BS BULLETIN
- Bill Maher says immigrants are welcome to preserve their traditions, but must accept core American and Western values.
- “Do you like Western civilization? Because that’s what we are, and that’s not negotiable,” Maher declared.
- Fox contributor Liz Peek praised Maher and blasted young Americans who romanticize Hamas, Hezbollah and anti-American politics.
Bill Maher has once again committed an increasingly radical act in modern American politics:
He said immigrants coming to America should actually want to become part of America.
During Friday’s “New Rules” segment on HBO’s Real Time, Maher delivered a lengthy argument for assimilation, contending that America’s welcome mat should remain out for immigrants — but that the country is under no obligation to surrender the liberal Western principles that made people want to come here in the first place.
“Most immigrants still want to assimilate,” Maher said, before describing a newer attitude as essentially: “Melting pot? F— you, you melt.”
Then came the line that has been bouncing around the Internet ever since: “Do you like Western civilization? Because that’s what we are, and that’s not negotiable.”
Bill Maher says he “doesn’t give a sh*t” about whites becoming a minority—he opposes Islam because he wants to preserve liberal values (which he insists are not “white values”).
Beyond parody. pic.twitter.com/C7xk33uQrb
— Chris Menahan 🇺🇸 (@infolibnews) August 16, 2026
Maher’s argument was that immigrants should absolutely retain their food, language, customs and family traditions while accepting certain fundamental principles of the society they chose to join: democracy, freedom of speech, equality for women, religious liberty and rights for gay people.
“It’s not ‘white values,’” Maher said. “These are liberal values.
“If you want to come here to help form a more perfect union, great,” he continued, “but some things are too fundamental to change.”
Maher specifically rejected the idea that race should be the measuring stick. “This has nothing to do with non-whites becoming the majority,” he said. “I don’t give a s— about colors.” His concern, he said, is “liberal values being replaced by illiberal ones.”
Maher also took direct aim at the inevitable accusation that criticism of illiberal beliefs within Muslim communities is inherently bigoted. “I’m sure some of you are screaming ‘Islamophobia,’” Maher said, dismissing the term in characteristically profane fashion as a way to discourage discussion of the subject.
His point wasn’t that Muslims as a group are incapable of assimilation. Indeed, Maher explicitly began by saying most immigrants still want to assimilate.
His argument was that multicultural tolerance cannot require Americans to tolerate values that contradict the liberal freedoms the country is supposed to protect.
And it apparently sounded pretty good Monday morning to Fox News contributor Liz Peek.
Appearing on Fox Business’ Mornings with Maria, Peek watched a portion of Maher’s monologue and responded enthusiastically. “I love that quote,” Peek said. “I thought that was just brilliant and he’s completely right.”
Peek pointed to earlier waves of immigration — including Irish and Italian newcomers — whose descendants became woven into American society while maintaining distinct cultural identities.
Historically, that is one of the remarkable features of the American experiment.
You could bring the recipes, the accents, the holidays, the music and the traditions. But America expected something in return: Become American, too.
Peek then went further than Maher, focusing specifically on radical Islamist attitudes and the bizarre spectacle of young Americans openly romanticizing terrorist organizations and authoritarian regimes whose values are profoundly incompatible with the causes those same young activists often claim to support.
“These are liberal values,” Peek said, pointing to freedom of speech, freedom of association and freedom of the press.
She contrasted those freedoms with authoritarian societies such as Iran and added: “We don’t treat gays like they’re some sort of pariah.” Then she turned to the American left’s own homegrown anti-American radicals.
“The young people in our country who are talking about Hamas being — Hasan Piker — Hezbollah, preferable to the United States,” Peek said. “Give me a break.”
“These are not liberal values, they are not American, and I love Bill Maher for calling them out.”
And this isn’t some sudden election-year conversion for Maher. He has been arguing for years that liberals should be willing to criticize illiberal religious practices — including those associated with Islam — without being frightened into silence by accusations of bigotry.
What’s different now is the political environment surrounding him.
The Democratic Socialists of America is gaining influence in Democratic primaries. Anti-Israel activism has become an increasingly powerful force on the progressive left. Candidates and activists associated with that movement have appeared alongside streamer Hasan Piker, whose long history of deliberately inflammatory comments about America has repeatedly become campaign fodder.
Meanwhile, Maher has spent much of 2026 warning Democrats that portions of their activist base are drifting toward ideas ordinary Americans find radical.
Some viewers argued that he was unfairly singling out Muslims or exaggerating the threat that Islamic social conservatism poses to Western democracies. Others pointed out that Christian conservatives can also hold views on homosexuality, abortion and religion that Maher considers illiberal.
Maher actually acknowledged the latter point during the segment, making clear that his standard applies to Christian nationalism as well. That’s another debate altogether.
For most of American history, the answer wasn’t particularly controversial. Immigrants didn’t have to erase their past. America wasn’t asking them to.
The promise was that people from wildly different backgrounds could become part of something larger without surrendering everything that made them unique.
That was the melting pot. Not: You melt. We melt together.
DBS WIRE SOURCES:
- New York Post — Bill Maher says immigrants must assimilate and American values are ‘not negotiable’
- RealClearPolitics — Bill Maher: ‘Do you like Western civilization? Because that’s what we are’
- TV Insider — Bill Maher issues scathing takedown of immigrants refusing to adopt ‘liberal values’
- Legal Insurrection — Bill Maher says immigrants must assimilate, accept Western civilization
- Decider — Bill Maher rips immigrants who refuse to embrace ‘liberal values’ on Real Time
