(The Hill) — Comedian Bill Maher and his GOP guest, the National Review’s editor-in-chief Rich Lowry, got into a tense exchange on “Real Time with Bill Maher” on Friday over voting for former President Trump and the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.
Lowry joined former National Security advisor H.R. McMaster and former CNN anchor John Avalon on the show’s panel.
Avalon introduced the topic of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and Trump’s involvement. He said 60 days out from an election, the country has normalized the legal battles with Trump and it’s “far too freaking dangerous.”
“He really does commit crimes is one thing, and two, if the positions were reversed and a Democrat did this, not only would the Republicans go after them, but they would have done it,” Maher said.
Lowry, a Republican, said he has spoken on the record about being “completely appalled” by the riot.
“You’re not so appalled you’re not going to vote for Trump,” Maher interjected.
“This is different Bill,” Lowry said.
“You’re not appalled!” Maher continued.
“No, I am appalled,” Lowry said.
“But you’re still going to vote for him,” Maher said.
Lowry asked Maher if Jan. 6 didn’t happen if he would still oppose Trump.
“Because you don’t like him on policy, right?” he questioned.
Maher said he “mostly” doesn’t agree with Trump on policy.
“You would consider voting for him absent January 6th?” Lowry pressed.
“No,” Maher responded.
“Right,” Lowry said.
Maher said the biggest issue is that Trump did not concede the 2020 presidential election and he has politicized the Justice Department.
The show carried on after the briefly tense exchange and they discussed the upcoming presidential debate, among other political issues.