Bill Maher leaves Rob 'Meathead' Reiner dumbfounded with one question about the media suppressing the Hunter Biden laptop story
Bill Maher exposed the political blind spot of Rob "Meathead" Reiner by stumping the actor with a question regarding the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story by legacy media.
During the latest episode of "Real Time with Bill Maher," the liberal host discussed whether it was merited for mainstream media outlets and social media platforms to suppress and censor the Hunter Biden laptop story. The topic was in response to Sam Harris saying the cover-up of Hunter Biden's shady business dealings overseas was warranted because former President Donald Trump was an "existential threat to our democracy."
Maher asked, "Is it okay to have a conspiracy to get rid of Trump?"
"They were talking about Hunter Biden's laptop, which was a story, and now all the mainstream press has finally admitted it was a real story," Maher said. "It was a real laptop."
"Now look, let's not pussyfoot around this – he was selling the influence of his father, Joe Biden," Maher stated. "I mean, most political sons do, but let's not pretend at least that was going on… so Hunter Biden's laptop was buried by the press."
"Even the head of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, said that was a mistake," Maher continued. "So Sam Harris says it was appropriate for Twitter, and the heads of big tech, and the heads of journalistic organizations to feel that they were in the presence of something that is a once-in-a-lifetime moral emergency, meaning Trump. So he's saying it's okay to have a conspiracy, to get rid of somebody as bad as Trump."
Maher then asked, "It's a little bit of a thorny question because once you go down this road – this is sort of where we are in this country, the other side is so evil, anything is justified in preventing them from taking office. Is it?"
Reiner – a staunch Democrat activist – deflected from Maher's question with a whataboutism defense of harping on the Jan. 6 riot.
"You know what's not justified? Using armed violence to try to kill people in the Capitol. That's not justified," Reiner replied.
Maher attempted to get back to his original question; and asked if it was "appropriate to bury the Hunter Biden" story?
Maher noted, "They buried the Hunter Biden story before the election because they were, like, ‘We can’t risk having the election thrown to Trump. We’ll tell them after the election.'"
The "All in the Family" actor quizically asked, "And we know for a fact that that’s what they did?"
Maher exclaimed, "Of course! You don’t follow this?"
Reiner conceded, "I don’t know that they did."
Maher then zinged Reiner, "I know because you only watch MSNBC."
Reiner – who continues to have an obsession with Trump after his presidency – claimed that he watches Fox News. He was also totally befuddled at the thought that the press would suppress a story that would hurt Joe Biden during the 2020 presidential election against Trump.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) ran cover for Reiner, and said, "I don’t know that they all said this. You have to make sure you are treating people fairly."
Earlier this week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted that his social media network suppressed the Hunter Biden laptop story during an appearance on "The Joe Rogan Experience" podcast.
The New York Post broke the Hunter Biden laptop story in October 2020. Legacy media seemingly buried the story without attempting to verify the authenticity of the notorious laptop. Many outlets dismissed the story as "Russian misinformation." NPR vowed not to cover the story because it was a "waste" of time.
Twitter censored the story and locked the official account of the New York Post.
A poll released this week revealed that nearly 80% of people believe that Trump could have won the 2020 presidential election if the Hunter Biden laptop and email story was not buried.
It wasn't until March of this year when the New York Times and the Washington Post, and other media outlets admitted that Hunter Biden's abandoned laptop was indeed real – 17 months after the story first broke.
\u201c.@billmaher on @RealTimers asks the panel whether it was OK for the press to bury the Hunter Biden laptop story prior to the election, and the response was surprise(!) I agree w/Bill that you probably need to reduce @MSNBC in your diet.\n\nWith @robreiner & @amyklobuchar.\u201d— Clint Olsen (@Clint Olsen) 1661578864