“Real Time” host Bill Maher tore into President Donald Trump on Friday for the “testosterone-drenched delusion” that tariffs will revive American factory jobs, but spent much of his monologue suggesting that the only reason this won’t work is because of Gen Z’s supposed laziness.
“Now that the Trump administration has decided that America will pay any price and bear any burden to bring back factory jobs, they have to answer one question: who’s going to take them?” Maher said Friday on his show.
“Who exactly is supposed to do all this monotonous, low-paying labor? Immigrants? They’re all deported,” he continued. “It’ll probably be robots if we’re not using them all for sex slaves. But I’ll tell you who’s definitely not doing it — Gen Z.”
Against a backdrop of black and white photos of American factory workers, Maher argued that “these kids” today can’t even “handle a gig at the Cheesecake Factory.” He then slammed Gen Z for their purported lack of social skills and need for emotional support animals.
Maher was taken aback by the Trump administration’s belief that it can restore America to a flourishing hub of production — which Trump claims his steep international tariffs will achieve — and returned to this point throughout his monologue.
“Trump and his MAGA crowd has this testosterone-drenched delusion that America will only return to its glory days when men, real men, burly brawny manly men — go back to work in red brick factories and have cigarettes for lunch on top of skyscrapers,” said Maher.
“I know the Trump crowd imagines a gleaming new factory created by high tariffs and thinks if you build it, they will come,” he added. “They won’t — they’re playing Minecraft. They’re not saying ‘can do,’ they’re saying, ‘can’t even.’”
Left: Casey Curry/Invision/Associated Press; Right: Alex Brandon/Associated Press
Millions of newfound adults attended high school or college virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, which studies show deeply affected the mental health and resulting social skills of much of the generation that Maher was lambasting.
“Did you know that America has 7 million men in the prime of their life who are neither working nor looking for work?” Maher asked, claiming the only skills these “deadbeat people” have is “somehow getting by on either disability” or “money from their parents.”