Liberal comedian compares Canadian PM to Hitler

American political comedian Bill Maher has compared Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to Hitler, quoting some disturbing comments by the Canadian leader about the unvaccinated and the trucker convoy that rolled into Ottawa to protest Covid-19 restrictions like vaccine mandates.

Maher began the segment of Friday’s edition of his Real Time TV show with comments Trudeau had made about the unvaccinated late last year - specifically that they “don’t believe in science” and “are often misogynistic, often racist.”

Expressing disagreement with the blanket condemnation, he continued: “They take up space and with that we have to make a choice in terms of a leader of a country - do we tolerate these people?”

“Tolerate these people?” Maher repeated in an offended tone. “Now you do sound like Hitler.”

Maher, whose politics lean liberal, had some surprisingly uncritical words for the Freedom Convoy, which Trudeau and his allies have attempted to smear as a right-wing extremist operation. The comedian said the protests were about more than “just the vaccine mandate” and pointed out that other similar protests are going on worldwide, with truckers taking to the streets in multiple European countries and a planned US convoy taking shape.

Author and guest Vivek Ramaswamy agreed with his host, suggesting that far from a left versus right issue, the protesters were confronting the “biggest threat to actual democracy” – which the writer described as the “rise of this managerial class in democracies around the world that are crushing the will of everyday people through bureaucracy.”

Another guest, former Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson, expressed surprise that Trudeau would say such things about his own country’s citizens, leading Maher to deadpan, “You didn’t see the blackface?” before insisting he was only joking. Multiple photos of Trudeau in blackface and a turban at a faculty party have been making the rounds for years, but unlike celebrities brought down by similar scandals, Trudeau’s career has scarcely suffered.

However, the PM’s heavy-handed response to the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as his miscalculation regarding the staying power of the Freedom Convoy, have given strength to his opposition. Some convoy members have said they won’t leave until the Liberal PM resigns, and as the convoy stretches into its third week, Canadian politicians are left with little choice but to take the truckers’ words seriously. Provincial leaders in both Alberta and Saskatchewan have announced the rollback of some of the most stringent Covid-19 mandates, and others have hinted they may follow suit.