In his diatribe on November 19, to prove his point that Democrats don’t seem to care about noncollege whites, Maher said, “You can find ways to stand up for these folks without being David Duke. This month, when the Democrats finally passed their big trillion-dollar bill to rebuild our roads and bridges, six Democrats voted no because it didn’t go far enough to address climate change … This was free money from the federal government that would actually improve their constituents’ lives.”

But Maher’s example makes the opposite point. Only six Democrats voted no, while 215 House Democrats and 50 Senate Democrats voted yes. Let’s ask the question again: Why is the party that supports so many issues that benefit the middle class still considered out of touch by 62 percent of Americans? Maybe because people with big media platforms act like the votes of six congressional Democrats define the party more than the other 265.

After noting that “Democrats were told” racism was “the reason” for their defeat in Virginia’s gubernatorial election, Maher cracked, “I haven’t worked up an official Democratic campaign slogan for 2024 yet, but I tell you what I have ruled out is ‘Vote Democrat Because White People Suck.’” What was the basis of this critique? A tweet by the former Democratic National Committee chair from two decades ago Howard Dean, a tweet from The Atlantic’s Jemele Hill, and a headline from a blog post by MSNBC.com writer Ja’han Jones. None of these people have anything to do with messaging for the Democratic Party, let alone the messaging for Terry McAuliffe’s losing effort in Virginia. Yet Maher is blaming the Democratic Party for what “Democrats are told” by some online progressive commentators.