Bill Maher to Democrats after the midterm sweep: the far left 'want communism'

Comedian Bill Maher told his HBO "Real Time" audience Friday that democratic socialists in the Democratic Party are selling communism, and urged moderates to use their midterm gains to push them back.

"We already have a lot of socialism and a lot of it is appropriate," Maher said, citing programs like Medicare and Social Security. "That's not what these people are selling, these far-left people." He added: "You just read what they say in their manifesto. They want the government to take over everything. That is a prescription for failure."

Guest Coleman Hughes argued socialists are weak on rents and crime and that "a hundred years of data on socialism" is "not good for the economy." Maher said one of the election's "great results" was giving moderates "a big stick" against the far left: "Who has the guts to say this is the Democratic Party, you are doing a whole different thing... these people want communism."

The comments come after Democrats flipped Congress and after democratic socialists won major city offices, including Los Angeles Mayor-elect Nithya Raman.