Bill Maher Tells CPAC Head ‘Fox News Is Basically Running Our Government’

Television personality Bill Maher confronted the head of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Matt Schlapp, about Fox News’ coverage of Donald Trump. In the discussion Maher said, “Fox News is basically running our government.”

During the one-on-one interview with Schlapp, Maher confronted the unwavering supporter of Donald Trump with a list of the president’s scandals involving porn stars, cash payoffs, hiring family members and various other scandals that have led to multiple investigations.

Maher, the host of Real Time on HBO, also complimented Schlapp for coming on his show, which was unusual for the chairman of the American Conservative Union.

Maher brought up a recent investigation by Jane Mayer published in The New Yorker, which alleged that Fox News killed a report about Trump’s alleged affair with adult-film star Stormy Daniels prior to the 2016 presidential election.

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The report also alleged that Trump received potential questions he would face in a 2016 primary debate from then-network head Roger Ailes.

“Jane Mayer is saying that Fox News is basically running our government, which I think we know because Trump watched ‘Fox & Friends’ in the morning and then tweets very often as he’s watching it,” Maher said. “Sometimes he doesn’t even refer to what he is tweeting, you just have to know that’s what he is watching.”

“This is unprecedented, too, the fact that Sean Hannity does a show every night praising Trump, and then after the show Sean Hannity and Trump talk,” Maher continued. “Now, if Obama was talking to [MSNBC host] Rachel Maddow every night, what would you think?”

Schlapp then said that maybe Obama did talk to Maddow every night.

“He didn’t, I promise you he didn’t,” Maher said, before pulling out a fake book called “If Obama Did It.”

Maher listed some controversies that involved Trump’s campaign and administration, including having his former lawyer Michael Cohen and his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort go to jail.

“He told people across this country that he was going to do five or six big things … for a politician that is actually keeping the big promises he has made, which you really can’t deny,” Schlapp responded.

He pointed to Trump’s campaign promises of moving the American Embassy in Israel and pulling out of the Iran Nuclear Deal.

“I understand a lot of you didn’t like the fact of what he was saying on the campaign trail but you can’t deny that on these big questions, he did it,” Schlapp said.

Schlapp acknowledged that a lot of people who oppose conservative politics opposed Trump’s decisions.

“And when people in the news media have this constant refrain that he was so dishonest as president, they have to understand that for the people who supported him, they view him of doing what he said he was doing,” Schlapp said.

CLICK HERE to watch the Matt Schlapp interview with Bill Maher.

Leo Vidal

I am a lifelong Democrat with a passion for social justice and progressive issues. I have degrees in writing, economics and law from the University of Iowa.