Larry Elder is normally a smiling, cuddly, roly-poly presence who often giggles like the Pillsbury Dough Boy. I watch his videos because he's one of an increasing number of black non-liberals (Elder is a Trump supporter, but he identifies as a libertarian, not as a conservative, if I understand him correctly), because he's smart and cogent, and because he has plenty of interesting things to say. I like Larry Elder. However, the man has a dark side, and on his YouTube podcasts, he'll occasionally play audio (or even video) of himself in the middle of a nasty exchange with someone from the other side of the aisle. On such occasions, Larry Elder morphs into a pit bull, and I wouldn't ever want to get on his bad side.
I normally don't like watching, or even linking to, nasty exchanges between people. Such exchanges make me squirm and want to leave the room. I'm all for calm, rational discussion, but the moment people start yelling at each other, my first instinct is normally to switch off. It's very rare that I relish such exchanges, but in the video below, we get a beautiful moment in which Larry Elder confronts the normally smug, sanctimonious Bill Maher in an attempt to get Maher to admit he's not a libertarian but is, in fact, a mere leftie. If you've got the stomach for it, go ahead and watch the video:
I like how Maher is reduced to a little bitch who simply wants to flee the discussion. I feel a lot of Schadenfreude, here, because Maher so often tries to wrestle conservative guests into submission, usually keeping them off-balance through constant interruptions. Here, he's getting a taste of his own medicine, and all he can think to do is get away. When Maher talks about the problem of militant Islam, he sounds sane. When he talks about anything else, though, he sounds fucked in the head, so he deserves to be put in his place on occasion.
Maher is one of the people on the left that I occasionally can agree with. Not often, granted, but at least he will sometimes speak some common sense. I've never once thought of him as a libertarian though.
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