my burial. That being said, I still agree with Bill on many things, but this? NO.

[@danatate8803]

Thank you, my global neighbor. Best to you 💕

[@Mark_Jacobson81]

Don’t believe you at all. The nations that didn’t get jabbed are the ones who fared best.

[@jacqdanieles]

@@Mark_Jacobson81 source: trust me bro

[@Ki_Adi_Mundi]

Gotta say, a basic concept of immunology seeming laughable to those in a 3rd world country is just...hilarious. Like a bunch of tribesman wondering why all their dicks itch and then throwing away all the condoms sent to them by missionaries from civilization.

[@Antropovich]

@@Mark_Jacobson81 belief is not required here. This is not a church. You can find it out which nations fared best on the account of getting the vaccine.

[@jamesheuer5139]

“If you don’t know what a glory hole is, don’t look into it”!😂😂😂

[@dannymcdermott5549]

That's a good way to get your eye put out!

[@openyoureyes909jones6]

I was looking for love in all the wrong places....

[@kendomyers]

Amazing joke One for the ages

[@mdlm1812]

You know Bill, you talk about people being a bit over exaggerated on some issues, but we weren’t asked to wash our hands every five minutes. Some of the steps might have been extreme, yes, but many of them were just common sense when it comes to disease control, or cleanliness. You forgot how your celebrity has put you into a realm separate from the everyday common man. There is room for you to grow up a little bit more!

[@harrymills2770]

Admit it. Y'all went nuts over COVID and you demonized those of us who didn't. You're re-writing history, here, mate.

[@jimw1615]

And Mark Esper, Secretary of Defense in 2019 and 2020, sitting over there on the sidelines having to laugh away as he knows he was a part of all of this, too. How great!!!

[@TunesGS57]

I'm not sure how Esper can be blamed for the slow response to Covid-19. It's not like he was in charge of using the Defense Production Act. He was Secretary of Defense for 15 months. Trump fired him in November 2020 right after the election.

[@rudya4104]

Yes. 🙌🏽. I thought the same thing.

[@TunesGS57]

How do you blame Esper for the slow response to Covid-19? He was Secretary of Defense for only 15 months, and not in charge of activating the Defense Production Act. That's the president's responsibility, and Trump fired him right after the 2020 election.

[@wardenwilson6725]

I like when Bill has to remind people, "you can clap now".

[@williamjohnson5161]

​@@TunesGS57no one should blame Esper for covid specifically, you should blame Esper for not speaking up after he was fired but waited 2 years to speak up in his book, strength in courage at Barnes and Noble now!😮😅😊

[@teacherguy5084]

Bill, easy to laugh now, you survived and so did I. We closed the schools and I (a high school teacher in a poor community with many, many multigenerational households where grandparents or great aunts take care of the kids because parents both work two or more jobs) still had 4 students lose 7 family members - and those are just who I happened to learn about - for all I know there were 10 times as many, because people didn't talk about it. We don't know how bad the pandemic would have been if we didn't close the schools, wear masks, etc., but the countries that took serious actions did far better than did we. Consider Vietnam, with a death rate about 1/7th that of the U.S. The people who died AREN'T HERE TO COMPLAIN ABOUT IT. So no big deal, right? No. In 2022 the World Health Organization estimated 14.9 million people had died of Covid worldwide. That is roughly 1 out of every 500 people in the world. In the US we've had over a million deaths from Covid - roughly 1 out of every 340 residents. By comparison, auto accidents kill 40,000 US residents per year, or 1 out of 8500 residents. So Covid killed as many people in about 2 years as car accidents kill in 25 years.

[@azishappy2035]

Thank you, teacherguy❤ I'm a school psychologist, and remember so many students losing loved ones. It was heartbreaking. And thanks for the stats to put it into perspective for the mathematically-challenged.

[@reggienaidoo6514]

I am from South Africa, I remember fighting for my life during covid. I had the privilege of being in a private hospital. There were many people close to me that lost their lives.

[@justinklenk]

THANK YOU for speaking some basic, common sense; and for pointing out the facts of the matter that should be quite obvious. 👍

[@BlueNumber1]

Vietnam has 1/4th the population of the U.S so by default will have 1/4th as many deaths.. Americans are diabetic and obese which explains the rest. U.S. states on opposite ends of policy yielded similar results as well so... Yeah. Go get your 11th stinger though hopefully be afraid enough to get a 12th too.

[@svscared]

Completely agree. I'm getting super tired of hearing him constantly rant about this because he was inconvenienced for a rather short period of time.

[@gen_xecutioner]

Let’s not forget how some networks ran death counters, which suddenly ceased on January 20, 2021.

[@MrTwofishes]

It's funny the clip of Trump saying it's going to disappear like a miracle cause that's what happened lol

[@mangymako]

Not all of us gave into all of this nonsense. And any push back caused life altering harm to the people questioning this insanity.

[@richardlamb3426]

We really got to see the state of free speech in this country.

[@joralemonvirgincreche]

I don't get mocking handwashing. You don't have to do it every 5 minutes but if you're out in public, don't touch your face, and wash your hands as soon as you get home. You'll cut way down on your colds and chest infections. If you combine that with wearing a mask in indoor public spaces you won't get colds ever. I know because this is what I do. Maybe Bill just doesn't mind having a lot of colds.

[@nojustno3331]

Sure, handwashing is great for general sanitation. Didn't do shit for preventing the spread covid which was the entire point of the bit. Did you not bother listening?

[@someguy2135]

Colds are annoying, but meausures like washing hands also reduces the chances of getting flu, which can be deadly. Getting flu vaccinations every year is another obvious precaution, but as much as I agree with Bill about many things, he tends to be an anti-vaxxer.

[@duaadi]

You don’t understand comedy

[@someguy2135]

@@nojustno3331 Handwashing was encouraged at the time from a lack of knowledge about the effect it would have on COVID, but it has health benefits, and no drawbacks. Bill shouldn't have mentioned it, because it make his fans less likely to do it.

[@starshake8998]

It's called a strawman argument -- represent your opponent's position as an exaggerated and absurd version of the authentic one, so that it is easy to dismiss or burn down.

[@user-vz5cq7ey2c]

As an Australian I can't comprehend how the United States could even entertain the idea of reelection, for a man who responded to the trauma of nurses seeing containers of dead bodies, by handing out free pens.

[@elainehewitt6813]

Sociopath. that’s the word.

[@dancepiglover]

It’s still inconceivable to me that there were so many people who ever wanted him as president in the first place. How could anyone want him again?

[@JnEricsonx]

@@dancepigloverCause they want him to fuck up everyone they hate. Thats why they voted for him.

[@thisisourwar]

Hopefully they vote biden out. @@dancepiglover

[@Jumpingjackflash123]

@@dancepigloverCause it’s an ego thing and a News Media thing. They’re bombarded 24/7 by “owning the libs” and “the libs wanna destroy your country.” If we didn’t have FOX and OAN and CNN and MSNBC. People wouldn’t know what to think. The news literally brainwashes people as to what to think. Without the heavy bias of the news and just information we’d be wayyy better off. If all those News stations told their followers to support and show understanding to each side and to love the other side people would do it, cause people are sheep. I 100% blame the news media for sowing division in this country and destroying it. Each side should have to do 2 hours daily about the positive things the other side brings to the table. The news is the programming in this country. Also Trump and his division of the country is a yuge part of that too

[@jonathansmith3742]

Thanks Bill. I paid no attention to the man behind the curtain, I was outside all the time cycling, playing golf and just breathing deeply because it is good for me.

[@yonatanmiller]

Ironically, Iran's attack on Israel was the first direct flight between the two countries since 1979

[@billybilly3777]

I remember the cold storage units outside the hospitals when the morgues filled up. That's my memory of 2020. Bill's being a bit dismissive about how we were supposed to take or handle something like that considering it had never happened in his lifetime.

[@kappla]

Grow up, crybaby

[@stephenschaffenberger6765]

My GF works at Cornell as an ICU nurse. In march of 2020, her entire pediatric unit was sent to another hospital. Every available unit in the hospital, the OR, and waiting rooms were converted to adult covid ICUs. The patient load doubled or quadrupled per nurse. There literally wasn't enough nursing staff to handle the incoming covid patient load, which is why travel nurses were called in from everywhere (often getting paid double). All of this is completely unheard of in modern medicine. After 30 days of no elective surgeries (a major source of revenue for hospitals), paying travel nurses double rates, and putting nurses in hotels every night so as not to infect their loved ones, the entire NYC hospital system was reaching a breaking point. If lockdowns were not implemented, the system would have imploded. Everything about this situation was completely unprecedented.

[@Swlabr61]

Funny how Bill didn't mention the 1,000,000 Americans who died. I got tired of his Covid whining pretty quick. He was at it on one show with Bari ("I'm done with Covid") Weiss and saying "Covid is over," when it wasn't. The Omicron variant hit afterward. I never saw him admit he was wrong.

[@anthonyelwick3600]

@@stephenschaffenberger6765we were never overwhelmed

[@anthonyelwick3600]

@@Swlabr61it wasn't as serious as we thought hospitalization was less than 1 %

[@you6382tube]

Poor Bill. During COVID -- he got bored up in his big secluded mansion. His personal assistants, chauffeurs, private chef / cuisine delivery staff all ended up inconveniencing him at some point during that time. What a damn shame! Bill suffered so much.

[@kellygoodman4773]

And, he couldn't get his weed. That was the hardest part for Bill. 😆

[@debbiebiccum6302]

He couldn’t stand up on a stage and have people applaud him. Also, get over it. I changed the channel when he started in on Covid again for the 1000th time.

[@Gary-And-His-Demons]

​@debbiebiccum6302 Yet you cared enough to comment? What a saint you are!

[@user-uy5jl5yn2o]

even leftist jon stewart finally called it the wuhan flu!

[@_Trenchfoot_]

Yea cause bills a douche

[@Bookhermit]

And KZbin STILL blocks half the sane comments on the subject

[@user-eh5gz7pg7j]

Evil isn't the real threat to the world. Stupid is just as destructive as Evil, maybe more so😅

[@YourLoyalDeserter]

Half good points, half idiotic

[@nicholascerino3386]

Nailed it in 5 words.

[@Antropovich]

which ones were idiotic?

[@svscared]

Curious as to which the good points where and which were the idiotic ones. My take was that the majority were idiotic.

[@hedgefundharry]

It's all idiotic when you realize it's just Bill Maher doing another victory lap on one time he was right. He's been trying to own the minority of people who did stupid stuff (washed the mail) or elected stupid people who fenced off playgrounds since the pandemic. Bill's an egotist. The best way to get on his good side aside from clapping and woo'ing like the audience is to be a panelist and laugh at his jokes or bring up COVID/the vaccine.

[@rogergrondin4374]

Mostly, if not all, idiotic.

[@MrDaveadams]

If the world was a hospital America would be in the mental ward 😂😂

[@eddiejeanbrown9474]

Yes 4 years ago the so-called president telling us to drink bleach to kill COVID has given many of us PTSD trying to survive that M.....!

[@jjrr2273]

@@eddiejeanbrown9474 man up bruh you here to comment right?

[@danporath536]

@@eddiejeanbrown9474 The system broke down to preserve the reputations of people like Fauci. We have privatized so many of the functions of government that building safe aircraft is difficult for us.

[@medde655]

Rimshot!! 😂😂

[@medde655]

Do tell, why do you hate fauci?? Rhetorical question, you have no idea WHY you hate him.

[@DawnWatch]

Odd to me that "We ate in parking lots" is listed as one of the "stupid" things we did. Taking stuff outdoors and letting life continue was about the only smart thing we did! Santa Barbara was a model city for that, closing down State street to cars so all the restaurants could serve people outdoors - festive and safe. Astoundingly hospitals in sunny California did not utilize their parking lots as waiting rooms and had everybody crowded together indoors - covid folks and broken legs alike. Talk about stupid. The idiocy was in the extremes - crowd everybody together indoors at hospitals, but close down beaches. So damn dumb.

[@breakthroughwithdr.d]

It would’ve been better to eat indoors like normal people at the shelter the old and sick. Young and healthy people like me could’ve went to restaurants gotten Covid been perfectly fine in a weeks time. I think he’s putting out the overreaction was on necessary for the very very vast majority. Unless you were old or unhealthy.

[@SaintMartins]

Wait...what ? Bill spent 9 minutes trashing the entire covid ordeal as an overblown event, then at the end Bill 'craps' on Trump for disregarding it ? It seems like they both have the same opinion in common. LOL

[@ttuny1412]

I seem to remember Trump wanted to restrict people coming in from China and the Dems going nuts. Telling us not to worry about it.

[@josh_final]

Ikr

[@jeromemook5817]

He probably did not have a solid closer, so he pandered back to his reliable Trump bashing to go out on a free TDS laugh from the crowd.

[@kenmcbreairty7878]

Exactly. Trump was right. It did just go away. I haven't been sick in over 2 yrs. Had a mild cold for a couple days

[@jlev1028]

Ignoring a pandemic and enacting tyrannical decrees in an overblown attempt to contain it are both terrible reactions

[@WestEndVideos]

1.8 million people died from COVID-19. I was working in NYC. The epicenter of Covid. This was BAD! Rather have a government overreact to save lives than the contrary. This rant from Bill has become old and tired.

[@thefanwithoutaface8105]

And you're an idiot if you actually believe that crap. Multiple studies revealed that people reported to die from Covid actually die while they had it

[@DougBurgum4VP]

No they died with covid.

[@RM-jb2bv]

I bet you think BLM riots actually SLOWED the spread.

[@PokeySoggybottom]

@@DougBurgum4VP Check out the Excess Deaths measure. It strongly suggests that the number of covid deaths was actually significantly more than reported.

[@AntonioRivera28]

those numbers have long been debunked. they counted motorcycle deaths as covid deaths. and people seriously never learn that when you sacrifice freedom for security you lose both. the pro overreaction people are the bad guys. history is not being well to them

[@JuandeFucaU]

can't deal with an applause break after every single joke.

[@turgonnaish]

The seals clapping

[@wynonasbigbrowndragon6121]

Funny, Bill can't deal with that applause not happening

[@Tijuanabill]

That's how television has worked, in every year of it's existence. There is literally a sign that lights up, telling them to do it. You have never watched a comedy show on TV, your entire life, that didn't have that.

[@leeg8461]

It does seem a bit forced.

[@Gary-And-His-Demons]

​@@Tijuanabill Yeah except none of these jokes are actually funny. Making fun of COVID? So hilarious that over 1 million people died because of pure incompetence and right wing propaganda! 😐And you can tell because the audience SOUNDS forced when they applaud. Not to mention Maher has been known to lose his mind because the audience doesn't give him a standing ovation for every little quip he makes!!!

[@stephensmith3116]

I’d love for Bill to be the moderator at the Trump/Biden debate!

[@FASTRACKFARM]

OMG, That's brilliant!

[@prodigalpriest]

I'd pay money to be front and center of that.

[@sardonicspartan9343]

Wonder how any people laughing are the ones who pushed CLOTH masks. 😂

[@stephanel4770]

Since when Bill Maher cares about kids at school? 🤣🤣🤣

[@WindFireAllThatKindOfThing]

The very first thought that popped into my head, too

[@skydiveraj22]

Hey, those kids needed a break from the social anxiety of being stuck in class with their peers. It was a wake up call to all those parents who up until that point didn't realize how hard it was to be a teacher, especially when some 5% of those shit bags were the source of 95% of the teacher's time and frustration. Now it seems they have forgotten with student misbehavior back in full force, unchecked. Talk about short attention spans...

[@Bellatrux13]

I don't think he cares, I know I don't. But the facts are the fact, so why not mention it?

[@starshake8998]

Since they were all wandering his neighborhood, bored, screaming and playing all day everyday during lockdown. 😆

[@danporath536]

Doesn’t matter, the results of the madness will be with us for decades.

[@OpEditorial]

Ah yes COVID-19, something Bill appears to have forgotten he rode out safe and largely unaffected, making his show from the courtyard garden of his mansion.

[@michaelrobert4499]

He masks his ignorance as comedy. Masking was necessary, natural immunity still requires a shot, washing hands was not a bad thing. He's not a virologist and shouldn't pretend he is.

[@brentmason6782]

Right…to protect his audiences staff and himself! Somehow that offends you? I’m sure you continued going to family reunions and to the movies and then couldn’t figure out how you caught COVID! Then like every other day of your life you woke up offended!

[@sdbelland]

💯

[@OpEditorial]

@@brentmason6782 The fact that Bill Maher, for whatever reason, doesn't seem to remember how little he suffered during COVID-19 compared to others doesn't offend me in the slightest. He's Bill Maher, the man's default mode is smug, rich, stoned and out of touch. It's his terminal case of Trump Derangement Syndrome and and condescending way of speaking at people who are still doing it tough under biden I take issue with.

[@daviegriffin3539]

BiLL won't stop his, I was right about covid, crap. How many shows & podcasts will Maher squeeze that BiT in? 🤔 🤪 *Cheers 🍻 from **#CancúnMéxico* 🍹🤘🏽💙🇲🇽

[@ag3957]

Government wasn't the solution, it was the problem.

[@mahasw777]

Scariest words in the English language: “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.”

[@frankberryfilms]

Do they give a prize to the audience member who cackles loudest and quickest after every line? If sycophancy ever becomes an Olympic sport, there'll be medals abound in that crowd 😂

[@mang0donald874]

It's so insufferable. Bill needs to step in and tell the producers to get different people in the audience it's so terrible

[@richardlamb3426]

Typical left leaning audience, they're really not informed enough to know what's what.

[@richardlamb3426]

@@mang0donald874 Typical left leaning audience, they're really not informed enough to know what's what.

[@richardlamb3426]

Typical left leaning audience, they're really not informed enough to know what's what.

[@patwooster3851]

Thankyou. I have been saying this for weeks, his audience is driving me crazy!!

[@andrewslat7283]

In the early pandemic days, why is it considered a bad thing to have taken extra steps to protect yourself and others from the virus? I'll never understand that. Basic compassion should be applauded, not ridiculed.

[@azishappy2035]

It's the bully mentality. Alive and thriving in America😢

[@jacqdanieles]

I agree. This 20/20 hindsight monologue was a sh1tty take.

[@Ki_Adi_Mundi]

Because it was never restricted to the early days? And you were looked at like a communist red in the McCarthy era (ironic, considering) if you didn't fall in step and eat up all the propaganda they were throwing in our faces. 👌🏻 What kind of Monday morning indoctrination bs is this? 😂

[@ryanwise2556]

It was the mask mandates and that people didn't agree with. Along with the forced lock downs

[@mr.raslyon6626]

No, it was a bad thing to want to turn your neighbors into the government for not wearing a mask...like many of you all did.

[@jermelpurse3018]

Bill, don’t you remember in March 2020 we didn’t know anything about COVID-19. I remember that month because it just so happens to be when I was born and two days before my birthday on March 15. My company laid everyone off for the next three months. It didn’t just happen at my job. It happened all across the United States and globally. Major industrialized nation said this is going to be terrible. If you don’t have an essential job you are now being told to stay home. We joke about COVID-19. Some people even say it wasn’t that serious by the end of 2020 1.8 million people died from COVID-19. Back then we didn’t know what to do. We didn’t even have a testing for COVID-19 in March 20 20 the CDC honestly didn’t know how to approach the disease we didn’t even know what it was. We had just started trying to use brand new RNA technology to synthesize a vaccine. a vaccine that would’ve normally taken us a decade or more to develop. We did it in less than 10 months just so happened brand new technology had just fallen into our lap. Sidenote, RNA vaccination technology that’s probably how we will cure cancer. No that is likely we will cure cancer. People often forget we didn’t know what we were dealing with even today we still don’t understand the severity of the situation. People forget we experienced heavy supply side inflation because of COVID-19. In a global economy, we had people all across the globe not working some of them sick many of them quarantining, and that stuff we wanted stuff we needed. We could not get. We wanted chips we couldn’t get them. I remember working in the auto industry and our assembly client not being able to get computer chips to build parts. We about it now some of us don’t even understand how close we came to going over the edge. If that virus had been just a little bit more deadly just a smidge could’ve been worse worse. We are very lucky to come away as unscathed as we did, even though we lost millions of people, even though we still haven’t recovered economically speaking. Even though some people still don’t understand the government had to spend money remember people were laid off. What were you going to do? Tell them to eat dirt. You had to give them money to spend. Remember those words when you’re laughing, I don’t think this is a situation to necessarily joke about especially since so few people actually understand the dynamics of it.

[@grantbaker371]

Wow! You are gullible.

[@MaryLouHolmes-ih8dp]

Great response

[@sharon4094]

Trump knew in February.

[@t1328]

100%. I’m also talking this commentary a bit less as comical because Bill is known to be an anti-vaxxer, and while he was right that people who are obsess are at far higher risk of Covid than others, people like me, who were in their 40s then, but immune suppressed because we had been through some random but terminal disease that required a bone marrow transplant, or anyone who was immune suppressed because of autoimmune conditions badly needed to take whatever precautions we could until we knew more. Today, I still wear a mask when I go into a shop that is smaller and has less airflow. I still get vaccinated every 6 months, and thankfully, I’ve still never had Covid. But I’m very lucky, and at least 8 members of a 400 person patient community I belong to online with people who wert through what I went to, died; and many more still suffer from long Covid. There’s nothing funny about any of this. But yes, we are far better off now than we were 4 years ago. No big surprise.

[@edwardfox9550]

False. The CDC knew all about it because they paid for the gain of function.

[@shawnreese2697]

Well, most of the Covid-restrictions (nearly all) were imposed by people that BM adores.....like the Governor of CA?? And whom was a hypocrite to the rules HE imposed?

[@jaimhaas5170]

Indeed. He supports most of them. Ludicrous.

[@Paradisusinfernalis6815]

I remember taking my puppy outside , I was absolutely alone in a small park and suddenly a very old man came very close to me - like literally in my face and started yelling - why I am not wearing a mask ! He saw me out of window without a mask , put on his mask went outside , came to me and asked where is my mask . Stupidity has no borders!

[@ladyvincenza]

I'm a bit confused as to why Bill seems to be denouncing COVID vaccines. After all, people who had COVID were able to get it again, so "natural immunity" wasn't cutting it.

[@Durzo1259]

Well, there were a disproportionate amount of people who got major health complications from those vaccines. Pericarditis was one of the big ones, I'm still recovering from my 2nd bout thanks to the vaccine, which as it turns out barely helped improve immunity.

[@BichaeldeAngelo]

Unfortunately, the antibodies generated from the vaccine also seem to be short-lived. As for the comment above mine, there is a much greater risk of getting pericarditis from COVID than the vaccine

[@jacobcoburn7634]

It's because Bill has had a longstanding issue with health stuff - not sure why, maybe the 'old hippie' in him. He isn't a full anti-vaxxer but flirts with the line quite a bit. And I don't get the whole desire for 'natural immunity' - that requires you to get it, suffer the effects and then (hopefully) make a full recovery with naturally-produced antibodies. But COVID isn't like chicken pox - getting it and getting it out of the way doesn't work well for something that, like the flu, evolves quickly and thus makes immunity (and vaccines) lag in effectiveness over time.

[@NWPaul72]

Pretty sure I got an early dose that didn't get properly diagnosed and we've never been sicker. A year later, after a few vaccines, we did get diagnosed, but I've had worse flus. I'd say get vaxxed if your area is getting hot, if only for the symptom relief.

[@jacobcoburn7634]

@@Durzo1259 Uh huh. And you have had the exhaustive medical assessments to show that this condition (supposing you aren't just making this up whole cloth) is related to the vaccine (assuming you got it)? Cuz there are a lot of bots pushing this type of crap. If the problems (much less the 'sudden deaths') arose by the millions from the vaccines as is claimed, then I should see at least some people in my wider circle (almost all of whom are vaccinated) have issues/die, yet not a single one has had issues. Not one. Either we are all the luckiest people on Earth, or you are making it up.

[@stevecrosby3678]

Easy to mock after the fact. I bet you took your precautions - and smoked more than usual.

[@CaneFu]

Bill Maher made some videos during the pandemic...he never left his mansion and had his groceries delivered.

[@echochamber1234]

also easy to mock during the fact. i lived in sweden at the time where we had no masks or lockdowns. the swedes thought the world went batshit crazy and they were right.

[@jjrr2273]

@@CaneFu and? laying low was key and ever Walmart was delivering your groceries, if ya set it up ... god damn - letmeguess you got PTSD from a grocery shopping jones ... fuk

[@user-hu5iw4lb4x]

Right I don’t understand this attitude, I remember things a lot different and people died ❤but I’m not an ideologue

[@bfrandsen1]

After the fact is when you analyze what you did right. what you did wrong, and how to do better next time. Since it is a political weakness for the incumbent president no such action has happened or will happen.

[@billaveda6408]

Bill, you and your viewers were the ones who fueled the panic.

[@richardlamb3426]

Bill has shown better balance than most of his audience, and the Press.

[@byronsmith1982]

ExCtly

[@John-PaulHunt-wy7lf]

@@richardlamb3426 who you know who you blow remember? This is why Chrisma is such an evil trait in people.

[@ducatixclutch008]

💯🫡

[@breakthroughwithdr.d]

No, Bill Maher did not show any composure. He propagated allies during the pandemic. I will give him credit for saying that many of the things he wants believed he was now wrong about.

[@davehill1084]

I just watched a video clip where a guest who was asked to be on his show was told …”no….I won’t refrain from my weed smoking ..that’s a deal breaker “. Wow…really Bill? A guy was just trying to stay drug free and sober ? And you say ..”no..I have to smoke weed the entire time I interview you “

[@LLandS18]

Yeah I saw that. He told that to stevo. Well. He's just a douchebag who is now officially an old man screaming at the clouds.

[@Chinchilla2310]

He didn’t have to go on. Your sobriety is your choice. You can’t dictate what someone does with their own body.

[@johnjames2470]

@@Chinchilla2310 : Did you miss the last 4 years when the Biden WH forced vaccinations on our country?

[@AverageJoe483]

Didn’t bill tell everyone to shut up and be happy ? He should have taken his own advice in 2020.

[@danesesse]

Korea wore masks every single day outside inside, I was there. People would run with masks on. They didnt nearly have the cases, deaths and problems. There over reaction meant that schools stayed open. Americas meant arguing.

[@AC3handle]

Honestly, I don't even WANT to remember 2020, or 2021

[@chrisw6525]

Given everything we've seen and should've learned about Covid I think we would've come out better ignoring it than overreacting like we did.

[@lk3667]

Alternate Facts from Maher, for laughs. Tuning out now.

[@ladistar]

Sorry the truth hurts your brain

[@deenielson7992]

He often kind of hits on both sides of an issue ... As an overweight person, I chuckled that he caught the virus and my fat hinny didn't!!! WTG, Bill!

[@atheist63]

Closing the schools was bad for the children but not as bad as grandma and grandpa on life support ventilators

[@rich4516]

Grandma and grandpa weren’t in school, they were at the grocery stores, Home Depot and Walmart. Apparently Covid stayed away from those establishments but it ran rampant in empty schools.

[@svscared]

I'm not even so sure how bad for the kids it really was. I think whatever research has been done on that is questionable and there are many aspects of school that currently exist which can be just as harmful for kids and minors.

[@hithere748]

​@@svscaredOMG 😮

[@sildan1988]

Wasn't bad for my children and I don't believe it was bad for any. If so, the home schooling or online education would be banned.

[@nancyhajeski3360]

@@svscared If staying home during Covid was so bad for school kids, then why are so many parents allowed to home-school their children in general? Esp. since the regular school kids had remote classes with instructors, while many home-schooled kids have parents with few qualifications teaching them.

[@jeffxanders3990]

Officials didn't think it was a big deal until the general public went bananas.

[@richardlamb3426]

The general public were fearmongered like crazy by our media - too many fell for the hype. And politicians jumped in to take advantage - power grab.

[@jeffxanders3990]

@@richardlamb3426 Yup.

[@francislenetti5016]

I remember. I remember some, being labeled racist for trying to restrict the spread. I remember being told facts, that were anything but facts. I remember all the hate. I remember the attacks, and intimidation. I remember the lies. I remember all the people fleeing their beautiful cities. I remember people coming together and helping one another. I remember everyone doing what was needed to protect our elderly. I remember a lot of bad decisions with regards to that. I remember .

[@sparkythancztwise]

quality comment francislenetti

[@wongjefx980]

I remember the extra refrigeration NYC had to order to keep all the bodies.

[@Hgood1]

It was just miles from where I live, so this video was hard to watch, even though I usually like watching Bill, not this time around. I lost my dad to COVID, which he contracted in hospital.

[@Easyrecliner]

@@Hgood1I lost a good friend in the same situation, he went to the hospital from chest congestion and cough, he didn’t make it out of there.

[@ozzie3963]

@@Hgood1….Bill told a lot of obvious truths. Which part was hard to watch for you?

[@Soapandwater6]

@@ozzie3963 He said he lost his dad to covid. Don’t be an a$$hole.

[@ozzie3963]

@@Soapandwater6 …maybe they lost their dad cause of the way we handled it. Truths like this will only make sure this doesn’t happen again. Name calling tells more about you

[@TunesGS57]

Well, Bill, it's not "over." Many wealthy people have no idea how bad the situation was, and still can be, in "fly-over" country. Since I have Sjögren's Syndrome I was very careful to mask up in crowds even after the lockdown was over. My husband did not and brought Covid-19 home in 2022!!! I was in bed for a month, weak and barely able to breath. The constant coughing was extremely painful because I have arthritis, and every bone in my body ached. I was practically chugging cough syrup. Now I have long-covid which entails chronic fatigue, brain fog and food allergies. It's never "over."

[@LordLOC]

Don't even bother, Maher (and by extension many of the viewers now) are either straight up anti-vax or they question EVERYTHING having to do with covid back then (and now technically) as you can see in this video where he bashes everything, we did even though it was precautionary since we didn't know much about the virus at the time. That's what he does now, he mocks everything and grifts about everything else. And I get it, it's comedy it's supposed to make you chuckle, but a virus that killed millions and causes serious issues like you have with long-covid isn't funny in the least. You can make jokes of course, but not everyone is going to laugh.

[@ispeakmytruth1549]

What a considerate husband.

[@tiffanymorahan9125]

You should be asking questions then! Where did this come from? It’s a bio weapon. It’s funny people want to talk about all the harm this caused but don’t want to get to the root of the problem, just more propaganda.

[@SnapDragon128]

In other words, you've ALREADY CAUGHT the disease, and (somehow!) lived despite your maximally-dramatic retelling of your suffering. So, congrats? You can stop cosplaying that you're living through the Black Death now.

[@LordLOC]

@@tiffanymorahan9125 Watch more Newsmax or I guess Bill Maher if you think it, was a bioweapon. Jesus, not everything is a god damn Hollywood movie (oh I forgot they suck also, conspiracies everywhere!!!!!)

[@drdaviddow1]

I would vote for you Bill. we desperately need common sense in this country and humor.

[@prodigalpriest]

He makes less common sense when he's stoned.... which is most of the time.

[@lindsv]

According to Bill we should have basically done nothing. But because we can never ever know what would have happened had we done nothing he can never lose the argument. And also, according to Bill, there is only one country on the entire planet. No, wait, there is only person and his couple of rich buddies.

[@JAYDUBYAH29]

Come on, Bill.

[@CaneFu]

FYI...COVID took my sister, my ex-wife's 2 sisters, my step daughter, my neighbor, and almost killed me, despite all of us living in separate houses and not seeing each other during the pandemic. In my experience, not enough precautions were taken during the pandemic.

[@rjf5285]

I bet you're all fat

[@romanaja125]

Lost my mom, uncle and 3 friends to Covid...my condolences to you

[@hope5360]

@CaneFu, So sorry to hear! What area are you in? Were they all vaccinated?

[@zeezlebops]

Stay in your cave

[@celluskh6009]

Nope - not enough precautions were taken at the start of the pandemic, which he went over. Then it switched from the government spreading the disease to the government using it as an excuse for repression. The US, along with the UK, Italy and Spain got the worst of both worlds.

[@aburnette156]

A man who doesn't pick sides right on

[@ArrosticiniVore]

Sometimes he is a rational person

[@jeremyholcombe3202]

As usual Bill; the survivors get to write the history.

[@dockildare1763]

…… and then Republicans come along preferring “alternative facts” ……..

[@vasil12361]

Oh, you mean 98% of the people that got it!

[@Hgood1]

As someone whose father died from COVID, as someone who is suffering from long COVID, as the son of scientists, as someone who lost two friends to COVID, I am disappointed in Mr. Maher's diminishing the early days of COVID. Just miles away at Columbia Presbyterian, they didn't even have enough room in their freezers for all the dead bodies. I'm glad Mr. Maher remained safe, but nothing about COVID was funny for me and my family. Also true that my family and many others may not have made it if it weren't for the checks the government cut. Those checks were lifesavers. I usually agree with Maher, but in this I don't.

[@gerryst-aubin5877]

100% agree with you. On this topic he is wrong.

[@chillones9574]

died "with" not "from". Other factors were involved. O and my degree in health.

[@sdrawkcabUK]

Sounds like you have a genetic susceptibility to cv. You should have stayed in and been given whatever support you need from the gov. Instead you expected the entire world to shut down just for you. And us dissenters were the selfish ones?

[@jeffreycharles4211]

I agree with Bill on a lot of things, but he is incredibly out of touch with the real world. He lives in his own little LA millionaire, celebrity bubble, and believes his personal anecdotes and experiences are reflective of the world at large. I think he means well, but is a selfish egotistical twat who believes he's smarter than everyone else, especially younger people, therefore his opinion must always be correct, and he is immune to criticism. Even if he has no idea what tf he's talking about, which is a lot of the time. For example, he's never even had kids, but thinks he's an ultimate authority on how to raise them. He smugly criticizes parents on a weekly basis like he has all the answers, because he spent 30 seconds looking at some clearly bullshit misinformation on Twitter.

[@breakthroughwithdr.d]

Dear good, my sorrow for your fathers passing. I think sheltering old and unhealthy people would have been prudent what could’ve been done without the overreactions. Very early on the science community. New Covid was not a danger to young healthy people. It was treated as a one size fits all problem/solution. That was a mistake. The old and unhealthy should’ve been sheltering. The young and healthy should not have been taking up space in the hospitals. The young and healthy should’ve been allowed to continue to work and go to school. The young and healthy certainly should not have been forced to take vaccines. Those overreactions cannot be disputed. There should’ve been a middle ground to protect your father and our old loved ones but the fear mongering for control power and profit by our government who is captured by pharmaceutical companies was literally running the world. We can never let that happen again Dr D

[@raiderfan6442]

"It has become a pandemic of the unvaxed". One of many covid shamings.

[@richardlamb3426]

One of the many claims that the left got wrong.. The vax doesn't even prevent infection or transmission.

[@Thigrandil]

Are you ashamed of the truth?

[@lesaeckert4538]

He’s so right! As a nurse who worked during Covid, I first got Covid when my immune system was compromised by everything I had to wear on my face. Got bronchitis which lead to Covid. It was insane.

[@richardlamb3426]

...And then Biden mandated a vax on you frontline heroes - a vax that neither prevents infection or transmission. Tyrannical.

[@davidkroll4360]

Bill - the strategy was better safe than sorry. You worked from home and survived. Remdmber that !

[@mr.raslyon6626]

Does that include calling the government on your neighbors of they have guests over? Are your Rights that cheap?

[@jayfig78]

Arrested for surfing or walking the beach! Curfew after 8 because COVID only works at night. Human drug that won the Nobel peace pride suddenly became horse dewormer. Right! Everyone dying of heart disease and cancer being switched to COVID as cause of death. Yeah! Better safe than sorry! 🥸

[@Rob-ln8mq]

Put your mask back on David and stay indoors. Covid is not over the only difference people just stopped talking about it and became rational

[@vasil12361]

98% of the people that got it survived, genius.

[@jayfig78]

@@vasil12361sounds like describing “the flu.” Could it be??? lol

[@Iamrightyouarewrong]

When did cynicism become comedy?

[@leechap3]

It didn't, Bill just uses his platform to beat his drums. He has lost sight of what it means to be funny.

[@hithere748]

It started in 2020.

[@420KingGeo]

The effects of Covid 19 could be eradicated by super spicy chicken wings, and a gigantic wolf mascot head counted as proper ppe.

[@MegaJcoulter]

All the crazy crap we did was due to the fact that we were absent a leader… Which is the same reason we know Faucci’s name.

[@johnjames2470]

Mega: Are you insane? Dr. Faucci was the reason why we had Covid to begin with. Instead of shutting down gain-of-function research he instead moved it to China, which then leaked from the Wuhan lab. Faucci then lied about everything from how it was released to two-weeks to flatten the curve. Dr. Death should be on trial for crimes against humanity, you ignorant fool.

[@einsteinboricua]

Yeah, this is one New Rule I can’t agree with completely. Sweden tried keeping no restrictions in the hopes that natural immunity would prevail and they admitted defeat. Imagine how it would have gone for us with a larger population and a poorer healthcare system. Natural immunity also showed that you would still catch the virus and suffer its effects so it wouldn’t help as much. And was the potential of natural immunity worth losing a life? That was the problem with Covid: no one knew just how bad it would affect you. Some people were asymptomatic, some had mild symptoms, and so on. No trend or demographic. I am definitely better off now than 4 years ago. At least I can go out and enjoy doing stuff unlike 2020.

[@MichaelDeHaven]

The other issue is tracking it. It's not as easy as a card that gets issued by a professional. Unless someone is actually tested for it, we don't even know they actually got it. It could've just been the flu or food poisoning. In addition the tests took a while to come out too. Many, not all, but many of the natural immunity people were simply not wanting to get vaccinated even if they never had it. Don't want the vax, fine. But then you don't get to go to certain areas.

[@digalittledeeper]

Easy to be glib, snarky and mean when you're not responsible for responding to a worldwide health emergency and you have no information about it. I had a good friend die early in the pandemic and I can't describe the shock, sadness and fear of that time. Bill has been the worst kind of Monday morning quarter back imaginable. He just sounds like a jerk now on this topic. I wish he'd just shut up about it.

[@jjrr2273]

Shut up generally would be preferred in my hood tbh - never found him too funny, material always seems to come from a place of arrogance more than wit. What do I know I've never looked like him or missed a cycle of growth

[@wobblyashes9102]

Same here.

[@richardlamb3426]

Bill is perfect on illuminating that our 'experts' and politicians did NOT respect or follow the data. Move beyond your political comments & emotions.

[@richardlamb3426]

Bill is perfect on illuminating that our 'experts' and politicians did NOT respect or follow the data. Move beyond your political comments & emotions. @@wobblyashes9102

[@robertbeste]

To be fair, he's addressing the response to the pandemic on a high, political and societal level. Find me ONE SINGLE word he issues in criticism of the local nurses and healthcare providers simply doing their best to cope. The closest you can get is he said we as a society were banging pots and pans in SUPPORT of nurses. He's criticizing the government. Not the medical industry.

[@avjake]

If the World Health Organization declared it is an airborne virus sooner, a lot of time, energy, money and lives would have been saved.

[@richardlamb3426]

Same deal with China and the CCP - They sat on their knowledge of covid while allowing international flights to export the virus for over a month.

[@Quinsec]

In the early stages of the pandemic, when death counts were rising and little was known about the disease, closing schools made sense. They simply stayed closed for too long. Calls to open back up came too soon, and turned the whole thing into a partisan argument, like everything else.

[@AUTOPSY666]

And DJT disbanded the Pandemic Response Team

[@hyzer6435]

Excellent statement.

[@williamturner4520]

@@AUTOPSY666 Not quite the way that went but hating Trump leads to false half-truths and such. It's a derangement thing.

[@AUTOPSY666]

@@williamturner4520 tell me how it happened, MAGA brain

[@Mobri]

​@williamturner4520 Don't talk, just keep eating those paint chips.

[@squatch545]

Talk about 'overreacting'. Bill Maher overreacts with hyperbole about things that happened during the pandemic.

[@jjrr2273]

When you're out of ideas backtrack like a Schaub ...

[@squatch545]

@@jjrr2273 ?

[@highstax_xylophones]

Someone missed the point about comparing now to 4 years ago

[@squatch545]

@@highstax_xylophones Someone missed the point about overreacting.

[@UncJ84]

I worked all through the pandemic. fun on the ghost freeways. Was so fast getting everywhere

[@TadashiNazuka]

Everybody else pisses me off with political commentary. Except for Bill Maher. The King of Common Sense. For us 90s liberals. He speaks the Knowledge.

[@lilben4184]

90s liberals are still liberals.

[@TadashiNazuka]

@@lilben4184 yes we are.

[@lilben4184]

@@TadashiNazuka ...and therefore grotesque. a 90s liberal is like a person trying to control their diabetes yet refuses to stop hanging around the dessert table. just because you nEvEr thOUght It wOUld gEt thIs fAr doesn't mean you're not responsible for the current state of the world.

[@HPorterfield]

As far as schools closing, and I’m in education, every school I was in contact with had the majority of teachers who had Covid. What were they supposed to do, zombie walk into school and spread it to students? I remember principals trying to teach multiple classes via zoom. So, Bill, you may think you know what went on in schools during Covid but you don’t.

[@priscillaa.8548]

Exactly. He's never been married or had children, and lived in an ivory tower. His perception is somewhat warped.

[@teresas.4541]

They didn’t all have Covid at the same time the entire time.

[@sildan1988]

​@@teresas.4541and how would have worked....5 teachers would teach the whole school first in gymnasium and after awhile switch?

[@Zheshi14]

You have your opinion, and he and others have theirs. What’s the problem?

[@jeffsimon2347]

yup, Bill talking through his (imperial) hat again....

[@brentkrohn3786]

I lost friends and extended family members from covid. Not elderly with health issues either.

[@svscared]

Sorry for your losses.

[@hithere748]

My wife and 6 kids all died from covid, I live my life thinking about them every second of the day. 😔

[@vasil12361]

All deaths are from covid.

[@angrychair5864]

​@@hithere748hope you find solace

[@leafeater5453]

I'm sorry to hear of your loss. That proves to deniers that not only elderly people in bad health succumb to Covid. I always get mad when I hear idiots dismiss it as "just a cold". It is serious, and at the beginning we didn't know what the heck we were dealing with. My mother now will require oxygen for the rest of her life after complications with Covid.

[@anstead9830]

HELL, NO! We're all broke now!

[@brucegelman5582]

Where are all the apologies? Nobody in American politics is capable of uttering these simple phrases...I was wrong or I'm sorry... The adults have left the room.

[@richardlamb3426]

Very well said. Blame politics & ego.

[@johnhoie1]

Bill has become the old guy saying “Get off my lawn.”

[@chalkandcheese1868]

Only a moron would make such an analogy.

[@Terastas]

Which is funny, because the time he's bitching about was when absolutely nobody was on his lawn.

[@philwill0123]

​​@@Terastashe's the man who screams "cancel culture" when someone dares criticise him.

[@jasonstegallco.960]

That's OK -- only one group of people would "dare to trespass" on his lawn...and they would be the LAST group he would want to see in his entire NEIGHBORHOOD.

[@MattKearns-zi4rc]

That clown don't have a lawn he lives in a bubble

[@simon1italy]

Covid to Maher is like Hillary's emails to conservatives: he'll never let that go.

[@anthonyelwick3600]

Hillary broke the law so

[@Ki_Adi_Mundi]

Because we should let treason go. Right... Also, I'm not even remotely conservative, so yeah. You're just an idiot or a bot.

[@jcoopes5604]

It was a communicable disease that we just didn’t know enough about! The a$$ hole at the top was so vain it started the anti mask! He knew and he lied instead of just saying the truth! Never again!

[@alexag8461]

Everything he mentioned were things common-sense conservatives and libertarians were saying back then. I agree with the message, but he conveniently omits that it was his side pushing all of these nonsense theories, measures and calling everyone a conspiracy theorist or permanently shunning their childhood friends because they didn’t get their 3rd booster. Or that it was mostly Democrat governors and celebrities imposing Draconian measures that hurt the economy while hypocritically partying it up. The hysteria was mostly coming from one side of the political aisle as they benefited from weaponizing and politicizing the pandemic during an election year and used the restrictions to exert power, censorship and pass agendas that had nothing to do with the virus. Nevermind that the first anti-vaxx conspiracies were spread by prominent Democrat politicians, including Biden/Harris. He acknowledges printing money during COVID is the cause of inflation but omits that Biden furthered that with the same reckless spending.

[@nadura55]

So he shouldn’t. People need to be held accountable one way or another. We went full dystopian and lessons need to be learned. I didn’t vax because I caught it very early on and guess what I’m here. Worked a job that couldn’t be shut down and lived an overall normal life. We overreacted got multiple useless vaccines and still spread the virus. There were more casualties caused by the over reactions misinformation and hysteria. Sorry but it’s a pill you’re going to have to swallow

[@richardlamb3426]

Sad how so many of our vulnerable were misled into thinking that wearing a mask in public was good enough. Masking probably killed more than it saved - because social distancing went out the window.

[@intervestcom8054]

Great truth Bill!!! Thank u

[@lesterwink23]

Ah yes, four years ago...the good ol' days when we were literally having fistfights over masks made in sweatshops and people were going to the grocery store looking like the government agents in E.T.

[@nancyhajeski3360]

Let me share this Covid 19 Rag and Massacree: Dear Dr. Fauci, I got an ouchie. I caught a virus, stuck on my couchie. Refrigerator . . . I mostly ate 'er, so I go shopping, dressed like Darth Vader. We're quarantining, we're Netflix streaming, I am so sick of, this Facebook meming. We'll try to cope, yeah; not give up hope, yeah, but when it's over, AGORAPHOBIA!

[@angelamacelli9150]

😂😂😂😂😂😅😅😅😅😅😂😂😂😂

[@zaviddemon8975]

I still have 500 rolls of toilet paper which I invested in poorly for the future of my family and my society all I can say is don't wipe it on me

[@g.d.graham2446]

To be fair, Mr. Maher, hindsight is always 20/20, and I think you often forget that when it comes to COVID-19 (because he missed having his audiences during the pandemic) 🙄

[@nemastique409]

reminds me of his clip about presentism...

[@toddwerther188]

Hindsight didn't seem to be 20/20 when Hannity, Trump, and the entire Whackospehere went into overdrive attacking Obama for 2 Ebola deaths.

[@barrywassel3899]

You are right, "g.d.", but I think Bill was just over-reacting a bit to the original over-reacting, which points out how we can better handle the next one, no ?

[@AdamBraus]

A lot of people were saying this stuff real time.

[@wafflesmomforlife9215]

EXACTLY!!

[@NDR-hn3ue]

One of Maher's better commentaries

[@carlospenalver8721]

New rule: Gov says 18 to join military 21 to drink alcohol so how about when you turn 40 the gov lets me do whatever I want like smoke a blunt without the onset of paranoia from fear of arrest. Just leave us the fk alone.

[@july9566]

Ok to be fair Colorado did it right with the cardboard cut outs in sports events , they had South Park characters which was hilarious!

[@mylesharvey6488]

😂 not to mention opened faster than many Republican States! Colorado was open that fall. After the vaccine we were fully open!

[@sandboxsub333]

Why didn't you convince other blue states to follow your lead?

[@dannyfrog]

I saw one cut out of Bernie from Weekend at Bernie's. 😂

[@michaelboulton6804]

no cardboard cutouts at BLM protests

[@dannyfrog]

@michaelboulton6804 aww. Aren't you cute with your whataboutism.

[@DeltaElites]

Closing schools was never about the children, it was about protecting the teachers Bill. People like you still don't understand how many teachers we were losing when they were closing schools. Child care workers were more likely than the typical American worker to die of COVID in 2020, according to new research. Once we had HVAC systems installed in our schools and reopened the problem was solved.

[@svscared]

Also the families of the kids who could have spread it to their parents, grandparents, and other relatives respectfully.

[@jeb909]

@@svscared There. Somebody finally said it. I don't know how that escapes Bill Maher.

[@chillones9574]

FACTS. My elderly relatives that are teachers did not want to go back and die teaching, they drank all the koolaid. I gave my kids extra work at home,still do, they actually bored in public school. I would home school but daddy got to work y'all.

[@priscillaa.8548]

@@jeb909 He's never been married and has no children. I used to think he was funny, but he's really just an asshole now.

[@tedrossier2104]

And boy did the teachers love getting paid for not working!

[@BrotherAustinus]

Day drinking is still a moral imperative with all the idiocy that still goes on.

[@jaimhaas5170]

never trust MSM. TRUTH

[@torchup]

Over 1,000,000 Americans died including veterans, teachers, first responders, doctors, nurses, healthcare workers, etc, but no biggie Bill.

[@flyballhdeg9775]

The people who died "from" covid, in the U.S., had an average of 3.8 underlying morbidity issues. Obesity, diabetes, hypertension, to name a few. If you had covid as well at the time of your death, it was classified as covid related. Hospitals were paid for every covid linked death.

[@echochamber1234]

and millions more die each year from poverty, obesity, or smoking. but you only care about covid because it looks scary and is obsessively covered.

[@azishappy2035]

​@flyballhdeg9775 How many Americans died in 2019? Asking for a friend~

[@ceciliaFX]

And it's mostly because Donnie was incapable of leadership. He just wished the virus away. "It will disappear by Easter"

[@longjohn526]

@@flyballhdeg9775 You just described 75% of Americans .... We are an obese nation with terrible dietary and drinking habits which leads to obesity, diabetes, and hypertension

[@TeleComDog-SMS]

The number one thing we should have learned is to create a panel of experts and not fire them on the 1st. day in office of a new president. The health policy of the country shouldn't be a popular vote because on this subject, everybody's opinion is not equal.

[@RanleighWylde]

The "are you better off now" question mainly refers to your personal economic status. It is not about covid. If you or someone you know died or suffered from covid or you are an HCI worker, that could have been an economic hardship as well, besides your suffering. Its true, over time, Trump said a some things he should not have said. But there are certified Trump haters, including you Bill, who will spin every word or scintilla of a sentence into a negative. Trump did not cause covid nor did he mandate lock downs, that was blue state governors for the most part. Covid is mostly over but not totally. Biden does not deserve accolades for that. People with plenty of money, you again Bill, don't have to worry about inflation, just disease, death and taxes. If you have an honest brain, you should be able to think about what any president actually did, good or bad. Talk is cheap, name calling is childish. What is important is this: Did the president issue mandates? Did he get the USA into long term costly wars with out some sort of exit strategy? I'm and old guy. I have lived through several presidents. I was age 7 when JFK was murdered. I remember the nation wide 55 MPH speed limit issued by Jimmy Carter as a claim that it saved gas, during rampant inflation he allowed by undoing Gerald Ford's price freezes. And gas went to over a dollar for the first time because of that. I personally saw it go up 2 cents per day as a young man as I drove 27 miles one way to work. George W. Bush gave us the useless Homeland security and extra long lines enduring air port searches that rarely yielded anything. Yeah, they got a few pocket knives and an occasional celebrity gun is suitcase. How many terrorists did they actually catch? Foolish and long term wars after 9/11. Yes sir. Why didn't Obama and Biden not end the war in Afghanistan after the navy seals killed Bin Laden during the week of prince William and Kate's wedding? Perhaps some high ranking officials were profiting from it? Obama's health care mandates. It was a back door subsidy for HCI and for wall street. Did he or Hillary care if you actually needed to buy it? Did they care if you were able to fit the expense into your family finances? Of course not.Again, they had plenty of money so every one else must find some way to pony up the premiums, period. Health insurance mandates originated in Massachusetts by their then governor Mitt Romney. Now we have electric car mandates on the horizon. Biden is on tape at multiple locations and crowds professing to eliminate fossil fuels during his administration. Is every country on the globe doing that? Are other countries stopping coal? Are the super wealthy gonna stop flying their private jets to climate summits and anywhere else they want to? Are they gonna stop telling the regular working citizen what a bunch of filthy polluters they are? Lastly, are those with a televised voice ever gonna stop with the continuous racism mantra? Deliberately working to divide the USA with constant special group demands? How about stopping the threat to democracy lies? And the malicious and ignorant "no one is above the law" lie. For those who hate Trump because he is a back talker, just keep on keeping on. Nothing I say or prove will change your mind, no matter how petty your reason is. I am not a member of any political party. I vote as an independent. And have voted both red and blue over the years. Can't go along with the blue dust bunnies ever again.

[@eyewaszero]

‘After the fact’ jibberish. No one knew exactly what we were dealing with. It was scary, it was all unknown. The ‘better be safe than sorry’ approach was justified…and let’s not forget the countless number of people who actually did die from COVID or the ppl who are still suffering from long COVID. All in all…..It’s all a bit too easy to ridicule the measures taken at the time.

[@nolongerblocked6210]

That's true, but Trump was the one who didn't want to do "better safe than sorry"

[@tagalong8001]

It was preplanned.

[@sheilag2231]

Bring back lockdowns!

[@stephenanderson1594]

Exactly if schools remained open and all our kids died then what. People were mad they have to deal with what teachers go though.......teaching unruly children.

[@chikkipop]

@@tagalong8001 But not your idiocy; that could have been avoided by staying in school.

[@distressor6770]

Never ceases to amaze me how people who won’t be held responsible for decisions that are made all have 20/20 hindsight

[@stewhooey1294]

Bingo

[@volourn9764]

Hind sight? Lots of this stuff was mentioned from the start, and the people who dud so were told to shut up, were censored, lost or were threatened with the loss of their medical license, and a host of other shit. Example 1 : If you dared played China/Wuhan lab you were labeled racist. Example 2 : If you dated to say closing schools would hurt students you were accused of wanting to kill children en masse. Nor hindsight.

[@scottvincent770]

I see what you did there! 😂

[@SenatorBluto]

That's some bad syntax.

[@ArrKayLondon]

Bill is kinda a boomer moron nowadays. He used to be sharp and have a flexible viewpoint but now it's often simplistic and unbending.

[@Arrow72893]

Rare time I agree 100% with Bill here.

[@user-et4wi4cu1s]

Great segment. One of my favorites

[@tomdulle1707]

Okay the gloryhole "I wouldn't look into it" line is comedy gold!

[@RTC1655]

A killer joke, on several levels.

[@user-rs5be9qg7k]

I don't think many got the layers with that joke.

[@Factchekka]

I wouldn't go poking around either.

[@chrisspadafora3640]

@@RTC1655 Yeah Bill Marge about as funny as Stephen ColbertButtheadsLefty'slosers

[@lesleyjohnson8488]

😂

[@davidwhite5885]

Let us never forget how many families had to visit nursing homes, retirement communities, assisted living facilities and hospital by standing outside and looking through window but not be able to embrace their loved ones as they deteriorated and prohibited from giving rhem the hugs that they so desparately needed. We also need to be reminded how many people died as a direct result of the negligence of the former president who could have adopted a more proactive stance in dealing with this situation.

[@robertatkins9419]

You are being nothing but a partisan hack if you try to blame the former president for any of this.

[@cleigh113]

Most of that was under Biden as well

[@PeteLeuenberger]

Yeah. But wait, if it saves a life, it's worth it! What we learned is that for many people, living isn't nearly as important as surviving. I prioritize living.

[@lindasteele748]

​@@cleigh113No, it wasn't. COVID-19 response was squarely in Trumo's court and he missed the shot. It was a shameful, reluctant response that allowed millions to die needlessly.

[@robertatkins9419]

@@cleigh113 Exactly. Did Biden row back the regulations that Trump brought in, or did he double down on them - and on their enforcement?