Bill Maher, Bernie Sanders and Trevor Noah fear Trump won't leave if he loses
Bill Maher is known for a couple of things: his HBO political talk show, "Real Time with Bill Maher" — just renewed by HBO through 2022 — and now, his persistent belief that Trump won't leave the presidency peacefully.
"I don't see him leaving willingly," Maher said in April 2018.
"I will bet you a million dollars right now that if you lose the 2020 election, I'm right, and you won't leave," Maher told Trump in October 2019.
"You made a speech yesterday, and it was about what we do when Trump says he's not leaving," Maher told Sen. Bernie Sanders on his show Friday night. "And I imagine this is a speech you never thought you would have to make."
"Never in a million years did I ever think that I would have to give a speech about what do we do if a president refuses to leave office if he loses," Sanders responded. "I never, never thought that I would have to give that speech, or anybody else. But that is where we are today."
The Vermont senator held his first in-person political event since ending his 2020 Democratic presidential campaign on Friday, challenging Trump’s claims of voter fraud in the upcoming election.
"I would simply say, Bill, I know you have made this point many, many times: Listen to what Trump is saying," Sanders told Maher. "Don't brush it off. Don't say, 'Oh, this guy is crazy; he'll say this any other day.' Listen to what he is saying. And what he is saying over and over again is, 'The only way that we, i.e. Trump, can lose the election is if it is rigged.'"
Sanders was referring to a speech Trump gave in Oshkosh, Wis., on Aug. 17, the same day that the 2020 Democratic National Convention began.
"In 78 days, we're going to stop the radical left, we are going to win the state of Wisconsin, and we are going to win four more years," Trump said. "And then after that, we'll go for another four years because … they spied on my campaign. We should get a redo of four years."
"The only way we're going to lose this election is if the election is rigged," Trump said. "Remember that."
Maher's concern has recently spread after Trump refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power, a hallmark of American democracy, after the November election.
"Win, lose or draw in this election, will you commit here today for a peaceful transferral of power after the election?" a reporter asked Trump Wednesday.
"Well, we're gonna have to see what happens. You know that I've been complaining very strongly about the ballots, and the ballots are a disaster," Trump responded. "Get rid of the ballots, and we'll have a very peaceful — there won't be a transfer, frankly. There'll be a continuation."
After that clip went viral, another late-night host joined Maher in condemning Trump's threat to not accept an election defeat.
"A peaceful transfer of power is the cornerstone of a healthy democracy," said "Daily Show" host Trevor Noah. "And by Trump saying that he refuses to leave peacefully, he's basically threatening a coup."
