HBO Real Time host Bill Maher said the Freedom Convoy has the right to be 'pissed off' at elitists who are 'staying home in their Lululemon's' before comparing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to Hitler for questioning if the unvaccinated should be 'tolerated.'
Maher, 66, admitted he 'wasn't that into the first couple weeks' of the Canadian protests and he questioned 'why truckers' were the ones protesting when '90 percent of them are vaccinated.'
'What's happening this week, it looks like, is people are understanding this is about something more than just the vaccine mandate,' he said during his show on Friday.
'It's becoming a big thing. It's happening all over the world now. They're thinking it might happen here in Washington on Super Bowl Sunday.'
Maher also bought up the 'elitist' culture - those who are 'staying home in their Lululemon's' and who can afford to 'wait out for a free vacation and money from the government' - and how they do not understand why 'those who can't' are angry.
'They're pissed off - the people who can't,' Maher said.
Many more protesters are expected to show up in Ottawa this weekend, and several convoys from the U.S. are heading toward the Canadian border as the protest enters its 16th day.
Protests have spread to three border points, including the Ambassador Bridge, North America's busiest land border crossing, where dozens of vehicles had crowded the area since Monday, choking the supply chain for Detroit's carmakers. On Saturday morning, police started to clear out the blockade, and protesters were seen starting to leave.
HBO Real Time host Bill Maher, 66, said the Freedom Convoy truckers have a right to be 'pissed off' at the elitists - who are 'staying home in their Lululemon's' and who can afford to 'wait out for a free vacation and money from the government' - while they cannot afford to work a remote job. 'They're pissed off - the people who can't,' Maher said
The Freedom Convoy (pictured) is protesting the mandate for truckers to be vaccinated when they enter Canada from the US. Trudeau made controversial comments in September asking the public is they should 'tolerate' the unvaccinated and calling them 'racist,' 'misogynistic,' and 'don't believe in science.' Maher slammed the PM and compared him to Hitler for questioning tolerance of others
Trudeau ordered the protesters to evacuate the bridge or face a potential year in jail
Trudeau also claimed that the protest is being fueled by political activists in the United States, and said that more than 50 percent of donations to campaigns to support the protesters came from the US
Several convoys were assembling in the United States on Friday evening, preparing to drive towards the Canadian border in support of the truckers in Ontario and elsewhere
When Maher questioned panelists about whether they thought this was something bigger than just vaccine mandates, Woke Inc author Vivek Ramaswamy agreed that this was an 'uprising of everyday citizens' and the 'unelected class of leaders.'
'These are the unelected class leaders that ultimately, I think, are using the bureaucratic power to supplant the will of every day,' Ramaswamy said.
'Not only Americans but Canadians and Western Europeans too. And that's why we're seeing a fusion of both the left and the right here saying that: "Actually we want our voices heard. We want to be able to speak without fear of putting food on the dinner table."
'And the beautiful thing about democracy, so far this has been a peaceful set of protests, [and] I hope it stays that way. That's part of the messiest of democracy and that's part of what makes it beautiful.'
The second panelist, spiritual guru and political activist Marianne Williamson, who vied for the Democratic presidential bid in 2020, also agreed that 'democracy is messy,' and that's the 'price you pay for a free society.' The former presidential candidate, however, had a more negative view of protesting.
'As long as you honor expression, protest is important, but also protest is inherently disruptive,' she told Maher. 'So, the line we have to find for ourselves is where does disruption become harm?'
Williamson also mentioned that the Freedom Convoy is a way 'that we get to see that this can be done in a way that does not bring violence - which I think for Americans, there's actually something to look at there.'
Panelists Woke Inc author Vivek Ramaswamy (left) and former Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson (right) also agreed that the 'system is corrupt' and 'uprising of everyday citizens' that wanted to be heard
Maher admitted that he used to think that Trudeau was a 'cool guy' but now questions his judgement after making the controversial comments about the unvaccinated
She also referenced the January 6 Capitol riot, where protesters stormed the government building to overturn an election.
Ramaswamy agreed that 'those who can't' - such as the truckers delivering Amazon packages - are 'excluded in the name of capital inclusion' by the elitists.
Maher also brought up later in the segment how the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans - or stimulus checks - largely went out to families 'in the top 20 percent of the country,' citing The New York Times.
Ramaswamy, who was a biotech CEO during the time of the George Floyd protests, said during that time, every 'institutional leader' was saying: 'What we need to do is listen and open our hearts and minds.'
He continued: 'I think those same institutional leaders would now do well to take a page from that playbook and listen to these truckers too. Actually listen to what they have to say.'
'The system is so corrupt,' Williamson agreed. 'This is what people are angry at.
'It's not just the corporate elites,' she said. 'This corruption is so baked into the cake. Of course people are angry, people are enraged and they are legitimately enraged.'
Williamson said the 'people are getting the receipts' after loan records are being revealed and showing where the money was distributed to 'take care of the people who already have.'
'This kind of economic injustice, this kind of structural rigging, so that whenever there's a problem, they take care of the people that already have and then the rest of the people who don't have - well, good luck, we'll drop a few crumbs to you. It's been going on for decades.'
Ramaswamy even admitted that his family sent their stimulus back, saying: 'This is not meant for people like us.'
Pivoting to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, 50, Maher said: 'Justin Trudeau, I used to think he was a really cool guy, but then I started to read what he said.'
Maher highlighted quotes from September where the PM called the unvaccinated population 'misogynistic' and that they 'don't believe in science.'
'They don't believe in science, they're often misogynistic, often racist,' the Canadian PM said in September. 'They take up space, and with that we have to make a choice - in terms of a leader in a country - do we tolerate these people?'
'No, they're not,' Maher said on Friday. 'Tolerate these people? Now you do sound like Hitler.'
When Williamson said she was 'surprised Trudeau said those things,' Maher paused before stammering out: 'You didn't - You didn't see the blackface? That was not a good look for him.'
Flag-waving Canadians show their support for the protest in Ottawa, as at least three bridges between Canada and the US were blocked on Friday night
A 'F**k Trudeau' ran is parked outside the bridge to the US on Saturday and the area gears up to see more protesters
U.S. President Joe Biden, 79, recently told the Canadian PM to toughen up against the protesters and 'drive them out.'
'Everything is on the table because this unlawful activity has to end, and it will end,' threatened Trudeau on Friday after he spoke to Biden.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford declared a 42-state of emergency over the bridge blockade and threatened to seize vehicles and throw demonstrators in jail for up to a year.
However, both Canadian and American truckers - who had been ordered off the bridge by midnight - have continued to protest being required to be vaccinated when entering Canada from the U.S.
Earlier on Friday, a Canadian court issued the injunction to end the blockade at the key bridge connecting Windsor, Ontario, with Detroit, Michigan. Ontario Superior Court Chief Justice Geoffrey Morawetz granted the injunction on Friday evening, which will last for 10 days and means that blocking the bridge is unlawful.
Trudeau claimed that the protest is being fueled by political activists in the United States, and said that more than 50 percent of donations to campaigns to support the protesters came from the U.S., which he referred to as 'foreign financing' of the protests.
In the U.S., several convoys were gathering in multiple cities on Friday, ahead of a planned journey to the Canadian border in support of their fellow truckers. Fears are high that some may try to disrupt Sunday's Super Bowl, or Biden's March 1 State of the Union address.
An organization dubbed 'Convoy to Save America' said on its website that two separate vehicle convoys will converge this weekend at the Peace Bridge, a U.S.-Canadian border crossing in Buffalo, New York.
One of the convoys will leave New York City on Friday and the second from Mount Juliet, Tennessee, on Saturday.
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