Bill Maher: 'Reckless' lockdowns helped fuel riots, could lead to 'blood in the streets' after election

"Real Time" host Bill Maher offered a dire warning that violence will ensue regardless of who wins the November election.

During a panel discussion that aired Friday night, Maher suggested that the "reckless" lockdowns mandated in response to the coronavirus outbreak helped fuel the riots following the death of George Floyd.

"This lockdown that we've been living with -- do you agree with me? -- that this has a lot to do with the unrest in the streets? That when you coop people up and when they have no hope and no job, that they -- why not go out in the streets?" Maher asked. "I wonder what America will look like, what police departments look like if they have to fight this all the time."

He continued, "I feel like this experiment, this reckless experiment in closing down an entire country for months at a time is not going to look good in the future and this is one reason why."

MSNBC analyst Michael Steele -- a former chairman of the Republican National Committee -- pushed back, saying Americans "saw the rationale" of staying inside to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, but praised the George Floyd protesters for "wearing their masks," showing that people are still "conscious" of the pandemic.

Maher pointed to the "100,000 small businesses" that have been lost as a result of the shutdowns, many of them "disproportionately" black-owned.

"It's almost is about what in the long run is going to cause more death," Maher explained. "The head of the U. N. said a couple of w... (Read more)

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