Comedian Bill Maher said he believes President Donald Trump “won’t go” if he loses the 2020 presidential election.
The HBO “Real Time” host made the comment during a Tuesday night conversation with Chris Cuomo after the CNN anchor asked for his political predictions.
“Give me a feel for what you think about — not necessarily predictions, but what do you imagine happening going forward, in whatever political way is relevant?” asked Cuomo asked.
“…A lot of people are talking about now is that if he loses — Trump — he won’t go,” said Maher. “I’ve been saying that since before he got elected, that if he loses the second time — if he loses the coming election … I think that we have to worry about because a lot of people say yes, it can happen here, meaning fascism — meaning something other than democracy. Now, I think we’re already there.”
He continued to explain that he has a “dictator checklist,” and Trump has done some of the same things that dictators on that list have done: “I have a dictator checklist that I read on my show sometimes — things that no American president has ever done — but this president does. Appointing your family to key government positions? This is banana republic …”
Maher also told Cuomo that even if he thought the president should “leave” office, “he will not leave.” (RELATED: Bill Maher: Social Justice Warriors A ‘Cancer On Progressivism’)
“Now that would be something,” Cuomo said after the segment ended.
Maher, a frequent Trump critic, expressed similar feelings on his HBO show last year, saying the president would not “leave willingly” if impeached and convicted.
“Who is actually going to go knock on that door at the White House and make him go?” Maher said during a panel discussion. “And then he’s got the Secret Service around him. I don’t see him leaving willingly for any reason.”