There are comedians who receive lifetime achievement awards and give gracious speeches thanking the academy. Bill Maher received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor on Sunday at the Kennedy Center, which is the building Trump tried to rename after himself until a judge stopped him, and announced that his vote is in play, which is either the punchline or the threat, and at this point in Maher’s career the two are indistinguishable.
The prize ceremony happened at the Kennedy Center. The Kennedy Center is where Trump held the draw ceremony for the World Cup and from whose signage his name was removed in May by court order, which Trump called “a hopeless journey into NEVER NEVER LAND.” The de-Trumped building hosted the ceremony. The comedian Trump called a “MORON” on Truth Social received the award in it. The White House had called reports of the prize “fake news” in March. The fake news occurred on schedule.
Per HuffPost, Maher recently said on his show: “If this is where the Democratic Party is going, with the democratic socialists. This obsession with Israel, the Jew hating, with, they don’t believe in capitalism, no prisons. If this is where they’re going, my vote is in play.” He said this about the primary results he has been predicting for eight years, on the show he has hosted for eight years, to the audience that has been hearing the prediction for eight years and watching the Democratic Party not adjust for eight years. Maher was right. His prize for being right is that the thing happened.
He has described Trump as dangerous, as authoritarian, and as a threat to democratic norms across hundreds of episodes of Real Time. His vote is now, he says, in play. Whether this means he would vote for the dangerous authoritarian or simply that he would like Democrats to behave as though he might is the question that “in play” has always been designed to avoid answering directly.
The Mark Twain Prize honors American humor. Trump called the honoree a moron. The honoree received the prize at the venue the moron-caller tried to seize. The honoree then announced the moron-caller might get his vote. The Mark Twain Prize was given to the correct person.
When the comedian who spent eight years warning Democrats about progressive excess gets the Mark Twain Prize for humor and announces his vote is up for grabs, which part of this is the joke?
Sources
HuffPost: Bill Maher Reveals Grim Dynamic Of Trump Relationship Before Mark Twain Prize
Raw Story: Trump goes on multi-post rampage targeting HBO’s Bill Maher
