Did Bill Maher forget that he is white?
After having elected a president who openly promised to "bomb the s--- out of ISIS," it sounds almost quaint to talk about the extreme rhetoric of television comedians.
Yet here we are sounding more shocked than ever over recent excesses by Bill Maher, Kathy Griffin and Stephen Colbert.
If extreme rhetoric has become more normalized in the era of President Donald Trump, how much should we blame Donald Trump? Just asking.
Comedians and other commentators need to beware of Anti-Trump Derangement Disorder. It's a lot like the syndrome that gripped liberals in the era of George W. Bush and conservatives under Barack Obama. In each case, raging fury over the sitting president drove critics to irrational extremes.
Last month, Stephen Colbert, said of the president in a rant, "The only thing your mouth is good for is being Vladimir Putin's c--- holster."
For that he received a combination of laughs, groans and angry complaints to the Federal Communications Commission that the joke was homophobic. The FCC decided not to penalize Colbert for the joke, which was broadcast with the C-word bleeped out anyway.
Comedian Kathy Griffin was not as lucky. She posed for a photo last week while holding a bloody Trump mask by the hair, producing an image as gruesome as an Islamic State snuff video. It backfired, making President Trump and his family look sympathetic, even to his usual critics. Griffin apologized but lost bookings, including her high-profile slot as co-host of CNN's New Year's Eve special since 2007.
Bill Maher opened a different can of worms with his use of the N-word on his show, "Real Time" on HBO. While interviewing Republican Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska about his new book, "The Vanishing American Adult," Maher said, "I've got to get to Nebraska more."
Sasse cheerfully invited Maher to come out to the Cornhusker State and "work in the fields with us."
"Work in the fields?" said Maher, noticing an opportunity to insert a punch line that he could not pass up, "Senator, I'm a house n---er."
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