30 most controversial Bill Maher moments

20. Bernie Sanders comes on Real Time to talk socialism

Back in the days before Donald Trump would beat Hillary Clinton to become the US president, there was an arguably more important political battle. Bernie Sanders was quickly becoming a very serious threat to taking the Democratic nomination from Hillary Clinton. The Vermont Senator’s popularity was only growing, with polls suggesting he’d beat Donald Trump by huge margins in a general election.

But despite his popularity, Bernie was still considered an outsider by mainstream media outlets. He’d barely receive any news coverage in comparison to Trump and Clinton, even though he was selling out arenas. Journalists were still typically treating him like the plague, partially due to his platform of running as a “democratic socialist”.

The word “socialism” is such a dirty term for politicians, but why? Bill Maher, who admits straight up he wants to see Bernie win the nomination, brings Bernie onto Real Time to discuss exactly that. The two of them attempt to teach America about socialism, with Maher suggesting that most don’t realize that socialism already exists in the country. It was interesting for Maher to give Sanders the platform to fully get into what socialism really is and how democratic socialism would be better for the country. Especially considering most news outlets wouldn’t have done so.