Image Credit: screenshot/HBO 
HBO’s “Real Time” host Bill Maher went on a tear about how the COVID pandemic itself didn’t cause massive learning losses and historic inflation, rather “the way we handled the pandemic did that.”
During his Friday show, Maher excoriated the talking point by the medical and political establishment that the massive collateral damage brought on by the pandemic response couldn’t be avoided.
“I thought we overreacted to COVID. Now, we’re getting some information, after a while, we have time to find out just how bad the collateral damage has been,” Maher began.
“Here [are] just a few cases: The pandemic erased two decades of progress in math and reading. See, right away I’ve got to say, this pisses me off. I see these headlines all the time, the pandemic didn’t do that, the way we handled the pandemic did that.”
Maher went on to say that the government response to COVID “was not written in stone” and could have been handled differently.
“The pandemic certainly was a thing but let’s not just say the pandemic. Because it was not written in stone that we had to handle it the way we did,” Maher said. “ACT scores are the lowest in 30 years, anxiety and depression way up. The body mass index increased, doubled for kids 2-19. Drug overdose deaths, murders way up, inflation at a 40-year high, domestic violence increased.”
The liberal comedian also highlighted the ridiculous talking point by the establishment that the sudden uptick in car crashes was simply because people “just went nuts.”
“Oh, and my favorite, car crashes. They couldn’t figure this out…finally…the experts said, you know what it is? People just went f*cking mental. They went just nuts. They’re like, I’m home, the f*cking kids are here all the time, my stupid husband is here all the time, I’m just going to take it out on the highway, and they did,” he added.
Maher’s remarks come as Democrats — who’ve been largely supportive of lockdown policies during the pandemic — try to walk back their stance or shift blame as data coming from schools reveals devastating learning deficits brought on by locking down schools, pushing virtual learning, and preventing children from socializing.