Bill Maher does not believe former President Donald Trump is going anywhere.
During a segment of Friday’s “Real Time with Bill Maher” show, Maher weighed in ahead of Trump’s appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Sunday.
Even though he “didn’t want to talk about” Trump, as he put it, Maher did near the end of his panel discussion, according to Fox News.
“After he lost, people kept coming up to me and [saying], ‘Are you gonna?’ and I say, ‘He’s gone. Stop obsessing. I don’t want to talk about him!'” Maher said.
He added, “But knowing what’s going to happen this weekend at CPAC, I must bring this up… The shark is not gone. We need a bigger boat.”
“The shark went out to sea for a while, it’s going to come back, and eat more people on the shore.”
Maher suggested Trump may “say Sunday that he’s the presumptive nominee in 2024,” adding, “No one is going to oppose him.”
“There are nine panels at the CPAC convention all about how the election was stolen, none about why it was lost,” he said. “That’s where they are.”
“If you think that 2024 is not going to be a nailbiter or that he isn’t going to be the nominee, I think you’re being naive.”
Maher later added he sees “two wings of the party,” which are “Trump and then the people who want to take his voters, who want to be his successor.”
“There’s Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley and Nikki Haley. They want to be the next nominee but they’re not about to get rid of his voters,” he said. “They just want to be Trump’s successor.”
Trump is expected to deliver a speech at the CPAC in Orlando, Florida, at 3:40 p.m. EST on Sunday.
“He’ll be talking about the future of the Republican Party and the conservative movement. Also look for the 45th President to take on President (Joe) Biden’s disastrous amnesty and border policies,” a source told Reuters of Trump’s plans for his speech.
Trump’s hold on the Republican Party will be on display at the conservative gathering.