Bill Maher slams MSNBC for pinning Youngkin win on 'White ignorance': 'I don't think that helps'

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"Real Time" host Bill Maher took a swipe at MSNBC for the way it reacted to Glenn Youngkin's stunning victory in this month's Virginia gubernatorial race. 

During Friday night's panel discussion, Maher sounded the alarm on "this level of hate" Americans have for each other, slamming those who floated the idea of secession. 

"How would we secede in California, which has 4 million Trump voters?" Maher asked. "What do we do about this hate?"

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Maher said he doesn't believe "we are being led in the right direction by either side" – a perspective that drew pushback from liberal radio host Tavis Smiley. 

"When you say 'we' ... what ‘we’ are you talking about?" Smiley asked. "Black folk and Brown people ain't doing nothing to the larger White community. So when you say ‘we,’ you're acting as if, you sound as if-" 

"I said we the country!" Maher exclaimed. 

"But who's the ‘we'?" Smiley doubled down. "Some of us are not engaged in that nonsense or activity."

Author and talk show host Tavis Smiley speaks in New York City, May 29, 2014. (Associated Press)

The HBO star then pulled up a headline published by MSNBC following the GOP's major win in Virginia, which read, "Glenn Youngkin’s victory proves [W]hite ignorance is a powerful weapon."

"I don't think that helps," Maher reacted. "I'm an old-school liberal. I believe in a colorblind society. That's not where woke is, OK? There's a lot of resegregation going on. There's a lot of 'You're either a racist or you don't know you're a racist.' So yes, there's some ‘we’ on the other side too." 

"There's a lot of resegregation going on. There's a lot of 'You're either a racist or you don't know you're a racist.'"

— Bill Maher

Bill Maher (HBO)

Last week, Maher pointed out how "Democrats got their a-- kicked" in the November elections and clashed with Vanderbilt University professor Michael Eric Dyson on whether critical race theory was being taught in schools, something Dyson largely dismissed, arguing Virginia parents were instead outraged that Black history was becoming "centered" in the school curriculum.  

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"But I find that a disingenuous argument because I don't think that is what people are objecting to," Maher reacted. "They are not objecting to Black history being taught. There are other things going on in the schools."

"Like what?" Dyson asked. 

"Like separating children by race," Maher responded, "and describing them either as oppressed or oppressor. I mean, there are children coming home who feel traumatized by this. That's what parents are objecting to."

"But Bill, … the beginning of critical race theory in the modern times is two years ago … Christopher Rufo, White guy, who said, ‘Look, I’m reading the anti-racist literature. I see this critical race stuff. This stuff will make good publicity.' And he began to drive it home," Dyson said. "It's not critical race theory, it's the notion of centering Black people as historical agents and the question is, if you talk about White kids being traumatized, oh really? So that Black kids being made to portray slaves -- we got stories on both sides. I think you are underestimating the anti-Black sentiment that's deeply entrenched that's way beyond Trump. … It ain't just Donald Trump, it's the party itself."

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Dyson continued to argue the debate in school districts was solely focused on how Black history is taught to children rather than the CRT ideology.

"But that's not all we're talking about," Maher pushed back. "We're talking about kids who seem to be too young sometimes to fully appreciate all this. I think if kids watched you, they wouldn't know a lot of those words. So to ask them as opposed to letting kids be kids, maybe, where usually kids are pretty nice to each other if they're instructed not to be."