Bill Maher warns Democrats not to 'go back to bad ideas' after sweeping midterm victories

"Real Time" host Bill Maher on Friday issued a warning to Democrats, telling the party to not go back to the "bad ideas" that cost them in 2024.  (Real Time With Bill Maher/Screengrab)

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Comedian Bill Maher issued a preemptive warning to Democrats following their sweeping midterm election wins, urging the party not to mistake its victories for a mandate to revive "bad ideas" that could drive voters back to the GOP.

"Now that Democrats won the election, let’s not get high on our own supply like the last crowd did and interpret the W as a sign to go back to bad ideas," he said during Friday's episode of "Real Time."

As examples, the liberal comedian pointed to "defund the police" and a refusal to enforce shoplifting laws, arguing that such approaches hurt the people progressives claim to help.

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Maher also mocked progressives he described as the "lawn sign people," accusing them of using yard signs touting equality, science and kindness to advertise their moral superiority.

"It's all well and good to declare yourself the morally enlightened ones, but when your policy ideas are based on how good they make you feel and not on how much good they actually do, that's when people lurch to the other even worse extreme," he said.

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Defund-the-police activists flooding the streets of Brooklyn, New York, in the summer of 2020. (Getty Images)

Criticizing policies in Democratic-led cities, Maher asked: ""Who benefited when you didn't enforce the laws against shoplifting? Who benefits when you give a homeless schizophrenic clean needles instead of forcing him into treatment?"

Maher also criticized what he characterized as White liberals' approach to racial issues, joking: "I talked to every Black person in America and it turns out they kind of don't give a s---. Yeah. Turns out they're not waking up every day saying, ‘What can I do today to make sure white people feel better about themselves?’"

Christian Toto, the editor of Hollywood in Toto, told Fox News Digital, "Bill Maher is the most refreshing, unexpected pundit on late-night TV. He calls balls and strikes while simultaneously copping to his liberal bona fides." 

Toto added that Maher is "a pariah of sorts within his industry" and predicted that the "modern Left will happily ignore his wisdom, likely at their political peril." 

Maher also criticized conservatives, arguing that Democrats won across several states in the midterms because voters have a history of shifting from one political extreme to another.

He first rejected what he characterized as Democratic moral superiority, then criticized what he described as Republicans' embrace of "cruelty."

"Republicans lost this election because no one wanted the pendulum to swing all the way to full a--hole, to cruelty," he said.

"Yes, liberal virtue signaling had become tiresome, but did we have to go to vice signaling?" he added.

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Then-Democratic Texas U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico addresses supporters during a joint campaign rally with then-gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa in Austin, Texas, on Monday, Nov. 2. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

Maher pointed to fatal shootings during immigration enforcement, cuts to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and other incidents as examples of what he believed caused the political pendulum to swing back to the left.

"This is how you lose even Texas," he insisted, referring to wins for Democrats James Talarico and Gina Hinojosa in the longtime red stronghold.

"Everything is a reaction to what went before," he added later.

Maher's comments come as Republicans review their midterm losses and reassess the party's strategy ahead of the 2028 elections.

Republican candidates suffered upsets in a handful of red and purple states, including South Carolina, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi and Georgia earlier this month, leading to Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress.

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Taylor Penley is an associate editor for Fox News Digital and contributor to FOX Business and Fox Nation who covers media, culture and Flash