HBO host Bill Maher on Friday criticized bleak media coverage of the novel coronavirus pandemic and predicted it could help President Trump secure another term in office.
“The problem with nonstop gloom and doom is it gives Trump the chance to play the optimist, and optimists tend to win American elections,” he said on “Real Time with Bill Maher.”
“FDR said, ’The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.’ You know, as full of s–t as he is, I could see Trump riding that into a second term,” Mr. Maher added.
Mr. Maher, a liberal comedian frequently critical of Mr. Trump, subsequently urged outlets to curb what he characterized to be unnecessarily dismal and exaggerated coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, such as comparing the outbreak to the end of the world.
“If this insanity happens again, news sources have to rein it in. Everyone knows Corona is no walk in the park. Because you literally can’t walk in the park. But at some point, the daily drumbeat of depression and terror veers into panic porn,” Mr. Maher said during the monologue.
“We need the news to calm down and treat us like adults,” Mr. Maher concluded. “Trump calls you fake news, don’t make him be right.”
More than 700,000 cases of COVID-19, the contagious disease caused by the coronavirus, have been confirmed in the U.S., according to Johns Hopkins University. More than 37,000 people in the country have died from the disease and over 60,000 have recovered, according to the university.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.