Today in Arguments That Probably Could Have Waited A Week, Bill Maher is coming hard for the real reason Donald Trump got elected in 2016: comic book creator Stan Lee, who passed away on Monday. While most people would have put a pin in their political Stan Lee op-eds for a hot second, Maher is of the belief that the success of Lee’s Marvel Comics legacy has effectively hindered the minds of the American voters and, as a result of that impediment, resulted in a Trump presidency. And right at the beginning of the weekend, no less!
“The guy who created Spider-Man and the Hulk has died, and America is in mourning,†the Real Time host wrote on the show’s blog. “Deep, deep mourning for a man who inspired millions to, I don’t know, watch a movie, I guess.â€
“But then twenty years or so ago, something happened — adults decided they didn’t have to give up kid stuff,†he explains. “And so they pretended comic books were actually sophisticated literature. And because America has over 4,500 colleges — which means we need more professors than we have smart people — some dumb people got to be professors by writing theses with titles like Otherness and Heterodoxy in the Silver Surfer.â€
Now, how, exactly, it’s Stan Lee’s fault that people liked his comic books so much, their brains stopped developing (honestly, a super power in its own right) is unclear. But, and you probably saw this one coming, there is one inevitable conclusion of our grand national stunting, says Maher: “I don’t think it’s a huge stretch to suggest that Donald Trump could only get elected in a country that thinks comic books are important.â€