Bill Maher on next election: ‘The right is not going to give up power’
Comedian Bill Maher said in a Wednesday interview that he does not think Republicans will “give up power” if they lose upcoming election cycles.
In an appearance on SiriusXM’s “Straight Shooter with Stephen A.,” Maher predicted that, as long as Republicans still view Democrats as an “existential threat to this country” in 2026 and 2028, the GOP will cling to power — regardless of the electoral outcome.
“I think they can win those elections,” Maher told host and media personality Stephen A. Smith when asked whether he sees “any light at the end of the tunnel for the Democratic Party for 2026 or 2028.
“As long as they appear nutty to the right — and there is a lot of nutty on the far left — as long as they appear that way to those Republicans, it doesn’t matter if they win the election,” he continued. “The right is not going to give up power. That’s my prediction.”
Maher did not say explicitly whether he thinks President Trump will try to stay in office past the end of his second term, but he noted the president still claims there was widespread fraud in the 2020 election — despite dozens of audits and lawsuits concluding otherwise.
“I mean, they’ve already shown they are perfectly comfortable with — Trump has still has not conceded the 2020 election,” Maher said. “As Stalin said, it’s not who wins the most votes, it’s who counts the votes.
“And, so, if the right still thinks that the left is an existential threat to this country — because they want to rewrite all the rules of human nature and then have nobody debate them — yeah, I don’t think it matters if the Democrats win. The Republicans will just find a way to say, ‘No, actually, that’s not going to happen.’”
The president and some of his allies have repeatedly floated the idea of seeking a third term, which is constitutionally prohibited. At times, those comments have been dismissed as a joke, though Trump has at other points appeared more serious about the idea.
Earlier this year, Trump addressed the possibility, saying, “People are asking me to run. I don’t know, I never looked into it. And they do say there’s a way you can do it, but I don’t know about that.” The 22nd Amendment, ratified in 1951, prohibits an individual from being elected to more than two terms as president.
“No, probably not,” Trump later said, with a chuckle, early last month, when asked in an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” about the possibility of running again.
“I’d like to run,” Trump added. “I have the best poll numbers I’ve ever had.”