Harris Made ‘Mistake’ With Rogan, Trump ‘Brilliant’ With McDonald’s Stunt Agree Maher, Van Jones, and Polis on Real Time

Democratic analyst and CNN pundit Van Jones joined comic and host Bill Maher in praising Donald Trump and criticizing Vice President Kamala Harris over two campaign issues on Friday: the Joe Rogan podcast, and Trump’s McDonald’s stunt.

The two were joined by Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis to take viewer questions for discussion in the Overtime segment of Real Time with Bill Maher on Friday and the topic of Trump’s interview with Joe Rogan, also on Friday, came up.

They agreed it was a smart move by Trump to do the podcast, which generated abundant clips and discussion online, even getting some of Trump’s policy ideas into social media feeds – which, Polis pointed out, was why it was a bad move for Harris not to do the same.

“I think the more people see of Kamala Harris, the more they like her. She needs to get out there,” Polis said.

They segued to the related discussion of Trump’s McDonald’s appearance, with Van Jones immediately praising the move.

“I think it’s brilliant. I think it’s brilliant,” he said as Maher and Polis agreed.

“I think I think when you have somebody who is a world famous superstar, who’s a billionaire, etc., etc., and they do something you don’t expect, it’s brilliant media,” he explained.

Van Jones said that this is something Democrats don’t understand they should be doing, and again his fellow panelists agreed.

“I think we’ve got to acknowledge that this guy is beating the pants off of us with these so-called publicity stunts. It gets into everybody’s feeds and people who are not looking at politics will look at that,” he said. “If we have more fun, if the Democratic Party is a party of fun, people will join it. We should be doing crazy stuff, too.”

Maher then noted that Hollywood liberals hating on Trump for the photo-op “look weak” and “overreact to anything.’

“One more thing… Don’t immediately just go to ‘I hate him’ for that,” Maher concluded. “But everybody I know here in Hollywood does that. And it’s like, first of all, you look weak. You look weak. You look like you’re so easily gotten. You know you look like you overreact to anything.”

MAHER: What does the panel think of Trump doing Joe Rogan’s podcast today? And is it a mistake for Kamala not to do it? Yeah, I think it is a mistake.

POLIS: Yeah I think Kamala Harris –

MAHER: I think it’s a mistake she didn’t do this show.

POLIS: Yeah, she – Did you invite her?

MAHER: Yeah, of course. No, we didn’t invite her.

POLIS: Of course she should do.

MAHER: We would have bumped you for her. I hate to say. I hate to tell you I hate to tell ya.

POLIS: You know I, and there’s still time, I hope. And I know she’s going to be campaigning in Texas. I hope she does the podcast. I think the more people see of Kamala Harris, the more they like her. She needs to get out there. I think some of that is the staff reticence that they had because of Joe Biden, which you couldn’t put out there, we understand that. You can’t put her out there. She’s terrific. She’s likable. She’s joyous. She’s fun. She’s clever. Get her out there!

MAHER: Boy. For a guy who’s not an official surrogate, you you’re on the waiting list. What did the panel think of Trump’s stint as fry cooker at McDonald’s? And it’s – you know, I mean, I already addressed this. You know, it’s like it’s … They see him differently.

VAN JONES: I think it’s brilliant. I think it’s brilliant.

MAHER: Yes!

VAN JONES: I think I think when you have somebody who is a world famous superstar, who’s a billionaire, etc., etc., and they do something you don’t expect, it’s brilliant media. And I think we’ve got to acknowledge that this guy is beating the pants off of us with these so-called publicity stunts. It gets into everybody’s feeds and people who are not looking at politics will look at that. I think we just have to be have more fun ourselves. We were having a great time during the Democratic convention. If we have more fun, if our, if the Democratic Party is a party of fun, people will join in. We should we should be doing crazy stuff, too.

MAHER: And if I might add. One more thing. It’s like, don’t immediately just go to I hate him for that.

VAN JONES: Yeah!

MAHER: Which is what, but but everybody I know here in Hollywood does that. And it’s like you’re first of all, you look weak. You look weak. You look like you’re so easily gotten. Yeah. You know, you look like you overreact to anything.

Watch the clip above via HBO’s Real Time.