Bill Maher: Wokeness is Undoing Liberalism

TAPPER: “How do you define wokeness? Because I hear people use the term all the time and it means something different to everybody.”

MAHER: “Again, I think it’s this collection of ideas that are not building on liberalism but very often undoing it. I mean, five years ago, Abraham Lincoln was not a controversial figure among liberals. We liked him. Now they take his name off schools and tear down his statues. Really? Lincoln isn’t good enough for you? You know, 5, 10 years ago, bedrock liberalism was we are striving to be a colorblind society where we don’t see race. Of course, we see it, but it doesn’t matter. That’s not what woke is. Woke is something very different. It’s identity politics — we see it all the time. It’s always the most important thing. I don’t think that’s liberalism. I mean, I could mention so many issues like that. I remember doing that show on HBO, comic relief for the homeless. And the idea then, again, among liberals, I thought, was for the sake of compassion, can we get these people off the streets so they have a roof over their heads? And now it’s like, ‘How dare you try to move the homeless? This is where they live!’ It’s like, again, you change the definitions and then you say I’m more conservative? I believe what I’ve always believed. You change these things and then you yell at me for it.”