Maher spars with Texas Republican over ‘vaguely fascist' Trump military parade

Bill Maher clashed with Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas) over President Trump's military parade on HBO's 'Real Time with Bill Maher' on Friday.
Maher, although open to the celebration ahead of the event last Saturday, slammed the parade, which drew smaller than expected crowds.
'If you're going to have a vaguely fascist parade, do it right,' he said.
Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX) immediately came to Trump's defense.
'And you know what I saw? I saw the president salute the Corps of Cadets as they walked past him. I watched him salute the 75th Ranger Regiment as they walk past him, I sat there and watched the fireworks behind the Washington Monument,' he said.
'And you what I thought? D—, that's absolutely outstanding. And it's far better than [former President] Biden checking his watch when bodies were being returned to Dover,' he continued, mentioning the return of 11 servicemen killed in Afghanistan in 2021.
Hunt served in the military from 2004 to 2012 and flew Apache helicopters. He was deployed in Iraq and in Saudi Arabia after which he left the military and attended Cornell University.
Hunt criticized Biden for what he described as a lack of patriotism and applauded Trump for celebrating the troops.
'And so, the dichotomy of what we're seeing with President Trump and his patriotism saluting the flag actually making an effort rather you like it or agree with the execution, the effort is there, that's all we want to see,' he said.
Maher responded, thanking Hunt for his service, but emphasized that 'execution does matter.'
The military parade drew widespread criticism from Trump critics and allies alike over its price tag, which cost millions of dollars. Hundreds of thousands of protests also gathered for 'No Kings' demonstrations against the parade and the Trump administration to correspond with the Washington event.

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New York Post

23 minutes ago

New York Post

Bill Maher says Dems need to ‘do something' about ‘The View' after Whoopi Goldberg's Iran comments

'Real Time' host Bill Maher and Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas, hammered Whoopi Goldberg and 'The View' on Friday after the co-host claimed that life for Black Americans is equivalent to women living under Iran's oppressive theocratic regime. Maher claimed that Democrats took a step 'back to sanity' after The New York Times took a more 'sensible liberal, not crazy woke' position on transgender issues. He then asserted that the second step Democrats should take is to 'do something about 'The View'' after Goldberg's comment comparing life for Black Americans to living under Iran's brutal regime. Goldberg sparked backlash during a heated argument with her fellow 'The View' co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin on Wednesday. Griffin elaborated on the many human rights violations perpetrated by the Ayatollah's regime in Iran, including executions of gay people and imprisonment of women who go outside with their hair uncovered. 'Let's not do that, because if we start with that, we have been known in this country to tie gay folks to the car. Listen, I'm sorry, they used to just keep hanging Black people,' Goldberg insisted as Griffin pushed back and said the situations weren't comparable. 3 Maher claimed that Democrats took a step 'back to sanity' after The New York Times took a more 'sensible liberal, not crazy woke' position on transgender issues. FOX News Hunt shot down Whoopi's assessment of life in America for Black people, noting the success he's found in the United States as a Black man. 'My district in the great state of Texas is actually a white majority district that President Trump would have won by 25 points. As I said, I'm a direct descendant of a slave, my great-great-grandfather, who was born on Rosedown Plantation. I am literally being judged not by the color of my skin but by the content of my character,' he explained. Hunt continued, adding, 'That's the progress because — like a lot of white people had to vote for me — a lot. So I don't ever want to hear Whoopi Goldberg's conversation about how it's worse to be black in America right now.' 3 Whoopi Goldberg and Alyssa Farah Griffin on life in the US and Iran The View, June 18, 2025. ABC 3 Hunt shot down Whoopi's assessment of life in America for Black people, noting the success he's found in the United States as a Black man. FOX News The Texas congressman also pointed out that his father, who grew up under Jim Crow, is now the father of a United States congressman in a white majority district who ran as a Republican. 'That's America,' Hunt stated. CNN Contributor Paul Begala brought up the fact that America has a holiday to celebrate the freedom of Black Americans from slavery — Juneteenth — but questioned why President Donald Trump 'doesn't want to honor' the occasion. 'I don't want it,' Hunt replied. 'I don't want Black History Month. I don't want all these days to make everybody feel special. I'm an '80s baby. Everybody's too sensitive anyway. We're all Americans anyway.'