Bill Maher has a beef with Millennials, specifically those who inhabit the newsroom of the Washington Post.
Reviewing the recent Twitter war between WaPo reporter Felicia Sonmez and the other members of that newsroom – a flame battle that eventually saw Sonmez fired and another reporter put on a month’s leave without pay – Maher said the joke tweet that instigated it was something that has been going on for eons. Yet the “unlicensed daycare center” that is the newsroom didn’t find the humor in it.
“Can you imagine a world that allows jokes you don’t like? Of course, the leadership folded like a Miami condo,” he said, falling back on the tired trope that the tweet did not reflect the institution’s values, “free speech not being one of them.”
Maher then broadened the WaPo conflict into a larger takedown of the generation that now is coming into its own in the workplace as Baby Boomers retire.
“You think my generation is an eyeroll,” Maher said. “Let me tell you about the younger generation. Your sense of entitlement is legendary,” he said, also attacking “your attention span and work ethic,” specificcally “the unqualified little shit who doesn’t understand why he’s not a producer yet.” He added that the WaPo story had such resonance because we all know the stereotypical players in it.
Millennials complain that they haven’t taken over yet, Maher said. But that’s because the Boomers are reluctant to turn the world over to them for incidents like the WaPo wars.
“The crybabies are still winning,” Maher said. “They complain they haven’t taken over yet. The fact that the Post’s response was to punish one of their best reporters shows the kindergarten is still in charge.”
In 1972, the Watergate break-in happened, a story basically scooped by the WaPo. “I have to wonder how the Post’s newsroom of today would handle that. “All this time blubber-tweeting. Don’t you have anything better to do? Aren’t you supposed to be reporters digging up stuff? This is why you’re not in charge. If someone named Deep Throat called today and wanted to meet, this crew of emotional hemophiliacs would have an anxiety attack and report to HR they didn’t feel safe.”
Maher did take hope in the fact that the WaPo eventually did fire Sonmez. “Maybe there’s a line. That generation has to find that line and move it closer to sanity. Because democracy dies in dumbness.”
Earlier, Maher’s guest was Emmy winning writer Danny Strong, producer of the Hulu limited seies Dopesick, about the opioid epidemic. His strongest moment was when he insisted that members of the Sackler family “absolutely” should face prison time for their manufacturing role and lies in the opioid crisis.
The panel discussion was dominated by podcaster Krystal Ball, a far leftist who would hardly let Maher or guest author and James Kirchick talk.
The most interesting moment of the talk was when Maher was asked whether he thought Florida Governor Ron DeSantis would be better than ex-President Donald Trump. “Yes, I do,” he said. “He won’t be poop-tweeting and having feuds with Bette Midler.”