Ex-GOP Rep. David Jolly Tells Bill Maher Hes Left The Republican Party
[embedded content] Bill Maher on Friday used his HBO series Real Time With Bill M..
Bill Maher on Friday used his HBO series Real Time With Bill Maher to vent about a rough week, especially with the Senate all but sure to vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh (or, as Maher called him in his opening monologue “Judge Red Solo Cup,” later saying Kavanaugh doesnt “have the temperament to be a judge on American Idol). Maher even took a swipe in his final “New Rules” segment at Wyoming (“Why is it even a state?”)
The show, which was heavy with discussion on Americas partisan divide, did provide a moment of news, when panel guest David Jolly said on the “Overtime” segment that he has left the GOP.
Jolly was a Republican congressmen in Florida who was unseated in 2016 by Democrat Charlie Christ. He since has become an MSNBC contributor — a rare conservative presence on that cable news network — and has been critical of President Donald Trump and the GOP, recently saying he wanted the Democrats to win the majority of the House in the upcoming midterms because it would better protect the country.
“I left the party about five weeks ago — my wife and I both did,” Jolly said Friday when asked whether he would vote Democrat in the next election. The comment seemed to take the panel off guard. “Really?” Maher responded. “Because I dont think the future is between the two parties,” Jolly said.
Jolly said the turning point was the fact he is expecting his first child.
“Heres what I will tell you, I hope out daughter learns two things from our example,” he said. “The first is for three years, we fought a fight for something we truly believed in, that the Republicans can answer to better angels. But the other lesson I hope our daughter learns is this: there are fights that at times wiser men and women walk away from. Somebody else can fight for the dignity of the Republican Party now — its not my fight anymore.”
Jolly is the second prominent conservative on MSNBC to leave the GOP. In June, fellow contributor Steve Schmidt, the former top advisor to John McCains presidential campaign and senior aide to President George W. Bush, announced on Twitter he was leaving the GOP, calling it “fully the party of Trump.”
Check out the “Overtime” segment above, and the swipe at poor Wyoming below.
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