Talk show host Bill Maher delivered a blistering “New Rules” monologue Friday night, calling out American liberals for what he described as the “lionization” of political violence and the rise of a “fandom” surrounding accused assassins.
Following multiple attempts on President Donald Trump’s life and the 2025 assassination of Turning Point USA (TPUSA) co-founder Charlie Kirk, Maher warned that the “normalization” of violence among the far-left has reached a breaking point.
Maher specifically targeted the growing online “hero-worship” of suspects like Luigi Mangione — the accused killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson — and Cole Thomas Allen, who was recently tackled by Secret Service during an attempted shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in April.
“Luigi Mangione, Cole Thomas Allen, Tyler Robinson, and the ghost of Thomas Crooks must form a boy band called ‘New Kids on the Glock’,” Maher joked.
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“Just to drive home the point, these are not your father’s political assassins. Things have changed. For one thing, today’s assassins have popular support with the kids,” he warned. Maher pointed to a Harvard Youth Poll from late last year showing that nearly 40% of young adults believe political violence can be justified. “Wow. Seems like five minutes ago when one of the big causes of the left was gun control, but now guns are the answer?”
Maher noted that several suspects have explicitly cited Mangione or political grievances in their writings. He highlighted the case of Jonathan Rinderknecht — the suspect in the deadly Palisades Fire — who federal prosecutors say was “fascinated” by Mangione and searched for terms like “lets kill all the billionaires.”
“Good to see the kids have role models, huh?” Maher quipped sarcastically.
While Maher acknowledged that many find the current Trump administration “infuriating,” he argued that personal failure often drives these radicalized individuals. Addressing the WHCA incident, Maher noted that suspect Cole Allen was a 31-year-old computer engineer and tutor who still lived with his mother and harbored failed dreams of being a professional video game designer.
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“If you’re doing that much rage-thinking about Trump, you’re not really mad at him. You’re mad at your life,” Maher said. “Do you think if he’d ever actually sold a video game and got rich, he’d be doing this?”
Maher showed an image of Allen being apprehended on the ground by security at the Hilton during the WHCA event.
“You’re not a hero,” Maher said to the “wannabe” assassins. “You’re just the guy who runs out into the field during a baseball game to get attention… except in your case, you’d rather be a martyr than a nobody.”
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Fox News’ Peter D’Abrosca contributed to this report.
