Comedian Bill Maher was simply aghast to find that half of the citizens in the United States don’t even know about the Russia scandal that is plaguing President Donald Trump and his administration.

During the Friday evening episode of Real Time, the panel discussion focused on the echo-chamber of news where people refuse to read the stories they don’t agree with.

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The Washington Post‘s Catherine Rampell was quick to say that no matter the facts, some people refuse to believe them.

Comedian Martin Short said that it’s the one brilliant thing Trump has done so far.

“Because what he’s done is by creating this ‘fake news’ idea, if he is forced to resign he will be able to say, ‘I fixed America, look at the Stock Market. Look at the job rate. Look at the rest and don’t believe anything you hear from the ‘fake news.'”

Rampell said that she believes it’s all intentional and that Trump is purposely dismantling every institution he can get his hands on that aims to hold him accountable.

Sportscaster Jim Costas said that for both Trump and his supporters it’s somehow a “get out of jail free” card where people no longer have to address things on their merits. “It’s just fake news,” he sarcastically said.

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“The great thing about this,” Republican Rick Wilson chimed in. “Is that no matter how many times he tweets about it being ‘fake news,’ [special counsel] Bob Mueller doesn’t care. He’s going to grind and grind and grind and grind and there’s never a better day for Trump on the Russia story. There’s never a better day where they go, ‘Well, that cleared that up!’ Every time it’s worse.”

Rampell agreed, saying that until Rupert Murdoch turns against Trump, there will forever be a segment of society who doesn’t believe in the Russia scandal and stick by him.

Maher quoted presidential pal Roger Stone, who warned that any person who attempts to impeach Trump will be “endangering their own life.”

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“Not to pile on the Republicans,” Maher said. “There’s one party that just goes there. One party that would nominate Donald Trump. One candidate from the Republican Party, Donald Trump, who would say during an election as he recently did, ‘It’s rigged!’ One party that would pull that sh*t they they did with [Supreme Court Nominee Merrick] Garland and not do their job and not give a president his pick for the Supreme Court. One party just goes to these places and the other one doesn’t. And until the Democrats, I don’t want them to do this, but until they learn to fight, it’s interesting that Robert Mueller, the one guy who’s tough on Trump, is a Republican.”

Wilson said that Stone is trying to signal Trump’s fans that anything against Trump is invalid. However, Wilson explained that Stone has gone too far and that “the botox has sunk in a little too now.”

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Watch the full exchange below:



Maher: Half of the United States doesn’t even… by sarahburris